so ive been running the Inspire 2 with the Zenmuse X7 for the past couple years doing mostly commercial work, some TV stuff, and it's been solid. client came back and they specifically want X9-Air footage this time around because their colorist is apparently obsessed with the larger sensor and the ProRes RAW workflow. i get it, the image quality jump is real, but im trying to figure out if renting an Inspire 3 rig just for this one job makes financial sense vs just shooting on the X7 and grading hard.

the X9-Air on the I3 is a different beast to operate too, the dual operator setup is still there obviously but the focus control on that camera feels different, takes some getting used to. anyone actually delivered a feature with the Inspire 3 yet or is it mostly still commercial guys using it? trying to get a sense of the real world pain points before i commit to renting the full kit for 3 weeks.

did a 6-week shoot last spring with the I3 and X9-Air and honestly the transition from X7 wasn't as bad as i expected after like day 3. the big thing nobody tells you is the gimbal initialization takes longer in cold weather, we were shooting in the mountains and had a few mornings where we were just standing around waiting for the thing to sort itself out before the light was any good.

the ProRes RAW files are enormous obviously, you need to plan your data pipeline before you even get on set or your DIT will hate you. the image though, when the colorist got into it she said it was the cleanest drone footage she'd worked with. so if the client is paying for the I3 rental it's worth it, if you're eating the cost yourself it depends on the day rate honestly.

the X7 can still hold its own tbh, i wouldnt stress it too much. unless theyre doing big screen projection the difference might not be worth the operational complexity. just my 2 cents