Honest Zhiyun Weebill Review

[mojo43]

Hey everyone, I am getting tired of bad gimbal reviews. I rarely have time to make them, but trying to do more and more when I can. Here is my honest opinion on the weebill lab.

 

[UncleBobsPhotography]

I'm planning to get this as my first gimbal. I'm using an overhand grip most of the time I'm filming, and with this gimbal it looks like I can adapt my current style quite easily.

I would be curious to know how the follow focus works, and how their plans for the HDMI out is going to pan out, but I think I will like the gimbal even without those features.

[Zak Forsman]

42 minutes ago, UncleBobsPhotography said:

I'm planning to get this as my first gimbal. I'm using an overhand grip most of the time I'm filming, and with this gimbal it looks like I can adopt my current style quite easily.

I would be curious to know how the follow focus works, and how their plans for the HDMI out is going to pan out, but I think I will like the gimbal even without those features.

I'm using the Weebill with a GH5s, .64x Speedbooster and my (manual focus) Contax-Zeiss lenses. You asked how focus works. The focus wheel requires the use of the Focus Servo to manually control the lens. It will not control a native lens through the USB connection. I absolutely love this gimbal and use it in underslung mode more often than not. I think you'll be happy with it. If you want to run with longer lenses like say a Sigma 18-35, you may want to wait for the Crane 3 Lab. This won't hold it reliably.

[Kisaha]

@Zak Forsman +1 for the Kensigton track ball! 

What a revelation.

After this "honest" review, I see a bigger gimbal as more appropriate for the P4K. 

Ronin S should be ok.

[Ki Rin]

Seems like good hardware spoiled by poor software. 

@Zak Forsman How has your experience with the app been?
 

I really wanted to like this gimbal since it is nice and lightweight.. Most of the other new gimbals seem quite heavy. 

 

[mojo43]

6 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

I'm using the Weebill with a GH5s, .64x Speedbooster and my (manual focus) Contax-Zeiss lenses.

Seems like a heavy setup? Are you getting stable footage with it?

 

1 hour ago, Ki Rin said:

Seems like good hardware spoiled by poor software. 

@Zak Forsman How has your experience with the app been?
 

I really wanted to like this gimbal since it is nice and lightweight.. Most of the other new gimbals seem quite heavy. 

 

It is no more lightweight than any of the other gimbals like Moza air or crane v1 / v2. If you check out the vid I show an example of them laid out and they are basically the same size.

[UncleBobsPhotography]

8 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

I'm using the Weebill with a GH5s, .64x Speedbooster and my (manual focus) Contax-Zeiss lenses. You asked how focus works. The focus wheel requires the use of the Focus Servo to manually control the lens. It will not control a native lens through the USB connection. I absolutely love this gimbal and use it in underslung mode more often than not. I think you'll be happy with it. If you want to run with longer lenses like say a Sigma 18-35, you may want to wait for the Crane 3 Lab. This won't hold it reliably.

Too bad it doesn't have any "wired" focus control. It would have been nice to at least get "push to autofocus" since it's often enough for me to simply set the focus once before recording. It doesn't seem like my local shops have the follow focus listed (unless it's the same one as for the Crane 2), but I'm sure I'll be able to get it later if I'm happy with the gimbal.

I'm using the GH5. My 2 native lenses should be well within the weight limits, but I guess my adapted Canon L-lenses will be borderline too heavy. The GH5+speedbooster+Canon 35mm f/1.4 is 1.5 kg.

[Zak Forsman]

18 hours ago, Ki Rin said:

@Zak Forsman How has your experience with the app been?

 

1

Wish I could tell you, but I'm not using the app for anything other than tweaking settings. I don't feel like I have as much fine control over what i'm doing. Beyond the controls offered on the handle, I just need to pull focus manually so this particular gimbal works well for me. I'm still running an HDMI directly from the camera to monitor what i'm doing. I don't want to worry about lag or skipping at crucial moments.

17 hours ago, mojo43 said:

Seems like a heavy setup? Are you getting stable footage with it?

 

Runs smoothly with the motors set to medium. Sometimes i bump it to high if I put one of my heavier Contax Zeiss lenses on like the 35/1.4. But the 18mm and the 25mm (pictured above) are pretty light. I also have a Panny/Leica 12-60 that's super light. I put the motors on low for that. Would love to share footage but they are for a short film that the director doesn't want anything released from, or it's behind the scenes footage for studio movies that haven't come out yet. On the short, I do remember the gimbal getting jittery at one point, but i shut it off and immediately saw it needed to be rebalanced. after I did, it was fine the rest of the shoot.

Thanks for the great review by the way. I'm going to try your settings over the holiday break.

[Snowbro]

What these gimbals look like to me 

[Walter H]

@mojo43 Thanks for this review. Really appreciate how straightforward and "non-hype" you are. As you mentioned, most youtube "review" content is pretty unbearable. 

I am interested in this gimbal for my X-T3 and Fuji primes for a project in the next few months. Seems ideal for size/weight (although the Moza Air 2, etc. would also be effective obviously). This would be my first serious use of a gimbal in video production. Mostly panning and crane shots, not a lot of following thru spaces. 

Curious if you have used the subject tracking at all? Whether a person of a static object that you are moving around? Panning/tilting?

Thanks. 

[webrunner5]

On the B&H website it has some pretty piss poor ratings. Might be a Red Flag. You can buy a DJI Ronin-S for less money. I don't get it. The DJI Ronin-S weighs 4.1 pounds. I can't even find the weight of the  Weebill Lab?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1430269-REG/zhiyun_tech_weebill_lab_handheld_stabilizer.html

[socs]

6 hours ago, Walter H said:

@mojo43 Thanks for this review. Really appreciate how straightforward and "non-hype" you are. As you mentioned, most youtube "review" content is pretty unbearable. 

I am interested in this gimbal for my X-T3 and Fuji primes for a project in the next few months. Seems ideal for size/weight (although the Moza Air 2, etc. would also be effective obviously). This would be my first serious use of a gimbal in video production. Mostly panning and crane shots, not a lot of following thru spaces. 

Curious if you have used the subject tracking at all? Whether a person of a static object that you are moving around? Panning/tilting?

Thanks. 

It does work with the x-t3 as far as supporting the weight, but depends on the lens.  The 14mm and the 35mm 1.4 work fine.  The 23mm 1.4 works ok if you are careful.

The 10-24 is about the weight limit and works just ok as long as you don't move to fast or use the vortex mode.   

I'm also using it with my 6dmkii and it works with the 40mm pancake lens.

The reason I like it is it's light for travel, but you just have to be aware of the weight limitations for heavy setups.

[Walter H]

Interesting. Yeah, the BH reviews seem to be all over the place. Makes me wonder if the Crane 3 would be the way to go, but then significantly more money.

The Moza Air 2 lists several Fujifilm cameras, including the X-T2 but not yet the X-T3, as "supported". I've reached out to see what exactly is supported and if X-T3 firmware is on the way. 

With such app-dependent interfaces, how can both of these companies produce such terrible apps?!

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

53 minutes ago, Walter H said:

Interesting. Yeah, the BH reviews seem to be all over the place. Makes me wonder if the Crane 3 would be the way to go, but then significantly more money.

The Moza Air 2 lists several Fujifilm cameras, including the X-T2 but not yet the X-T3, as "supported". I've reached out to see what exactly is supported and if X-T3 firmware is on the way. 

With such app-dependent interfaces, how can both of these companies produce such terrible apps?!

The Fstoppers review says that the gimbal is very good - but you need to balance it very well, or it behaves poorly.

https://fstoppers.com/originals/fstoppers-reviews-zhiyun-tech-weebill-lab-gimbal-imperfect-brilliant-321196

[Walter H]

1 hour ago, Márcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

The Fstoppers review says that the gimbal is very good - but you need to balance it very well, or it behaves poorly.

https://fstoppers.com/originals/fstoppers-reviews-zhiyun-tech-weebill-lab-gimbal-imperfect-brilliant-321196

also from four days ago on Fstoppers -- Moza Air 2 raving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3C0fw_8kAc

Need a proper comparison. 

I handled the Weebill Lab, Air 2, and the Crane 3 at B&H a bit more than a week ago. I loved the feeling of the Lab and it's compactness in hand. The Crane 3 was  heavier in-the-hand but the ergo's were even better, I thought. Worth an additional $300 over the Air 2 -- I'm doubtful. 

[webrunner5]

1 hour ago, Márcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

The Fstoppers review says that the gimbal is very good - but you need to balance it very well, or it behaves poorly.

https://fstoppers.com/originals/fstoppers-reviews-zhiyun-tech-weebill-lab-gimbal-imperfect-brilliant-321196

That is just one persons opinion, the author. Read the comments, they are not as kind.  Sure a Sony A7xxx, or the Fuji X-T3 with a small lens probably works well. But that is pretty limiting.

[UncleBobsPhotography]

Hopefully the negative feedback is mainly because they are comparing it with gimbals which are quite a bit heavier like the Ronin-S. About half of the negative comments I have read is about the lack of motor power, however, the other half is about half-finished firmware and app support. 

[Kisaha]

42 minutes ago, UncleBobsPhotography said:

Hopefully the negative feedback is mainly because they are comparing it with gimbals which are quite a bit heavier like the Ronin-S. About half of the negative comments I have read is about the lack of motor power, however, the other half is about half-finished firmware and app support. 

With both being equally troublesome for a gimbal!

[webrunner5]

Well I found out the Crane 3 weighs 4.144691 pounds, 1880g. So same as the Ronin-S

[BTM_Pix]

41 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Well I found out the Crane 3 weighs 4.144691 pounds

4.144691 pounds you say?

That's me off the list of potential purchasers then as its way too heavy.

I've vowed never to buy any gimbal that weighs over 3.141592 pounds as they are as easy as Pi to operate at that weight.