weird question maybe but we have a shot coming up where the director wants a practical payload drop, like a small object released mid-air as part of a scene, and someone on the crew suggested we rig something to the Inspire 2's accessory mounting points. ive seen people do release mechanisms on other platforms but never really looked into it for the Inspire specifically.

the X5S is staying on for the shot so whatever we add has to not interfere with the gimbal or the downwash in a way that causes wobble in the footage. total payload we're talking about is maybe 150-200 grams, so well within spec, but the release mechanism itself is the tricky part. has anyone done a custom mount for something like this or used one of the third party servo release systems on an Inspire

yeah we did something similar on a commercial two years back. used a servo-triggered release clamped to the landing gear rail, ran the signal through a spare aux channel on the receiver. the main thing you have to watch for is making sure the release doesnt create any yaw moment when it fires, if the object drops asymetrically relative to center of gravity you'll see it in the footage even on a stabilized gimbal. we did a few test drops without the camera rolling first to dial in the position. worked fine in the end but definitely do a bunch of test flights before the actual shoot day.

not sure about the Inspire specifically but i've seen people use the Freefly or Tabb release systems on other birds for exactly this kind of thing. might be worth reaching out to a rental house that does film support, they'd probably have seen this before or even have a rig already built. also make sure whoever is responsible for the drop has thought through where it lands, i know that sounds obvious but on set things get chaotic fast