Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 Setup Guide: How to Balance the Gimbal Step by Step (with AI Unit)

Quick answer: Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 setup takes a few minutes. Fit the tripod, fix the small base plate under your camera, open the axis locks in order, mount the camera with the branding the right way up, then slide the silver and black quick-release levers until the screen shows a green balance indicator.

Bought a Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 and not sure where to start? Balancing a gimbal is not rocket science. In this guide I take you from unboxing to a fully balanced, powered-on WEEBILL 5 with the AI tracking unit fitted, using the same steps I follow in the video.

📺 This article is based on our YouTube video. Watch it on The New Camera channel or scroll down for the embedded video and full script.

Key Takeaways

• The box includes the gimbal, a heavy-duty tripod, two quick-release plates, cables and (in the Combo) the AI tracking unit.
• Keep the small screw and nut from the cable pouch safe: you need them for the base plate.
• Move the plate towards the edge if your camera has a large grip, to get clearance.
• Balance is correct when the WEEBILL 5 shows the green indicator.
• Payload is up to 3 kg, so full-frame mirrorless cameras with standard zooms fit.

What’s in the Box

• The main gimbal unit, which comes folded in its transport position
• A tripod that screws into the base and gives the gimbal stability. The build quality is heavy-duty
• A pouch of cables, plus an important screw you should keep safe
• Two quick-release base plates, one small and one large
• The AI tracking unit (LiDAR/camera module), included in the Combo kit

Tip: fix the small base plate under your camera first. The nut that fits it to the tripod mount is in the cable pouch.

Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 Setup: How to Balance It Step by Step

Step 1: Fix the Tripod

Screw the supplied tripod into the bottom of the handle and tighten it. Your initial setup is done.

Step 2: Understand the Three Axis Locks

The WEEBILL 5 has a lock on each motor, and each motor is labelled in small print:

• Pan axis motor: the biggest motor. Keep it locked for now and unlock it last
• Tilt axis motor: its lock sits just below it. The icon shows whether it is locked
• Roll axis motor: it has its own lock

Step 3: Unlock the First Axis and Fit the AI Unit

Unlock the first motor and rotate the arm so that the WEEBILL branding reads the right way up, not upside down. Unlock it and it will clutch into place by itself. Then unlock the last motor, rotate it so the branding faces the correct direction, and mount the AI unit on top. This is the module that handles the camera view and tracking. Make sure it is seated firmly.

Step 4: Mount the Camera with the Quick-Release Plate

1. Move all the lock levers to “unlock” and slide the large base plate into the clamp. It goes in slowly and adjusts itself
2. Lock it in its initial position with the silver lever next to the silver screw so the plate doesn’t wobble
3. Your camera’s hand grip needs clearance from the gimbal arm, so unlock the black lever, slide the whole plate out towards its edge, then lock the black lever again
4. Gently slide the camera in until you hear a click, then move the lever to the lock position. The camera will not move after that

Tip: always mount the camera with good clearance from the grip. That keeps the balancing adjustments you need to make to a minimum.

Step 5: Balance the First (Roll) Axis

If the camera tilts forward, nose down, the base plate needs to move back. Unlock the silver lever, slide the camera back with its base plate until it settles into position, and lock the silver lever again. The primary motor, which I call the roll motor in the video, is now balanced.

Step 6: Balance the Second Axis

Unlock the second motor and see whether it holds its position. If it doesn’t, adjust the large base plate: unlock the black lever and move the camera further out, up to its maximum edge if needed, until it balances. Then lock the black lever.

Step 7: Power On and Check the Green Indicator

Unlock the third axis and power on the gimbal. The gimbal tells you whether the camera is balanced: a green icon means it is properly stabilised. The AI unit also powers up and its LiDAR sensor light comes on. That’s it. You have balanced the WEEBILL 5 manually.

Quick Specs Worth Knowing

• Payload up to 3 kg, gimbal weight 1,080 g
• 1.8-inch touchscreen and built-in 3W fill light
• Built-in telescoping sling handle and native vertical shooting
• Dual-layer quick-release plate, so you can swap batteries without rebalancing
• 2600mAh battery, up to 9 hours runtime, USB-C charging
• Price in India: no official listing yet, so check latest price (global: US$429 Standard / US$529 Combo with AI module)

Official specifications: Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 parameters · WEEBILL 5 product page.

Pros and Cons of the Setup Experience

Pros

• Clearly labelled axis motors and locks
• Self-centring quick-release plate with separate black and silver locking levers
• Green on-screen indicator confirms correct balance
• Heavy-duty tripod in the box

Cons

• Small parts (screw, nut) are easy to lose, so keep the pouch safe
• Cameras with large grips need the plate moved to the edge for clearance

Verdict

Setting up the Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 is quick and beginner-friendly. Unlock the axes in the right order, keep the branding the right way up, give your camera grip clearance, and adjust the silver and black levers until the gimbal shows green. In the next part I explain how the AI unit and the other modules work. See my Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 review (AI tracking tested).

Related on CameraCrux:

• Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 review: does AI tracking work with full frame?
• Best Sony cameras in India for gimbal and video work
• Insta360 Luna Ultra review: when a pocket gimbal camera is enough

Frequently Asked Questions

Watch the Video

Prefer watching? Here is the full video, Zhiyun WEEBILL 5 Setup Guide – Learn First-Time Setup, from our YouTube channel:

Want more honest, India-focused camera advice in Hindi and English? Subscribe to The New Camera on YouTube (youtube.com/thenewcamera) for new reviews, camera news and buying guides every week.

Video Script

Here is the full video script, translated from Hindi into English and arranged step by step.

Unboxing

Now look, when you unbox it, take everything out from the back. This is the gimbal, the main unit. You initially get the gimbal in this position. After that, a tripod fits at the bottom on your base plate and gives stability to the camera and gimbal. Look at its quality: very solid, very heavy-duty.

Other than that, there is a bunch of wires. In this bag you get a screw, which is quite important, and you have to keep it. You get two base plates. And this is the LiDAR and camera unit, as I said.

Initially, the small base plate you get has to be fitted under your camera as soon as you get it, and the nut to fit it into the tripod mount is in this wire bag. Where to fit the second base plate, how to set it up and how easy it is, I am going to tell you everything in this video. And it is very easy. Okay? It’s not as if stabilising a gimbal is some big scary thing, brother. It is very easy.

Initial Setup: The Tripod

So first, what we do is tighten up the tripod they have given. And now we are ready. Your initial setup is done. Now we come to our secondary setup.

Understanding the Locks

But even before that, let me tell you that we have some locks, okay?

Pan axis motor

Here you can clearly see it is written “pan axis motor”, okay? This is our biggest motor, and its lock is given here. We have to keep it as it is for now. We will unlock it at the end.

Tilt axis motor

Right now we have two different locks. Here, maybe you can see, “tilt axis motor” is written, and its locking mechanism is given down here. And it is locked. You can see from the icon that, brother, it is locked right now.

Roll axis motor

And finally, here is our motor: this is the roll axis motor. It is written here in small letters, and its lock is here.

Unlocking the First Motor

Now, how do we set it up initially and quickly? First, we will unlock the lock of this first motor. When you unlock it, keep in mind that the WEEBILL branding should face you the right way up. You must not initially unlock and set it up in a way where you see WEEBILL upside down, okay? Understood? It should be in this position, so that you can read it out comfortably in the normal way. Then you unlock the motor and it will clutch by itself. So initially your gimbal has come to this position.

Let me adjust my camera a bit. Now we have no work with the lower portion. Whatever settings we need are in the upper portion. So let’s focus on that.

Attaching the AI Unit

First of all, let’s attach our poor AI unit lying here. For that, we first unlock the last motor, and we just have to put it like this. Finally, as you can see, in the upper position the WEEBILL branding is there, okay? The branding should be in this direction. And your AI unit, which does the camera and tracking work, has to be adjusted here, on top. Okay? It has been adjusted nicely.

Mounting the Camera

Inserting the large base plate

Now what do we have to do? Set up our camera. First, this big base plate has to go in this direction, inside this. But how? Okay, there are some initial locks and controls in it. When we unlock them, you will see that we have some locks and levers. I will tell you about them as we go. You can see the initial position of all the lock levers: we have to set them to unlock. And you can see we have to put it in this position. It will go in slowly and adjust itself. So you can see it has adjusted.

How will you know? With this you can move the entire plate up and down. Now, as you can see, it is quite free right now, so we have to adjust it after placing the camera. To lock it in the initial position, just set the silver lever next to the silver screw to the lock position, and your base plate won’t wobble.

Making room for the camera grip

Now, to set up the camera initially, as you can see, the camera is fitted on the small base plate. The hand grip needs good space from this, otherwise it won’t set up. That means we have to bring the base plate of the entire camera setup over here, and you have to understand how. We have to unlock this particular lever, the black lever, and then you can comfortably bring the entire base plate up to here. You will even see this edge: you can bring the entire base plate right to its edge. Okay? We keep it here and lock the lever initially. Okay? The lever is there. We locked it. We brought the base plate to the edge.

Why did we do this? So that a good distance is maintained between the camera’s hand grip and our gimbal arm.

Sliding the camera in

So we have to slide in the camera. Okay? Slide it in slowly. Look, do everything with a light hand. It will make a clutch sound and your camera will adjust into it. Okay? Then it won’t move either. Once it is there, what do you have to do? Once the camera goes in, put this lever in the lock position.

Balancing the Primary (Roll) Motor

Now, initially, you can see the camera is tilting down. So we have to adjust something to make it perfect. Since it is tilting from the front, it is very logical that we have to move the base plate back. How much? As you know, we will unlock the silver lever and move our camera back with its base plate. As you can see, very simply it has come to its position by itself. Lock the silver lever at the back, and it is fixed in place.

So you can see how easily, by fitting the base plate, you have set the silver lever, and the camera’s initial balance with its primary motor is done. While mounting, keep one thing in mind: mount your camera with a good distance from the grip, so you have to make minimal adjustments. So the balancing of the main motor, the initial motor, which we also call the roll motor, is done. Now we will go to the pan and tilt axis motors.

Balancing the Secondary Motor

Now we unlock our secondary motor and see whether it needs initial adjustment or not. We unlocked the motor, and you can see it needs initial adjustment because it is not in the right position. That clearly indicates we again have to adjust a base plate of the camera, the larger base plate, at its position.

So what do we do? Unlock the black lever below. The camera moves in this direction. We have to take the camera a little further, up to its maximum edge, so that balance is achieved. As you can see, as we move it further, it comes to a balanced position. And what we have to do now is lock the camera with the black lever.

Final Axis and Power On

These two main motors are adjusted, and finally we are going to unlock the third one from here. So we have adjusted the camera, okay? Now we will turn on the gimbal, and the gimbal itself will tell us whether our camera is properly stabilised or not. It will guide us by itself. And we are just powering up the gimbal.

And this is the green indication. The green icon you see clearly indicates that the camera is well stabilised, okay? We have set it up manually and quite successfully. Its AI unit has also got power. Its LiDAR sensor: we have the light, okay?

What’s Next

How all the other units work, we will tell you in our next video, okay? But how to do the initial setup, I hope you have understood from this basic video.