Pulled the trigger on X5R

[GtoJon]

I pre-ordered the X5R on January 7th ..... then decided to order the X5 & see how that works for me. It has proved to be a nice camera & will be sending it back next week & have pre-ordered the X5R again .... gee, I hope the X5R shows up before March

Cheers, Jon

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

Does anyone know when the proposed release of the X5R is? I'm interested but, having learned the early adopter situation the hard way I think I want to wait for about 3-6 months after initial release. That's when the X5R v2 should hit and the v1 should become significantly cheaper and I will have had time to review all of the experiences the early adopters encountered.

 

[damoncooper]

Does anyone know when the proposed release of the X5R is? I'm interested but, having learned the early adopter situation the hard way I think I want to wait for about 3-6 months after initial release. That's when the X5R v2 should hit and the v1 should become significantly cheaper and I will have had time to review all of the experiences the early adopters encountered.

March

 

[michael andrew]

I'll probably get the X5R,but I'm going to be skint for the the rest of 2016 and I won't give DJI a penny until people are raving about it on forums.

They got enough out of me with the X5.

What happened?

 

[ianwood]

I hope the X5R will deliver all that it is supposed to deliver. My big concern with the X5R is the workflow and the MASSIVE files. But, I also won't be surprised if it has it's own issues like the X5, X3 and pretty much everything DJI has ever made. It's their thing. I knew when I got my X5s that they would not be perfect. I am still hoping (foolishly?) that DJI will sort out the flickering. One can hope. In the meantime, I can reduce it to where it's almost entirely unnoticeable and I only use the GH4 and RX100IV in low light shoots where the X5's flaws can't be masked.

It's a big trade off between convenience and portability and image quality. Most often, it's not my decision. It's what the director, DP and post production supervisor are willing to take.

 

[Casey Preston]

In the meantime, I can reduce it to where it's almost entirely unnoticeable and I only use the GH4 and RX100IV in low light shoots where the X5's flaws can't be masked.

You know it's bad when you are relying on the GH4 for lowlight. I still have hope that DJI can at least get the flickering under control even if the actual internal noise reduction doesn't get up to GH4 levels.

 

[damoncooper]

Latest go app claims support for the X5R.

Getting closer!!

 

[The Editor]

Latest go app claims support for the X5R.

Getting closer!!

So is Christmas but at least that date won't be missed.

 

[damoncooper]

So is Christmas but at least that date won't be missed.

Party pooper

But of course you make a good point. Past performance is indicative of future results.

 

[The Editor]

Party pooper

But of course you make a good point. Past performance is indicative of future results.

Yup - probably like you mate, I've been with DJI since the beginning before Phantoms came on the scene.
Ive seen all their major product releases and seen them all miss their targets. I remember the fiasco with the H3-2D and straight afterwards thinking "Well they must have learned from their lessons with that one so the H3-3D should be released on time"
Yeah right
If I was to put my money on the roulette table I would say X5R wont materialize until late June with shipments filtering through to users in mid July (poss end of).

I would love to be proved very very wrong but.......................................

 

[Casey Preston]

I received an email the other day after signing up, sort of, for the DJI Beta program on the DJI Forum. This is the email:
"Thanks a lot for your kind support to our beta project.

To improve the users experience of our new product, we'd like to do a small survey of our reservation holders of Inspire 1 Raw or Zemmuse X5 Raw.

If you have already pre-ordered an Inspire 1 Raw or X5R, please feel free to reply to this e-mail. You suggestions will be a very important part of this amazing product.

Thank you!



Regards,

Beta"

I don't have an X5 Raw and backorder, so I didn't try to sign up. I'm not sure what this means in terms of X5 Raw availability, but it does give you an idea of where DJI might be at in their process.

 

[slim.slamma]

Yup - probably like you mate, I've been with DJI since the beginning before Phantoms came on the scene.
Ive seen all their major product releases and seen them all miss their targets. I remember the fiasco with the H3-2D and straight afterwards thinking "Well they must have learned from their lessons with that one so the H3-3D should be released on time"
Yeah right
If I was to put my money on the roulette table I would say X5R wont materialize until late June with shipments filtering through to users in mid July (poss end of).

I would love to be proved very very wrong but.......................................[/QUOTE.
From previous threads 4:4:4, 100 Mbps, lossless compression, 8,10 12 bit, raw is raw!
Just doing my homework before pulling he trigger.
Forget about the wait for release, workflow, flickering. The camera itself is the compression in movement, trees, grass, water, jumpy cars going to be the same as the x5 and the 3.
Appreciated @InterMurph opinion on the matter also.
Specs/fact and assumptions are not the same.

 

[Burlingtonfilms]

I hope the X5R will deliver all that it is supposed to deliver. My big concern with the X5R is the workflow and the MASSIVE files. But, I also won't be surprised if it has it's own issues like the X5, X3 and pretty much everything DJI has ever made. It's their thing. I knew when I got my X5s that they would not be perfect. I am still hoping (foolishly?) that DJI will sort out the flickering. One can hope. In the meantime, I can reduce it to where it's almost entirely unnoticeable and I only use the GH4 and RX100IV in low light shoots where the X5's flaws can't be masked.

It's a big trade off between convenience and portability and image quality. Most often, it's not my decision. It's what the director, DP and post production supervisor are willing to take.

I have the same flickering problem with the X3. The 4K image is being pushed to the max at only 60mbs, so hopefully the whopping 1.7gbs raw files from the X5R fix this as well as a huge jump in IQ.

But like you mentioned the X5R is made for higher end productions that require and use raw work flows. Most consumers don't notice a difference, it's the experienced DPs that make a fuss about the X3/X5 IQ when trying to match it with a RED/Alexa.

 

[Casey Preston]

The only thing that the X5R will fix is the compression artifacts. I don't think the high ISO flickering is related to compression as I can see it on the App before the image is actually recorded. It might help with the perceived flickering while panning, but it won't fix the strobing that is just due to the nature of shooting at a certain frame rate and shutter speed.

 

[damoncooper]

The only thing that the X5R will fix is the compression artifacts. I don't think the high ISO flickering is related to compression as I can see it on the App before the image is actually recorded. It might help with the perceived flickering while panning, but it won't fix the strobing that is just due to the nature of shooting at a certain frame rate and shutter speed.

Flickering should be fine too. It's origin is believed to be the combination of sharpening and encoding approach DJI has taken using the A9 SOC.

With RAW there's no encoding, only lossless compression and meta data file writing required by the CinemaDNG format.

What you see in the GO app is post encoding/SOC processed. I would however expect artifacts to continue on the X5R on the GO app and encoded proxy files on the SD card as those are processed like the X5.

The magic should be in the RAW.

 

[Casey Preston]

I hope you are right regarding the high ISO, black level, non movement related flickering on the X5 that many people are complaining about. If it is just an encoding issue, than DJI can fix it. Actually, I know they could fix it if they crushed the blacks at higher ISO's, but I'm hoping that it is purely an encoding issue that can be fixed without severely limiting the DR. I'm worried that the flickering is actually a component issue on the board that is causing gain fluctuations. Of course, even if it is a component issue, DJI should be able to get it fixed for the X5R if they do a little research.

 

[damoncooper]

I hope you are right regarding the high ISO, black level, non movement related flickering on the X5 that many people are complaining about. If it is just an encoding issue, than DJI can fix it. Actually, I know they could fix it if they crushed the blacks at higher ISO's, but I'm hoping that it is purely an encoding issue that can be fixed without severely limiting the DR. I'm worried that the flickering is actually a component issue on the board that is causing gain fluctuations. Of course, even if it is a component issue, DJI should be able to get it fixed for the X5R if they do a little research.

Well to be clear, I have zero confidence DJI can fix the flickering and other encoding-born artifacts.

RAW though bypasses DJI incompetence and writes to disk. They either write all the data or they don't. There's very little to screw up.

In fact I expect the encoder issues to continue. But I'm good with that on the X5R since the DJI encoder isn't in play with the RAW output.

It'll be a bit of a pain to either transcode on import or handle RAW but at least DJI artifacts should be out of my video workflow product then, for all intents and purposes.

 

[Burlingtonfilms]

I hope you are right regarding the high ISO, black level, non movement related flickering on the X5 that many people are complaining about. If it is just an encoding issue, than DJI can fix it. Actually, I know they could fix it if they crushed the blacks at higher ISO's, but I'm hoping that it is purely an encoding issue that can be fixed without severely limiting the DR. I'm worried that the flickering is actually a component issue on the board that is causing gain fluctuations. Of course, even if it is a component issue, DJI should be able to get it fixed for the X5R if they do a little research.

Yeah I think it definitely is an encoding plus sharpening problem. On the X3/X5 the sharpening needs to be at -3 and that usually fixes most of the flicker. The only downside is the mushy looking footage afterwards. It's not bad for a quick cutaway but I've worked with numerous DPs that have complained about the IQ. Most people don't notice because they have never worked with raw video.

 

[Casey Preston]

To be clear, the high ISO flickering that X5 owners are complaining about is not related to the the flickering that people might notice on the X3. Two different issues that both involve "flickering" as the best term to describe it.

 

[damoncooper]

To be clear, the high ISO flickering that X5 owners are complaining about is not related to the the flickering that people might notice on the X3. Two different issues that both involve "flickering" as the best term to describe it.

There is an additional flicker on the X5 induced by high ISO but basic flicker exists otherwise, same as the X3.

I documented it 4 months ago here: