When DJI first came onto the market 11 years ago, imaging wasn’t not its forte. The drone was (and still is today), but fast forward to today, the company has emerged from the shadow of popular cinematic camera makers to introduce its very own cinematic camera called Zenmuse X7. Billed as the world’s first Super 35 digital film camera, Zenmuse X7 is designed and built with professional aerial cinematography in mind. It is totally capable of capturing 6K CinemaDNG RAW or 5.2K Apple ProRes at up to 30fps as well as 3.9K CinemaDNG or 2.7K ProRes at up to 59.94fps. The camera is also capable of recording still images in DNG RAW or JPEG at 24MP.
With Zenmuse X7, it will turn the DJI Inspire 2 drone into a super cinematic aerial rig, offering interchangeable lenses and a new DJI Cinema Color System for seamless integration with post-production workflow. Notables include the obvious larger 35 sensor which boasts 14 stops of dynamic range plus the ability to record cinematic shallow depth of field, integrated professional gimbals, enhanced grading flexibility, a wide ISO range of 100 to 25,600 to cover just about any lighting conditions, a new EI mode for matching with other cinema cameras for consistency, and finally, a dedicated aerial mount system, the DJI DL-Mount which features an ultra short flange focal distance.
Speaking of lenses, at launch, four lenses are offered in 16, 24, 35, and 50 mm guise with each carbon fiber encased lens sporting a maximum aperture of f2.8. Zenmuse X7, together with DJI Inspire 2, is set to be a game changer in the world of aerial cinematography. Prior to this, movie makers have to put up with impossibly big rig which requires it to be helicopter or aerial crane mounted, or hook it up to crazy size multicopters that cost tens of thousands of dollars. But with this thing here, which carries a starting price of $2,699, it just changes everything. Now, all that is left is for China drone maker to deliver the quality it promised. Hit the jump for the product promo video.
Images: DJI.
