8 Smartphone Gimbal Techniques to shoot Cinematic Video - Osmo Mobile 6 Tutorial

Year over year, smartphone gimbals continue to give us new creative ways to capture stunning video content. And since I showed you a bunch of cinematic filming techniques in the past, today I will show you 8 smartphone gimbal techniques to shoot cinematic video that were simply not possible with previous generations of smartphone gimbals. What up guys, welcome back, my name is Eddie Ware and today I will show you some new techniques how to shoot cinematic video footage with the help of a smartphone gimbal. And at this point, it kind of looks like these kind of tutorials are turning into an annual thing. In the previous years, every time DJI announced a new Osmo Mobile smartphone gimbal, I created a tutorial on how you can capture more and better cinematic video with it. And this year is no exception. DJI was kind enough to supply me with one of their new Osmo Mobile 6 smartphone gimbals for testing, however, this video is not sponsored by them, so all my opinions are my own. So all the filming techniques I showed you in my previous tutorials still apply and serve as a basis for today's video. Therefore, I will link them for you here. With that in mind, today's video is a bit different compared to the previous ones, cause for some techniques, your gimbal has to have certain features that not all manufacturers have or support. So in our case, we are relying on some of the Osmo Mobile 6's newly released features, more specifically the new side wheel and its built-in extension rod. It also has a bunch of other new features, but I will tell you more about those later. With all that out of the way, let's jump right in. Number one, getting close to your subject. Sounds easy, but in reality, it's not. Sometimes your arms just might not be long enough, or there's an obstacle between you and your subject, or your subject is just skittish. No matter which of these are the case, with a built-in extension rod you can easily get closer to your subject and you don't have to carry any additional accessories. An extension rod can help us even further, and this brings us to number two, looking for narrow openings. In the case of the Osmo Mobile 6, you have the ability to tilt the extension rod, so this way the footprint of the whole gimbal becomes way smaller and you can fit through narrow spaces where you normally would not be able to go into with a traditional smartphone gimbal. I would also highly recommend you to get creative and combine such a push shot through a narrow opening, for example with a spin shot. Such kind of movement can especially enrich action-packed scenes. But we all know no action scene is any good without suspense, so this brings us to number three, use the extension rod as a jib in order to reveal scenes or subjects in order to build suspense. A jib in filmmaking normally enables you to create long sweeping movements which are often combined with shots that start somewhere at the low angle and go way up or the other way around in order to reveal a position or a subject within a scene. I especially like to use this technique by aiming the camera to the floor in the beginning. And as the main character starts to reach a pinnacle point, I introduce a pan movement in order to reveal the next upcoming scene. If you pair this technique with number two, looking for narrow openings, you can get even more epic shots by introducing additional movement into the jib movement. And don't be afraid to use the joystick in order to even further increase the movement of your revealing shot. The next tip is something for our vloggers and solo creators out there. Use the extension rod when filming yourself. I myself know this problem all too well. Sometimes you just don't have people that can help you to create content and then you are out there by yourself and you don't want to carry around a tripod in order to frame yourself correctly, so you will hold up your smartphone or your gimbal. But this introduces a weird looking arm within your imagery. This can be counteracted by the help of the extension rod. What I specifically mean is how much screen real estate my arm takes up the moment I have to raise it in order to frame myself properly. By using the extension rod, I can create a way more pleasing composition and I'm not wasting any precious screen area. And since framing yourself while moving can be difficult, this brings us to number five. Always use tracking whenever possible. In the case of the Osmo Mobile 6, whenever you switch into selfie mode, it will automatically start to track your face. And having reliable tracking is impeccable. DJI year over year proves that they are somehow still able to improve on their auto tracking capabilities and with version 5.0 now, you can have even faster movements. And if the camera ever loses you, if it reacquires you, it will automatically start reengaging in tracking. And here is also a small pro tip for you. You can enable gesture recording, which makes it super easy if you're out and about recording on a tripod and you can not only start the recording, you can also stop it with gestures, which is super handy. A new feature I was highly excited for is the ability to pull focus. With the latest generation of smartphones, we finally have camera lenses that have a natural depth of field and this way we don't have to resort back to things like cinematic mode on the iPhone 13 and 14. The Osmo Mobile 6 now features a new so-called side wheel. This wheel gives you full control over the cameras within your phone. That makes complex scenes possible with all the previous movements I've ever shown you paired with reframing your subject while moving and pulling focus at the same time. This is incredible for something that you can pack into your pocket. But the side wheel not only can let you pull focus and this brings us to number seven, zoom to reveal something. Once again, this is a highly effective tool if you want to build suspense. Start the shot zoomed in onto a subject and make the shot wider as you reveal more and more from your actual scene. Timed right, it can even help you to create transitions. But before you hit record, make sure to select the lens you actually want to record in, because once you hit record, you're locked onto this lens, meaning you are not able to transition from a telephoto to ultra wide lens. Otherwise, you will need to select the ultra wide lens and then use the digital zoom in order to record your scene. Number eight is a combination between a smartphone and a gimbal. If available, always use additional smartphone stabilization. This is something very specific to the iPhone 14 Pro with built in image stabilization. The new iPhone 14 Pro has a new stabilized video feature called action mode, which gives you additional image stabilization by cropping down the image to 2.7K. However, even the regular video footage received image stabilization and therefore is more smooth than the previous iPhone 13 Pro videos. This means if you can afford it or have access to a smartphone with built in image stabilization, always make sure to use it on top of a gimbal. All right, so much for shooting techniques, but I also promise to tell you more about the other new feature that the Osmo Mobile 6 brings to the table. Overall, you can say that the Osmo Mobile 6 is a beefier version of the Osmo Mobile 5 and compares more to the professional grade gimbals DJI normally makes. The overall haptics are way more rigid and precise than we were used to from previous models. From what I experienced so far, I would say that the hinges and the motors have been improved compared to the OM5. And using the iPhone 13 and 14 Pro with it, it had absolutely no problem stabilizing these two flagship smartphones. The clamp included with the Osmo Mobile 6 is the biggest and widest one yet, and especially people with smartphone cases will appreciate the new change. A new feature I genuinely appreciated while shooting is the new Quick Start feature. This one actually saves you a ton of time, cause the gimbal is always ready when you want to use it, without the need to power it up. While you unfold the gimbal, it powers itself up, and the moment you attach the smartphone with the magnetic clamp to it, it will engage motor functions. Depending on your settings, you even get a prompt from the MIMO app where you can tap it and launch the MIMO app right from your home screen. There is also a new button which enables you to easily switch between the different available modes, so you can select follow mode, tilt locked mode, FPV mode to create fake drone shots, and last but not least, a good old trusty spin shot. So thankfully, this also means no more poking around in the menus in order to switch between the modes. By the way, if you're interested in getting early access to new DJI gear, and in this case the Osmo Mobile 6, I highly recommend you to sign up to their Skypixel product tryout program. Some lucky participants might have the chance to try it out for some time. I'll link the program for you below. So how do you like this year's new cinematic shooting techniques? Are you liking the new ones, or are you rather sticking to the ones I showed you previously? Also, what are your thoughts on the new DJI Osmo Mobile 6? What do you think about the improvements DJI made on it? Let me know in the comments! And with that said, don't forget to like, share, subscribe, do what we YouTubers love you to do, and by the way, if you cannot tell, yes, it's Oktoberfest, so… Stay safe, cheers, and I see you in the next one!