DJI Inspire 2 real live review on a actual job

This week DJI booked me once again for a Job in the Swiss Alps.
The job included various shots from chasing and flying with some DJI Inspire 2 in front of cars, capturing landscape, up to chasing Ski Cross racers down a wordlcup slope.
Ferdinand Wolf from DJI and I did dual operator flights, as well as solo flight for air to air and further chasing shots.

3 Inspire 2 with X5S cameras were our the tools of the day

ETHICS STATEMENT: I have flown jobs for DJI in the past. I’m not involved regarding their new Inspire 2 drone in any marketing. I use their products and for a big part I love them. In the end we use the tools that work best for us and our clients. Regardless of a brand name.
The DJI Inspire 2 drones and firmware were pre production units. So there might be changes in the final product.

Frame of a DJI Inspire 2 car chase recording

This was the first time I had the chance to actually see, check out and fly DJI’s Inspire 2 drones. Having seen some pictures, specs and heard some first hand experince from others, I was very excited to how it really is. Is it really that much better than their previous Inspires? As I got a lot of experience with the Inspire 1, Inspire 1 Pro and bigger drones like the s1000, I was very curious to find out.

Basics and setup

I won’t talk much about specs. Head over to the DJI Website to find them there, if you haven’t seen them yet.

The DJI Inspire 2 is slightly bigger, slightly heavier but looks and feels very similar to their predecessor.
The remote control also looks and feels very familiar. It feels like home when upgrading from almsot any DJI drone.

The propeller/rotors are build out of a different material. They feel almost kind of some sort of metal but consist out of a fiber strengthen compound. They also seem stiffer than the ones from the Inspire 1. The props also use a new twist mechanism, similar to the latest one on the Inspire 1 Pro, but come now with a additional push lock to create advanced locking security.

The new X5S can be easily mounted with one hand on the new mount, which currently only takes X5S and X4S cameras yet.
There’s also a new push lock, which additional secures the twist mount.

DJi Inspire 2 batteries and charger

The dual batteries snap in without any hassle and can be removed by pushing the unlock button right above the batteries. So setting it up is very easy and a no brainer for anyone.
The current chargers will load 2 batteries at the same time and choose the stronger pair to be charged first.
There will be a special charging case in the future, which will allow for a cleaner setup and it will also charge multiple batteries at the same time.

Charging also works out in the field and cold temperatures pretty well.

charging DJI Inspire 2 batteries outdoor

How is it to fly the Inspire 2 ?

The first thing that got my attention is the motor start up.
It’s much quieter and the props won’t spin up as fast. So it feels like,: OK… is this it?
Starting in normal GPS is easy and almost makes you lazy, as the full power is reserved to Sport Mode. So lets flip that button and checkout what Sport Mode got to deliver.

Up in the air the control feels very similar. So If you are coming from a Inspire 1 you won’t have any troubles flying it.
In my opinion its flies “sharper” than its old brother, while offering great position hold. Yawing did not produce any toilet bowling at all.
It was really impressive how stable it did position and altitude hold.
Speed wise the Inspire 2 is really faster than the Inspire 1, which is great, as the “old” Inspire 1 lost lots of needed power since various Firmware upgrades in the past.
DJI decided about 2 weeks ago to reduce the published 4 second acceleration from 0-60km/h to a 5 second 0 – 60km/h acceleration.
Which is really a bummer, as I’d love to see it speed up quicker. There are some shots that really could benefit from faster speed up and altitude raise. But hey, its a step in the right direction as it better than with the Inspire 1 which is a plus. I’d rather have stable footage instead of raised acceleration.
The power feels progressive and less linear. So power will raise as you gain speed.

The newly added fpv cam for the pilot can be a big plus.
Shots like from the further up image, close flying in front of a car on a mountain road is much easier, as the pilot always can see his flight path even behind corners.

Another big plus is the self heating function inside the new batteries.
This is a big one for us flying in cold environment. Our batteries were all day unheated in a plastic box.
Just put them on, and give them 1-2 Minutes on the turned on Inspire 2. I did not get a single temperature warning all day and in no situation I’ve got reduced/throttled power due of low temperature batteries.

DJI Inspire 2 in the Swiss alps on a commercial shoot.

App and Image transmission

The Inspire 2 needs the new DJI Go App 4.
There are some minor differences where things are. But there also are a few new functions, which were not available on the Inspire 1. You’ll know some of these features if you have checked out the DJI Mavic Pro or the Phantom 4 Pro.
As I don’t care much for fancy flight modes I’ll leave that up to you to read out in the official specs.
One thing mention worthy is a new button inside the App. By default the operator does not have any control over the gimbal. This is until he presses the new button to maintain gimbal control. This will lock out the pilot. So the pilot flies and the operator takes care of the camera.

The image transmission was very clear and stable. Something I’m really missing lately from the Inspire 1. So working as a cam OP was very relaxed, as I knew I would not loose image transmission in the middle of the flight.
There was one single and very quick image loss on the Slave controller when shooting at the world cup slope. This might have happen due of the the many other equipment that was transmitting (TV live transmission, radios from trainers etc.). The Inspire 2 offers dual band. So after we have switched to the other band, everything was fine. But maybe it was just a glitch and would have worked perfectly anyway 🙂 The Image also held up greatly when flying two Inspire 2 at the same time and close together or far away.

RIOT MEDIA at the Audi Ski Cross Wordcup. Flying two Inspire 2 is even more fun.

Camera, Gimbal and footage

DJI has ticked a lot of boxes on my wishlist with the Inspire 2 and the X5S camera:

ProRes 422 – check
50 fps in 4k – check
Various lense options – check
Proxy files in 100MB/h264/h265 – check
Better iso performance – check (there is as always still room to improve)
Full camera control in the air – check
Preview and option to delete files from the app – check
Native file transfer without transcoding – check

The option to record up to  5.2k and also in CinemaDNG is great and should also work out for even higher demanding projects.
In fact the footage is very good. Even in harsh lightning conditions like we used it in the snow. It will allow for production quality that will allow to skip some heavy lifters and much bigger camera setups.
This can reduce a lot of cost and ease up on location logistics by larger amount.
Its really time for production companies to take a look on what is possible with the DJI Inspire 2. Right now its about the turning point where you’ll be paying more for skilled labor than hardware.
Hopefully production companies will clear their mind of a good drone must be a huge monster. This is a thing of the past.
There are only a few exceptions to go on with a heavy lifter and a RED or Arri camera. Very good prime lenses, faster frame rates, even bigger resolution and smooth focus and aperture control.
Do you really need it? Probably not in the majority of your jobs.

Gimbal performance was great and accurate to control as well

Wrapp up

What do I miss?

Well its a bummer that the new controller does not have and sdi out option. But I’ve heard there might be hope for the future.
It will be interesting to see how the license handling will be implemented in the final product. Right now the licensing happens on the the CineCore 2, which is part of the main electronics inside the drone.
So swapping cameras to any other device will need a additional CineCore 2 and probably some additional licensing. So this can create additional cost. But lets wait and see what will happen.
It would also like to see a gimbal with unlimited movement. The new drone untwist option, when the gimbal reaches its near end of travel is nice, but unlimited 360° movement would be my favorite way to go.
Last but not least a good landing mode hard case would be great. The new stock box works only for storage or just nearby traveling by car. So be prepared to buy a new quality hard case when you will do some traveling with it.

Do I like it?  Definitely
Is it an upgrade to the Inspire 1? No doubt
Has the image improved? Greatly

Is it worth buying one? It all depends on your needs.
Do you got customers who are willing to pay for quality? Do you have enough jobs to pay it off within a year or max 16 month? Do you have enough budget to buy a backup drone to be considered a serious production partner?

So you decide what suits you best.
The DJI Inspire 2 is a great tool that can do a lot if you let it do.

If any Swiss guy wants to buy one, I’d suggest you to talk to Aerodron. Nice guys with lots of knowledge

Looking forward to more productions with the DJI Inspire 2