Honest opinions/thoughts and a question...

[Alistair]

Hi all,

I’m making a film (combination of timelapse and video) and after much research I’ve come to the conclusion that the Zenmuse X5R (with Osmo gimbal) is my only real option considering it’s a great combination of camera/lens and gimbal.

My question is, having used it in the real-world, what are your thoughts?

The main question I have, having seen some footage online, is the exposure flicker/exposure change. Is there a way to set manual exposure (or lock the exposure) so this doesn’t happen? I haven’t found a satisfactory answer online.

Thank you in advance, and I look forward to your replies.

Al

 

[Hugh4G]

complicated...

I think you are after bulb ramping... not sure that it can be done with the x5 though

How To Use Bramping Mode

he link is for only one of many ways... very effective, and a bit of time needs investing... also look at the Promote Bramping device....

 

[Alistair]

Hi Hugh, apologies....I think my explanation was a bit thin.

What I meant was that on *some* videos I've seen from the X5R appear to show the camera/lens automatically changing the exposure as the camera turns, as if the user hasn't switched exposure lock on or something...

I'm interested to know if this is something that can be set, as I don't want the exposure to keep changing during a scene I'm shooting.

 

[AeroMirage]

I believe there is AE lock available. I don't have the X5R but it is an option on the X5.

 

[erikgraham]

Yes of course it has Manual. It's a $4,000 MFT camera.

 

[Alistair]

Yes of course it has Manual. It's a $4,000 MFT camera.

High price doesn't always mean a product has the most practical features. In fact, the criticisms of the Zenmuse X5R are aimed at some of the most basic of things you'd think they'd have got 100% considering it is a $4,000 MFT.

 

[erikgraham]

High price doesn't always mean a product has the most practical features. In fact, the criticisms of the Zenmuse X5R are aimed at some of the most basic of things you'd think they'd have got 100% considering it is a $4,000 MFT.

Fair enough.

To answer the question more specifically, the X5R has all the standard modes you'd expect from a MFT. For example, full Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter priority, and full Manual mode.

Most of the other settings like color and sharpness have no effect on the RAW footage captured to the SSD. They only effect the crappy 60mgbit h.264 footage that saves to the SD card (simultaneously). The histogram shown in the GO app is based on the live feed, NOT the raw feed being saved to the SSD. Therefore, it's best to use none and none in the app so that the histogram shows you something closer to the exposure the Raw footage is getting.

The X5R is an impressive camera. The X5 on the other hand is limited to 60 megabits per second. In my opinion it has about the same image quality as a GoPro Hero 4 Black. It should be better given the sensor size, but I think DJI's h.264 compression must be borked or something. The X5R raw footage is amazing though.

 

[Alistair]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm very disappointed at the post-production workflow of the X5R. I've read so many poor reviews. Someone at DJI should be sacked for the mess. In fact the genius that has gone in to the design and production of the camera/gimbal makes the SSD nonsense seem criminal, to be honest.

DJI would definitely have had my money but I'm not giving them a penny for the hassle that's waiting with exporting (and dealing with) their 4K files, and I'm really disappointed by it.

If Sony's A7R II can record 4K video straight to SD card without any fuss, then DJI should have done this too (or at the very least have made the whole process of SDD-to-PC, or SDD-to MAC far more simple.

And the most annoying thing is - they could. They just chose not to.

 

[erikgraham]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm very disappointed at the post-production workflow of the X5R. I've read so many poor reviews. Someone at DJI should be sacked for the mess. In fact the genius that has gone in to the design and production of the camera/gimbal makes the SSD nonsense seem criminal, to be honest.

DJI would definitely have had my money but I'm not giving them a penny for the hassle that's waiting with exporting (and dealing with) their 4K files, and I'm really disappointed by it.

If Sony's A7R II can record 4K video straight to SD card without any fuss, then DJI should have done this too (or at the very least have made the whole process of SDD-to-PC, or SDD-to MAC far more simple.

And the most annoying thing is - they could. They just chose not to.

High bit rate Raw workflow for video is very demanding, regardless of storage device. The only real complaint I have is that there is no way currently to do backups in the field without going through a PC/Mac to import.

 

[Richard Hurst]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm very disappointed at the post-production workflow of the X5R. I've read so many poor reviews. Someone at DJI should be sacked for the mess. In fact the genius that has gone in to the design and production of the camera/gimbal makes the SSD nonsense seem criminal, to be honest.

DJI would definitely have had my money but I'm not giving them a penny for the hassle that's waiting with exporting (and dealing with) their 4K files, and I'm really disappointed by it.

If Sony's A7R II can record 4K video straight to SD card without any fuss, then DJI should have done this too (or at the very least have made the whole process of SDD-to-PC, or SDD-to MAC far more simple.

And the most annoying thing is - they could. They just chose not to.

Also I use the X5R and have not had any issues with flickering at all. That is either down to people shooting in Auto Mode or i believe the actual fault only happen on the X5 and it was to do with the way Adobe Premiere Pro and some other editing software handled the footage when you added contrast, this then made the flicker appear. Solved by using curves to add contrast.

 

[erikgraham]

Also I use the X5R and have not had any issues with flickering at all. That is either down to people shooting in Auto Mode or i believe the actual fault only happen on the X5 and it was to do with the way Adobe Premiere Pro and some other editing software handled the footage when you added contrast, this then made the flicker appear. Solved by using curves to add contrast.

This is how the flickering issue on the X5 vs the X5R was explained to me. I'm condensing this down, but it's the general idea:

The flickering on the x5 is caused by the H.264 compression algorithm DJI used to record to the SD card. Every 8 frames is essentially a key frame where the whole image is stored. In the frames that follow only the changes are tracked, until the next key frame. That can cause the flickering - mostly in the dark areas. It could be greatly reduced if DJI were to adjust their compression algorithm. In fact, some people claim that the .30 version of the X5 firmware does a much better job than current versions with flicker. The X5R has the same problem for video recorded to the sd card. But all that goes away when it doesn't use the h.264 compression, i.e. when recording raw to SSD