Zhiyun Weebill LAB vs Crane 3 LAB - Which One Should You Buy?!

What's up guys, my name is Alex Chung and today we are comparing the Zhiyun Weebill Lab vs the Crane 3. So Zhiyun recently came out with two brand new gimbals, the Weebill Lab and the Crane 3, and they're marketed towards two different types of filmmakers. And today I'm going to try and help you guys figure out which one you are. And really quick before we jump into the video, if you guys are on Instagram and you like looking at pictures of gear, camera shots, lenses, make sure you follow me on Instagram at I'm JustaChung. So without further ado, let's get started. Number one, design and size. The new design on both of these gimbals now allow you to get really low angle shots without having to put the gimbal in standby mode, flip it upside down, and then power it on again. With the new underslung mode, all you have to do now is take the gimbal and tilt it down and you're ready to go. On the Weebill, you can reposition the tripod legs up top so that it becomes a handle and all you have to do is now tilt down and you're ready to shoot in underslung mode. Both of these gimbals now have the new locking mechanism that allows you to lock off the axes so that when you're balancing it, it doesn't wobble around. And when you're transporting it from location to location, it's safely stored and you don't have to worry about the arms flinging back and forth and hitting something. So now let's take a closer look at some of the differences between the two designs. Right off the bat, you can tell that there's a huge size difference between the Weebill Lab and the Crane 3 Lab. The Weebill weighs in at two pounds while the Crane 3 weighs in at five pounds. Now you might think that the three pound difference isn't really that much, but when you're on a long shoot like on a wedding, when you're shooting for eight or 10 hours straight, your arms are definitely going to feel that three pound difference. However, with the bigger size of the Crane 3, it just naturally holds more weight. The payload limit on the Weebill Lab is only six pounds while the Crane 3 can hold up to 10 pounds of payload. And that payload difference is quite significant. It allows you to mount bigger cameras onto the Crane 3 and with heavier zoom lenses, while on the Weebill Lab, you're only able to mount smaller DSLR or mirrorless cameras with a lighter prime lens. Moving on, I'm going to quickly go over some other important differences between these two gimbals. On the Weebill Lab, you now have a dedicated trigger button on the front, which allows you to press and hold down on it to activate full follow mode so that when you tilt the gimbal down, up, pan it left and right, the camera also pans and moves with the gimbal itself. If you double tap on the trigger, it re-centers the entire camera. If you triple tap on it, it turns around for selfie mode. The quick release base plate system on the Weebill Lab is also very, very handy for taking the camera off of the gimbal really quickly. All you have to do is unscrew this, press it down, and you're able to take off this base plate very easily. And this is great if you need to swap out batteries or swap out a new SD card and you don't want to take the camera entirely off the gimbal and then have to rebalance it when you put it back on. Now, all you have to do is slide it back on and you're good to go. And another thing is that you have only one quarter inch rosette mount on the side of the Weebill Lab versus the Crane 3, which has two right here in the front and one in the back. On the Weebill Lab, you can only mount a follow focus, while on the Crane 3, you can mount a follow focus and a zoom controller at the same time. On these quarter inch rosette mounts, you can mount either the phone mount that comes with these two gimbals, or if you're like me, you can mount an external monitor on an articulating arm. And then one last tiny detail is that on the Crane 3, you have an actual joystick at the bottom, while on the Weebill Lab, you have the circle joystick that you find on the Crane 2. Number two, battery life. Battery life is really important for any gimbal if you're shooting for longer periods of time and you don't want to be constantly switching out batteries. And personally, I have never ever run out of battery on a shoot that I'm doing, and I always have at least a quarter or even a third of the battery life left after a long day shoot. But as a quick reminder for everybody, you have to properly balance your gimbals. Luckily, I have a video up here that I'll link for you guys to watch on how to properly balance your gimbal. So go check that out if you want to learn how to do it. Number three, stability. One of the most crucial parts of what makes a gimbal great is how well it stabilizes your footage. If it produces some shaky footage all the time, then it pretty much is useless. Now, I've been perusing the internet, reading some comments on the Weebill Lab, and people have been saying that when they're running with it at full speed, they don't get stable footage. All of the footage that they get is really shaky. And from my personal experience, yes, the Weebill Lab does produce a little bit of shaky footage, but please keep in mind that this gimbal was not made for you to run at full speed. This is a compact, travel-friendly gimbal that is not designed for you to just go ham and just go like crazy on this gimbal. However, if you do decide to run at full speed with this gimbal, the footage, in my opinion, is still completely usable. Once you apply warp stabilization in post, it completely smooths out any shakiness in the footage. Here is a BTS shot of me running while using the Weebill Lab. And here's that shot without any warp stabilization. And here's that same shot with warp stabilization. And as you can see, with a little bit of editing magic, you're able to smooth out any sort of bumpiness, and there's no problem with the footage at all. Now, on the Crane 3, the motors are definitely a lot stronger, and you don't have any sort of shaky footage problems like you do on the Weebill Lab. So if you are working on client work and you don't want to worry about whether or not the footage is going to be stabilized in post, then I definitely recommend the Crane 3 over the Weebill Lab for that peace of mind. Number four, portability. Now, I've touched on the size difference between the Weebill Lab and the Crane 3, and that directly translates into how portable these two gimbals are. Now, obviously, on the Weebill Lab, because it's so small and because it's so compact, you're able to fit it inside a regular backpack or throw it into your camera bag, and you still have tons of space to put cameras, lenses, all those kinds of accessories that you need in order to shoot. Especially once you take off the tripod legs and collapse the arms, this becomes a super tiny compact gimbal. Now, with the Crane 3, obviously, this thing is ginormous, and you can't fit it inside a regular backpack or any sort of camera bag. You have to find a bigger sized camera bag, and for me, when I travel with this Crane 3, I have to put it inside its case, and it does take up a lot of space, and it's just another thing that I have to remember to carry with me. So if you know you're going to be on the go, you need to get shots really, really quickly, then the Weebill Lab is the gimbal for you. However, if you're in a more controlled environment where you don't need to rush to get the shot, then the Crane 3 might be the actual better gimbal for you. Number five, ease of use. Now, when it comes to how easy it is to use or how quickly you can get familiar with the gimbal, the Weebill Lab is hands down the easiest of the two to learn how to use. Because it's so light and small, you're able to just pick it up and use it right away without having to spend too much time getting used to it. But with the Crane 3, it's heavier and bulkier. And with the new design of the gimbal, you're now forced to use only one hand down here, and then the other hand is used to steady the gimbal. And now this forces this arm to use a lot of strength, and you're only using one arm to hold up the entire gimbal, which can then lead to fatiguing your arm a lot quicker. So that means you have to set down the gimbal a lot more often and take a lot more breaks. When you're in underslung mode on the Crane 3, sometimes you have to put the gimbal off to the side so that your legs don't hit the gimbal as you're walking, or if you're running, your legs don't hit the gimbal and cause any sort of bumps in the footage. And that does take a little bit of time to get used to, especially when you're holding it with two hands. However, after a couple days of use with the Crane 3, I found that it was really easy and really natural for me to use it. On the Weebill Lab, I don't have that same problem as I do on the Crane 3. All I need to do is reposition the tripod leg up top, and I'm ready to shoot. It's really easy and super intuitive to use. Number six, price. Last but not least, we have to talk about the pricing between these two gimbals. Now, the Weebill Lab comes in at $599, while the Crane 3 comes in at $899. And these are sold exclusively on B&H Photo. And in my opinion, these two gimbals are definitely a bit on the pricier side, especially with the Weebill Lab. At its price point right now, it's competing with the likes of the Feiyu AK4000, the DJI Ronin-S, the Moza Air 2, and Zhiyun's own Crane 2. However, you do get a little bit less payload limit on the Weebill Lab, at only six pounds, versus some of the other gimbals have a little bit of a higher payload limit. So you are taking a little bit of a hit when it comes to what size of cameras and lens combos that you can mount on the Weebill Lab. But because it's so lightweight, because it's so portable, I think that the $599 price point is actually pretty fair for the functionality of the gimbal. Now, the Crane 3 is definitely one of the more expensive gimbals on the market right now, compared to some of its other competitors. But I think that for its price, you get a lot of functionality. You get a lot better handling. But in the end, it's definitely up to you guys to decide which gimbal is right for you. So number seven, conclusion. The big question is, which gimbal should you buy? And to answer that question in a general sense, the Weebill Lab is definitely more for people who are on the go, traveling a lot. They need to save space in their backpack or their camera bags. You really just cannot beat the size and the weight of the Weebill Lab. But if you're shooting weddings, if you're shooting corporate content, if you're shooting narrative films, then definitely the Crane 3 Lab is better for you. More specifically, if you're using any sort of lighter DSLR cameras or even mirrorless cameras with a lighter prime lens, then the Weebill Lab is definitely the gimbal for you. However, if you need to mount heavier DSLR, like the 1DX Mark II or the Canon 5D Mark IV with a heavy zoom lens, like the 16-35mm or the 24-70mm, then you definitely need the Crane 3, because the Weebill Lab just can't handle any sort of heavy zoom lenses, even with a smaller mirrorless camera. Keep in mind that physically, this takes more of a toll on you when you're using it than the Weebill Lab. The Crane 3 is definitely a pricier gimbal than pretty much any of the other gimbals on the market right now. So if you need heavier lenses on your cameras, then definitely the Crane 3 is worth the money. So that's it, guys. That's my comparison between the Weebill Lab and the Crane 3. If you have other questions, please leave it down below in the comments, and I'll try to answer as much as I can. I hope that you guys liked this video. If you did, please hit the like button, make sure to subscribe, hit the bell to get notified of every single video that I post. I will be making more content on the Crane 3, the Weebill Lab, filmmaking tutorials, so make sure you subscribe to stay updated. My name is Alex Chung, and I'll see you later. Bye!