New DJI Phantom 4 Pro and Inspire 2

Just got the announcement for their two newest drones. Makes a little more sense why they were continuing the phantom line after the announced the Mavik. Both look like great drones.

And that X5S camera has me feeling 'specially ticklish ... not gonna be available for a while though, separately.

HUmmm, the Mavic for travel and Inspire for local ... maybe the 4 Pro

Gonna be a hard hard choice, too ... the disparity in quality vs. portability ... some trips I think would have to be made with the Inspire2 as central focus. I wonder if the case for the I2 is bigger than the case for the I1 ... if not ... well, it's not THAT horrible to carry around.

And the worst thing is I'm about to buy an X5R for a different project .. won't be able to get my hands on an X5S for 6 months or so, likely. Might not even work with my A3+LB2 system.

And we all know yet another amazing technological feat is around the corner .... like this one ... basically making all the old stuff obsolete ...

Ouch.

It makes me wonder how they can pull off 4K 60fps with such small cameras, while none of the regular manufacturers implement it in their small/medium sized bodies (GH series, A6500, A7S, 5D etc).

Some sensational looking drones though. Indeed Gene, once again...

Aha .. you caught me reading forums and DJI pages ... red-handed!

In the case of the I2, it kinda looks like some camera processing is going on inside the body of the aircraft, not just in the camera/gimbal, as was the case with the X3/X5 series. I'm not really sure how this is happening.

The problem is, for me, I'm about to buy an X5R , for an RC boat based thing/idea ... but the specs of the X5S are so much superior, it's hard to spend the money, yet if I KNEW it would be available for my A3+LB2/Matrice 600 adapter, then I would wait ... but as usual they are not clear and/or tightlipped about future compatibility.

Sounds like a full-kit for Inspire2 and X5S and SSD/licenses (yeah, another gotcha!) is over $8000. I'll be considering what the X4S might deliver, but, as you probably noticed, there is no Z4S (yet) ... which would be a really cool compromise ... 60p 4k, 100mb/s codec, and zoom ...

This is great news for me.
I have a Phantom 4 and the camera is little more than a toy: extremely low dynamic range, almost no info in the shadows, plenty of moiré and very soft images.
I have had several clips rejected for out of focus, which is technically impossible, as everything is supposed to be on focus on the P4, but I actually agree with the reviewer: the image is so soft that it can be considered out of focus. As a buyer I would not consider P4 footage acceptable.
The Mavic has some extremely interesting features: 28mm lens (the most important for me), small, less noise, the props always on. But at the end of the day the image is going to be just as bad.
Really looking forward to the P4 Pro

Does drone footage sell well? It's on the top of my 'buy list' I'd Probably start with a second hand phantom 3 pro, they're £600ish on ebay.

Drone footage is FUN to make ... and yeah, it does sell ... like any other technique/gimmick, as well as the demand for the content ... so it's no cure for bad sales or concept, but it can really expand one's portfolio, just like a slider, a jib, a stabilizer, etc.

I've had Inspire 1 footage rejected for artifacts ... so the new higher bitrates for the compression is a godsend.

No harm starting with a cheaper/older drone, (higher likelihood of crashing, you might not really take to it like some, etc) but you are gonna want to move up real quick.

Drone footage is really fun to make, yes, and I would love to use an Inspire RAW but it's just too big. I don't do any droning in my own city, I do it when I travel, and that means hiking long distances carrying multiple cameras, tripods, lenses and a slider. And a drone. Hopefully in a year the new Mavic 2 or Mavic Pro or whatever they will call it will have a 100mbit bitrate and produce more professional footage.