- Joined
- Aug 26, 2013
- Messages
- 251
- Reaction score
- 87
Ok so got the X5 out for some test flights today. Temps were about -15 C and a light haze over the city, making for not the greatest footage but enough to test a few settings and see what this thing could do. After fooling around with a few settings, overall my impressions were mixed. For the forum members these flights were done on the latest FW version (1.1.0.4) and with the Panasonic/Leica 15mm lens.
First thing I did was calibrate the focus. This seemed to work just fine although others have voiced some troubles. Parked my car and walked the Inspire 50 M away, elevated the Inspire about 4 ft. above ground and set the infinity focus using my car against a white background. This worked the first time and I had no real focusing issues at infinity (then again it was so bright outside I was shooting at f8).
Next thing I did was get the thing in the air and fool around with some settings. My go-to setting on the X3 is 1080p60. I seem to get less artifacting and sharpness grain on 1080p60, and it gives me the flexibility to slow down the shot, or simply conform it to 30p or 24p if necessary. It doesn't have the most filmic look obviously but I'd rather have the frames and not need them. Flight characteristics I won't really rehash too much, it flies generally OK, but yaw is near impossible to control smoothly, even on latest FW. I cannot get a smooth yaw even with the wider FOV provided by 60p. This is pretty disappointing and I tried lowering all the yaw gain settings but to no avail. I may order the 12mm lens as this problem doesn't seem to be as bad on that lens.
Upon bringing the footage into the computer (the moment of truth), my reaction was mixed. In all honesty the 1080p60 footage looked barely any different from the X3. It was very slightly better, but certainly not $2500 better, not even close. This to me was disappointing as the same issues with the footage seem to be there. Artifacting, overly sharp and very video-ey looking. So I figured let's try 4k30 and see what we can get.
As many of you know, the FOV closes when shooting at 4k30, or any frame rate below 60. This is very odd to me and I don't really understand why that is. I am assuming it is a bug with the camera but I don't know, I am hoping DJI addresses this in the next firmware update. Anyways, in 4k30, yaw is even more difficult to control. It is twitchy and impossible to get smooth movement. When arcing I just switched the gimbal tilt dial to gimbal pan and this enabled smoother movement, but now there is no way to elevate and arc while tilting the camera, a go-to move for the drone. This is pretty annoying but again something I would envision getting fixed with an update (or so I hope).
at 4k30 the footage really shone for me. It actually looks completely different and much more film-like. It is here where I see the potential of the camera as the image produced is quite nice and relatively clean. The video below was shot in 4k30 and is straight from the camera with no grading.
Random thoughts:
- D-Log is waaaaaay too flat. Almost looks like grayscale actually. D-Cinelike to my eye looks the best and still is grade-able.
- It is surprising the drastic change in image look when changing framerate and resolution settings. To me, the camera should generally look the same regardless of framerate or resolution used. There are clearly some issues to be worked out.
- The -1 sharpness value is nice. I hate hate hate that sharpness grain present on X3 footage. -1 is a nice value on the X5.
- This thing definitely needs another major FW update to address the FOV issue as well as the flight experience. Right now I cannot use it to the same level with one operator - yaw is impossible to get smooth.
Password is x5
Video settings - D-Cinelike, 4k30, sharpness -1, shutter 1/500, aperture f8, iso 100.
First thing I did was calibrate the focus. This seemed to work just fine although others have voiced some troubles. Parked my car and walked the Inspire 50 M away, elevated the Inspire about 4 ft. above ground and set the infinity focus using my car against a white background. This worked the first time and I had no real focusing issues at infinity (then again it was so bright outside I was shooting at f8).
Next thing I did was get the thing in the air and fool around with some settings. My go-to setting on the X3 is 1080p60. I seem to get less artifacting and sharpness grain on 1080p60, and it gives me the flexibility to slow down the shot, or simply conform it to 30p or 24p if necessary. It doesn't have the most filmic look obviously but I'd rather have the frames and not need them. Flight characteristics I won't really rehash too much, it flies generally OK, but yaw is near impossible to control smoothly, even on latest FW. I cannot get a smooth yaw even with the wider FOV provided by 60p. This is pretty disappointing and I tried lowering all the yaw gain settings but to no avail. I may order the 12mm lens as this problem doesn't seem to be as bad on that lens.
Upon bringing the footage into the computer (the moment of truth), my reaction was mixed. In all honesty the 1080p60 footage looked barely any different from the X3. It was very slightly better, but certainly not $2500 better, not even close. This to me was disappointing as the same issues with the footage seem to be there. Artifacting, overly sharp and very video-ey looking. So I figured let's try 4k30 and see what we can get.
As many of you know, the FOV closes when shooting at 4k30, or any frame rate below 60. This is very odd to me and I don't really understand why that is. I am assuming it is a bug with the camera but I don't know, I am hoping DJI addresses this in the next firmware update. Anyways, in 4k30, yaw is even more difficult to control. It is twitchy and impossible to get smooth movement. When arcing I just switched the gimbal tilt dial to gimbal pan and this enabled smoother movement, but now there is no way to elevate and arc while tilting the camera, a go-to move for the drone. This is pretty annoying but again something I would envision getting fixed with an update (or so I hope).
at 4k30 the footage really shone for me. It actually looks completely different and much more film-like. It is here where I see the potential of the camera as the image produced is quite nice and relatively clean. The video below was shot in 4k30 and is straight from the camera with no grading.
Random thoughts:
- D-Log is waaaaaay too flat. Almost looks like grayscale actually. D-Cinelike to my eye looks the best and still is grade-able.
- It is surprising the drastic change in image look when changing framerate and resolution settings. To me, the camera should generally look the same regardless of framerate or resolution used. There are clearly some issues to be worked out.
- The -1 sharpness value is nice. I hate hate hate that sharpness grain present on X3 footage. -1 is a nice value on the X5.
- This thing definitely needs another major FW update to address the FOV issue as well as the flight experience. Right now I cannot use it to the same level with one operator - yaw is impossible to get smooth.
Password is x5
Video settings - D-Cinelike, 4k30, sharpness -1, shutter 1/500, aperture f8, iso 100.
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