I just don't get it.

CameraGuy · Nov 16, 2014

I watched the horrible presentation. I've read much of what's been discussed here and on the Phantom Pilots forum. From where I sit, this is a slightly improved Phantom 2 plus vision with a 4K camera. And they want an additional $1,800 for the privilege.

Now, if this bird could take a professional camera, say the GH4, then the money would already be out of my pocket and I would be waiting for delivery day. There is nothing I can see that gives me anything over my current set up, which is a P2 with H3 3D with FPV and a 4K Gopro. On some shoots, it would be nice to have an operator for the camera only, but most of the time, I can do what I need with my current rig. The image quality didn't seem better than what I shot yesterday.

I really think the improvements in the Phantom 2 over the Phantom 1 made the Phantom a viable tool and toy. But this new bird is overpriced for what you get. Just my 2 cents

DaveInspire · Nov 16, 2014

To be fair light bridge itself is $1500 so those outfitting a phantom two with a gopro and light bridge are more than that and have rotors and landing gear in many conditions (need to work around it at least).

It's not overpriced but should have allowed on remote camera rotation instead of tilt and ability to control camera (including tilt / pan) via app gyro.

It's a step in the right direction. A year from
Now we will have the inspire 2 to think about!

airdrone · Nov 16, 2014

Great movie. wooden camera and fov shoot with?. I have a gopro hero 4, When I shoot in 4k Becomes 25fps and fov (wide). I do not like wide fov. would certainly thought with 4k in narrow / medium mod.

Is it true that attached video file is shot in 2.7K and file size is 390mb?

Looks rate for spreading wings s1000 + ice cheaper than inspire. Spreading Wings S1000 + + A2 EUR € 2470 and € 2859 Inspire. Wheat is not what it would cost two build a spreading wings?

But it will be a one inspire me anyhow. It is commissioned

FASTFJR · Nov 16, 2014

CameraGuy said:
I watched the horrible presentation. I've read much of what's been discussed here and on the Phantom Pilots forum. From where I sit, this is a slightly improved Phantom 2 plus vision with a 4K camera. And they want an additional $1,800 for the privilege.

Now, if this bird could take a professional camera, say the GH4, then the money would already be out of my pocket and I would be waiting for delivery day. There is nothing I can see that gives me anything over my current set up, which is a P2 with H3 3D with FPV and a 4K Gopro. On some shoots, it would be nice to have an operator for the camera only, but most of the time, I can do what I need with my current rig. The image quality didn't seem better than what I shot yesterday.

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I really think the improvements in the Phantom 2 over the Phantom 1 made the Phantom a viable tool and toy. But this new bird is overpriced for what you get. Just my 2 cents

If you truly read what has been discussed you really missed a huge point. LB is $1500.00 as a stand alone. Some people are going to love the new Inspire and some people are going to think its a a big rip off. You want to carry a "Pro Camera"? check out the 800 or 1000. Put a system together and then come back and tell me what the price is

Adam · Nov 16, 2014

I certainly appreciate your points and it's clear that the Inspire 1 isn't for everybody. If you already have a P2 setup that you are happy with, there may not be a ton of reasons for you to upgrade. If you're just starting out and want to dive into Aerial photography with 4K and an HD video link, to me it makes more sense to get an Inspire 1 than a Phantom 2.

Let's look at the numbers:

New Version Phantom 2 with H3-3D Gimbal: $959
Lightbridge: $1399
GoPro Hero4: $499
________________________________________
Total: $2857, right at the price of a Inspire 1. With the above Phantom setup, you get no control of the camera from the ground, and none of the maps and other great ground station features that are present in the Inspire 1.

I think either system is a great buy at that price. I really enjoy my P2 with Lightbridge setup, but it's a hassle to charge 4 different batteries and deal with connecting a bunch of wires (lightbridge USB to Tablet, transmitter wires to Lightbridge) - it's just a big, complicated setup that isn't easy to transport. I have to bring the GoPro charger, Lightbridge Charger, and Futaba transmitter charger wherever I go in addition to all the other stuff. I have my Lightbridge Ground station wired to my Futaba transmitter, and the other day someone accidentally pulled that cable out when I was flying in ATTI mode so I had a Phantom that was just drifting until I could reconnect the cable...

The Inspire 1 does all of this with no wires and only two things to charge, the the aircraft and the transmitter. Plus, I can have a second camera operator when I need that function. It's the simplicity and ease that get my $$$$. Plus, it's the platform for the future. They will be releasing more options for the camera, and I'm sure plenty of software app and firmware updates. I have two friends that have Vision+ units. I recently showed them my HD Lightbridge setup for the first time and they were blown away. FPV in HD is so much nicer if you haven't experienced it. I recently tried my Vision+ and it is hard to go back to that image after flying in HD on the 9.7" iPad screen.

Again, it's not for everyone. For me, it will be a great replacement for my P2/Lightbridge Setup. The Inspire also has a high end flight controller and the optical flow system that my P2 doesn't have....I was flying on the patio on a windy day last week shooting a vacation home - would have made that shot much better for me.

airdrone · Nov 16, 2014

I've seen a video recordings contained in 4k from the new inspire one uncompressed and compared my own 4k footage from gopro, I believe that inspire recording is a notch better than gopro, I'm picky. So this, I look forward to

macheung · Nov 16, 2014

A Phantom 2 + Lightbridge + Go Pro4 + Futaba may cost close to an Inspire, but it would be fair to include the full cost of the other parts into the calculation as they are not locked down into the platform and you can re-use them for other purpose and carry them onto future rigs. With an Inspire, that is all you can do with them and you'll have to re-buy them all over again if you need a new craft.

Don't get me wrong, I think the transforming Inspire 1 and the all-in-one RTF package is great. However, there is just a few silly misses that prevents it from being a easy buying decision. DJI is so close, yet so far. Here are the things I am talking about:

FPV camera for the pilot during dual operator mode or locked gimbal mode, the pilot need a forward facing FPV camera so they can judge distance and perspective. This doesn't need to be hi-res or anything, but need something that can used in a PIP or dual operator mode. It would be amazing if it is a software cropped/stabilized fisheye lens like the Parrot Bebop, but a fixed VGA FPV cam would have made this work.
Other gimbals. The included eye-ball cam is OK but if this is going to be pro rig, then we'll need ability to use other cameras. How about if a gimbal for RX100, Go-Pro or even a FLIR type camera? The FLIR would have been a revolution if coupled with the #1 above.

Adam · Nov 16, 2014

As far as #2 goes, see this video from The Verge...other cameras/gimbals are coming.

AerialIris · Nov 16, 2014

Lightbridge! Interchangeable cam. Telemetry recording. Near 360. 4k.

Effectively everything we've been asking for. I don't get the haters.

skyfisher · Nov 16, 2014

What else is on the market today for a similar price that exceeds the Inspire 1 as an overall package offering? In fact, for the money I don't know of any other offering that exceed the Inspire 1 in video quality coupled with outstanding remote control of the camera settings including the ability to switch between video or photos on the fly along with additional advance remote functionality and can keep up with moving objects up to 50 MPH and ready to fly out of the box with almost no manual setup and has a simple modular design to allow future camera options. And for me, the Inspire 1 has a bonus cool factor

Let the price and features competition begin!

RJ Evans · Nov 16, 2014

skyfisher said:
What else is on the market today for a similar price that exceeds the Inspire 1 as an overall package offering? In fact, for the money I don't know of any other offering that exceed the Inspire 1 in video quality coupled with outstanding remote control of the camera settings including the ability to switch between video or photos on the fly along with additional advance remote functionality and can keep up with moving objects up to 50 MPH and ready to fly out of the box with almost no manual setup and has a simple modular design to allow future camera options. And for me, the Inspire 1 has a bonus cool factor Let the price and features competition begin!

Very well stated! I'm in total agreement.

gunslinger · Nov 16, 2014

AerialIris said:
Lightbridge! Interchangeable cam. Telemetry recording. Near 360. 4k.

Effectively everything we've been asking for. I don't get the haters.

+1

Watboy · Nov 17, 2014

I think we can summarize the majority of Inspire1 being poor value arguments as

$P2 H3-3D + GPH4 < Inspire 1

Completely discounting Light bridge and its capabilities, with further deductions for proprietary batteries and controller. Whether or not these things are important to you will determine if its good value to you, but at least realize that people have differing value criteria. As for not being able to use existing equipment, I think many technologies that are mainstream goes through a DIY/hobby stage to polished/sophisticated product transition. During the transition, people will bemoan the inevitable tradeoff of technical flexibility for ease of use and reliability. Remember when people dismissed new PC's that lacked serial/parallel ports or VLB/ISA slots?

Is the Inspire 1 innovative? Was the Apple II an innovative product? All it did was package what computer hobbyists were already doing into a consumer friendlier product. Call that innovation or not, but it was undeniably a game-changing product.

Personally, I would love to see a Phantom 3 with the flight controller, light bridge and app functionality of the inspire one, with GPH gimbal. I could live without a 360 gimbal, so don't need retracting landing skids. Much more portable package too.

TheEngineer · Nov 17, 2014

All these people still comparing GoPro footage to Inspire's footage...I'm sick of the distortion and extreme wide angle of GoPro footage, it screams amateur hour. In my opinion there is no comparison here. GoPro footage will never compare to a rectilinear lens. For years I've been hoping GoPro would come out with a much reduced wide angle version but it hasn't happened. Yes, GoPro has 4K, but once you apply fisheye-removal filtering, you've got a much reduced res that still has distortion. The Inspire is a huge step forward, without requiring me to fly a $10-$15k rig just to get footage that isn't ridiculously curved.

davidtrewern · Nov 17, 2014

The inspire is obviously the beginning of a whole new platform. Gopro has a fish eye lens designed to film surfers, a pro camera has a bunch of stuff that is pointless to lift on a drone - touchscreen, battery, lens mount, hot-shoe etc. more weight means heavier gimbal which means more weight with means bigger motors which means bigger battery which means more weight. Inspire is a larger and more powerful platform than phantom, and I would not be surprised to see aftermarket gimbal cameras from some big names very soon, that theoretically could be as good as a high quality micro 4/3ds camera for much less weight and without the unnecessary bits. 5 years from now people won't be strapping traditional cameras to drones. Makes no sense - but the market needs to grow to make dedicated drone cameras viable.

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AerialIris · Nov 17, 2014

Watboy said:
I think we can summarize the majority of Inspire1 being poor value arguments as

$P2 H3-3D + GPH4 < Inspire 1

Completely discounting Light bridge and its capabilities, with further deductions for proprietary batteries and controller. Whether or not these things are important to you will determine if its good value to you, but at least realize that people have differing value criteria. As for not being able to use existing equipment, I think many technologies that are mainstream goes through a DIY/hobby stage to polished/sophisticated product transition. During the transition, people will bemoan the inevitable tradeoff of technical flexibility for ease of use and reliability. Remember when people dismissed new PC's that lacked serial/parallel ports or VLB/ISA slots?

Is the Inspire 1 innovative? Was the Apple II an innovative product? All it did was package what computer hobbyists were already doing into a consumer friendlier product. Call that innovation or not, but it was undeniably a game-changing product.

Personally, I would love to see a Phantom 3 with the flight controller, light bridge and app functionality of the inspire one, with GPH gimbal. I could live without a 360 gimbal, so don't need retracting landing skids. Much more portable package too.

I guess your less than symbol is price related. Otherwise I don't buy the gopro is better point. Does not appear to be a position supported by the spec. Just my opinion of course. Which doesn't matter much, since I'm in the can't afford it camp. [emoji3]

Luap · Nov 17, 2014

Isn't the Lightbridge in the Inspire 1 a crippled version at 720p instead of 1080p?
http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1/feature

Paul K · Nov 17, 2014

I totally agree with The Engineer about GoPro. I am using a GoPro 4 and I have to say, it is a total difference comparing to the GP3/3+; but the lens is a huge disappointment. In my opinion, even if they improve the lens, it has to be wide angle again because the camera without a stabilizer and narrow POV would be useless for its purpose.
You can't compare the DJI and GoPro by innovating their products. Look how many years the GoPro is on the market (the best action camera on the market) and for example, by changing lens POV to medium or narrow you are limited to using a number of the camera features.
DJI, on the another hand had come up with many new products in a few years (even taking in consideration the Phantom series which was a kind of patch work ), but s1000, s900 and now especially Inspire was made from scratch. I didn't have a chance to fly the Inspire yet, but as soon as I have the chance to get raw samples of the video and still photos I will consider buying one. I already have a few ideas on where the improvement can be made.

Cloud9 · Nov 17, 2014

Everyone's so quick to defend the Inspire's camera. Has anyone actually SEEN better footage than the GoPro 4?

The Inspire looks good, but footage so far is a bit disappointing

TheEngineer · Nov 17, 2014

Cloud9 said:
Everyone's so quick to defend the Inspire's camera. Has anyone actually SEEN better footage than the GoPro 4?

The Inspire looks good, but footage so far is a bit disappointing

Are you kidding me? Every shot they've shown looks better than this crap:

Yes, I know, use Premiere to remove the fisheye. Then you also remove 1/3 of your shot and you're far from 4K at that point. GoPro footage doesn't even come close to the footage from the Inspire's rectilinear lens. Fisheye is for POV action sport shots, not scenic aerials.

Paul K said:
I totally agree with The Engineer about GoPro. I am using a GoPro 4 and I have to say, it is a total difference comparing to the GP3/3+; but the lens is a huge disappointment. In my opinion, even if they improve the lens, it has to be wide angle again because the camera without a stabilizer and narrow POV would be useless for its purpose.
You can't compare the DJI and GoPro by innovating their products. Look how many years the GoPro is on the market (the best action camera on the market) and for example, by changing lens POV to medium or narrow you are limited to using a number of the camera features.
DJI, on the another hand had come up with many new products in a few years (even taking in consideration the Phantom series which was a kind of patch work ), but s1000, s900 and now especially Inspire was made from scratch. I didn't have a chance to fly the Inspire yet, but as soon as I have the chance to get raw samples of the video and still photos I will consider buying one. I already have a few ideas on where the improvement can be made.

Never suggested that they abandon the wide angle. But why only have one camera selling at a time? Sell a different one for scenic shots.