so ive been running an Inspire 2 with the Zenmuse X7 for a few years now, mostly commercials and some documentary stuff, and a production company just came to me asking if i can shoot on the X9-8K Air for an actual feature they're doing. the DP wants that larger sensor look and honestly i get it but im not sure if the workflow headache is worth it for a 3 week shoot.

the X9 raw files are massive obviously and ive heard the CinemaDNG pipeline can get messy depending on what NLE the post house is running. also the Inspire 3 body itself - has anyone had issues with the battery system in colder weather? we're shooting partly in the mountains and i had some weird power behavior with the I2 once around 4 degrees celsius that kind of freaked me out mid-flight.

not asking anyone to make the decision for me just want to hear from people who've actually done long form stuff with the Inspire 3 platform, not just run a few test flights.

ran the Inspire 3 on a 4 week commercial campaign last year, mix of desert and some higher altitude stuff, and honestly the battery thing is real but manageable. DJI's own recommendation is to keep the TB51s warm before flight which sounds obvious but on set when you've got 6 batteries rotating it gets annoying fast. we ended up just keeping a small insulated bag with a hand warmer near the batteries between takes. lost maybe 10-12% capacity in the cold but nothing dangerous, the BMS is pretty conservative about cutoffs.

the X9 workflow is heavy but if the post house knows what they're doing with Resolve it's actually not that bad. the bigger issue we had was just storage - you blow through media cards faster than you expect when you're rolling multiple takes on the same shot. make sure you've talked to their DIT before you commit to anything.

this is probably not helpful but why does the DP specifically want the X9 over just renting an X7 setup you already know? like is it a sensor size thing or are they after the full frame look for a specific reason. asking because ive seen productions chase specs and then the colorist ends up fighting the footage anyway. the I3 is a great bird but if your I2 is dialed and you know it inside out that counts for something on a real job.