In a few years, will floating aerial shots be commonplace in big Hollywood films? In smaller, festival and art-house films? We’ve been covering the best drones for over 2 years now and have seen an impressive evolution of quality and possibility that new technology brings.
We’re well on our way, with the technology remaining simple and streamlined and delivering higher quality results.
To that end: here’s the DJI Inspire 1 Pro with the Zenmuse X5 4K camera. This is a high-end tool for creating crisp still photos and video with beautiful color and detail.
Zenmuse X5
Because the camera is the feature that justifies spending (at present) $3,900 on the quadcopter, let’s start with it.The Zenmuse X5 is built for professional aerial photography uses, including state-of-the-art cinematography for commercial release.
It is built for speed, capturing 30 frames per second. Its 4K UHD video is at 29.97 p. Standard is DCI 4K 4096 X 2160.
Now, not only can you shoot video, but you can stream it live to your device, which means not shooting blind, if you will. The camera links to your remote control device, operated by the DJI GO app. This allows you to toggle from recording video to taking still photos.
I tested the copter and its Zenmuse in the rural area where I live. Spring is a great time to shoot photos out in the woods, since everything is coming back to life, and you can get some great shots of the contrast between the last melting snow and plantlife shooting up from the ground.
What I found was, while I zoomed not so high over the tree line shooting the creeks and boulders beneath me, I was getting little or no lag between what I was seeing on my controller’s monitor and the video itself. That was due to the fact that I was far from any other people—if your signal is competing with other drones nearby—or even a lot of cell phones—you’ll get lag.
Without any lag, I could feel confident that I could shoot still photos, even of moving objects. So when I saw a kit fox, I was able to snap quite a few shots of it as I banked in to get various angles. I knew when I was clicking the shutter, I was getting what I was seeing.
And here’s another feature that will probably satisfy pro photographers: the focusing capabilities. The operator is watching the drone onscreen, via the DJI GO app. With it, s/he can alter the focus, bringing background images into sharper or less sharp focus in relation to the main object in the frame.
I find that the best way to highlight, say, an interesting group of trees, is to soften the focus of trees behind it. A lot of people who shoot aerial photography have giant piles of sky at the top of the frame. Sometimes this, particularly with video, can be a bit hard on the eye, making the frame bigger than in would be in a typical movie with actors in a room, etc. So augmenting the focus can be good as a way of either highlighting particular parts of the frame or allowing the background to truly be background.
The thing I appreciate about working with the focus like this is how easy and intuitive it is. You’re turning your remote controller just as you’d turn the lens of the actual camera. It transmits up to 100m, and the lag time is just 14ms.
Once you’ve gotten the video or photos you need, you can access them via the camera’s internal microSDHC/SDXC memory card. This will store 16 GB of visual glory.
Flying and Shooting
The DJI Inspire was, conveniently, designed with a few features tailored expressly for photography and videography. What I mean is, the way the thing flies is, in many ways, designed around the project of photography. This kind of goes back to what I was saying about being able to pinpoint the objects you want to highlight.
Point of Interest
This feature allows the user to select a particular point, area, or location, and have the aircraft keep the camera pointed there. This means that no matter how you steer the Inspire itself, since the camera has 360 capabilities, it can stay locked on the object in question. This is great if you’re looking for a cinematic experience of a moving shot.
Retractable Carbon Fiber Arms
If “look, an extreme closeup of my drone’s arms” isn’t a sentence you want to fill your vocabulary, this option will suffice. When you’re at cruising altitude, the arms, which are the landing gear, can be retracted, meaning that they’ll never show up in a shot.
Course Lock
This lets you set and keep a course, allowing you to focus on the photography rather than navigation. Now, I should mention that the craft comes with one controller, which, as I’ve noted, has a monitor for you to use. However, if you want to spring for a second controller, you can do that. That allows you to have a buddy as your navigator.
I’ve found it pretty easy to fly and shoot at the same time—I consider that part of what aerial photography is all about. But I can also see the relief in having someone do it for you. But if you’d rather use one controller and use the course lock, that’s an option, too. It’s just that a pre-set course takes a lot of spontaneity and improve out of it too. All in all, I found it to be a good option to at least have.
No-Gamble Gimbal
For your intricate video and photography needs, the way the camera is mounted is a pretty big deal. With the DJI Inspire, you have a 3-axis gimbal, a key component of the set-up. This stabilizing unit is removable, and does need to be installed when you get your quadcopter.
With this 3-axis apparatus, complete with brushless servos, you get a stable horizon and the ability for the camera to turn 360. I didn’t get any shaking or wavering in the video I shot.
Other Features
- TB47 battery time: 15 min
- TB48 battery time: 18 min
- 100-W charger
- Smart power manager
- Carbon-compound rotors
- Electronic Speed Controllers (ESC)
- 2.4 GHz transmitter
- Capable of using 2 transmitters, one for navigator, one for photographer
- 16M still photos saved as JPG or DNG (lossless Adobe format)
Cost: $3,899
Bottom Line
The many facts, figures, and detailed specs of this machine are undoubtedly important. But ultimately, what you’re most looking for is the quality of photos. At present, we’re not aware of a camera-bearing aircraft that produces sharper, more vibrant images. When you consider that night photos come out clear and vibrant with the DJI Inspire 1 Pro, you’re looking at a high-end product.
