Is ProRes worth it?

2nd2non said:

I think he shot that with an order version of the fw. The latest version .300 fixed the WB and tint issues (or at least it’s very good in AWB). They just need to make the AWB setting match the same tint when manually setting the temp to same value.

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I think when I did the test I had .240 firmware. Now I have .330 and I have no plans to upgrade it at this moment.
Here is one of my latest videos that filmed with i2 x5s (firmware .330) half shot in dng 5.2k and half prores 422

Dr. Ifly Drones said:

And of course, courtesy of DJI, a crooked horizon...

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lol!

Someone wrote something about rotating the Inspire while in the air and setting the gimbal to level the horizon at 90 degree intervals and it would remember it to memory in conjunction with the compass. Don't know if its true or not and haven't verified it.

Casey53 said:

lol!

Someone wrote something about rotating the Inspire while in the air and setting the gimbal to level the horizon at 90 degree intervals and it would remember it to memory in conjunction with the compass. Don't know if its true or not and haven't verified it.

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I will have to try that out. I'm kind of used to making the horizon check part of my preflight routine. The fact you have to do this every time you fly is a PITA.

Casey53 said:

I actually like the h264 on the right better than the Prores on the left which appears to fall victim to the awful magenta tint in the DJI cameras. The sky in Prores looks "burple" and not anywhere close to the color of the sky on the right which looks more natural on my screen and looking out the window here for comparison. DJI really needs to fix their burple cameras with a tint control, or keep making expensive toy cameras.

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I was surprised with sharpness difference between prores and h264. I got the licenses to film in 5k and use full potential of x5s. Raw (dng) quality is amazing.

2nd2non said:

I think he shot that with an order version of the fw. The latest version .300 fixed the WB and tint issues (or at least it’s very good in AWB). They just need to make the AWB setting match the same tint when manually setting the temp to same value.

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I have the latest firmware (I2 + X5S+DJI 15mm lens) and the magenta purple tint is still present in Manual White Balance, but it's as good as it ever has been in Auto White Balance. I didn't think DJI would fix it since it has been around for maybe 3 years in the X5-series cameras. Maybe in 5 years they'll get to it and put in a slider to fix the magenta/green tint as others do. For now, still have to use a color correction green filter in manual white balance mode or deal with a burple tint.

Shots below of Gray Card outdoors. 1.) Auto White Balance shows the Red, Blue, Green overlapping as they should. 2.)The Manual WB has the burple magenta color of the gray card and the lower green line shown in the histogram. 3.) Last with a CC10G filter (Fwiw, a CC7.5 Green might be better if one were available.) to pull the Red, Blue,and Green into an overlap.

FlyaDrone said:

UT,
I too prefer the h.264 video. What can you a tribute this difference to? All post processing the same. A post above suggests an older firmware version.

You are an award winning cinematographer, please share with us your opinion on how someone can get the superb h.264 quality without spending the extra budget on license and SSD costs.

Thank you for posting this video demonstration.

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H264 looks sharper. I don't see much difference in compression quality between h264 and prores. Maybe footage with more small details would have more compression artefacts in h264 version.
I need to do another compare video with my autumn foliage footage.
If you are not perfectionist and don't really need raw quality - don't waste that money and get extra batteries, lenses and etc.
My clients very rarely ask me prores and never asked raw. I just shoot raw for myself at this point and I really love the quality and ability to adjust it in post. Also it is always good to have backup.