What would you guys advise to be a better investment, an X5R formy Inspire 1? or an I2 with X7? I know, there is a huge money gap here, but if you could, you would .........?

X5R can be used on an Osmo for ground-based videos and stills so it has that going for it  The Inspire 2 cameras cannot.

I'd wait to see how the X7 reviews come out.  I don't expect to see a huge difference between the X5S and X7 for stills.  Advantage of the X5S is you can use a lot more lenses on that camera as well as a MFT still camera where the X7 won't be able to do that being a proprietary mount.

fansa84fe8a4 Posted at 2017-10-20 07:36
X5R can be used on an Osmo for ground-based videos and stills so it has that going for it  The Inspire 2 cameras cannot.

I'd wait to see how the X7 reviews come out.  I don't expect to see a huge difference between the X5S and X7 for stills.  Advantage of the X5S is you can use a lot more lenses on that camera as well as a MFT still camera where the X7 won't be able to do that being a proprietary mount.

Yes the Osmo is a definite plus as I also have one. How does the X5R compare to the X5s though? Is there a notable quality difference? And actually , how about between the X5 and X5R?

Im going to ask the stupid question - i presume you want these cameras for video instead of photos?

Mike9129 Posted at 2017-10-20 12:46
Im going to ask the stupid question - i presume you want these cameras for video instead of photos?

Considering I'll be up in the air the purpose is twofold, though I can always extract frames but I will be doing both.

Well, the reason I ask is that if it's for stills mainly and a some video work that's not going to be overly edited after the fact, the inspire 1 x5 is actually pretty good, and it'd saved you a bunch off Mooney you could use to buy the important stuff like extra batteries.

If money isn't as much of an issue, go for the x5s on the inspire 2. Get the proress licence to go with it if your serious about video and you'll see a massive improvement in your video as you can post process much better. But your stills pictures won't see a massive difference.

Get the x7 if your planning on doing alot of low light video work and working in high end productions. Otherwise it's just a very expensive toy that you went see much difference between it and the x5s if your just a casual, except the inspire 2 will probably fly slower with it on due to weight/bulk.

Yeah, the neverending hunt for the newest and best.
I just leave that here:

Inspire 1 pro with x5 raw is the path I’d take, you can’t get really good deals on the inspire 1 now and if you take side by side photos and video from each, you won’t see a dramatic difference in the quality, there’s a huge difference in price though. The biggest drawback of the deal is the 13 minute battery life you get with the inspire 1.

Mike9129 Posted at 2017-10-21 00:54
Well, the reason I ask is that if it's for stills mainly and a some video work that's not going to be overly edited after the fact, the inspire 1 x5 is actually pretty good, and it'd saved you a bunch off Mooney you could use to buy the important stuff like extra batteries.

If money isn't as much of an issue, go for the x5s on the inspire 2. Get the proress licence to go with it if your serious about video and you'll see a massive improvement in your video as you can post process much better. But your stills pictures won't see a massive difference.

This is excellent advice and i concur.

Mike9129 Posted at 2017-10-21 00:54
Well, the reason I ask is that if it's for stills mainly and a some video work that's not going to be overly edited after the fact, the inspire 1 x5 is actually pretty good, and it'd saved you a bunch off Mooney you could use to buy the important stuff like extra batteries.

If money isn't as much of an issue, go for the x5s on the inspire 2. Get the proress licence to go with it if your serious about video and you'll see a massive improvement in your video as you can post process much better. But your stills pictures won't see a massive difference.

Money is always an issue for me, however I do want to have as wide as possible editing capabilities with the video. I believe I will go the X5R route, maybe I can find a good used or refurbished one to save some cash and augment the purchase by selling the X5. Thanks for the advise Mike and all that answered.

The other thing to keep in mind about going straight for the x5r is that you are going to have a serious computer setup to work the raw video files.

I don't remember exactly, but you can fill a ssd in around 15mins, and it'll take quite a while to offload it to a computer. You'll be wanting terabytes of storage for you video and expensive processors to work with it.

If you don't already own such a setup, I'd also suggest pricing a computer to allow you to use a workflow involving raw video files.

If you current computer will allow you to work with proress files, but not raw files, see if the price of the new computer will make up the difference of price between the x5r and an inspire 2 x5s with ssd (s) and the licence.

I know it's going to work out more expensive the second route, but from a point of view of actually making use and workability of any video files you record, it might make far more sense.

Honestly, depending on what your doing, raw or proress might not even be necessary. It sounds nice, but your exposing yourself to alot more cost.

Mike9129 Posted at 2017-10-22 11:36
The other thing to keep in mind about going straight for the x5r is that you are going to have a serious computer setup to work the raw video files.

I don't remember exactly, but you can fill a ssd in around 15mins, and it'll take quite a while to offload it to a computer. You'll be wanting terabytes of storage for you video and expensive processors to work with it.

Thanks for the heads up, however I do have an 8 core Mac Pro with 3 drives (about 3 teras) and a 5K iMac, so I should be able to work with the files, that is a bridge I'll cross if and when I have to. I believe my computer power will be sufficient though I have plans to refurbish and sell the MacPro.

You sound like you have it covered! You'll probably need to throw more storage at it, but that's fairly cheap compared to the rest of the computer!