so ive been shooting with the inspire 2 and X7 combo for like three years now, mostly episodic tv stuff and the occasional commercial. client just came back asking if we can deliver in 8K RAW for an upcoming feature documentary and honestly i wasnt planning on upgrading the platform this year but here we are.

the inspire 3 with the X9-8K is obviously the move on paper but im trying to figure out if the operational overhead is actually manageable for a two person team. with the inspire 2 me and my op had the workflow totally dialed ? dual controller, she handles the gimbal i fly, we can bang out a full shooting day no problem. from what i understand the inspire 3 changes some of that? the new controller situation is a little confusing to me still.

also the full frame sensor is kind of a double edged sword right, like yes the image is incredible but now all my ND filters and lens sets dont carry over and thats a real cost on top of the platform itself. anyone actually using this thing on real productions, not just youtube reviews, would love to hear how its going day to day.

been on inspire 3 since early last year, used it on two commercial jobs and one short film. the RC Plus situation is genuinely better than the CrystalSky setup ever was once you get used to it, but yeah theres a learning curve if you and your op have years of muscle memory on the i2 workflow. the dual operator mode still works fine, just feels slightly different in how the control handoff behaves.

the full frame thing ? look, you already know the image is in a different league but you're right that its a hidden cost nobody talks about. we ended up just budgeting a DL lens rental into jobs that needed it and owning the wide primes outright. the 18mm DL is basically lives on the bird at this point. if your client is asking for 8K RAW on a doc, they can absorb some of that cost in the budget conversation honestly.

one thing that did catch us off guard was heat management on longer shooting days in direct sun. not a dealbreaker but something to keep an eye on, we started doing more frequent battery swaps partly just to let the camera breathe a bit.

not on the i3 yet but jumping in because the filter thing is real and kinda brutal if you have a bunch of X7 glass already. a buddy of mine just eats the cost and keeps the inspire 2 as a B camera for the DL mount stuff on the 3 specifically so he doesnt have to own two full lens sets. might be worth thinking about depending on how much X7 glass you have.