DJI Inspire 1 Pro against GH4 - 4K videos

[Airborne Imaging]

Hi

I am deliberating regarding the purchase of an Inspire 1 Pro, my Phantom 2 is in need of replacement and although the Inspire 1 X5 camera looks good in the promo videos , are there any users willing to offer comments on how the X5 stacks up to the GH4 on a daily real world basis

many thanks

Dave

 

[Buzz_Roavr]

No comparison. The GH4 is heads and shoulders above the X3 or X5. The X5 is a little better than the GH4 but there is still many many more advantages to the GH4. Bitrate is at least double. @Jumpy07 has done some comparison work.

 

[Bartman]

Dave, where are you located?

 

[Airborne Imaging]

Hi Bartman

I am based in Luton,Bedfordshire, UK

Buzz-Roavr ... thanks for your response, do you mean X5R is a bit better than GH4 ? This is good feedback .. thanks .. and stills ??

When HDMI output is connected to GH4 it forces us to 12MP stills as the aspect ratio changes to 16:9. 16MP is only available on 4:3 aspect ratio .. real pain

Does the 16MB of the Inspire Pro have any noticeable advantage over a GH4 on 12MP. Use would be primarily for property aerial stills

 

[jfro]

Hi

I am deliberating regarding the purchase of an Inspire 1 Pro, my Phantom 2 is in need of replacement and although the Inspire 1 X5 camera looks good in the promo videos , are there any users willing to offer comments on how the X5 stacks up to the GH4 on a daily real world basis

many thanks

Dave

I have the x3 and a bunch of other drones that I fly the gh4 and gh3 on. I have held off on the x5 as DJI never get's anything right on first production units even though I'm prone to buy when things first come out. I spend a fair bit of time and don't remember anybody saving the x5 footage is better than a gh4.

Since I don't have both, I can't give you a definitive answer. However, I'd suggest you do more research into your question. I haven't found anything out there on the internet that would spur me on to buying an x5 yet to replace or duplicate the quality of my gh3 or gh4.

 

[SleepyC]

I have both a GH4 and an X5. The GH4 is better.
The X5 is very nice tho and for how well the I1V2 flies with it attached it's a hard sell to worry about the difference.
DJI could make the X5 better and closer to a GH4 with a firmware update, as the sensor can do a lot more than they are currently letting it.
But again, I'm really liking the X5 so far... but I have more testing to do!

 

[SamaraMedia]

So does this mean you'll be parking your X8's and hex's in favor of the X5?

 

[SleepyC]

So does this mean you'll be parking your X8's and hex's in favor of the X5?

For the most part. No reason to fly em for 99% of what I do.
Also they just upped the X5's bit rate in a update today.

Increased the sensor’s pixel bit-width from 10bit to 12bit for the following modes: 4KP30/25/24, 2.7KP30/25/24 and 1080P30/25/24.

SO I'm looking forward to seeing what that looks like.

But of course it's FRICKING DJI so even though I had a successful update I'm getting errors...

View attachment 26983 View attachment 26984

 

[Motopreserve]

@Sleepy when did you get the Inspire??? I knew you had the Phantom 3. But I missed the Inspire purchase. How are you comparing it to the Phantom 3?

 

[Jumpy07]

X5 Bit Rates.. as stated.. no where near the GH4.... major difference in quality of both cameras.. GH4 wins hands down

 

[Airborne Imaging]

Guys, I really appreciate your input, I have applied the brakes to the X5 purchase for now..

Jumpy07, thanks for this , caused me to read up on bit rate, 4k does not necessarily equal 4K, now I understand bit rate better, now i can start to compare cameras...

 

[SamaraMedia]

@SleepyC, read on another forum that the upgrade is for Inspire1 with X3, not X5, if that helps. Sounds like the same error message you're getting. Blade Strike and Tahoe Ed said you need to wait for the X5 upgrade...

 

[dazzab]

X5 Bit Rates.. as stated.. no where near the GH4.... major difference in quality of both cameras.. GH4 wins hands down

Check out the bit rates of the X5R instead.

 

[SleepyC]

@SleepyC, read on another forum that the upgrade is for Inspire1 with X3, not X5, if that helps. Sounds like the same error message you're getting. Blade Strike and Tahoe Ed said you need to wait for the X5 upgrade...

Well it was for the x5 too. I had to put my x3 on and then upgrade to the I1's new firmware and then delete the .bin file, install my X5 and all is right in the world. Ahhh DJI so much fun. But man does the I1 Pro fly nice. I added 14" CF T-Motor props. Holy balls. Smoother than any rig I have owned, or at least as smooth as my x8's.

 

[dazzab]

Well it was for the x5 too. I had to put my x3 on and then upgrade to the I1's new firmware and then delete the .bin file, install my X5 and all is right in the world. Ahhh DJI so much fun. But man does the I1 Pro fly nice. I added 14" CF T-Motor props. Holy balls. Smoother than any rig I have owned, or at least as smooth as my x8's.

After years getting my SkyJib with Panasonic GH4 (originally had a full frame Nikon on it but much prefer the GH4) ready for commercial flight I'm a bit worried that my Inspire really can do it much better (if I upgrade the X3 camera). The Inspire is just so easy to fly and to transport that it's much more efficient to work with (think profitable).

The only advantage the SkyJib has right now is that CASA requires proof of flying with a motor out for certain activities. No way an Inspire can do that. I wonder if DJI have any plans for an X8?

 

[Buzz_Roavr]

Check out the bit rates of the X5R instead.

Check out the price! Lot of money to hang on a quad IMO.

 

[dazzab]

Check out the price! Lot of money to hang on a quad IMO.

Excellent point and why I'd like to see an Inspire X8 coax.

However, I bet a lot of octo owners don't realise that they don't have the redundancy that they think they do. If your hover rate is over 50%, which many heavy lifters are, then the copter won't be able to maintain flight if one motor dies. At least in the case of a coax. I'd assume a flat 8 would be similar. I'd love to see some actual videos of various weights etc. with a motor failure.

 

[Carapau]

Ive had a motor fail on my X8 flying at just shy of 20kgs. Happened 10ft above the water in the middle of a lake. There was a slight twitch and a very odd sound (sound turned out to be a capacitor blowing out) and so I tried to bring it back to the boat. Flew perfectly as if all 8 motors were running. All I can say is that my aircraft wasn't the only thing to twitch!

 

[dazzab]

Ive had a motor fail on my X8 flying at just shy of 20kgs. Happened 10ft above the water in the middle of a lake. There was a slight twitch and a very odd sound (sound turned out to be a capacitor blowing out) and so I tried to bring it back to the boat. Flew perfectly as if all 8 motors were running. All I can say is that my aircraft wasn't the only thing to twitch!

20Kg is twice the weight of my SkyJib. It's good to hear that the redundancy actually worked for you. As for the twitching, maybe we should all be carrying extra underwear in our kits just for such incidents.

 

[SleepyC]

I lost a motor on my large X8 carrying an M5 and GH4 with a 14mm Cine lens and 4/3 to canon glass speed booster. And I had the same result as Carapau... weird twitch and then the rig flew totally normal. I got HUGE billowing red smoke from my ESC that was on fire, but besides that landed without incident.

I also fly a Inspire 1 Pro and trust it. It flies great and is very quick to get up and running.