The Inspire 2 came out a few months back and is a drone any aerial photographer would love to have because of it's portability, set up time, and overall quality compared to other high end drones on the market. I remember when this drone first came out and I was right by my computer to watch it be announced along with its little brother, the Phantom 4 Pro. I was blown away by the specs on the Inspire 2, however when both of these products came out, there was no video content to see aside from what DJI had produced because no one had access to these drones quite yet.
I found this video and was really impressed with the quality that DJI's new X5S is capable of putting out even against some of the most well known cameras out there now.
Sebastian talks us through a few of the features that the Inspire 2 offers, from the new battery to the improved gimbal and most importantly, the camera. He digs deeper into the stability and also speaks a little bit about color grading and video quality compared to cameras like the Sony a7s ii and the Alexa Arri Mini. If you are familiar with video codecs, he also compares pretty much all of them side by side so you can see the difference in sharpness and quality. As far as a review goes for video on the Inspire 2, I think this may be one of the best drones out there right now. Take a look at the short film that Sebastian created with the Inspire 2 and for more about Sebastian, check him out at Cinema 5d.
The I-2 has the same issues as the first version...no motor redundancy and low survivability of crashes. If this thing goes down, kiss at least $1500 down the drain. I broke one of the carbon fibre legs on a crash of less than 6ft AGL and my wallet was much lighter after the fix.
At least with the Mavic and Phantom series the cost of repair is so low...it really offsets the downgrade in video options..plus much more portable.
My Inspire 1 is out the door...to make room for the Mavic.
They are larger drones that fly a bit differently. Of course everyone has a preference in what they want and even I would like to have the Mavic for probably 80% of the stuff I do with drones and then I would have the Inspire 2 for bigger jobs and more important personal work. I'm sure these guys arent so cheap to repair but they do put out a hell of an image compared to the others
I have the I1 Pro, the P3 and ordered the Mavic. I want to keep all 3 of them. Each has their own strength and weaknesses. I need low light, variable focal length and full gimbal freedom -> take I1 Pro, I need a drone where I can put on all my filters and use all the accessories I have collected -> I take the Phantom. I need a small drone for travelling and putting it into my camera backpack among DSLRs -> I take the Mavic. Also, never forget. If you have a client booking, even if you can take the same image with a Phantom probably, I rather take the Inspire. Simply because it avoids discussions like - "oh my cousin also has a Phantom, next time I let him shoot it".
Ah - I forgot. I absolutely share the concern on the 4 motors. Maybe the Inspire 3 will be a hexacopter - who know :)
I'm still trying to figure out why they're charging $1000 for an Adobe cinemaDNG license. CinemaDNG is free:
"CinemaDNG is the result of an Adobe-led initiative to define an industry-wide open file format"
I would love an answer from DJI on this, as it appears to be an insulting cash grab.
I wasn't so sure why that was the case myself, seems a little odd.
I agree that motor redundancy is really important. The weak link in the chain is a motor failing on any drone and then it's over. Redundancy isn't a panacea but it would make me worry less about falling on a set.
I've had one drone crash on my and I think it had something to do with a motor failing cause it was completely fine and out of nowhere just died on me at a shoot. Never a good thing.
Great review thanks for sharing this. He really put the image quality to the test and had some good insight on file formats, really thorough.
I got a pre-release of the Inspire2 and did a review myself if anyone is interested in seeing more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4lTXfZM9BA&t=237s
Thanks Mike!! Great review on this.. Wish I could get my hands on one of these to test out myself!
Had to give up on this video the background sound drove me away
I didn't even notice that till you mentioned it haha wasn't paying attention to that.