Zhiyun Weebill 2 _ A Gimbal with a Flip Out Screen!.

A portion of this video is made possible by Squarespace. The Zhiyun Weibo series has been my favorite series of gimbal stabilizers. It's got an awkward duck look to it, but all of this was designed to be for the sake of compactability. While the series as a whole is meant for lighter, smaller camera setups, and the Crane 2 and 3 are meant for the bigger, larger camera setups, Zhiyun somehow made it possible for even the tiny Weibo S to handle a front heavier load. So for lenses like the 16-35mm F2.8 and the 24-70mm F2.8, it carries that weight without too much of an issue. Now, while I don't often use a setup like that, it's nice to have that option for when I do and do want to. So maybe you can start to see a little as to why I'm a fan of the Weibo. And like many tech these days, we are bound to see an update to a product. And today, in 2021, we officially have the new Weibo 2. So it's been a while since I worked with Zhiyun, but they invited me to check out the new Weibo 2 after hearing my interest for it in one of my Korea videos last month. Quite funny enough, I actually had no idea that it was coming out. I was just like, yeah, well, you know, Zhiyun was gonna come out with the next Weibo. I'm like, I might wanna get it. And they're just like, yeah, well, actually, we do have this coming out if you wanna check it out. And I'm like, hell yeah, sent that over because the timing couldn't have been any better. The Weibo 2 returns with a lot of familiarities and also some new surprises. But if you're new to the Weibo series, here are what's great about the gimbal. It has a locking mechanism on each of the axes to protect it from getting damaged when you're taking it around. Incredibly handy. The plate that's used to mount the camera to the gimbal is the exact same 501PL design, which is commonly found on Manfrotto tripods. So in case you have them, you can kinda switch back and forth between the gimbal and the tripod without taking off your plate. But I, for one, for many years, still adapt the small Manfrotto 323RC quick release system to avoid having to rebalance the gimbal every time. I will have a link to this down in the description box below in case you're interested. I have been using the small plates all across my sticks, but that's not for this video. Let's go ahead and move on. You have an option to use it in undersling mode by screwing the tripod legs up here or attach the optional grip on the top. Now, if you've used the previous Weibos, it seems like they aren't adapting the quick release tripod system anymore, which is a bit strange because I really love that about the Weibo, making the switch back and forth between undersling mode and tripod mode was incredibly easy. But if I had to make a guess as to why they decided to omit it, it's probably because it doesn't fit nor work with this design. But speaking of design, the grip here, I say, is a lot more comfortable. We do not have the buttons and interface here on the back, which allows us to grip the gimbal better. A lot of the buttons and control got shifted over to the left side, which I am a fan of. Now, the Weibo 2 operates with a built-in battery. I personally don't mind it, but some people might like to have spare batteries during an all-day shoot, and it doesn't seem like you can swap out the batteries without swapping out the entire gimbal. But luckily, it does take USB-C charging, not a proprietary charger, so we can leave this plugged in when it's not in use. Okay, so what are the surprises? Definitely the main thing that sticks out is this built-in flip-out screen. Anyone else you watch talking about this gimbal will likely focus on it, but I'll go ahead and give you my take as to why I like it. Well, for one, a gimbal with a flip-out screen, like, what? What is this? Why would a gimbal need a flip-out screen? Seems like a gimmick to me. But immediately after using this, it does go beyond the marketing gimmick. I can change a lot of my gimbal settings without the gimbal itself on this touchscreen without ever needing to pull out my phone, and I think that's fantastic. You see, I have this common complaint across my videos whenever I talk about camera gear. Hell, even especially household gadgets. That requires me to Bluetooth my phone into the device just to activate a certain feature or make one little change. It is especially annoying when you're on the job and the Bluetooth isn't connecting and you're just wasting time trying to fiddle with it and pray that it would finally connect so you can just do the one thing that it's supposed to do. So I'm extremely happy that Zhiyun is trying to minimize that with the WeWO. And actually, they've been doing this for a while now. You've been following the WeWO Evolution. Wow, that's actually a great product name, WeWO Evolution. Maybe they should make the WeWO 3 and call it the WeWO Evolution. You're welcome, Zhiyun, that's a freebie. That's a freebie for you, take it. Just go ahead and take it, wow. So with the previous WeWOs, you can change the settings off the gimbal itself, albeit through a teeny little OLED display. But this screen here offers a huge quality of life improvement. It's touchscreen, so navigation through everything is so much more streamlined. And it folds in and out easily if you choose not to have it out all the time. And you can turn off the display to conserve a bit of battery. So let's quickly go through some of the options that we have here on the screen. We have auto calibration, which is highly recommended every time you mount a different setup with any type of weight change to ensure that you have optimal stability. Balance check, which when you stress the gimbal a bit during operation, tells you which axis might need some physical adjustment for better balance. Parameter settings allows you to fine tune the smoothness, the follow speed, the dead band, and joystick, which is an absolute must for everyone since not everyone shares the same gimbal workflow. Some likes it snappy for the action stuff, and some, like me, just likes to take it slow and smooth for the peaceful shots. Control wheel here allows you to change the ISO, shutter, or aperture through this dial right here if you have a connected USB cable, or if you attach the follow focus device, you can manually control the rotation of focus with this knob. Now, I personally don't use the follow focus device because I am very happy and extremely reliant on the Sony autofocusing system. And of course, advanced features like time lapse and motion lapse, which now, with this flip out screen, makes it so much easier to set up and program. But the question on everyone's mind is, can this be used as an external monitor? And to that, Zhiyun says, yeah, why not? Would be weird that it wouldn't, right? It's kind of hard to show you guys, but yeah, there you go, see, that's me right there. This is the lens, this is the camera right here. Look, I'm not faking this, this is all real. This is some insane stuff right here. I'll cut to a B-roll right now so it better shows you what this is all about. All right, so it works, this answers people's question, but it will require the transmission device for HDMI connection. Obviously, but it's pretty simple to get this set up. You will have to mount the attachment plate under here via some mini screws, which is provided if you have the transmission device, and it will slot right in. With a couple of provided cables, a quick rebalance, a power on, swipe down on the menu, and boom, we are rockin' and rollin'. Now, this screen here is nice if you have a camera without a flip out screen, because hey, sometimes we get caught using the gimbal in an awkward position and we really can't see our framing, this articulating screen here will help with that, and potentially saves us from mounting a bigger five inch display here on the side, which in some quick cases, extremely just one shot, five seconds, would be completely unnecessary. Now, with most gimbals these days, we are able to use it to track moving subjects, and Zhiyun caused their own, the smart follow. I don't believe you can tap on the screen on the gimbal itself to activate the follow, but rather a press of a button on the front trigger with the subject of desire in the center that you want to track. Now, depending on the shoot, this might require you to adjust the different speed and follow settings in case you need the smart follow to track aggressively or calmly. This is something I would probably use if I need to do any sort of hosting or house touring videos, but I don't really do too much of that, but hey, I can see me doing something like that for 192. But in terms of modes, it has all the stabilizer modes that we are familiar with, pan follow, lock, and full follow, which now can be toggled through this tick right here. Though, keep in mind, every initial boot would put it back into pan follow by default, regardless where the tick is at. Now, there are other modes hidden within the menu like POV, Go, Portrait, and Vortex mode, and those are just different flavors for you to use. So that begs the question, do you need it? Do you need to upgrade to this? Well, that answer is entirely up to you. Overall, the seemingly gimmicky part of the Weibo 2 is surprisingly the most welcome quality of life improvement. Again, simply being able to make changes within the gimbal itself beats whipping out our phone every time, and in my opinion, well worth the upgrade from the previous models. While the screen is a bit small, it's just enough to act as a quick secondary monitor for framing during tricky uses, and definitely beats having to mount a separate big old five inch monitor here on the side. But if you find what you have right now is still doing its job, well, then maybe you'll pass on this. But if you've been sorely needing an upgrade and you're using very similar mirrorless setups like me, then hey, well, maybe the Weibo 2 might just be for you. Squarespace is an all-in-one platform to create beautiful websites. No coding knowledge whatsoever. Perfect for people like me because I just wanna make YouTube videos for you guys and not have to worry about coding my entire website. Simply just select one of their templates to get started. Every aspect is easily customizable with their drag and drop feature. Whether you're in need of a portfolio, an e-commerce store, or even a simple blog, design it with Squarespace. Use my link down below to test it out, and when you're ready to launch your first website or domain, use my code, jasonvong, to save 10% off. Guys, thank you so much for watching. I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.