How Much Weight Can Your Smartphone Gimbal Carry?

The smartphone 3 axis gimbal has become a primary kit item for filmmakers, vloggers and mobile journalists looking to get smooth video from their mobile device. They’re small, lightweight and simple to use: just power up, mount your phone and hit record. You can even add an anamorphic lens to get those videos looking even more cinematic.

But has your gimbal started to struggle? One thing us smartphone filmmakers often forget is these 3 axis gimbals have a maximum payload. So – if you are mounting a smartphone, plus a lens and case – you might find you are putting too much stress on your gimbal’s motors. If you add a counterweight, that adds more to your total payload.

Smartphone gimbals are generally low cost and very effective. But we shouldn’t expect too much – there’s a limit to how much we can ask them to do for us. And if you want your gimbal to last, then it might be worth taking a look at how much it can carry and what you are mounting onto it.

In general, most smartphone gimbals can carry a payload from about 200 – 300 grams (7 – 10 ounces). The main weight you’ll be adding to your payload is the smartphone itself.

How heavy is your payload?

An iPhone XS weighs 177 grams, iPhone XS Max 208 grams, HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro weighs 189 grams and a Samsung S10+ weighs 175g.

Now, the popular Zhiyun Smooth 4 has a max payload of 210 grams, so if you mount a iPhone XS Max you will only have 2 grams left before hitting your maximum.

The Moment 58mm Telephoto weighs 73.1 grams. The Moment case for the iPhone XS Max weighs 53.3 grams. That’s a total of phone + lens + case = 334 grams. None of the major smartphone gimbals have a max payload to cover that combination.

Gimbals by Max Payload

Here’s a list of the most popular smartphone gimbals going by max payload.

At the top of the list is the new gimbal from Zhiyun designed for smartphones, mirrorless and DSLR cameras. The gimbal has by far the highest max payload, which is understandable considering it is designed to be used with bigger cameras. It’s also over double the cost of the other gimbals.

Interesting to note that some of the less fashionable gimbals such as the Hohem and the Gimpro have quite high max payloads. Meanwhile, the popular Smooth 4 and Smooth Q score poorly.

I’m not a gimbal engineer so I don’t know how important or accurate these specifications are. However, if we are going to be loading more than just the smartphone onto the gimbal, we might be advised to pay more attention to this aspect in the future. If you are going to use your gimbal more than a few times a year, this might have an effect on the wear of the motors.

For serious gimbal users, that Crane-M2 is looking like an attractive option. Plus if you use other cameras as well, this might give you more options.

Update: On the Freevision Vilta M Amazon page it says: “No need for counterweights if total weight is less than 208g” which suggests that the max payload refers to unbalanced setups only. In which case, we can take the maximum weight to be something of a guide, rather than a strict line which must not be crossed.

This is probably a good way to approach gimbal use and selection. But still, I’m guessing we would all choose more motor power than less, if the option is there.

Check out tour full smartphone filmmaking KIT LIST.

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