bit of a weird use case but bear with me. we do a mix of traditional cinematography work and some inspection and survey stuff for industrial clients, and right now we're running separate platforms for each which is getting annoying logistically. the Inspire 3 obviously is overkill as a pure survey drone but we already have the airframe and pilots trained on it so i started wondering if anyone has experimented with hanging anything other than a Zenmuse on it.

the payload capacity is there theoretically, the airframe can handle the weight, but obviously the DJI ecosystem locks you into their gimbal interface pretty hard. i know there's some stuff in the enterprise world with Matrice platforms that allows more flexibility but the Inspire series has always felt more closed off in that regard. has anyone actually gotten a third party sensor or even just a custom rig on one without it being a complete hack job

yeah the gimbal interface is the problem, DJI doesnt really open that up the way they do on the Matrice side. ive seen people physically mount stuff to the Inspire using custom brackets that attach to the landing gear or body but then you lose the stabilization obviously and youre basically just strapping dead weight to it. for serious inspection sensor work that's probably not gonna cut it.

honestly if survey and inspection is becoming a bigger chunk of your revenue it might just be worth a dedicated M300 or M350 setup. the payload flexibility is completely different and the enterprise support is better for that kind of work anyway. the Inspire is a cinema tool first and DJI have never really pretended otherwise.

theres a company making a passive payload adapter bracket for the Inspire 3 that lets you hang a small lidar or multispectral sensor off it, saw it at an industry event earlier this year. its not a gimbal mount its more of a rigid fixed plate that bolts onto the existing gimbal quick release area. works for stuff that doesnt need active stabilization. cant remember the company name off the top of my head but if you search around on some of the survey forums you might find it. the whole thing felt a bit niche but hey if it solves your problem