Although I haven't even had the time to learn everything about the new DJI Inspire 1 Quadcopter, I was at least able to get it off the ground and flying. It's a bit frustrating that they don't sell spare batteries (yet) as I only get around 18 minutes of flight before having to recharge the battery. So even though i've had the multicopter for a few days, I probably logged less than an hour and most of it is playing with the menu.
Keep in mind i'm not a very skilled pilot and there are some instances in the footage below where i'm trying to steer the copter. The Inspire 1 is actually a very very stable system. Here's a few minutes of 4K footage I shot recently on the new DJI Inspire 1 Quadcopter.
Make sure to switch to 4K resolution in the player and maybe even go full screen..
The images may be a bit underexposed or flat, but I wanted to pull down the highlights and in some cases bring up the shadows to see how much information I could retain. At around 2:45 in the video I'm shooting straight into the sun and was still able to retain color in the sky without completely losing the beach below. I still have a lot to learn and hopefully get better results but with the single battery it's taking a lot longer to practice. More to come.
DJI Inspire 1 4K Video Quadcopter
Michael Kienirz
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=4855
Read this early adopters and weep, DJI produced alpha quality and you're the beta testers...I should know I own 8 DJI products.
Emm
Post author@JohnB - I haven't made any scientific tests, but i'm guessing around two hours? I was able to charge the battery from my cigarette lighter using an AC outlet adapter during my drive home (about two hours).
JohnB
@Emm A couple of quick questions for you. How long does it take to charge your battery? Is there a 23.976 frame rate option?
VanWeddings
the tilt as you were taking off was impressively smooth. it's nice to find that out!
Emm
Post author@Jason - It's always scary flying. Around San Francisco, the seagulls out here like to go after flying quads so you never know if your system will just go down. I've flown small quads up in farmland and a hawk came to get it. You never know so always be cautious about where you are and what you're doing.
Jason
Yooo Em! Good stuff...Just curious..I've wondered this for awhile for all scenic drone footage...Is it kinda scary flying a drone that far away from where you're physically at? Were you flying from the parking lot the entire time?
The beach shots are rad, I really wanna do this down here in San Diego but I'm just curious about the mindset of flying something that far away from you
jayhas
Thanks for the demo Emm. Nice shots. That one battery thing and slight jello is holding me back from upgrading right away from my current Phantom2/Hero3/FPV setup. I can wait a few more months till everything is settled with the Inspire 1, probably an Inspire 1+ when I get there 🙂
Southerndude
Emm: That is some of the smoothest 30FPS I have ever seen!
The video seemed a bit under exposed, and a little jello om the buildings in the beach shot. But over all pretty darn nice, in deed! For me, I want one bad, but I'm going to have to wait until the prices come down to around $1,500.00 with all the better software and features.
Thanks for keeping many of us apprised of the DJI's Aspire.
Dustin
Do you have any exposure tools Through Lightbridge? It'd be nice to get zebras or a histogram or something while flying. Also, can you do smooth exposure adjustments while filming, or would they move in steps?
Apostolos
Oh, yeah, I remember the trees. That's where you were using your daughter as slave labor to test a gimbal unit. A buddy of mine lived in SF, then moved to Daly City, then came back to LA, because he could not afford the rent in the SF area anymore. SF is supposed to have the highest real estate/rental cost in the nation now, higher than NY.
Emm
Post author@Apostolos - I actually live around a lot of farm land. Just a few blocks away and I can pick any fruit I want - Cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, etc. I was born and grew up in San Francisco, but moved a few hours away to get away from the hustle and bustle. Yet I still find myself traveling quite a bit back.
Apostolos
We are all moving in to your "house on the beach," damn it! It sort of looked like Malibu to me.
Emm
Post author@jsfilmz - Ha, I made it look close but it's about 2 hours inland from the beach. haha.
jsfilmz
Jeebus bro what city do you live in? That is some beautiful neighborhood. How far is the beach?
Emm
Post author@Apostolos - Yes simultaneously tilting the camera while going up or down. In the menu you can now change speed of movement so I set it to 20% speed and just tried to match the tilt speed when flying up or down. Same settings can be done with panning the yaw too.
Apostolos
It did look like it was a good half a stop under, but the resolution in 4k looked great and it's incredibly smooth for 30p. I thought it was 60p, but the gimbal seems to be doing its job very well. When you were lifting off and coming down, did you tilt the head up and down at all?
John Foster
Nicely done particularly for a first flight. Video was awesome.
Joseph Rose
Have you been able to check out any log/flat settings and compare to the Hero 4? I'd love to be able to use this to mix footage with my BMPCC in some short films.
Jay Windland
Oh yeah, that's a big difference. The download option is way cleaner. I think I still prefer the Hero4's image overall, but the lack of distortion here is really nice.
Emm
Post author@Jay Windland - YouTube and Vimeo really compress these video files, especially 4K video uploads. You can try to download the file from this page and watch it locally. You may have a very different experience. httpss://vimeo.com/116258364
Jay Windland
I really like the lack of distortion on the camera, but what do you make of the artifacts in the gravel on the parking lot and sand on the beach? It really breaks up a ton. Is that just YouTube compression or are you seeing any of that on your original footage?
Emm
Post author@Robbie - I have only tried the default setting in the camera. There are other options, but I have only tried the 4K 30. The single battery is a pain right now as you don't get much time to test everything all at once. It's a constant on/off over several days and there's still many more options I want to try like 'gimbal lock mode' and different frame rates.
Robbie
First good footage that I see about the Inspire 1, just the dynamic range is a bit low.. and some jello here and there.. those blades cannot be balanced as conventional propellers.. or is it possible ?
So there is a log mode right ? pure log or just a lower contrast version ?
Thanks
Emm
Post author@Kelly - Ha, actually I don't live by the Beach. I drove down to the beach later in the day. As far as playback, my Macbook Air can't play the 4K. You may have to use a different system, but I will say the 4K looks way better than trying to watch the 1080p. The 'original' file before YouTube compression looks better too.
Kelly
@Emm Damn man! You gotta nice house and neighborhood! And you live by the beach?? I tried watching it in 4k but my computer must not be powerful enough cuz it keeps stuttering during playback
Jim Allen
That's some really impressively resolved video. It's like you've got the capability for giant crane shots and heli footage for the masses. Very nice. I have a DJI hexacopter that's just become a priority to get flying... That quality of video at the beach, with the sun behind the camera reminded me of the high, sweeping heli shots in some of the newer Bond movies. Awesome.
Berk
I've seen quite bit jello on the beach scene. Check out the buildings on the right. Eventhough there wasn't much wind the copter introduces jello quite bit. Maybe more stiffer dampers should be used for the camera..
RG84
Go Emm Go. How far did you go and how did you like using lightbridge?
Shooting flat is good gives you more room to play around in post.
earl studios
I think you did a good job first time out. You kept your motions slow and easy and to me thats always the key.
I'm interested in hearing about your experiences with the rules and regs too, as that is the one part of this whole aerial videography thing that is bugging me.
Looking forward to seeing more. and make some cheesycam heli themed tshirts too! the original one of yours i bought is almost dead from me wearing it so much 🙂
Paul
There's a LOG color mode. I graded it and it's roughly the same as Hero 3 ProTune from GoPro. Use that, go manual for the camera and adjust your shutter or exposure in air with the right dial.
if you really want to fly auto you can also control exposure iPhone style by pointing where you want the exposure to be.