The Biggest Issue w/ I3, The Lack of Autofocus Options...

[Kaiserk]

I've been using this drone for productions mostly as a single pilot because the co-pilot option is a terrible idea unless the co-pilot is very experienced and you are used to flying together.

Since I am recording action sports, I find it very annoying that when you narrow in on a moving subject, you have to tap the screen to focus on it otherwise it stays out of focus and blurry running the shot. This is absolutely ridiculous and why hasn't DJI done anything about this yet!

 

[SkyPath Productions]

I've been using this drone for productions mostly as a single pilot because the co-pilot option is a terrible idea unless the co-pilot is very experienced and you are used to flying together.

Since I am recording action sports, I find it very annoying that when you narrow in on a moving subject, you have to tap the screen to focus on it otherwise it stays out of focus and blurry running the shot. This is absolutely ridiculous and why hasn't DJI done anything about this yet!

It annoys the heck out of me too! I reached out to DJI and they said it is AFS, meaning it focuses to a single point. They continued to say they don’t plan on changing that.

 

[FinesAerial.com]

Yeah, it is unfortunate. The lack of AFC as well as basic photo modes is surprising.

If you are going to be filming close with this drone where refocusing is needed I think you just need to get a 3 channel follow focus unit and have a second person do the focusing. Tapping on the screen throws in that jitter and will always ruin the shot.

On the plus side I’m sure all these lacking features will be fixed on the I3 Pro which we can buy next year for $17k.

 

[SkyPath Productions]

Yeah, it is unfortunate. The lack of AFC as well as basic photo modes is surprising.

If you are going to be filming close with this drone where refocusing is needed I think you just need to get a 3 channel follow focus unit and have a second person do the focusing. Tapping on the screen throws in that jitter and will always ruin the shot.

On the plus side I’m sure all these lacking features will be fixed on the I3 Pro which we can buy next year for $17k.

Is anyone selling a three channel follow focus at a fair price? $999 is pretty steep.

 

[FinesAerial.com]

Mine was $909 from local dealer - Vertex Unmanned.

 

[SkyPath Productions]

I’ve been bugging DJI about it, I highly doubt this will go anywhere.

We are grateful to assist you with your concern and really want to help further. I just received the message from our consumer product team and understand that you have a question about the DJI Inspire 3 issue.

In your previous talk, you mentioned that you would like to know when the continuous autofocus is available for Inspire 3. Regarding your issue, we just confirmed with our senior engineers, we're so sorry to tell you that our Inspire 3 cannot support continuous autofocus(AFC Mode) now. You can choose AF Mode or MF Mode when you are using the Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera and Inspire 3.

Besides, we just double-checked it with our R&D department. However, we're really sorry to tell you that we have not yet received any notification about when this function can be achieved. I really understand that this function is so important and without it, there will be much inconvenience, so I will constantly communicate with the team for the progress on your feedback. However, it does take time, and there will be many compatibility tests involved. I cannot make any promises now. I appreciate your understanding, and I really hope this will be achieved. Please stay tuned to our latest information by following DJI's Official Websites.

 

[srandall25]

I’ve been bugging DJI about it, I highly doubt this will go anywhere.

We are grateful to assist you with your concern and really want to help further. I just received the message from our consumer product team and understand that you have a question about the DJI Inspire 3 issue.

In your previous talk, you mentioned that you would like to know when the continuous autofocus is available for Inspire 3. Regarding your issue, we just confirmed with our senior engineers, we're so sorry to tell you that our Inspire 3 cannot support continuous autofocus(AFC Mode) now. You can choose AF Mode or MF Mode when you are using the Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera and Inspire 3.

Besides, we just double-checked it with our R&D department. However, we're really sorry to tell you that we have not yet received any notification about when this function can be achieved. I really understand that this function is so important and without it, there will be much inconvenience, so I will constantly communicate with the team for the progress on your feedback. However, it does take time, and there will be many compatibility tests involved. I cannot make any promises now. I appreciate your understanding, and I really hope this will be achieved. Please stay tuned to our latest information by following DJI's Official Websites.

You're not going to find anything more about this than the rest of us. DJI doesn't release anything new to folks asking such questions. They release to the general public, or they don't.

 

[Patscherpofel]

I completely agree ...they add al sort of auto framing and obstacle avoidance nonsense to make things "easier", but pros hardly ever use ...but to have a least three people on a remote location to operate a drone is not always possible, and not at all necessary...but the worst I feel, they do this mostly so you need to buy more equipment...again and again...the focus puller is not even compatible to a rs3 gimbal... the I3 is way to expensive to keep on doing this kind of business model

the i3 has not sold well so far...there ar eco few people using it its hard to get valid info about it
I have tested it and was very disappointed about a lot of things

 

[srandall25]

I completely agree ...they add al sort of auto framing and obstacle avoidance nonsense to make things "easier", but pros hardly ever use ...but to have a least three people on a remote location to operate a drone is not always possible, and not at all necessary...but the worst I feel, they do this mostly so you need to buy more equipment...again and again...the focus puller is not even compatible to a rs3 gimbal... the I3 is way to expensive to keep on doing this kind of business model

the i3 has not sold well so far...there ar eco few people using it its hard to get valid info about it
I have tested it and was very disappointed about a lot of things

Other than continuous auto focus that most (close to all) cinema cameras don't have, what were the 'lots of things' you were disappointed in?

 

[SkyPath Productions]

I completely agree ...they add al sort of auto framing and obstacle avoidance nonsense to make things "easier", but pros hardly ever use ...but to have a least three people on a remote location to operate a drone is not always possible, and not at all necessary...but the worst I feel, they do this mostly so you need to buy more equipment...again and again...the focus puller is not even compatible to a rs3 gimbal... the I3 is way to expensive to keep on doing this kind of business model

the i3 has not sold well so far...there ar eco few people using it its hard to get valid info about it
I have tested it and was very disappointed about a lot of things

What were you disappointed with?

 

[Patscherpofel]

product separation and treating pros like idiots
they sell it with an extra pro price to the i2 but limit you in all sorts of freedom (typical dJI handcuffs) to set the flight settings, use it in a creative new way (like the 4d with high bright monitor gyro ), you can't change more settings compare to an mavic, are more limited with the remote , it moves even slower when you put a tele lens on it (what a joke) , it flys and reacts even slower then an I2 where the huge part of the industry wants race drone like shots , ...even pro pilots still use an external fpv camera, some even rip out the whole motors and replace it with race drone components

pay 30k , but dont do photos with it, dont use the camera on a 4d or wise versa
control your camera on a 4d with the high bright monitor, but not the inspire. (consistency?)
buy a focus puller for the I3 but it doesn't work on anything else
have a huge remote, but it can't controle a mavic
can't use dji fpv goggles.
new batteries for a huge extra price that dont have any advantage
the rtk doesn't work properly,
only 60fps with prores raw which nobody wants, even mavic can do prores 60fps
crazy bad rolling shutter !!!
no AF, no AEB, no Hyperlapse
the i3 is basically a 8k mavic with camera control and a dl mount...not much pro in it but lots of gimmicks

 

[niki]

product separation and treating pros like idiots
they sell it with an extra pro price to the i2 but limit you in all sorts of freedom (typical dJI handcuffs) to set the flight settings, use it in a creative new way (like the 4d with high bright monitor gyro ), you can't change more settings compare to an mavic, are more limited with the remote , it moves even slower when you put a tele lens on it (what a joke) , it flys and reacts even slower then an I2 where the huge part of the industry wants race drone like shots , ...even pro pilots still use an external fpv camera, some even rip out the whole motors and replace it with race drone components

pay 30k , but dont do photos with it, dont use the camera on a 4d or wise versa
control your camera on a 4d with the high bright monitor, but not the inspire. (consistency?)
buy a focus puller for the I3 but it doesn't work on anything else
have a huge remote, but it can't controle a mavic
can't use dji fpv goggles.
new batteries for a huge extra price that dont have any advantage
the rtk doesn't work properly,
only 60fps with prores raw which nobody wants, even mavic can do prores 60fps
crazy bad rolling shutter !!!
no AF, no AEB, no Hyperlapse
the i3 is basically a 8k mavic with camera control and a dl mount...not much pro in it but lots of gimmicks

Do you have the I3? It's uncomparable with Mavic...

Continuous auto focus on a drone, is there one on the market? The drone crews for professional productions are usually a few peoples, pilot, cam operator, assistant, observer. In most cases we are just two of us pilot and cam operator and when it's needed the DOP or some of the cam assistents are jumping on our focus unit. If the production cannot afford all this then the shots are designed in a way they won't need the focus puller like shooting at f8 and keeping enough distance from subject.

With previous FW update the FPV feed was improved with very similar to O2 and O3 latency, we stripped off our Walksnail FPV cam and VTX from the I3 and are now using the built in one, it's great after the update. With the HDMI out we are usually using additional monitor for the FPV feed and also can connect Walksnail googles if needed.
In prores raw it can shoot 8K@75fps.
The only complain we have so far is the rolling shutter but if absolutelly necessary if lets say the shots are very fast and will be for VFX, then we can switch to s35 which reduces this problem a lot, anyway modern VFX softwares can deal with rolling shutter prettty well but of course it's preffered to be none.
All hyperlapses we do with Mavic 3, no certain need for the I3 on this but it's not impossible. Waipoints combined with low shooting S&Q fps like 1fps is doing exactly the same just the drone is not in photo but video mode. Maybe for some night hyperlapses could be better to use the I3 but in most cases we are using slow shutter for light trails on ISO 100 and there is no problems with noise or quality overal.