DJI Zenmuse X5R Review

[Lee Kelly]

I too have seen some recent footage with this setup and on set with an operator and was very impressed, considering its so small and lightweight.

When you suggest its decent in low light, what would you consider decent?
I witnessed some dusk shots recently and the blacks looked fairly clean but that being said, there was still a glow in the sky, but the areas in shadow were not blocky and 'compresssed' looking.
Your lowlight shot didnt look too lowlight, kind of loooked like a well lit scene with a practical lamp in the shot. Be interesting to turn everything else off, shot at night and only lit with that lamp.
Reviews are hard when you do like a product because I am sure there are downfalls to this thing but in a favourable review, youre not really going to point those out. When I told my friend, who is a professional operator that I was really impressed by this one, he kind of rolled his eyes like 'yeah but you dont reallly know...'

 

[Nicholas Austin Skinner]

Reviews are hard when you do like a product because I am sure there are downfalls to this thing but in a favourable review, youre not really going to point those out. When I told my friend, who is a professional operator that I was really impressed by this one, he kind of rolled his eyes like 'yeah but you dont reallly know...'

The X5R does look somewhat intriguing as a more portable solution, compared with our heavy lifter UAV setup. That said, I do recall seeing a lot of heavy aliasing in the footage released by DJI when they first started promoting the X5R. I wonder if anyone cares to chime in on the aliasing and moiré?

Overall I prefer flying a real cinema camera with the heavy lifter, though having a smaller more portable solution could be handy in less accessible locations.

 

[Lee Kelly]

I guess in a way its similar to when new cheap cameras pop up for the underwater world, and actually look just as good or better than the big boys, it gets people nervous. Most of us here have spent quite a bit of money on a high end product and dont really like the idea of a camera 1/10th of the price making waves.
I think my friend rolling his eyes was a combination of 'yeah its good but now everyone will want to just use this for a fraction of the day rate over the heavy lift setup' Considering many drone shots in tv commercial world are establishing shots or the odd quick drone edit for car spots you dont really have time to pick it apart before its over.
My 'review' from seeing this whirly bird and camera being pushed recently was that i was impressed and a small part of me considered buying one because i am a gear whore. Then sensibility set in. Its like boats. The best kind of boat is someone elses boat.

 

[Joe Pontecorvo]

I too have seen some recent footage with this setup and on set with an operator and was very impressed, considering its so small and lightweight.

When you suggest its decent in low light, what would you consider decent?
I witnessed some dusk shots recently and the blacks looked fairly clean but that being said, there was still a glow in the sky, but the areas in shadow were not blocky and 'compresssed' looking.
Your lowlight shot didnt look too lowlight, kind of loooked like a well lit scene with a practical lamp in the shot. Be interesting to turn everything else off, shot at night and only lit with that lamp.
Reviews are hard when you do like a product because I am sure there are downfalls to this thing but in a favourable review, youre not really going to point those out. When I told my friend, who is a professional operator that I was really impressed by this one, he kind of rolled his eyes like 'yeah but you dont reallly know...'

I think it's a pretty poor performer in low light and I usually don;t go above 400 ISO - but others may have had a different experience.

 

[Ash Worth]

The X5R does look somewhat intriguing as a more portable solution, compared with our heavy lifter UAV setup. That said, I do recall seeing a lot of heavy aliasing in the footage released by DJI when they first started promoting the X5R. I wonder if anyone cares to chime in on the aliasing and moiré?

Overall I prefer flying a real cinema camera with the heavy lifter, though having a smaller more portable solution could be handy in less accessible locations.

For 6K it's a perfect solution for medium budget shoots. Owner / operator pays off kit in what 3 days? This will be competitive market.

 

[Mark Andersen]

I have one, I shoot a lot of stock and this price points makes it much more feasible. The quality is pretty good for the price, not Red but pretty darn good nonetheless. It will travel well (Iceland is coming up for me) and it's pretty easy to learn to fly and control. I think it's a pretty awesome product once you get used to it, get used to the post process and all the little details and idiosynchracies.

 

[Marcel M]

its all fun until you walk over to the DIT with the SSD and ask if they have Cinelight :emote_happyhappy:

wish DJI would fix the post process its a nightmare

 

[Tom Hamilton]

I use the DJI lens that came with the Inspire, has anyone used the Olympus Zuiko set? Thoughts?

Agree the post is painful, SSD offloads require time-consuming transcodes on the spot, unless anyone has figured out a way to transfer the files?

 

[kevinjoelson]

What is the X5R's 4k RAW record time on the 512 SSD?

 

[Sergio Perez]

I use the DJI lens that came with the Inspire, has anyone used the Olympus Zuiko set? Thoughts?

Agree the post is painful, SSD offloads require time-consuming transcodes on the spot, unless anyone has figured out a way to transfer the files?

I'm using it. The opening two aerials, as well as the square ones with the performances and the band, where shot with the X5R and Olympus combo. The other aerials ( water and people riding the paddle boats) were shot with a Phantom 3. This commercial was shot on a Red Scarlet. ( I was only responsible for the X5R shots here)

It cutted way better with the Red footage than the Phantom 3 shots which stand out in a poor way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVx0JTzLkU

 

[Minu Park]

Well,

I really don't mind using DJI X5 as it is.

Password: 2016

Here is last week flying with "X5, not the X5R"

It def works like charm.

you just need to know how to use the tool.