- Today we're talking about the Zhiyun Weebill Lab,
this really like crazy looking gimbal
and some reasons that I really like this
and why it might be one that you should consider.
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If you're new here on this channel,
my name is Jeven Dovey, I do gear reviews,
filmmaking tutorials, and I just like going on adventures
and doing some travels around the world.
So today we're talking about the Zhiyun Weebill Lab
and this is such a unique looking gimbal.
Now before we get into the details about this gimbal,
I just want to make note that this is not a sponsored video,
I was not paid to do this video.
Zhiyun did send me this gimbal for free for me to test out
but all of my opinions
are my honest opinions from here on out.
So the Weebill Lab is a smaller gimbal
when you compare it to some of the other ones in the market
and the reason for this is the design
And the design is very unique and interesting.
It's basically got an L-shape for all the controls
and the batteries rather than being a straight handle
like you see in a lot of other gimbals.
For example, I have the Moza Air 2 here
and this is the typical style that you see most gimbals now.
It's just the long kind of pole look
with the attachment on the bottom.
Now what Zhiyun has done is basically taken the batteries
from where they go on the bottom here,
typically this section in the bottom
is where the batteries are housed,
and they put it up here in the top of the L bracket.
Now this is great for two reasons
because when you take off the lower tripod,
you now just have a smaller gimbal to work with
so it's not as long.
Because they added these quick release plates on both ends,
you basically have the ability to switch
from an undersling mode to an oversling mode
which means that you could go
from shooting in different styles super fast.
So the design of this gimbal makes it very easy to work with
and use in a lot of different situations
without having to adjust much.
One of the things that I really like
are these added quick release plates that you can get.
They're about $20 a piece and you get two of them
and what it allows you to do is to take the mini tripod
and pop it off the bottom
and put it on the other side of the bracket.
And what that does is it allows you to go
from underslung to overslung.
Unfortunately, the quick releases
aren't provided in the original kit,
they have an additional kit
that's called like the Creator Kit,
it comes with a bunch of different parts
and out of the full kit there's a few things
that I've actually used.
So the quick release is one, there's two quick releases
that allows you to do this quick change.
Now the other piece is the motor
to allow you to do focus control.
So the focus control doesn't come with the gimbal,
it's an add-on, it's an additional accessory,
but it's the other piece
that I actually found myself using a lot
when I'm out testing with this gimbal.
So yesterday I spent the entire day
shooting a promotional video
for my buddies over at Box 'N Burn,
it's one of L.A.'s premium boxing gyms.
They're doing an online certification course
so that basically you can get certified to lead classes
in boxing so they teach their format.
So I was doing a promo video for them,
we shot in a bunch of different locations,
some of it inside, some of it outdoors
and it was a mix of run and gun shooting
while also having some more time
to actually set up lighting and do bigger shots.
Now I ended up using the Zhiyun Weebill Lab
on almost the entire day
just because of how easy it was to work with this gimbal
and be able to switch between the different modes.
And one of the things I found I used a lot is the focus
because on this gimbal specifically,
the focus wheel works very well.
Now when I first pulled the Weebill Lab out of the box,
nothing was working, I updated it through the phone
and since then I haven't actually had to use my phone
to connect it in anyway.
Once you do the update, once everything's updated,
the focus wheel works without having to click a button,
you just plug in the cable
and you have your focus wheel on the side of the gimbal.
One thing I really like about the Weebill Lab
is how the focus wheel is set up on the gimbal.
So you attach everything to the plate
that just slips onto the camera,
so essentially this is my set up.
I have my GH5, I have my 25 millimeter which is a 50 mil
and I have my motor set up on the plate that I just slip on
when I'm ready to get going.
Now what's cool about this is this is such a small package
for your motor and everything,
it all just cleans up very nice and very small.
This I throw in my bag and this I throw in my bag
and the beauty of this is that I don't have to reset
the motors to be able to fit it and to be able to lock it.
There's a lot of other gimbals where it doesn't fit flush
and you have to actually change your balance
to be able to put it in your bag.
With the way this one's designed and my GH5,
I actually don't.
And one of the coolest things about this kind of design
is that every motor locks.
So when you lock each motor, this thing is rigid
which is amazing because when you travel with gimbals
and you don't have locks,
basically your gimbal swings around and it could get damaged
and it's just kind of a pain.
So in comparison, this is the Moza Air 2,
it locks on one of the motors
but then this motor doesn't lock
and this 360 motor doesn't lock.
They have one locking motor
but I just don't understand why some of these companies
don't put locks on all the motors.
It makes it so much easier to travel with.
So essentially, when you're working with this,
you just have your gimbal set up ready to go,
your camera sled built, you slip it on,
do a couple seconds of quick adjustments
just to make sure everything's balanced
and you're good to start shooting.
That's kind of the really big perk about this gimbal
is that it's small, it's lightweight,
it's easy to get going and you can get good shots.
Now in terms of the footage and the stability,
I mean that's one of the most important things
about a gimbal, does it make your footage stable?
So I noticed at first when I was shooting with this gimbal,
I was getting a little bit bumpy footage.
As I started playing with the speeds
and I bumped up the motor power,
I was able to eliminate a lot of this.
So it comes down to figuring out
the motor speeds that work best with your camera.
So on this gimbal, I've been using my 25 millimeter,
my 15, and then my eight to 18.
So essentially, a 50-35 and 16 to 35.
So I've been using a range of lenses,
different weights, different sizes,
and I've gotten some pretty awesome footage
out of this gimbal.
So let me just show you a little sequence
of some of the shots I'm getting
and just so you could see how stable the footage is.
Everything's gonna be played back in real time,
I was shooting 4K60 for most of this
just so you could see how stable the footage is
and how much the camera moves around on the gimbal.
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And one last thing about usability
if you've worked with the Zhiyun Smooth 4,
it's essentially the same control setup.
So all the buttons are accessible on the actual handle,
you can have your lock, your follow, your tail lock follow,
your POV and all of your motor settings
can all be accessed through the handle,
you don't have to attach the app.
Now there's some really cool features in the app
that I haven't really dove much into yet,
I played around with them a little bit
but I'll do more of an in-depth review
as I work with this gimbal more and more.
There are some pretty cool things like object tracking
and then also you could basically use your phone
as like a motion controller
which I was playing around with it and works pretty well
so it's one of those things
I really just need to dive in this product
a little bit more and really work with it on more shoots.
Up until now, I've basically been using it
without the phone, I've just been using the settings
that I'm finding on the actual gimbal
and just working with it
in some different real-world settings
and I actually do really enjoy this gimbal.
So guys if you have any questions about this gimbal
or there's some features
that you want me to test out on a future video,
please leave that down in the comments below.
Also keep in mind that this is made for smaller cameras
so if you have a bigger camera with a heavier lens,
this probably isn't gonna be ideal for you
because it is gonna have a weight restriction on it.
They say that it could go up to 6.6 pounds,
I'm not sure, I haven't tested the entire max weight.
GH5 is pretty light with my light lenses.
If you're working with bigger cameras with bigger lenses,
this might not be the gimbal for you.
Alright guys, that is it.
If you're new to this channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button,
there's a lot of awesome filmmaking tutorials,
camera reviews, I also just like going on adventures
and I think that this is the perfect gimbal
to take with me when I'm traveling from now on.
Also make sure you head over to the creatorfilmschool.com
that's my nuts to bolts course
on how to be a creator or a filmmaker.
Lots of good stuff and guys that's it,
I'll see you on the next one.