Two big upgrades from DJI - P4 Pro and Inspire 2

<p>For those who keep an eye on what the "Apple of drones" is up to, they today announced a hopped-up version of their Phantom 4 (much better camera), and v2 of their Inspire unit, with camera options that should make the videographers very happy (higher frame rates at high resolutions, and much higher bitrates on video encoding). The I2 also starts to include some much smarter object avoidance, longer flight time, and features that can allow a single operator to handle more complex craft/camera/subject choreography. <br /><br /><strong><a href="http://store.dji.com/product/inspire-2?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=edm&utm_campaign=p4p-rest-1116&sc_src=email_964806&sc_eh=71ee40aa7660cd3c1&sc_llid=243716&sc_lid=23378455&sc_uid=Z4St0dQGoH#/?_k=f8y03x">Inspire 2</a></strong><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://store.dji.com/product/phantom-4-pro?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=edm&utm_campaign=p4p-rest-1116&sc_src=email_964806&sc_eh=71ee40aa7660cd3c1&sc_llid=243716&sc_lid=23378454&sc_uid=Z4St0dQGoH#/?_k=6x0n8p">P4 Pro</a></strong></p>

<p>I've been flying the Inspire 1 Pro X5 since June. Hopefully this new Inspire camera will have better still image quality. I'm forced to shoot DNG and jpg since the jpgs are so bad. Dji might make decent flying machines but their cameras are not up to par with the established camera manufacturers.</p>

<p>Remember that you're ALWAYS shooting DNGs, but if you only choose to have the camera save a JPG, then you're relying on the settings you choose (via the Go app) in how DJI's software renders that JPG from the RAW/DNG that it's actually producing when it records the image. You should try some changes in your onboard image processing settings if you really do want those JPGs on the fly.<br /><br />Because storage is cheap, I always shoot DNG (RAW) + JPG on the X5 (and on every other camera I use, on the ground <em>or</em> in the air). If I really, really need some sort of JPG specialness from an aerial while I'm standing the field, I'll just download from the bird to my tablet, and use something like Snapseed for a moment of local processing to create a JPG to my liking. Many of the JPGs out of the X5, if you set it up right, work very well. I've also noticed that lenses make a difference. While DJI's OEM 15mm isn't bad, I've found that a couple of different Oly primes are a whisker sharper and have better color/contrast under some shooting conditions.<br /><br />Mostly though, there are FAR too many good reasons to record DNGs anyway - more dynamic range and color temp adjustments etc in post, and post these days can be done so easily on any number of devices on the fly. For "real" work, I always want to sit down in front of a large calibrated display, so it doesn't take me any more time to open up a DNG than it does a JPG.</p>

<p>I just bought the Phantom 3 standard, I wonder if I should <a href="http://photographertips.com/index.php/category/uncategorized/dji-phantom-4-videos/" rel="dofollow" target="_blank">upgrade to the Phantom 4 drone</a> or wait until the 5 comes out. I did find the frame rate a little slow, especially when I yaw too fast.</p>

<p>Doug: are you talking about the perceived frame rate while you're looking at your phone/tablet while flying, or are you talking about the 30 frames per second (or 24, or whatever you've got it set to) that are captured when you're recording?<br /><br />Some of those ugly looking yaw artifacts are exactly the same as they are on the ground in any video camera that's panning too quickly. You'll notice it even more if you're shooting with too-high a shutter speed. If it's super bright out, the shutter will be way, way faster than the frame rate, and you can get a much choppier looking recording. The solution for that is a neutral density filter to allow the camera to slow down the shutter for smoother, more cinematic horizontal movement. That or ... yaw more slowly anyway! Fast pans never look good :-)</p>