okay so some context. ive been doing real estate shots for about 18 months now, mostly using a 7inch longrange build with a naked gopro 11 and a 2-axis micro gimbal. the footage is honestly fine for what most clients want, they're not cinematographers, they just want the house to look nice. but ive started picking up a couple of clients who are a bit more demanding and one of them specifically asked why the colors look a bit washed out compared to what another local operator was giving them.

the other operator is supposedly running something on an inspire 2 with an X5S so thats basically a different class entirely and i get that. but i started wondering if going to something like a micro four thirds payload on my platform is even feasible, or if im basically looking at building something totally different. the naked GoPro is around 80g all in with the gimbal. an MFT setup is going to be what, 400-500g minimum? that changes everything about the airframe.

is the quality jump actually that noticeable to non-photographers or am i overthinking this and should just learn to color grade the gopro footage better

honestly for real estate the color grading angle is worth exploring first before you blow money on a new platform. most of that washed out look is just the gopro tonemapping working against you - shooting in log or flat profile and doing a proper grade in davinci makes a massive difference. the dynamic range gap between a naked gopro and an MFT sensor is real but its not so big that good grading cant close it for 90% of real estate use cases. save the payload upgrade conversation for when youre shooting something where shallow DOF or actual low light performance matters.

i went down this road about a year ago and ended up just building a dedicated cinema hex instead of trying to adapt. the weight and balance tradeoffs on a 7inch trying to carry anything heavier than like 150g get ugly fast, prop selection becomes a nightmare and your flight time tanks. if the work is there to justify it a proper heavy lifter purpose built for a sony or MFT payload is just a cleaner solution. but that other guy above is right too, color science on the gopro isnt doing you any favors if youre just pulling straight from hypersmooth or whatever the default is