Has anyone found the realease date and /or cost on the Zenmuse X5R (RAW)?  

Only one I can find is for the Zenmuse X5

Im keen to give my money away

perfect question.
The i1 Pro is available for purchase and I'm guessing that the X5 (only).
I'm curious to know how much more $ will that cost.

According to TechCrunch the X5R will be available in Q4 and so far only the price for the X5R bundled with the Inspire is available...a low $7999!
(http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/10 ... s-inspire-1-drones/)

So if you deduct the bundle price for the Inspire in the X5 package ($4499 for the bundle - $2199 for the stand alone X5 and $99 for the Vibration board), which is about $2200, you are looking at around $5800 for the X5R and the vibration board.

Better start feeding that piggy bank.

nebelung Posted at 2015-9-11 12:46
According to TechCrunch the X5R will be available in Q4 and so far only the price for the X5R bundle ...

That's a pretty high price. There's not much in the way of competition that will challenge this so they will be able to charge a high premium. Interestingly, the price of the Inspire and it's batteries has not dropped yet either, also certainly due to a lack of competition. The Phantom series gets updated more often and year-old versions drop in price predictably because there's real competition in that segment.

but what will be the flight time?

With a 6000 $ camera on board, I wonder if the inspire 1 can handle a parachute system if any of the motors fail. It is a lot of money hanging in just one small motor. (A quadcopter can't flight with just 3)

I think that with that kind of money, it is a better idea to go with the bigger birds of Dji with 6 or 8 rotors that can be handled better with a fail motor. Then again, with the cost of the lightbridge2, the final price of this copters with the extra accesories needed to do the job as the inspire, the final cost may be out of reach.

Lightbridge 2

capalvch@gmail. Posted at 2015-9-11 08:47
I think that with that kind of money, it is a better idea to go with the bigger birds of Dji with 6  ...

Nah...

There are bundles here in Canada that include: S900, A2 controller, Zenmuse Z15 (BMPCC, GH4 or A7), Lightbridge, 2 x 16,000 mah batteries, charger, two Futaba transmitters for dual operator, plus a mini display and a 5.8ghz analog downlink for pilot fixed point FPV = $8399 or $6600 USD. Less than what DJI is going to charge for the X5R bundle.

Sure, you then have to add your camera but for a Blackmagic Pocket solution you're looking at probably $8000-$8500 USD in total to get into the air.

That's only extra $500 over an Inspire 1 Pro with X5R and it's vastly superior solution to my mind - worth the 5% extra. Proper dual operator with a fixed pilot camera, two extra rotors for redundancy, superior and proven flight controller in the A2, plus you're getting a legit camera system in the air in the BMD (or A7 or whatever you opt for - and you have choices from many proven camera manufacturers).

Don't get me wrong - the X5R looks great on paper and it's very much a step in the right direction but DJI hasn't yet proven they can make a decent camera and nobody has really put an X5 or X5R through it's paces yet. Right now, I'm going to bet that Blackmagic @ 1080p is going to rival or even exceed DJI at 4k for the simple reason that BMD know what they're doing and have proven it over and over and DJI just hasn't (yet).

I was credit card in hand on this but If DJI really wants $5k for the X5R it's out of it's mind - for that money there are betters solutions.

SimplePanda Posted at 2015-9-12 10:28
Nah...

There are bundles here in Canada that include: S900, A2 controller, Zenmuse Z15 (BMPCC, GH4 ...

I think I would take the X5R over the BM pocket any day.    Also, you can get the Inspire in the air in 2 minutes, not going to happen with the S900.

I would say get insurance and get productive.  The Inspire is perfect!

I would have to agree what i have seen with the inspire is that like Jim said you can be up and going in a lot less time, less bulky... the battery charging process alone with a S900 is more intricate than the inspire... If you are going to spend the money you are not a hobbies, so you would have insurance i would assume.

capalvch@gmail. Posted at 2015-9-11 08:43
With a 6000 $ camera on board, I wonder if the inspire 1 can handle a parachute system if any of the ...

Actually they can fly and slowly descend with only three or even two motors by spinning the entire copter. It is too bad there is no automatic system like that in place.

nofearmx@gmail. Posted at 2015-9-11 22:06
I would have to agree what i have seen with the inspire is that like Jim said you can be up and goin ...

Charging a LiPo for an S900 involves connecting the battery to the charger and turning the charger on.

Not sure how much more "intricate" that is...

jimhare Posted at 2015-9-11 21:28
I think I would take the X5R over the BM pocket any day.    Also, you can get the Inspire in the a ...

The S900 and S1000 are actually remarkably quick setups for bigger aircraft. Doesn't take much longer to get aloft than the Inspire assuming you're doing the same pre-flight checks on both.

As for the cameras it's all pretty academic right now since we can't really compare the two... no X5R RAW / ungraded footage is in the wild.

Don't get me wrong - I'm really hoping the X5 delivers but there are a lot of things DJI has to nail to justify what they're asking for it... especially the X5R. Price wise, I have zero problems paying for the X5R if it works the way it's described.  $5 grand for a RAW recording 4k camera isn't bad at all, especially considering you're basically getting the gimbal for free compared to similar 4k RAW systems.

SimplePanda Posted at 2015-9-11 21:08
Charging a LiPo for an S900 involves connecting the battery to the charger and turning the charger ...

I don't own one that is what i have been told... i could be wrong... I just know that there is a good chance when i see footage and won't buy the 1st release i might buy the X5r... I use canon 5mark iV so between lenses and camera i am in it for well over 15k... this isn't that expensive if the paper meets the specs in real life... which still remains to be proven...
In reality you ask an apple exec what he thinks of the iPhone : it's the best he has ever seen... ask DJI there camera and lenses probably beat the competition... I would like to have a sample X5r and X5 footage in log to determine myself... it is always hard to buy something when you are not sure what you are buying...

nofearmx@gmail. Posted at 2015-9-12 14:26
I don't own one that is what i have been told... i could be wrong... I just know that there is a g ...

I own proper LiPo's for my hexcopter (not S900 but same system). The only added complexity is that you have to connect two cables to the charging unit - the mains and the balance cable. You then turn on the charger and set it to charge. It charges, and stops when it's done. Easy. I assure you, it's not complex process.

The nice thing is that outboard chargers offer other charging / discharging modes - if you want to put your batteries into storage for the winter a good charger will discharge them to storage levels, etc. The Inspire 1 batteries do that "intelligently" but I'm much happier being able to hit a "Storage" button on my charging unit.

I'm in the same boat re: the X5R. I'm willing to spend the rumoured price but it'd be nice if DJI had some RAW / ungraded footage using the new D-Log system so we can judge the camera for ourselves at full dynamic range.

I'm also hoping to get some more information on a few of the logistical aspects of the camera:

- it's going to use a proprietary SSD form factor for storage (not uncommon, RED does this with REDMAG) so how do we access that to get the data off?
- Are they going to provide a USB3 / Thunderbolt dock with the unit for this?
- Can we buy additional SSD units?
- How much are they going to be.
- Any indication that third party apps like Davinci Resolve are going to support D-Log natively for their RAW developers?

Building a pro camera isn't just building a pro camera as you know - there's an ecosystem around the camera and how you use it and DJI will hopefully provide some answers for the X5R before too long.

SimplePanda Posted at 2015-9-12 12:03
I own proper LiPo's for my hexcopter (not S900 but same system). The only added complexity is that  ...

You bring up some good points and I hope (but doubt) that they do... sadly I am sure we will have to wait the better part of 6-8 months before we can get descent reviews and footage that we can see... don't get me wrong... I am sure that my clients (at least some) would love me to take aerial footage in raw, and I am still learning the trade... photography is my strong suit, but i would like to see some footage and more info on add ons like you pointed out.
Even if in the real world 6K or 5K isn't mush when it comes to professional images, Like you said there are some proven platforms out there.
Who is building the lens? Should we buy DJI... i didn't know they built lenses!!! I know they are stellar when it comes to gimbals but what is there reputation on glass? Olympus is decent but not stelar...
It is always hard... even shooting raw in a 5d is a pain in the ass, so if you are going to add the workflow it better be worth it in reality....

Do like the aperture and controls they give that is a bonus... and honestly don't know much about the rate transfer, but I think from what i have read they should at least be giving 100 for the x5... time will tell... patience is a virtue that for 5k i am willing to wait 6 months for :-)