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Drone to cut with Dragon sensor - question for an upcoming project

Josef Gatti

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Hi there everybody,

I'm working on a project where I want to cut between aerials and dragon footage from the ground.

This project has a modest budget, we can't afford to put my dragon in the sky so looking for alternatives.

It will hit TV and larger projection spaces at museums, film festivals, etc. and I'm hoping to avoid significant difference in quality/aesthetic when cutting from air to ground. I know there will have to be some trade off, but I'm hoping to find the best compromise possible.

We're finishing in 4K DCI so resolution not so much an issue than sensor size, dynamic range, raw capture.

Could anyone help me out here?

From my research it's looking like Inspire 2 + X7 could be the way to go, but I have no experience here and I'd love to hear from you all.

Thanks
 
The Mavic 2 Pro has a 1" sensor and delivers a 4K, 3840x2160 image. The image is very nice and certainly on the less expensive side. Depends on what you consider as being acceptable. Might be worth considering.

But the Inspire with the X7 is definitely better, imho.
 
Thanks Mark. We've got a Mavick 2 which I love for social media projects even okay for TVC but looking for a little bit more for this project.

In your opinion, how much better do you find the X7? Just a little or considerably?

The Mavic 2 Pro has a 1" sensor and delivers a 4K, 3840x2160 image. The image is very nice and certainly on the less expensive side. Depends on what you consider as being acceptable. Might be worth considering.

But the Inspire with the X7 is definitely better, imho.
 
Well it's not going to be like flying your RED, if that's what you're hoping. Midway between a Mavic and a Dragon hanging from an Alta, is probably the best way I'd think of it. A lot of productions use the Inspire/X7 setup for the same reason you're considering. It's cheaper and will intercut well enough, especially if the clips are short and how particular you are for this project.

And I agree with what you said about the Mavic. I too have one and it's fine, for what it is. I just used it for a DIYNetwork shoot and it intercuts very nicely, with the iPhone 11 Pro.

Horses for courses.
 
I think Björn flies an X7 and has intercut with Dragon on a few projects (all of which were top notch), most notably the snake rollercoaster one. Actually wait... on that project he may have used GoPro7 *and* Mavic 2 Hasselblad, as well...

...in any case, everything he posts matches quite well.

EDIT: Found the thread: https://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?175580-GR%D6NALUND-SNAKE
 
Difference between the x7 and the Mavic is considerable, especially on tricky lighting conditions. The codec is much more tweakable as well, in prores 4444 or raw cinema DNG. Other than just the quality you can use different lenses and have 2 operators control it for harder camera movements. The camera below is the X5s, still better than the Mavic 2.
Budget are not the same though, in France for a mavic you'd need around 750 euros a day, and it's around 1500 a day for a full pack inspire 2 + x7
 
X7 Is a really nice camera. For big vistas etc I even think it better than dragon as it does not have as much of an olpf. The image is super sharp which is good for wide shots with lot of detail. As long as you dont clip or underexpose you will be more than happy with the result. Good to shoot some colorcharts with both setups then your colorist should have no problems to match the two.
 
That's great insight about the olpf Björn, good to know it's right for the kind of work we'll be doing. Appreciate it!

X7 Is a really nice camera. For big vistas etc I even think it better than dragon as it does not have as much of an olpf. The image is super sharp which is good for wide shots with lot of detail. As long as you dont clip or underexpose you will be more than happy with the result. Good to shoot some colorcharts with both setups then your colorist should have no problems to match the two.

You're all legends thank you everybody. Found myself an Inspire 2 + X7 operator locally and within budget.
 
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