Let me start out by pointing out that I am not into videography, but there is something about beautifully smooth, high image quality, aerial video footage in cinema movies that makes the movies that much more compelling to watch, and I could see there are endless cinematic opportunities for a system which can deliver this.
DJI Zenmuse have previously had a quadcopter drone with a Go Pro camera in their X3 system but their newly announced X5 system takes this to a whole new level by adding a much larger and thus much higher image quality Micro Four Thirds based sensor camera with a Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens mount.
To me, if one was going to fly a camera and control it remotely, the Micro Four Thirds sensor size would appear to give the optimum characteristics of image quality, compact, light size of the camera and lens to allow optimum GPS-based image stabilisation corrections at a sub-pexel level for smooth, sharp imagery and longer quadcopter battery life, adequate depth of field at wide open apertures.
And so we now have what appears to be an awesome system that purports to achieve all this – just look at the specs of the DJI Zenmuse X5R system!
DJI Zenmuse X5R system specifications:
- DJI Inspire 1 Quadcopter
- RRP $US2299
- 1.2mile range, 360deg unobstructed views
- GPS-based stabilisation system (precision accuracy of 0.02° giving sub-pixel stabilization)
- Optical Flow Sensor for Indoor Flying
- DJI Lightbridge System Integrated as well as 720p monitoring via Lightbridge
- DJI Zenmuse X5R camera and 3 axis gimbal kit
- RRP $US4999
- 12.8 stops dynamic range 16mp sensor with ISO range of 100-25600, 7fps stills, and shutter to 1/8000th sec
- records to a removable 512Gb SSD drive
- records 16mp RAW stills or incredible lossless cinema 24p/30p 4K RAW 1.7Gbps (average bit rate, max. 2.4Gbps) video
- ease of use to give “effortless aerial imaging”:
- in auto-focus mode, simply tap on the screen of your mobile device to tell the camera to focus on a specific area
- easily manually change settings such as focus, shutter, and aperture through the user-friendly DJI GO app
- Zebra Pattern and Focus Peaking
- Follow-Focus compatible Micro Four Thirds lenses:
- Olympus mZD 12mm f/2.0
- DJI 15mm f/1.7 RRP $US599 or $US499 when bundled with camera
- Panasonic Leica DG 15mm f/1.7
- optional DJI remote controlled Follow Focus controller for manual focus
- follow focus controller $US1999 and remote controller $US999 works to 100m line of sight
If you don’t need 4K RAW video and are happy with just 4K video, then the much more affordable DJI Zenmuse X5 with 3 axis gimbal may address your needs:
- 30p 4K, 30p 2.7K and 60p HD video
- record to microSD cards (no SSD drive option)
- RRP $US1699
You need to check out their website for example videos and more details.
Yep, no more cumbersome dollies and learning image stabilisation rigs to do videos with a camera that moves, just do it with this quadcopter for amazing perspectives and versatility and 4K RAW video to boot is just amazing!
Sure, it may not have the 14 stops dynamic range of the newly announced 12mp Sony a7S II full frame mirrorless camera but this kit will be more manoeuvrable, less expensive (especially if it crashes or an eagle attacks it), give 4K RAW video, and should give imagery quality and perspectives not possible with a heavier and larger Sony kit.
I really wish I had one of these for the canyon shots in Northern Territory!
Thanks to 43Rumors website for bringing this to my attention.