Need Recommendations for New Buy

[Triple]

I am not interested in tinkering around with a rig like some of you guys enjoy. I need a turnkey system. The issue with the DJI Inspire is the 4k camera is not all that great I hear. I do like the altimeter/positioning systems for indoors work. Not sure why the Rulings transmitter never came out which had an integrated monitor. I really like all the tutorials and community stuff for DJI. I hear the GoPro 4 which I have is better than the Inspire cam.

Something like the DJI S900 seems like a better rig and the GH4 is supposed to be awesome, although the GH5 will be even better, but it's twice the price of the Inspire. I hate the idea of flying a $7K rig over water.

I wish someone had a small hex where I could use the GoPro4 with the u.w housing in case I dunked it,t eh cam would still be good.

I am leaning towards the Inspire, but the Walkera Tali500 has an integrated monitor in the TX, then there is the Hexo+, both are hexas, giving an additional 2 motors which is far better if one fails than if one out of 4 fails on quads.

Recommendations?

 

[haha49]

There are waterproof quads out there. Just google search them think 1 is called the mariner.

Now do you want live feed back to you or not? Do you want stable footage or not?

Gimbal with gopro hero 4 means stable shots. Disadvantage no water proof housing. So flying over water is always risky. If your looking at spending 7k on a system and don't want to lose it a gopro system is half the cost. It all depends on what you want.

What do you want to use it for?

The moniter in the transmitter works but it's not that practical I like sitting in a chair with an LCD screen in front of me and flying by pointing the radio at the craft. Now I calibrate the compass if it circles to much and I also set it to auto land unless I fly over water then it's return home. How you mount the video transmitter makes a huge difference on range way more then the amount of power. My advise is mount it as low as you can with the attena pointing dowards it gives the best range that way. On top it's not as good. in the middle it's bad. Under works way better.

Boscam 5.8ghz 400mw will be plenty of range just get a good attenna for the receiver and transmitter throw away the factory ones that come with it. I've flown very far away don't do that unless you really know your system you want to stay close for 90 percent of the things you do.

Close to people I do line of sight and the screen to just see what the camera is pointed at. For long range if I want to do it comes down to conditions flight time ect. More weight = less time in the air. Even a small amount is huge. A balanced craft works best.

Seems like a phantom 2 or 3d iris might be better for you. They both are ready to go out of the box and can use a gopro with a gimbal.

If you go with a phantom 1 add the DJI mini osd makes a huge difference with on screen display. If you go with phantom 2 it's all built in out of the box so it's simpler but your range is limited unless you mod it. I get way more range then the phantom because I built mine but it doesn't do high def back to me so it's lower quality image but much greater range.

Heres the thing with housing you lose the live feed out of them as you have to plug it into the camera meaning a cable has to plug in no cable no video out. Now if you mount a gopro on and just stick it on then mount a cheap camera as a flight camera you could do that instead but you don't see what the gopro see's.

The best results is a moniter or googles gimbal and video back to you add a osd (on screen display) To see voltage how to get back ect. It helps allot as you will get lost with out it easy. Even in a field and your in a corner fly out turn around fly back and your off course by a lot if you just use what you see instead of an osd. It's supprising how far you can be off.

Footage was with a gimbal and a hero 3... not a + or 4

 

[Bartman]

@econfly posted camera specs here a couple of weeks ago. the Inspire camera uses most of the components that the GoPro 4 does and has comparable bit rate performance so the cameras ought to be considered equivalent to each other. I think the GoPro has the edge in that it can shoot in ProTune but don't quote me on that

 

[econfly]

It depends on your needs. The Inspire is comparable to GoPro results, though I do think the GoPro protune file is better for editing. If you plan on taking out the GoPro fisheye in the edit then much of that benefit -- if not all of it -- is lost to the data you have to throw away to get more rectilinear results comparable to the Inspire. If you throw much better cameras into the decision it really comes down to intended use, cost-benefit and convenience. If you need GH4 quality footage, are willing to pay for it, and don't care much about the added work to get the camera in the air then the decision is easy. For the money and the camera quality the Inspire is a very good value, particularly considering the features like HD video downlink with OSD and ease of use out of the box.

 

[haha49]

So if your making money then go with a GH4 if not use a gopro. Heck a phantom can get you what you want or a F550 if you want the arms and legs to be out of sight now you build that's the trade off. How ever cost wise a F550 can be built with FPV for 1,100.

 

[SleepyC]

You really need to define your needs. What are you shooting for? The web, small company owners wanting nice shots of stuff? Then they will not care about bit rate, just the final result.

Now if you are shooting for movies or TV then the Inspire, the GH4 and most of the other cameras you mentioned will not cut it.

The rig you need really depends on the end result you need to produce. And the funny part is, I have seen some GoPro footage that looks better on the web than some Red Epic footage, but again.. it's all on what your end result is!