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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

DJI Inspire 1. . . how good?

Frank,

As things currently stand in the US, you can buy an Inspire, or other drone, and fly it solely for recreation, as long as you aren't careless or reckless with it, and follow these guidelines -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF5Q9JvBhxM

If you plan to fly commercially you must have an FAA approved Section 333 exemption, pilots license and a Certificate of Authorization. Currently there are around 300 exemptions filed (one is ours), and 16 have been approved.
 
Frank Weeks said:
I have to admit…this looks pretty impressive. I would love to add this tool to the arsenal.

But so many questions!

It’s not an Epic but I have all but given up on flying ours. The difference in size would put the price out of logical range for us.

It would also increase the potential damage if it went down. I really fear the destruction any of these technological marvels might reap if anything went wrong and I doubt any insurance company would provide liability. Something large enough to fly the Epic could severely injure or possibly even kill a bystander. Not that this smaller version couldn’t inflict real pain and lawsuits. Add to that the potential of losing your precious Epic. Really make’s you think.
An Emmy winning friend of mine got into big time hot water for flying a small drone near a sporting event. Not over people but well back to pick up wide shots. The concern for the use of drones has sparked controversy everywhere and the true rules of operating one still escape me. By now most of you have heard about the drone ending up in the White House compound. Events like that are going to make flying drones even more difficult.

Another question about the DJI Inspire is can the camera that is include be replaced? We have heard concerns about moire. The camera appears to be part of the gimble. We know cameras will continue to improve. That would be an expensive upgrade.

That being said…We have not ruled out this or any capable drone. There’s just a lot we don’t yet understand. We’ll be paying attention!
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Flying an Epic isn't easy and requires a way more crew and time. I've done it and the results are amazing, 6K at 80FPS from above is stunning... But it's a massive risk. What I love about the inspire is that it's easy. If you see an opportunity, you can shoot it within minutes. Setting up and flying the Octocopter/RED setup takes at least an hour and at least a 3 person crew. The camera on the inspire is not perfect, but it's the best out there at the moment for a built in setup. The next step up in a larger craft with a GH4, which get's way more expensive and far more dangerous.

To answer your question concerning the camera. At this point, there are no other options for the Inspire. However... I am confident that DJI is working on creating other options for the Inspire. The gimbal is easily removable, and I would be willing to bet there will be a larger censor option in the not to distant future that will be available. The cost of the existing Inspire gimbal and camera is not that expensive, under a grand if I remember correctly, so I wouldn't image the cost to be too high when they do release the upgraded camera, whatever it ends up being.
 
Wendell Adkins said:
Frank,

As things currently stand in the US, you can buy an Inspire, or other drone, and fly it solely for recreation, as long as you aren't careless or reckless with it, and follow these guidelines -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF5Q9JvBhxM

If you plan to fly commercially you must have an FAA approved Section 333 exemption, pilots license and a Certificate of Authorization. Currently there are around 300 exemptions filed (one is ours), and 16 have been approved.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link Wendell. All the rules are straight forward accept one. Don't fly for commercial purposes. That's a tough one.
Just what is involved in obtaining FAA approved Section 333 exemption, pilots license and a Certificate of Authorization?

What I love about the inspire is that it's easy. If you see an opportunity, you can shoot it within minutes.
Click to expand...

Agreed. As beautiful as the Epic would be it is economically and logically out of reach for Us. The Inspire however is still in the cards.
 
Frank,

This will get you started. It took me a month to put ours together. It was a big head start that we already had 4 years of maintenance/flight records on our aircraft however.

http://aes.faa.gov/Petition/
 
Thanks again Wendell.
Any suggestions in preparing the petition?
Helpful websites besides those above?
Did you include links to your work to prove you work at a professional level?
 
Philip Lima said:
I have an inspire 1 and have flown 10+ hours on it already. It's an amazing craft and the camera is actually really good. I have shot extensively on GoPros from other UAVs and I would easily say the camera on the Inspire is better than any GoPro offering. I've also shot with a dragon from a UAV and it doesn't compare at all to that, but it's a lot simpler setup and isn't anywhere near the risk of putting a $60K+ package up. I think the camera falls right between a GoPro and GH4. The beauty of the Inspire is having full camera controls while it's in the air. You can switch between video and stills mode and easily toggle to manual controls and tweak every setting on the camera. Having the capabilities to do this while the craft is 3000ft+ out is amazing. I just shot up at Mavericks(surf spot) with the inspire and was blown away by the setup.

For reference, here are a couple videos I shot with the Inspire:



Both were shot at 4K 24 in LOG color profile, then edited and color corrected in FCPX. If anyone has any questions concerning the camera or wants a specific test shot, let me know as I'm happy to help.
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Philip,
Very well done!
 
Heres some footage shot with mine.

 
Bought one!

Bought one!

Nice work guys. I have had a Droidworx CX4 in development for a while. Still have plans for it but this is great for the price.

I just ordered the Inspire1.

Have plans to fly my EPIC some day but this will work for what I want to do now.

Also, looks like I'll look into the FAA app situation as I have Private Pilots license.

Not planning on flying anywhere near Washington DC though... :)
 
BHPhotovideo is out of stock on this pup. Who has it in stock?

Stephen
 
Great Philip! I'll call 'em!

Do I definitely need two controllers???

Stephen
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
Great Philip! I'll call 'em!

Do I definitely need two controllers???

Stephen
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Only if you want to have a second operator for the camera. I have two controllers and have only messed with it once, if you're decent at flying it you can do almost all the same work with a single controller. Also, you could get a second controller later down the road if change your mind. I got the second controller so my wife could learn to do it since we often go out and shoot together.
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
I honestly have no idea if a GoPro is "good enough" or not. I can tell you that I certainly don't want to risk a RED camera on a drone though!

Stephen
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Drone shots generally show majestic vistas - why would you shoot that using a crap plastic lens on a crap little camera? Aerials are exactly the kind of shot that, generally, are NOT much about story, and all about the eye candy, where a cheap camera is really making a farce out of the effort. That said, super fun toy for purely recreational purposes.
 
Robert Ruffo New said:
Drone shots generally show majestic vistas - why would you shoot that using a crap plastic lens on a crap little camera? Aerials are exactly the kind of shot that, generally, are NOT much about story, and all about the eye candy, where a cheap camera is really making a farce out of the effort. That said, super fun toy for purely recreational purposes.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, did you watch either of the videos I posted?
 
Robert Ruffo New said:
Drone shots generally show majestic vistas - why would you shoot that using a crap plastic lens on a crap little camera? Aerials are exactly the kind of shot that, generally, are NOT much about story, and all about the eye candy, where a cheap camera is really making a farce out of the effort. That said, super fun toy for purely recreational purposes.
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Ouch, Robert, Somewhat harsh. I think most here, especially those who do own an EPIC, know that we are not talking the same image quality. I know that if it was legal, I could definitely get paid to fly the 4K DJI machine.
 
We have nine different aerial rigs that are sized to fly cameras from GoPro to Epic. We never planned to have this many but we discovered that there is a very wide range of needs. The largest market up until now has been for the DSLR cameras. The inspire would be fine for television and could fit into this market. Cutting it with Epic footage however would not be a good move.
 
i wanted that thing as soon as it was released, but i agree with opinion that GoPro4 has less noise and inspire 1 is a bit oversharpened, at least to my eye,
i love my GoPro4, but i am anxious about their next model :)

 
Paramon Ivanovich said:
i wanted that thing as soon as it was released, but i agree with opinion that GoPro4 has less noise and inspire 1 is a bit oversharpened, at least to my eye,
i love my GoPro4, but i am anxious about their next model :)

Click to expand...

you know you can go into all the camera settings and take the default sharpening all the way down, same with contrast and saturation. Can also shoot in log. Lots of cool things when you go digging.
 
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