Value Proposition of an I2 compared to a P4P

[Beverly Hills Aerials]

i have owned p2's, p3's, p4's,I1 pro raws, and now p4ps and i2's.... If you are planning to use it professionally and have experience flying, plan to use it with another operator, and don't value the portability of a p4p, the I2 will win big time. If you are more early in your experience and don't know the difference between a 12mm and a 45 mm lens... p4p is the easy choice. They are both awesome birds but different... both create beautiful amazing cinematic aerial footage.... the p4p has smaller motors thus overall safer in a catastrophic crash which yes could mean the difference between a badly cut finger and a finger needing surgery or worse, The p4p will be easier and safer to fly in smaller spaces, safer to hand catch, the inspire 2 will haul some serious scary *** in sport or atti mode which thus could lead to easier catastrophic events haha...the p4p flies **** smooth....and so does the inspire .... ok I'm done.

 

[Reinier]

Spotlight Pro + dual operator + redundancy + FPV cam + no legs in shot!

 

[Brandon R.]

Sorry guys, I'm close to making a purchase, so I need to bump and ask one more question.


Is the I2 any more...difficult to fly or more difficult to work with than the P4P? If I don't have a dedicated cameraperson, is it still as easy to use as a Phantom or similar?


Thanks again!

 

[ringolong]

The I2 is just as easy to fly as the p4p, and you don't have to worry about keeping the props, and legs out of your shots.

 

[NickU]

I2 is as easy as a P4 to fly, just takes a little more thought about camera settings and moves as the camera is free to rotate.

In many ways, that makes it easier than the phantoms as you can use spotlight pro or turn the camera sideways and fly. Camera stability is far far better than the P4, especially when it comes to maintaining a reasonably level horizon.

 

[ringolong]

I2 is as easy as a P4 to fly, just takes a little more thought about camera settings and moves as the camera is free to rotate.

In many ways, that makes it easier than the phantoms as you can use spotlight pro or turn the camera sideways and fly. Camera stability is far far better than the P4, especially when it comes to maintaining a reasonably level horizon.

He mentioned p4p not the p4. The camera settings are the same for the p4p and I2.

 

[NickU]

Yes, but it's a touch more considered as you need think which lens you use and if you fly the camera free or follow mode.

Follow mode will make it feel more like flyng the P4/P4P in terms of having to think around where you position and how you yaw and pitch the aircraft when you're doing the take.

If flying free, then you need to think about where you're going to position the camera during the takes and how it's respond as you fly the aircraft - takes a little more forethought

I fly both the P4 and an I2, both are easy to fly - the I2 is much more responsive and refined in it's handling though.

 

[bill_t]

New guy here! I'm a movie industry veteran and an old-not-bold pilot. Have been learning the drone ropes with a P4Pro.

If you're into stills, then there's a pretty big difference between the P4P and both the X4S and X5S.

I'm an expert Photoshop/Lightroom guy, and recently helped out with processing a lot of X4S and X5S raws. Perhaps it's mainly the lenses, but the X shots are sharper in all areas of the image, and dramatically sharper out toward the edges. And because the angle of view is smaller with 15mm and 17mm lenses used on the X cameras I worked with, objects in the image are not only sharper but also have a larger pixel count. It all adds up to much better stills image quality for the X cameras when compared to the P4P. You can easily see it in prints bigger than about 14 inches in the small dimension, even with perfect exposure, perfect focusing, and the best possible processing.

The workaround I use with my P4P is to limit the used image to a cropped square about 80% of the vertical height right at the center, and photo stitch to get the whole shot. That gives a technically balanced looking print up to over-the-sofa sized scale.

Gonna give the I2/X5S a few more months to straighten out, then jump before landscapes start looking pretty in the spring and summer. For now my little P4P is a delight to use as is and I am amazed at the number of keepers I get at 1/2 second and slower. I only wish that lens was better, it now limits the camera to image sharpness that is effectively equivalent to no more than 5 or 6 megapixels on a camera with a good lens.

Of course if you're a movie guy and the super wide P4P FOV is OK with you, and you don't feel you need a RAW workflow, then there's not so much difference in video image quality that you can easily see it for a lot of applications. Just don't show up in the first unit with a P4P!