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Inspire 1 RAW or Inspire 2 for new startup

Gjs

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Hello.

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice. I'm going to startup an aerial imaging business (focusing on real estate with possibly some roof inspections) and trying to decide on what drone to buy.

I was thinking about getting a new Inspire 2 with X5S as like the look of the flight time and redundancy and other improved technology. However, I have seen a second hand Inspire 1 RAW for sale which is a third of the price of the new Inspire 2.

So the question is, is the X5S a big enough step up in quality to warrant spending 3 times as much? I have searched on the internet and cant find much in the way of useful comparisons between the X5R and the X5S. The technology in the Inspire 2 looks like a good step up but is the lower tech in the Inspire 1 RAW a hindrance enough? I understand the flight time can drop quite a lot due to the weight of the X5R but my main concern is image/video quality. One bonus with the Inspire 1 RAW is that it has the second controller. I'm waiting to hear if it has the SSD included.

Any thoughts would be most welcome and appreciated.

Regards,


Greg
 
While the Inspire1 with the X5R was great when it was released it’s ancient history with a horrible workflow and limited camera

Right now the X7 is the camera to get if you are doing Aerial Cinematograhy

If there is an X7 in your market that’s what you need to have
 
While the Inspire1 with the X5R was great when it was released it’s ancient history with a horrible workflow and limited camera

Right now the X7 is the camera to get if you are doing Aerial Cinematograhy

If there is an X7 in your market that’s what you need to have


Thanks for this. I am a bit concerned I'd be buying into old technology with the X5R and get the idea it is more of a drag getting the content off, but wondered if the image quality is near enough to the X5S to be worth taking a punt for.

I am planning on doing aerial photographs for real estate alongside flyaround video for same. I'm thinking the X7 could be overkill for that (just X7 + lens costs about the same as Inspire 2 + X5S). With the Inspire 3 being potentially around the corner, I wondered whether to go for the Inspire 1 for now and look at getting the Inspire 3 when that comes out. But, I dont want to get the Inspire 1 if that means I am already well behind everyone else in quality so that may be failed logic.

Regards,


Greg
 
X5R is waaaayyyyyyy behind the power curve these days and not really a wise investment
 
X5R is waaaayyyyyyy behind the power curve these days and not really a wise investment
Thanks for this.

That is what I have suspected to be the case and had been decided on the Inspire 2 with X5S.

I reconsidered the Inspire1 RAW only earlier when browsing through the forums that I saw a reference to a page on the DJI website showing some comparisons of the X5S vs X5R, and from those charts it doesnt look like there is much in it! But I guess there is more to it than just those small looking differences on the chart (or those what look like small differences are more significant than they look).

I am back to thinking the X5S would be a better starting point, I just find the price of the second hand Inspire 1 (has 24 month warranty too) very tempting indeed but gotta do the right thing.

FWIW, here is the chart I referred to (from this link:- DJI Zenmuse X5S - Gimbal Camera - DJI

25022

Regards,

Greg
 
The quality between X5R and X5S is not that big at all. As mentionned above, the workflow is more painfull. But with X5s you have ProRes 4.2.2 (also 4.4.4) and that is more than good enough for real estate whereas the X5R doesn’t. For real estate some modes in I2 are really great, Tripod mode for instance. X7 is the max, but way to expensive and over-kill for your purposes I think. But pure quality-wise, not that much difference between DNG coming out from X5R and X5s, maybe in low-light conditions.
 
The quality between X5R and X5S is not that big at all. As mentionned above, the workflow is more painfull. But with X5s you have ProRes 4.2.2 (also 4.4.4) and that is more than good enough for real estate whereas the X5R doesn’t. For real estate some modes in I2 are really great, Tripod mode for instance. X7 is the max, but way to expensive and over-kill for your purposes I think. But pure quality-wise, not that much difference between DNG coming out from X5R and X5s, maybe in low-light conditions.
Thanks for this - very helpful. I was hoping to not have to go down the route of getting the licenses for Prores. Would I be sacrificing a lot of the potential of the X5S by not going down that route?
 
My two cents, from my experience.

If all you are doing is roof inspections and real estate, get a mavic pro 2 HD. I have an inspire1 with x5 (not raw) and it’s a pain to shoot with. Setup, preflight and getting in air, takes almost 5mins. Takedown and storing again, same 5mins or so. The Hasselblad sensor can do 20MP pics and still shoot high quality video. No real estate company or roof inspection company (that I’ve worked with) wants prores or uncompressed video, which is why I don’t have an x5r. They want 1920x1080, MP4 @60fps, they don’t care about 4K and definitely don’t want raw video.

I also have a mavic pro platinum and actually use that more than my inspire. The photos are almost the same quality but it’s much faster to get in the air, battery lasts twice as long and I can fly it in tighter spots. The avoidance sensors are nice too. Only time I pull out the inspire is if I know client will be onsite (it’s impressive looking) or if it’s a twilight shot.

All that being said, if you’re going to be doing anything cinematic or anything that would actually need raw video, then I’d look into the inspire 1 or 2. If it’s just pics, and I had to make this decision again, I would have waited for the pro 2 HD. But this is all just my opinion based on my use and experience.
 
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My two cents, from my experience.

If all you are doing is roof inspections and real estate, get a mavic pro 2 HD. I have an inspire1 with x5 (not raw) and it’s a pain to shoot with. Setup, preflight and getting in air, takes almost 5mins. Takedown and storing again, same 5mins or so. The Hasselblad sensor can do 20MP pics and still shoot high quality video. No real estate company or roof inspection company (that I’ve worked with) wants prores or uncompressed video, which is why I don’t have an x5r. They want 1920x1080, MP4 @60fps, they don’t care about 4K and definitely don’t want raw video.

I also have a mavic pro platinum and actually use that more than my inspire. The photos are almost the same quality but it’s much faster to get in the air, battery lasts twice as long and I can fly it in tighter spots. The avoidance sensors are nice too. Only time I pull out the inspire is if I know client will be onsite (it’s impressive looking) or if it’s a twilight shot.

All that being said, if you’re going to be doing anything cinematic or anything that would actually need raw video, then I’d look into the inspire 1 or 2. If it’s just pics, and I had to make this decision again, I would have waited for the pro 2 HD. But this is all just my opinion based on my use and experience.

Hello jameyho.

Thanks for this - very helpful.

Having seen how much of an improvement the 20mp cameras have been over previous models, I did wonder if they could still be plenty good enough for commercial stuff. I have a P3Pro and the pictures on the P4Pro / Mavic 2 Pro generations look like a big jump up.

I have recently been less keen with getting the Inspire 1 RAW partly as it seems like I'd need a Mac of some sort to get the highest quality footage off it, which I dont have. I tried having an online chat a couple of days ago with one of the experts at DJI but all i got was 'just plug it in to your computer and take it off' and after mentioning the SSD which they seemed oblivious to), I got some waffle and ended up again being told do the same! Is it correct that I would need a MAC?

I have been offered a good deal for an Inspire 2 with X5S + PFCO training which I am close to taking the plunge with. However, with this helpful advice and my thoughts mentioned at the top in mind I am tempted to get a second hand P4Pro as is very cheap (from retailer with 24m warranty on all but batteries) or a Mavic 2 Pro second hand/new to get me started and see how it goes with work enquiries and allowing me to get a portfolio together. I don't want to discourage work by not appearing to have professional grade equipment though. I did see a 1 out of 5 star review of a drone business who got that rating as the client asked for micro 4/3 and the person turned up with a P4. I assume that was cinematographic work though as the review mentioned him turning up 'on set'. From your experience, it doesn't seem likely that I would get requests or even awareness for micro 4/3 for roof inspections and real estate and if I spend less now I could react to that if I do get those sorts of requests, or if want to do cinematography work as well. Hmmm - P4Pro/Mavic or Inspire 2.....???!!!

Thanks for your thoughts - much appreciated.
 
My two cents, from my experience.

If all you are doing is roof inspections and real estate, get a mavic pro 2 HD. I have an inspire1 with x5 (not raw) and it’s a pain to shoot with. Setup, preflight and getting in air, takes almost 5mins. Takedown and storing again, same 5mins or so. The Hasselblad sensor can do 20MP pics and still shoot high quality video. No real estate company or roof inspection company (that I’ve worked with) wants prores or uncompressed video, which is why I don’t have an x5r. They want 1920x1080, MP4 @60fps, they don’t care about 4K and definitely don’t want raw video.

I also have a mavic pro platinum and actually use that more than my inspire. The photos are almost the same quality but it’s much faster to get in the air, battery lasts twice as long and I can fly it in tighter spots. The avoidance sensors are nice too. Only time I pull out the inspire is if I know client will be onsite (it’s impressive looking) or if it’s a twilight shot.

All that being said, if you’re going to be doing anything cinematic or anything that would actually need raw video, then I’d look into the inspire 1 or 2. If it’s just pics, and I had to make this decision again, I would have waited for the pro 2 HD. But this is all just my opinion based on my use and experience.
I have an Inspire 1 Raw with folding CF props, in a landing mode case takes about as long as a Mavic to get up in the air
 
Hello.

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice. I'm going to startup an aerial imaging business (focusing on real estate with possibly some roof inspections) and trying to decide on what drone to buy.

I was thinking about getting a new Inspire 2 with X5S as like the look of the flight time and redundancy and other improved technology. However, I have seen a second hand Inspire 1 RAW for sale which is a third of the price of the new Inspire 2.

So the question is, is the X5S a big enough step up in quality to warrant spending 3 times as much? I have searched on the internet and cant find much in the way of useful comparisons between the X5R and the X5S. The technology in the Inspire 2 looks like a good step up but is the lower tech in the Inspire 1 RAW a hindrance enough? I understand the flight time can drop quite a lot due to the weight of the X5R but my main concern is image/video quality. One bonus with the Inspire 1 RAW is that it has the second controller. I'm waiting to hear if it has the SSD included.

Any thoughts would be most welcome and appreciated.

Regards,


Greg
as an owner of a i1prox5, I think that you should strongly consider the same for your first foray into the RE market; with the addition of the 45mm lens and the 15mm stock lens--I can't believe that the 60bit data is a handicap for RE work. and or roof inspections; still are outstanding and once you get the hang of lens ring balance and focus you will have what you need and with considerable savings
 
I have an Inspire 1 Raw with folding CF props, in a landing mode case takes about as long as a Mavic to get up in the air
Thanks for this - very helpful. I'm not too concerned about setup time (to a certain extent). It takes 5 minutes to get my P3Pro up and running and I cant i see a short setup time an issue if it is similar time for any of the models and doesn't sound that I would be any more hindered by the Inspire 1.
 
as an owner of a i1prox5, I think that you should strongly consider the same for your first foray into the RE market; with the addition of the 45mm lens and the 15mm stock lens--I can't believe that the 60bit data is a handicap for RE work. and or roof inspections; still are outstanding and once you get the hang of lens ring balance and focus you will have what you need and with considerable savings

Thank you for this. This is very interesting and I am quite drawn to the I1 because its far cheaper.and It doesnt look that there would be that much quality difference that would actually matter for RE/inspection work. I would then need to add about £1000 for the pfco training (as that is bundled in with the deal on the I2) + another battery or two, but that would still be coming in at about half the price of the I2 although that is excluding lenses. If I'm correct, I think the lenses for the X5Raw would be compatible with the X5S so could use them if moved to an I2 in the future.

One sticking point with the I1 though, is do I need a Mac for getting the highest quality footage off the Inspire 1 RAW SSD? I have had confirmation this morning that the second hand model does come complete with all parts including the SSD and SSD reader. I dont have a MAC so that would be more expense to consider if It can only be done with a MAC. The other question though, is that highest quality needed for this kind of work i.e. can I get good enough stills and video either from what can get put on the SD card?

Thanks for your thoughts - much appreciated.

Regards,


Greg
 
Hello @Gjs, having read the above comments I would like to know would you be doing mostly photography or mostly video work (I understand that you said you would be doing some of both)?
Thanks
Cody

Hello Cody.

I am expecting to do equal amounts of both, but I suspect there may be a bit more photographic to start with for RE as video is not very common here (yet) so will push with the photography to open the door to video work to enhance the offering further. Inspections should be more equal.

One thing that crops up with the Inspire 1 and X5 camera, is the battery flight time. I have read it can be down to about 11 minutes. Is this accurate? That would concern me a bit for having enough time for inspection work. I can of course change batteries though.

Regards,


Greg
 
Hello Cody.

I am expecting to do equal amounts of both, but I suspect there may be a bit more photographic to start with for RE as video is not very common here (yet) so will push with the photography to open the door to video work to enhance the offering further. Inspections should be more equal.

One thing that crops up with the Inspire 1 and X5 camera, is the battery flight time. I have read it can be down to about 11 minutes. Is this accurate? That would concern me a bit for having enough time for inspection work. I can of course change batteries though.

Regards,


Greg

15 mins X5 13 mins X5R in my case
 
Thanks for that Mixchief. 13 minutes doesnt seem long. I'll go out tomorrow with the P3Pro to get a feel for how much I can get done in that time.

Regards.

Greg

I’ll do a flight with a brand new battery and see what it gives me, 13 minutes has been with a not old, but yeah not new battery
 
11 min. is getting a bit on the low side, but aging batteries will also have an impact on your flight time.
Thanks for that Florida Drone Supply. Good point regarding the aging batteries. I have asked the retailer a couple of times to let me know how many cycles the battery has had, but they haven't been able to confirm (big firm talking to their CS department and no direct contact with the branch holding the stock) and I dont think they will going by the struggle I have had so far with what is included. I would be getting at least one or two additional batteries anyway (or one pair if getting the Inspire 2) but may have to accept the gamble that the battery that comes with it could be past its best.

Regards,


Greg
 

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