Are we happy with the Zenmuse X7?

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 15, 2018

Like many things, it’s easy to see the negative side of how things just don’t quite measure up to expectations. I am no different, I like a good moan. It’s a great release for the daily trials of life.

If you work daily with highly advanced technology then this can quickly become a permanent condition when confronted by no end of problems, bugs, software crashes and so forth.

Let’s not forget what the inspire 2 and the X7 actually are.

It’s a helicopter and Alexa that fit into your rucksack that you can take to the top of the mountain and shoot footage that would have cost the equivalent to a small family car 5 years ago.

There is of course some room for improvement, like wobbly props or driving to get a connection to sign in (very irritating) or maybe slow lenses or the odd magenta tinge to your footage. However, I have fallen for this bird, despite its rough edges, I have a need to fire her up and see what I can get out of her. I have used it intensely on 2 projects in the last 2 months, and although it never worked 100% all the time (lets be honest that you can only expect from a Sony camera) I love it.

Over the Wilderness I have already posted

But here is something different, Shot from the hand in dark dark conditions.

Nelson Aerial Productions · Jan 16, 2018

Nice work! Was this all shot in Raw? 6K?

Advexure · Jan 16, 2018

Very well said and thank you for continuing to share your feedback and works. We loved Over the Wilderness and enjoy seeing this great representation of the capabilities wide open at 1600 ISO.

Don't we all look forward to the day when everything works 100% of the time with all DJI equipment

Safe flying and look forward to seeing more from you and Peter!

-Cavan

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 16, 2018

Nelson Aerial Productions said:
Nice work! Was this all shot in Raw? 6K?

No we shot in Prores 4444HQ

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 16, 2018

Advexure said:
Very well said and thank you for continuing to share your feedback and works. We loved Over the Wilderness and enjoy seeing this great representation of the capabilities wide open at 1600 ISO.

Don't we all look forward to the day when everything works 100% of the time with all DJI equipment

Safe flying and look forward to seeing more from you and Peter!

-Cavan

Thanks for your welcoming words..

Dr. Ifly Drones · Jan 16, 2018

I will openly admit I'm not a camera nerd. I love cameras but, they are just tools to me. That said, I'm amazed every day at the output of these in the DJI line. Sure, you can find flaws but, there isn't anything in the air at even 2-3 times the costs that compares. I'm still blown away by the stuff that comes from my P4P with it's mechanical shutter and it's just stupid good. I figure the experts will find all the flies and figure out workarounds for most of us by the time we are ready to throw down the money. I'm just glad DJI has finally tried some sort of strategic alignment between airframes and cameras.

Paul Nordin · Jan 16, 2018

5kdigitalfilm said:
But here is something different, Shot from the hand in dark dark conditions.

Great stuff from 5kdigtialfilm.

What are you using to pull focus for these shots? Focus Wheel 2?

I only got my X7 a few weeks ago, but between the technical review I performed shooting resolution charts with it, and some days out between raindrops, i can see that this camera is indeed ushering us into a new evolution of aerial work. Its an amazing little camera, on a great platform, and I really look forward to exploring it's creative potential. I already have two music videos booked in which it's flexibility will be featured.

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 20, 2018

Yes We are using the focus wheel 2. thanks for making the effort to review so meticulously

ChiefPilot · Jan 20, 2018

Great job. Cannot agree with you more. I will be doing something different on Feb 3. A live night under the lights broadcast of the FL-FSU Matchday Tennis Match on the Tennis Channel with the I2 plugged into the broadcast van. Should be interesting and really new to see the capabilities. Any recommendations from the users? I2 with the X7.

Steve@AerialImagesPro · Jan 20, 2018

That's awesome work! Great grading too. I'm not in love with over saturated stuff that gets over used these days (of which I'm guilty of sometimes). The grading was perfect for the 'feel' of the message (imo, and hopefully you did intentional grading or I just don't know what I'm talking about..lol).

Question, for videos like this that I see with x7 (and x5), is the clarity of the video ALL in the camera and lens'? Or do you (and others with quality like this) do anything special for rendering (other than bit rate on the higher side)?

To me, Vimeo seems MUCH better with it's streaming conversions, but sometimes I still don't get great output after uploading to Vimeo. I'm still on an i1 with x3 (don't tell anyone) but I DO get some decent looking footage when running local, but after uploading it's just not that great. I usually export using 50 Mbps bit rate (seems going any higher doesn't really help much since x3 source is lower than that anyway I believe). And I also know that rendering (especially for streaming) is almost an art form (and there's an industry career just for that). But was just wondering if there are any render settings (in Premiere) that may be better or 'best practice'.

I also know I'm not going to get x3 footage to look like that, but I've seen some pretty outstanding x3 footage.

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 20, 2018

I try and upload in native if possibble. for this film for example i uploaded a prores 1080p master copy that was nearly 3GB. If not ,worry less about resolution and upload a 2 pass variable bit rate with min bit rate as high as you can get away with that the file size does not explode.

Steve@AerialImagesPro · Jan 20, 2018

3 gig, wow. So I was on the right track (at about 1 gig for a 2 minute video), but thought I was doing something wrong with such a large file. I was using 2 pass, but switched to 1 pass for sake of render speed, but I will definitely keep that in mind when I need high quality stuff.

Thanks for the info!

Donnie Frank · Jan 21, 2018

5kdigitalfilm said:
Like many things, it’s easy to see the negative side of how things just don’t quite measure up to expectations. I am no different, I like a good moan. It’s a great release for the daily trials of life.

If you work daily with highly advanced technology then this can quickly become a permanent condition when confronted by no end of problems, bugs, software crashes and so forth.

Let’s not forget what the inspire 2 and the X7 actually are.

It’s a helicopter and Alexa that fit into your rucksack that you can take to the top of the mountain and shoot footage that would have cost the equivalent to a small family car 5 years ago.

There is of course some room for improvement, like wobbly props or driving to get a connection to sign in (very irritating) or maybe slow lenses or the odd magenta tinge to your footage. However, I have fallen for this bird, despite its rough edges, I have a need to fire her up and see what I can get out of her. I have used it intensely on 2 projects in the last 2 months, and although it never worked 100% all the time (lets be honest that you can only expect from a Sony camera) I love it.

Over the Wilderness I have already posted

But here is something different, Shot from the hand in dark dark conditions.

I tried to watch the video, but Vimeo sucks with its perpetual buffering You should upload the video to YouTube. I know YouTube compresses the footage, but at least viewers would have a choice between buffering or compression. I'll take the latter.

Paul Nordin · Jan 21, 2018

Donnie Frank said:
I tried to watch the video, but Vimeo sucks with its perpetual buffering You should upload the video to YouTube. I know YouTube compresses the footage, but at least viewers would have a choice between buffering or compression. I'll take the latter.

View attachment 17867

I have no problem watching the video on any of my devices in 4K without buffering

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 21, 2018

I`ts also on you tube (link below)if you would like to try it there...However there are heavily compreesed versions on both for slow connections or old hardware.
5kdigitalfilm

Donnie Frank · Jan 21, 2018

Paul Nordin said:
I have no problem watching the video on any of my devices in 4K without buffering

I find Vimeo to be inconsistent. Sometimes it works just fine. Other times, not so much.

Steve@AerialImagesPro · Jan 21, 2018

I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with Vimeo buffering or anything. I’ve never had a client complain either. It may be your isp.

17.6 mbps is VERY low by today’s standards. And while that may be your potential that speed test doesn’t test your connection over time, or ‘quality’.

tweaker · Jan 26, 2018

5kdigitalfilm said:
Like many things, it’s easy to see the negative side of how things just don’t quite measure up to expectations. I am no different, I like a good moan. It’s a great release for the daily trials of life.

If you work daily with highly advanced technology then this can quickly become a permanent condition when confronted by no end of problems, bugs, software crashes and so forth.

Let’s not forget what the inspire 2 and the X7 actually are.

It’s a helicopter and Alexa that fit into your rucksack that you can take to the top of the mountain and shoot footage that would have cost the equivalent to a small family car 5 years ago.

There is of course some room for improvement, like wobbly props or driving to get a connection to sign in (very irritating) or maybe slow lenses or the odd magenta tinge to your footage. However, I have fallen for this bird, despite its rough edges, I have a need to fire her up and see what I can get out of her. I have used it intensely on 2 projects in the last 2 months, and although it never worked 100% all the time (lets be honest that you can only expect from a Sony camera) I love it.

Over the Wilderness I have already posted

But here is something different, Shot from the hand in dark dark conditions.

How does it work on remote shoots when you CANT sign in?

5kdigitalfilm · Jan 26, 2018

You have to make sure in the morning when prepping the equipment. I had to drive once for 30 mins or more to get a signal to sign in, we misssed the light and I was very irritated indeed. Lucky it's not so often that you have to newly sign in..