The Inspire 3 is a great drone for us professional drone cinematographers but why is there no ProRes 4444 recording capability?

In my opinion a professional device like the Inspire 3 should be equipped with all the codecs you could need on a film set. A missing ProRes 4444 option is a big deal!

ProRes 4444 is an important codec in the TV industry here in Germany. If this codec will not be added, then this is a big issue for me..

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. DJI does not currently plan to add support for these codes. CinemaDNG is supported by DJI Inspire 3, allowing maximum versatility with its captured footage in post-production. Meanwhile, Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers even better quality. Thank you for your understanding.

DJI Paladin Posted at 4-27 17:47
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. DJI does not currently plan to add support for these codes. CinemaDNG is supported by DJI Inspire 3, allowing maximum versatility with its captured footage in post-production. Meanwhile, Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers even better quality. Thank you for your understanding.

422 color sampling creates one color value for every two pixels. 4444 color sampling provides a color sample for each pixel. The 422 family is 10-bit. The 4444 family is 12-bit. More bits equals a more precise range of colors and grayscale values.

ScooterC5 Posted at 5-4 16:15
422 color sampling creates one color value for every two pixels. 4444 color sampling provides a color sample for each pixel. The 422 family is 10-bit. The 4444 family is 12-bit. More bits equals a more precise range of colors and grayscale values.

Thank you for the information provided. If you have any concerns or inquiries, please don't hesitate to reach us. Have a nice day ahead!

Can't believe this. 60% wants 4444 and 40% raw. Crazy!!!!! None of our clients want 422

DJI Paladin Posted at 4-27 17:47
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. DJI does not currently plan to add support for these codes. CinemaDNG is supported by DJI Inspire 3, allowing maximum versatility with its captured footage in post-production. Meanwhile, Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers even better quality. Thank you for your understanding.

"Apple ProRes 422 HQ" offers even better quality."

It seems like you are saying that 422HQ offers better quality than CinemaDNG?

Fines Aerial Posted at 6-10 02:52
"Apple ProRes 422 HQ" offers even better quality."

It seems like you are saying that 422HQ offers better quality than CinemaDNG?

Thank you for your response. Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers better quality than CinemaDNG. Hope this clarifies your query. Thank you for your valued support.

Apple ProRes 422 HQ is a 10 bit codec.  It isn't even close to being better quality than Cinema DNG RAW.  It is a much worse quality codec.  As the original poster stated Apple ProRes 4444 is a major industry standard.  95% or more of my many, many jobs with the Inspire 2 over the years have been with ProRes 4444.  It is inconceivable that a machine of this caliber does not have it.  I hope DJI adds this codec through a future firmware update, and sooner rather than later.

WayneMann Posted at 7-10 11:01
Apple ProRes 422 HQ is a 10 bit codec.  It isn't even close to being better quality than Cinema DNG RAW.  It is a much worse quality codec.  As the original poster stated Apple ProRes 4444 is a major industry standard.  95% or more of my many, many jobs with the Inspire 2 over the years have been with ProRes 4444.  It is inconceivable that a machine of this caliber does not have it.  I hope DJI adds this codec through a future firmware update, and sooner rather than later.

Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate the time and effort you have invested in providing this suggestion to us. Your feedback will be definitely cascaded to the concerned team for further review. Thank you for your valued support.

DJI Paladin Posted at 6-12 00:36
Thank you for your response. Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers better quality than CinemaDNG. Hope this clarifies your query. Thank you for your valued support.

Dear DJI Paladin.

You clearly are not an expert what comes to professional cinematography codecs.
Saying ProRes 422HQ is better than Cinema DNG is like saying a rowing boat is safer to cross the Atlantic Ocean than a yacht.

And like all the others here are pointing out, ProRes 444 is much more desired  and used codec on professional film productions than CinemaDNG or ProRes Raw. Just saying "thanks for your input" sounds that you have either not understood our point or do not care about it and answer with a generic response.

Even the Inspire 2 had ProRes 444. Please show that you understand the needs of professional film productions and support them by adding ProRes 444 into Inspire 3 as soon as possible thanks.

airpix.fi/en Posted at 7-21 00:31
Dear DJI Paladin.

You clearly are not an expert what comes to professional cinematography codecs.

Thank you for your response and we apologize if we can only do so much. I will surely record this feedback of yours and will make sure to forward it to the designated team. Your understanding is highly appreciated. Have a nice day ahead.

Just here to agree with the above sentiments ^^

4444 is the standard these days, 422 is an outdated standard. For a drone that costs as much as a car, and one that's supposed to be reserved for high-end filmmaking, it needs 4444.

I would like to agree with the above sentiments.

4444 XQ is an industry standard for a lot of broadcast in the UK. I've just seen the most recent firmware release (01.08.2023) and it's unfortunate this has not been addressed - we're sadly seeing a lot of our productions having to opt for the I2 because their current post workflow is not set for ProResRAW and 422HQ is not acceptable. Which is a true shame because the other improvements of the of X9-8K-air and aircraft capabilities are amazing. It's disappointing to have to roll back to the I2 because of an unavailable codec, which is such an oversight on what is considered an advanced cinema camera system, especially when there is an additional fee we pay for the ProRes/DNG license.

I understand new equipment should help drive progression, but not offering what most would consider an accepted industry codec to bridge the progression is a little short sighted. I would definitely like to see this added to a firmware update for anyone who has purchased a I3 and ProRes/DNG license.

DJI Paladin - if you could forward my feedback to the correct team as well, it would be greatly appreciated.

I have to agree.
No One wants ProRes RAW for the obvious reason that its not supported in Da Vinci.
Cinema DNG is great for higher end and VFX, but ProRes 4444 XQ was always the go to on the I2 for all drama/feature shoots on normal budgets.
DJI knows this, so I am confused why we don’t have it on the Inspire 3, maybe it’s an issue with the processing power on the I3 as you need a lot of processing power to fly this computer and encode such an algorithm at the same time.

DJI Paladin Posted at 4-27 17:47
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. DJI does not currently plan to add support for these codes. CinemaDNG is supported by DJI Inspire 3, allowing maximum versatility with its captured footage in post-production. Meanwhile, Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers even better quality. Thank you for your understanding.

Hi Paladin, I would not agree that 422HQ color sampling offers better quality then ProRes 4444; I actually believe that in most shots the difference is not even visible.
You are right, CinemaDNG is best, however many of us will have issues with the large filesizes.

I do not think the quality of ProRes 4444 is so much better than 422HQ.  4444HQ might be a tad better but the files are massive and for many of us it therefore is not worth it.
I have never seen a difference in image quality so I go with 422HQ. The workflow in DaVinci Resolve is very efficient.
If you really need the best, use CinemaDNG raw especially for difficult light contrast such as backlight
or a foreground that is dimmer and a bright sky. The extended dynamic range of CinemaDNG will be super, however the files are huge. I would use it probably for that 100000 euro shot, but for the rest of us... Apple ProRes 422HQ is awesome.

rogiervdheide Posted at 10-21 13:45
I do not think the quality of ProRes 4444 is so much better than 422HQ.  4444HQ might be a tad better but the files are massive and for many of us it therefore is not worth it.
I have never seen a difference in image quality so I go with 422HQ. The workflow in DaVinci Resolve is very efficient.
If you really need the best, use CinemaDNG raw especially for difficult light contrast such as backlight

I agree with this post

rogiervdheide Posted at 10-21 13:40
Hi Paladin, I would not agree that 422HQ color sampling offers better quality then ProRes 4444; I actually believe that in most shots the difference is not even visible.
You are right, CinemaDNG is best, however many of us will have issues with the large filesizes.

Hello there. We're sorry if this has been requested in the past but has not been implemented yet. We will continue to let such feedback reach the designated team for consideration. Your understanding is highly appreciated.

rogiervdheide Posted at 10-21 13:45
I do not think the quality of ProRes 4444 is so much better than 422HQ.  4444HQ might be a tad better but the files are massive and for many of us it therefore is not worth it.
I have never seen a difference in image quality so I go with 422HQ. The workflow in DaVinci Resolve is very efficient.
If you really need the best, use CinemaDNG raw especially for difficult light contrast such as backlight

Yeah. It's an interesting one. I know 444 does add 12 bit resolution. So I guess if you need 12 bits then ProRes RAW or Cinema DNG are where it's at for the moment.  We mostly shoot at HQ cos that's what most post houses seem to like.