so ive been running an Inspire 1 with the X5R for about 6 years now and honestly its held up well for the work i do, mostly commercial and some doc stuff. but i just got approached for a feature film project and the DP is asking about raw above 4k and whether we can match the other cameras on set which are shooting on Alexa Mini LV.

been looking hard at the Inspire 3 with the DL mount and the Zenmuse X9-8K Air and the specs look insane on paper but ive never actually flown one. the dual operator setup is something im already used to so thats not a concern. main thing is im trying to figure out if the color science is actually there for proper grading alongside Alexa footage, or if thats just marketing talk.

anyone whos actually delivered on a real production with the I3 want to chime in? not looking for spec sheets, i can read those myself, just want to know if it holds up on set and in post.

yeah the color science question is the real one isnt it. i did a short film last spring with the I3 and X9-8K and the colorist initially had some hesitation but once we were actually in resolve together looking at the CDNGs he came around pretty quick. its not Alexa, nothing really is, but the latitude in the highlights is genuinely impressive and the noise floor in low light is way better than i expected from a gimbal cam that size.

one thing nobody really warned me about was the battery situation on a long shooting day. you go through cells faster than you think especially if youre doing a lot of hovering for long takes. we ended up renting extra TB51s locally and it still felt tight. def have a charging plan before you show up on set or youll be that guy standing around waiting.

the jump is worth it but the price will hurt. also just make sure your tablet setup is sorted before the job because ive seen people show up with the wrong controller firmware and waste like an hour on a paid day. RC Plus is solid once its configured but getting there can be annoying