I had the opportunity to shoot with Barry Blanchard's X5 for a couple of evenings this past week and thought I would share some of the results here. Overall, I'm extremely excited about the X5, it's an amazing camera and as good or better than my GH4 that I fly on my S1000 rig regularly. Having full manual controls of the camera including aperture from the ground is a serious game changer. The image quality is stunning and a massive step up from the X3 camera. The increased dynamic range is evident the instant an image appears on the tablet. When shooting stills, I didn't feel the need to do AEB as the dynamic range in a single shot from the X5 seemed to have more detail than that of a triple AEB shot combined to an HDR from an X3. The ability to change lenses between the 12mm and 15mm is huge, we tested it out with both and got some amazing results. The difference in focal lengths may not seem like much, but it's definitely noticeable and gives a very different feel from the air. Both lenses are very clean and look great straight out of the camera for both photos and video. The low light capabilities of the camera are also outstanding and worth noting, being able to open then lenses up and push the ISO allows you to shoot quality video in almost no light. The overall stability of the gimbal is rock solid, I was able to capture 3+ second long exposure stills with no motion blur even in 10MPH+ winds. The standard inspire(not a pro) handled the extra weight of the X5 without issue and it flew no differently than it does with the X3, even in fairly heavy winds and being pushed quite hard by me.
DJI X5 Vertical Pano by Philip Lima, on Flickr
DJI X5 Sunset by Philip Lima, on Flickr
Here is a quick video I put together... Please keep in mind that we did not shoot this for the sake of making a video, we were doing lens test and comparisons, but since the footage turned out so nice I thought I'd post some of it so people can see a small sample of what the X5 is capable of, even when you're not trying that hard. Please don't judge the compression of the camera based on this video, Youtube compresses the video well beyond what is done in camera. This is just the first of many videos we'll be putting together in the near future with the X5. We are also working on doing a side by side flight with the X3 and X5 so that everyone can clearly see the massive improvement in dynamic range.
DJI X5 Vertical Pano by Philip Lima, on FlickrDJI X5 Sunset by Philip Lima, on FlickrHere is a quick video I put together... Please keep in mind that we did not shoot this for the sake of making a video, we were doing lens test and comparisons, but since the footage turned out so nice I thought I'd post some of it so people can see a small sample of what the X5 is capable of, even when you're not trying that hard. Please don't judge the compression of the camera based on this video, Youtube compresses the video well beyond what is done in camera. This is just the first of many videos we'll be putting together in the near future with the X5. We are also working on doing a side by side flight with the X3 and X5 so that everyone can clearly see the massive improvement in dynamic range.
