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Inspire 2 now that the inspire 3 is out?

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I have the original Inspire 1 which is still awesome in my opinion but the batteries are getting old and overall, it is time for an upgrade. The Inspire 3 is way way out of my budget sadly. I had been eyeing the Inspire 2 with zenmuse x5s camera as a possible replacement for my aging inspire 1. My work with the drone requires interchangeable lenses and high image quality so the X5 series of cameras fits that bill (and I already have the Olympus 25mm, 35mm and DJI 15mm lenses). I need at least a m4s sensor size with telephoto capability so the Mavic 3 doesn't quite work for my use case.
Is DJI officially done with the Inspire 2 and discontinuing it now that the Inspire 3 is out? I read on here and other sites that supposedly they discontinued the Inspire 2 in 2022 and dealers are just selling out that last stock. I still see it listed as available new on sites such as Adorama and B&H however it is listed as out of stock at the DJI store. The DJI website doesn't say it is out of production like they do for the Inspire 1.

I don't want to buy into a system that is already discontinued and end up with a situation like I have with the Inspire 1 where the batteries are slowly dying and no new ones are available.

I wish they would keep the Inspire 2 around since the price of the Inspire 3 is super high. Would be a nice middle ground between the Inspire series and the smaller drones

Any thoughts or suggestions on how to proceed and if they really are done with the Inspire 2?
Thanks
 
ah, that is great news. Nice that DJI is at least providing some more long term stability for their batteries. I am still a bit annoyed that once the Inspire 1 was discontinued there wasn't any new batteries to be had. I am fine with discontinuing product and support but having some new batteries available for at least a while is nice. Lipo batteries don't last forever and I don't mess around with battery health because I don't want my Inspire 1 with it's single battery falling out of the sky.
Now I just wish they would carry over some of their camera compatibility. Would have been nice to have the zenumse X7 and X5s work on the Inspire 3 with some sort of adaptor or something.
 
The inspire 2 is an awesome drone. The x7 camera is spectacular, interchangeable lenses, and 6.2K raw. I was hoping that the I3 would get an upgraded flight time but at 27 mins which is the same as the I2 I see no reason to upgrade from the I2 x7. I’m sure it has more stable flight and a better transmission system but a good pilot can get the results from any inspire.
 
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I'm replacing the cells of I1, not very difficult if you know how to solder. Just replaced two batteries last week and they give me 14 min with X5R camera.
I1 is ridiculous cheap drone as everything available is second hand, I easily bought a spare one with camera, something that will still be twice as cost if it’s for I2. And I can shoot RAW without spending €2000 for I2’s RAW licenses.
Only benefit I see with I2 is the X7 camera, you will not make a major upgrade going from I1 with X5 to I2 with X5S, only the flight time will be improved. Also I2 uses 2 batteries per flight, this raises the costs per flight as well you will bring heavier battery case with more batteries with you compared to what you bring when flying with I1.
 
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thanks everyone for the input. I love my inspire 1 but I do only still photography and the slightly better camera of the X5s and the redundant safety features (dual batteries, IMU, collision sensors, etc) are all beneficial to my work which is low altitude and sometimes close to obstacles. I would love the full frame camera on the inspire 3 which would be super helpful for my work but the price is way too much. If DJI setup the inspire 3 with an adaptor to take the X5s the cost would be better to buy into the system and then eventually upgrade to the X9 air. Oh well.
 
Same here about the I3. I'm very happy with my I2 X7 setup. If I wanted to spend 20k, I would send my GFX100s up on a M600 or freefly or go airpeak with the realization that I have about 5 minutes of airtime to get my stills.

I know 20k is chump change blah blah in the production world but I don't see the value which for me is the FF camera.
 
I'm replacing the cells of I1, not very difficult if you know how to solder. Just replaced two batteries last week and they give me 14 min with X5R camera.
I1 is ridiculous cheap drone as everything available is second hand, I easily bought a spare one with camera, something that will still be twice as cost if it’s for I2. And I can shoot RAW without spending €2000 for I2’s RAW licenses.
Only benefit I see with I2 is the X7 camera, you will not make a major upgrade going from I1 with X5 to I2 with X5S, only the flight time will be improved. Also I2 uses 2 batteries per flight, this raises the costs per flight as well you will bring heavier battery case with more batteries with you compared to what you bring when flying with I1.
Hello, sorry for my English. where can you get the cells?
 
... you will not make a major upgrade going from I1 with X5 to I2 with X5S, only the flight time will be improved. ....
I would have to disagree with this. The X5 only provides 60mbps which is lacking when shooting 4K. The X5S provides 100mbps and the difference is noticeable. I've owned both the these drones and cameras. The X5S is definitely a better camera and if doing professional work, I would never provide any 4K footage with the X5 at 60mbps to a client.
 
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I would have to disagree with this. The X5 only provides 60mbps which is lacking when shooting 4K. The X5S provides 100mbps and the difference is noticeable. I've owned both the these drones and cameras. The X5S is definitely a better camera and if doing professional work, I would never provide any 4K footage with the X5 at 60mbps to a client.
Investing so much for I2 just to shoot in H264 from 60Mbps to 100mbps is not worth it. All the accessories and etc add a lot to the setup. Also in my comment I'm talkin about RAW! I1 can do 3.2Gbps at 4K and I2 can do 4.0Gbps, no one can notice such a difference in raw, only some very few cases may show difference while grading. And yes X5S is 16MP while X5R is 12MP, but reality is that if you don't know what equipment is used and there is some gorgeous content with beautiful lighting and composition you'll not make the difference is it 12 or 16 MP or whatever Mbps that is over 60mbps. For example youtube is with 60mbps and I can see there extremelly well looking visuals on big 65 inch TV, they can be shot on proffesional cameras and downsampled to 60mbps as well it could be a Phantom and you to think that it's Mavic or Inspire. All this is very subjective when you are behind the scenes and simply know that the quality of your equipment is. I'm sure you can see some difference between 60 and 100 but honestly I have a lot of cameras and even 130Mbps have a lot of compression issues in sky gradients and other situations.

And the major usage of the Inspire family is dual operator, if you are not in to this type of work you'll be pretty fine with Mavic 3 or Mavic 3 Pro, they are only 2K euros.
 
I would love to know the target market for the I3 in DJI’s plan. Is the new camera really good enough to compete with a Sony for stills and an Arri or Red for video? It seems to me they have priced themselves out of a sizable chunk of the market the older Inspires were in. Our choice now is $5000 for a Mavic Cine or 20k for the inspire 3. Maybe they have a plan for something in between?
 
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I would love to know the target market for the I3 in DJI’s plan. Is the new camera really good enough to compete with a Sony for stills and an Arri or Red for video? It seems to me they have priced themselves out of a sizable chunk of the market the older Inspires were in. Our choice now is $5000 for a Mavic Cine or 20k for the inspire 3. Maybe they have a plan for something in between?
I work with RED cameras from their first release. Honestly X5R was much better in highlights than RED Dragon and trough the evolution of these cameras they still compete with each other. Now we shoot with Gemini’s and X7 can beat them in amount of data stored in the raw and highlights restoration. Both are pretty bad and noisy in shadows compared to Alexa LF. Only major difference in term of picture quality is lens the mount, on RED can be mounted professional lenses. Haven’t used X9 so far but I’m sure it stands pretty well compared to professional cameras.
 
There's lots of great comments in the thread, which has been great to hear what others are thinking.

I would say that I am the target market for the Inspire 3. I'm a cinematographer and aerial photographer/cinematographer, and I have flown various drones for years, starting with the Phantom 3, and I currently own the Inspire 2. I have used the Inspire 2 on a ton of projects, from high-end docs to feature films, and it gives a spectacular image.

But I work on feature films and projects that are always seeking the new and best gear, such as shooting on Alexa camera as opposed to Red or others, because of the what some would say minor improvements in image quality, and also because of industry expectations. I am interested in the Inspire 3 upgrade, not because of the improved image quality, though, but because of the more advanced flight features (since I often need to do complex flights with the drone, which the I3 is an upgrade) and because of the much improved image transmission. The Inspire 2 is still a great drone and captures great image quality, and if you are doing large-wide shots (or at least not doing micro-moves) and you are not trying to operate from extremely far away, than the Inspire 2 is probably the better option for you.

I can personally tell the image quality difference between X5 and X7, but of course there are different needs for different projects and use cases. If you are hoping to produce top cinema quality video (without flying an actual mounted cinema camera), the I2 with X7 or I3 with X9 really are the top options. And I agree that if you are using it for photography, you are probably better off with a standard Mavic 3, since the pro options, or more specifically "cine" options are really only worth it for video.

I calculated the cost for the Inspire 3 to have all the features that I currently have in my Inspire 2 package (I2 with X7 camera, the 4 lens set, ND's, two controls for dual operating, dual monitors, 8 batteries for 4 flights, and more), and it puts the Inspire 3 over $26k after taxes...ouch...that's a hefty sum, but would probably be worth it to someone who works on feature films specifically or has projects that are always looking for the latest gear.

With that said, I am considering selling my Inspire 2 with the Zenmuse X7, though probably with just the 16mm lens, since the others work with the I3, but open to chat about it. So if anyone is interested, let me know!

Thanks for the thoughts and comments, and happy flying.
 
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I work with RED cameras from their first release. Honestly X5R was much better in highlights than RED Dragon and trough the evolution of these cameras they still compete with each other. Now we shoot with Gemini’s and X7 can beat them in amount of data stored in the raw and highlights restoration. Both are pretty bad and noisy in shadows compared to Alexa LF. Only major difference in term of picture quality is lens the mount, on RED can be mounted professional lenses. Haven’t used X9 so far but I’m sure it stands pretty well compared to professional cameras.
Thank you for the feedback. I look forward to seeing how the new X9 performs.
 
I have the original Inspire 1 which is still awesome in my opinion but the batteries are getting old and overall, it is time for an upgrade. The Inspire 3 is way way out of my budget sadly. I had been eyeing the Inspire 2 with zenmuse x5s camera as a possible replacement for my aging inspire 1. My work with the drone requires interchangeable lenses and high image quality so the X5 series of cameras fits that bill (and I already have the Olympus 25mm, 35mm and DJI 15mm lenses). I need at least a m4s sensor size with telephoto capability so the Mavic 3 doesn't quite work for my use case.
Is DJI officially done with the Inspire 2 and discontinuing it now that the Inspire 3 is out? I read on here and other sites that supposedly they discontinued the Inspire 2 in 2022 and dealers are just selling out that last stock. I still see it listed as available new on sites such as Adorama and B&H however it is listed as out of stock at the DJI store. The DJI website doesn't say it is out of production like they do for the Inspire 1.

I don't want to buy into a system that is already discontinued and end up with a situation like I have with the Inspire 1 where the batteries are slowly dying and no new ones are available.

I wish they would keep the Inspire 2 around since the price of the Inspire 3 is super high. Would be a nice middle ground between the Inspire series and the smaller drones

Any thoughts or suggestions on how to proceed and if they really are done with the Inspire 2?
Thanks
The used market is replete with I2s and X5S cameras, since the I3 release. Just got one inc X5S, ProRes/DNG licenses and batteries in excellent condition with < 35 cycles for £1300/$1500 and 6 month warranty from MPB.com. Bargain. Add a Mini 3 pro and just about all bases covered!

Stoked. Not worth selling the I1 tbh so will keep for fun, modding, and training flights. Plus the X5R is still a capable camera.
 
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I would have to disagree with this. The X5 only provides 60mbps which is lacking when shooting 4K. The X5S provides 100mbps and the difference is noticeable. I've owned both the these drones and cameras. The X5S is definitely a better camera and if doing professional work, I would never provide any 4K footage with the X5 at 60mbps to a client.
Plus the x5s supports raw and ProRes codecs, along with H.265.
 

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