Email to DJI re Inspire RAW

[Simon Bartlett]

All I have to say is in my survey that I Just submitted to DJI. Im not trying to scare anyone off just posting my experience so far...


SURVEY Sent today to DJI:

DJI First of all I like the concept of your product a lot. Your service is awful... After receiving my Inspire 1 RAW it has never worked correctly since day 1. It took me three weeks of calling your support line in the USA just to get a RMA# and a shipping label. When I got the RMA# some of your representatives told me it was the correct RMA number, some of your representatives told me it was not the correct RMA# and some of your representatives said they did not know if it was right or wrong. As a customer spending over $5000 on a product and then an additional $999 for a service plan I expect to be treated as a valued customer. So far I do not feel like a valued customer. My Inspire is on its way to you for repair / replacement. The lens will not focus sharp on infinity. It does focus well for close up work within 2M but Infinity it does not. I have taken all the steps in your tutorials including trying to calibrate the lens over 10 times. This is bad for me as most of my video's will be recorded while focused to infinity. I hope that after two months waiting for my inspire to be returned that it will work. The other problem that I have is while my inspire is down going through your service procedure I lose 6 to 8 weeks of a service plan that I paid $999 for. A value of $166...(is that fair?)
I do not want to complain or seem like an angry person but so far my experience has been exceptionally bad. I have not had anyone from DJI ever call me concerned about the bad customer support that I have experienced so I doubt if I will hear anything at all from you after submitting this survey. Lets see if you surprise me by trying to contact me about it!

 

[The Editor]

All I have to say is in my survey that I Just submitted to DJI. Im not trying to scare anyone off just posting my experience so far...


SURVEY Sent today to DJI:

DJI First of all I like the concept of your product a lot. Your service is awful... After receiving my Inspire 1 RAW it has never worked correctly since day 1. It took me three weeks of calling your support line in the USA just to get a RMA# and a shipping label. When I got the RMA# some of your representatives told me it was the correct RMA number, some of your representatives told me it was not the correct RMA# and some of your representatives said they did not know if it was right or wrong. As a customer spending over $5000 on a product and then an additional $999 for a service plan I expect to be treated as a valued customer. So far I do not feel like a valued customer. My Inspire is on its way to you for repair / replacement. The lens will not focus sharp on infinity. It does focus well for close up work within 2M but Infinity it does not. I have taken all the steps in your tutorials including trying to calibrate the lens over 10 times. This is bad for me as most of my video's will be recorded while focused to infinity. I hope that after two months waiting for my inspire to be returned that it will work. The other problem that I have is while my inspire is down going through your service procedure I lose 6 to 8 weeks of a service plan that I paid $999 for. A value of $166...(is that fair?)
I do not want to complain or seem like an angry person but so far my experience has been exceptionally bad. I have not had anyone from DJI ever call me concerned about the bad customer support that I have experienced so I doubt if I will hear anything at all from you after submitting this survey. Lets see if you surprise me by trying to contact me about it!

Not quite sure who/what this is directed at but I have moved your thread to the X5R section as it was posted in Introductions which is to introduce yourself to the forum. I have also changed your thread title to something a little more descriptive than 'Inspire RAW' which will help people identify a subject matter.

 

[Simon Bartlett]

Not quite sure who/what this is directed at but I have moved your thread to the X5R section as it was posted in Introductions which is to introduce yourself to the forum. I have also changed your thread title to something a little more descriptive than 'Inspire RAW' which will help people identify a subject matter.

 

[Simon Bartlett]

Thanks for moving it to the right spot. It was not directed at anyone. Just imformative about the service experience I had and do not want people mislead as I feel I was. When you have such an epic failure providing an advertised service to a paying customer any company worth its sort would make every effort to fix the problem. With DJI this is not the case. I can't help feeling that once they have your money they do not care any more. After my purchase I started to read about their service issues wishing I had read those as well as the product reviews before I let them have my money.

 

[The Editor]

Thanks for moving it to the right spot. It was not directed at anyone. Just imformative about the service experience I had and do not want people mislead as I feel I was. When you have such an epic failure providing an advertised service to a paying customer any company worth its sort would make every effort to fix the problem. With DJI this is not the case. I can't help feeling that once they have your money they do not care any more. After my purchase I started to read about their service issues wishing I had read those as well as the product reviews before I let them have my money.

I am not going to disagree with any of those comments!

 

[RvdH]

As bad as your experiences are (I cannot disagree) I found that there are services that do work fast and correct. Take the DJI support channel on facebook.

As I waited for sometimes hours on the telephone line and chat channel, the DJI Facebook support provided correct answers almiost promptly. I had a problem with the external battery on my Osmo: within 7 minutes a reply with a firmware update that solved the issue. Problem with the slave controller of my I1 Pro and firmware 1.7.4: instructions that solved everything within 5 minutes.

There are people at DJI that do know what they are talking about and even want to help solve your problems. You only have to be able to find them. They seem to have adopted the Chinese way of thinking: everybody is equal, so if you buy an I1 Raw with a service plan or a Phantom 3 standard, customer service can suck.

May the Force be with you!

 

[Eric]

Can't disagree with what's been said by anyone here and forgive me if you you know cameras and settings, but what was your Aperture settings when the X5R wasn't focusing in infinity? Just a thought.

 

[Simon Bartlett]

Can't disagree with what's been said by anyone here and forgive me if you you know cameras and settings, but what was your Aperture settings when the X5R wasn't focusing in infinity? Just a thought.

No apologies needed at all. I usually do not shoot at 4K because I prefer 60fps as apposed to the 24fps as a max in 4K. So my tests where 1080P / 60fps / F2.8 / ss120 / ISO Auto / manual focus set to infinity with all of my subject matter at a distance of more than 10M away. All of my videos are soft seem slightly out of focus. My appature was almost wide open at 2.8 but that shouldn't make a difference with my subject at more than 10M focused at infinity (I think ...right?). I know that a lot of people say why get the RAW if this is the kind of shooting I am doing and not just get the X3 or new Z3? Well.. I have only had the Inspire in my hands and working for a hand full of days and am starting at the beginning with simple stuff and not trying to compete with Speilberg right out of the gate ) I am looking forward to hopefully capturing some stunning video in the future with beautiful bokeh etc ..but for right now I am just trying to master the basics.

ANY help / advice I can get is welcomed and greatly appreciated. If I am doing something wrong I will graciously bow my head and try anything that will give me good results with this gear.

Thanks for the reply

 

[unyks]

I am not going to disagree with any of those comments!

@The Editor huh??? is that you?

 

[The Editor]

@The Editor huh??? is that you?

I wasn't feeling myself but I'm better now and in a much badder mood!

 

[Eric]

No apologies needed at all. I usually do not shoot at 4K because I prefer 60fps as apposed to the 24fps as a max in 4K. So my tests where 1080P / 60fps / F2.8 / ss120 / ISO Auto / manual focus set to infinity with all of my subject matter at a distance of more than 10M away. All of my videos are soft seem slightly out of focus. My appature was almost wide open at 2.8 but that shouldn't make a difference with my subject at more than 10M focused at infinity (I think ...right?). I know that a lot of people say why get the RAW if this is the kind of shooting I am doing and not just get the X3 or new Z3? Well.. I have only had the Inspire in my hands and working for a hand full of days and am starting at the beginning with simple stuff and not trying to compete with Speilberg right out of the gate ) I am looking forward to hopefully capturing some stunning video in the future with beautiful bokeh etc ..but for right now I am just trying to master the basics.

ANY help / advice I can get is welcomed and greatly appreciated. If I am doing something wrong I will graciously bow my head and try anything that will give me good results with this gear.

Thanks for the reply

Yah with my X5 I find everything a bit soft at 2.8... Unless 5M or less. F1.7-2.8 in dark settings it's much less noticeable but still a bit soft. Day time I find F4-5ish with infinity seems to be the sweet spot for close to mid range shots, with the stock lens anyways. Hope that helps.

 

[Simon Bartlett]

To the people that have helped me on this site ... "Thank you"... It seems that common knowledge is not quite as common as one would think. DJI are hard to deal with but make an incredible flying platform. They should (in my mind ) not be so covert about important tech info for their product. For example shooting in 1080p. I shoot everything in 4k now as the X5 camera shoots bad in 1080p .. The reason for my wanting to shoot in 1080p is the 60fps. I find that the 4K at 24fps is a bit jerky due to the lower frame rate. If anyone out there can give some insight on how to adjust for jerky footage using 4K and making the footage smooth id really appreciate it. I have been into still photography for 20+ years but am brand new to video. So any advice is appreciated.

 

[erikgraham]

To the people that have helped me on this site ... "Thank you"... It seems that common knowledge is not quite as common as one would think. DJI are hard to deal with but make an incredible flying platform. They should (in my mind ) not be so covert about important tech info for their product. For example shooting in 1080p. I shoot everything in 4k now as the X5 camera shoots bad in 1080p .. The reason for my wanting to shoot in 1080p is the 60fps. I find that the 4K at 24fps is a bit jerky due to the lower frame rate. If anyone out there can give some insight on how to adjust for jerky footage using 4K and making the footage smooth id really appreciate it. I have been into still photography for 20+ years but am brand new to video. So any advice is appreciated.

Shoot in 4K uhd (3840x2160) at 30 fps
Set shutter to 1/60
I'm assuming your using an appropriate ND so then you can adjust aperture and iso for the exposure (and depth of field that you want).

So the 1/60'shutter should give you the right amount of motion blur to give you a cinematic feel. You can speed it up a bit to get a sharper image, but eventually you'll loose smoothness. Google 180 rule for more info.

Not sure in PP, but in Final Cut you can slow down *Aerial* 30fps 4K footage to great effect by enabling "optical flow" quality in the retime controls. It doesn't work for a lot of ground based footage, but for a lot of Ariel shots, optical flow allows super slow motion, as if you'd shot in 60fps or even faster.

Also. Slow horizontal pans or you'll get juddering.

Disclaimer: I haven't really tested the x5r yet. The advice above is just general video stuff, but it applies. Maybe someone with x5r specific experience can comment. Anyway, I'm not a slave to the 180 rule since you can get varying degrees of motion blur at higher frame rates, but it's a good rule of thumb (even if it's based on film reel tech).