Professional drone cinematography -- what it takes

[pixl]

Worthwhile viewing for all those hoping to do saleable cinematography-grade work with lightweight inexpensive drones

 

[virtualphotographers]

sorry dji, just can’t deal when it gets real. But hey, did anyone think the cameras on the inspire were going to produce comparable results as a Red camera (any Red camera)?

 

[pixl]

sorry dji, just can’t deal when it gets real. But hey, did anyone think the cameras on the inspire were going to produce comparable results as a Red camera (any Red camera)?

I think the Inspire platform is useful in certain circumstances -- sweeping wide landscapes being one of them*. But when there is the need for closer-in work where cinematography staples like focus racking and pulling are part of the job, it just won't do. If DJI can pull some of those abilities together, they can get a bigger slice of that pie. But no, an MFT 4k image is never going to compete with the Red/Red lens family....but inexpensive 8k high bitrate sensors are on the horizon... so perhaps.



*Having an Inspire around as a second, easy-to-launch drone is not a bad idea. There are many shots that don't require nearly the technology that the Movi/Red combo supplies. Sometimes good enough is good enough. And having $10-15k in the air is less stomach churning than having a $100k investment in the air.

 

[KDog]

Pretty sure the new X7 camera can focus rack and pull now and obviously has a few interchangeable lenses. Not invalidating the difference between Red and DJI cameras, but as we can see, things progress quickly in this space. I don’t know if DJI wants to compete with Red anyway - after all they were originally a drone company who got into cameras. They still produce the drones that many of the $100k cameras fly around on...

Edit: should have watched the film first; he mentions the poor quality of the iris racking on the Inspire. I assume this is relatively new and that he’d be using the X7. I’ve not used an Inspire before, but would be interested to know if they have fine stops rather than a true infinitely fine adjustment.