been shooting with the X5S on an M600 for about three years now and honestly its been great but ive been looking at some of the custom payload options lately, specifically building around a Sony A7S III or even a BMPCC 6K because clients are starting to ask about higher dynamic range deliverables and RAW workflow stuff that the X5S just cant really do natively.

the obvious problem is weight and balance. going from a purpose-built gimbal like the Zenmuse to something like a Gremsy H16 or Freefly MoVI Carbon with a mirrorless body on it is a pretty big jump in complexity and i've heard mixed things about how well third party gimbals actually hold up in windy conditions vs the integrated DJI systems. like on paper the specs look fine but real world stabilization in 25+ knot winds is a different thing.

has anyone actually done this comparison or run a BMPCC or similar on a Gremsy in real production work? curious if the image quality jump is actually worth the workflow headache because right now the X5S just works and i point it at things and get good footage and i dunno if i want to give that up.

ran a BMPCC 4K on a Gremsy T3 for about 8 months for a production company and honestly the footage was stunning but the setup time and the number of things that could go wrong on any given shoot made me eventually go back to integrated systems for most jobs. the Gremsy held up fine in moderate wind but anything gusty and you'd get these micro jitters that were subtle but visible on a big screen. could tune them out somewhat with the Gremsy software but it was never quite as clean as a purpose built system.

that said if RAW is a hard client requirement and youre doing mostly calmer condition work i think the image quality difference is real and worth it. just budget way more time for setup and bring backup everything.

the X5S with the right glass is still genuinely good though, like i get that RAW sounds appealing but have you actually had a client reject deliverables from it or is this more of a future proofing thing? asking because i went down the custom payload rabbit hole for like six months and spent way too much money before realizing 90% of my clients couldnt tell the differnce anyway.