DJI Inspire 3 Drone Combo

DJI Inspire 3 Combo Summary

Arriving as the update to one of the only truly affordable professional cinema drones, DJI Inspire 3 Combo brings a sleeker integrated design and a high-mobility flight system with full-frame 8K imaging system available. DJI has also added O3 Pro video transmission and control system and efficient full-scenario operation. Compared with the previous generation Inspire 2, image quality from the new Zenmuse camera and operation efficiency of Inspire 3 is significantly improved. This provides greater creative freedom plus a significantly enhanced aerial cinematography experience for professional filmmakers.

The three-axis gimbal camera features CineCore 3.0 for up to 8K/25fps CinemaDNG and ProRes RAW up to 8K/75fps internal recording, whilst Spotlight Pro is able to lock on and track people, vehicles and boats. An upgraded FPV camera, improved manoeuvrability and much more make this the best and lightest professional camera drone from DJI to date.

Key DJI Inspire 3 Features

• Sleeker integrated aircraft design
• New O3 Pro video transmission
• Max. flight speed 94 kph with maximum takeoff weight 4310g
• Max. forward flying time approximately 28 minutes
• Customisable omnidirectional visual obstacle avoidance system
• New 1/1.8-inch-sensor FPV camera
• Integrated high-precision RTK positioning technology
• 3D Dolly can simulate a crane, cable-cam or dolly
• Upgraded Spotlight Pro supports subject recognition for people, vehicles and boats

DJI Inspire 3 Combo in More Detail

New Sleek, Integrated Design

Inspire 3 is a professional camera drone and DJI has considered every detail in a new fluid design, which reduces air resistance thanks to a more aerodynamic shape. Max dive speed has increased to 10 m/s (from 9 m/s of Inspire 2), while vertical ascend/descend speed has increased from 6 m/s and 4 m/s to 8 m/s. [1] Powerful manoeuvrability delivers responsive, accurate control and an extended flight time of up to 28 minutes. [2]

The updated FPV camera, visual sensors, positioning antennas and storage card slot are seamlessly integrated into the minimalist aircraft which also results in more modern industrial aesthetics. Inspire 3 uses an all-new design that supports 360° Pan and Tilt Boost structures and what’s more, when the landing gear is lowered, the gimbal supports obstruction-free 80° upward-angle shooting, [3] enabling cinematographers to capture striking shots.

High-Mobility Precision Flight System

Incredibly accurate RTK Positioning technology from industries such as architecture and surveying deliver centimetre-level accuracy. [4] RTK not only makes flying more stable, but also makes flight-route planning more accurate, significantly improving creative efficiency, compared with traditional metre-level positioning, which is supported by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS),

RTK antennas are built into the airframe with a new stacked ceramic design, which enables three types of GNSS (GPS, BeiDou, and Galileo) whilst delivering dual-frequency positioning down to centimetre level. By activating an RTK network [5] or setting up a D-RTK 2 Mobile Station, [6] users can achieve highly accurate positioning without the need to mount additional modules.

Dual-Antenna Orientation

Both the front and the rear of new generation drone have a built-in stacked ceramic antenna, which provides powerful anti-magnetic-interference capability in order to further improve flight accuracy and safety.

Waypoint Pro

DJI has specially designed Waypoint Pro for aerial cinematography, which enables flight-route and shot planning alongside a wide range of customisable settings. New Repeatable Routes and 3D Dolly modes offer more easily achieved innovative automated shooting. In addition, incredibly accurate RTK positioning ensures centimetre-level flight-route planning and execution. Whether shooting solo or as part of a professional crew, Waypoint Pro can be used to master highly complex scenes.

Repeatable Routes

When using Repeatable Routes, the aircraft will automatically fly on the same route and maintain all preset parameters including altitude, speed, gimbal angle and camera settings. Repeating the same flight mission enables cinematographers to effortlessly perform tricky one-takes, or to fly at different times in the same place to create long-duration timelapse, which capture transitions such as day to night or season to season.

3D Dolly

Integrated 3D Dolly is able to simulate a crane, cable-cam, or dolly on film sets while going beyond the limitations of those cinema devices. After planning a flight route, the cinematographer can manually control the aircraft in order to move along the route back and forth, while adjusting settings including speed, gimbal angle and more according to specific needs of each scene. This delivers improved visual effects through complicated cinema-grade camera movements, which are easier and more efficient to implement.

Updated Spotlight Pro

Spotlight Pro has been updated to enable solo creators to capture more shots styles. Inspire 3 supports AI-based automated subject recognition and locking for people, vehicles and boats with greater accuracy than before. Thanks to the 360° gimbal pan of Inspire 3, in Free mode the gimbal camera can stay locked on a subject, while a solo pilot uses the FPV camera to check their surroundings and control the flight route more responsively.

When using Spotlight Pro's Follow mode, the aircraft and gimbal camera orient toward the same direction and remain locked on the subject so that the pilot can get circling shots without manual framing adjustments.

Omnidirectional Sensing System

For the first time, a fisheye camera has been added to each of the four landing arms, in a drone which is equipped with nine sensors, enabling a robust omnidirectional sensing system that can detect obstacles in all directions and provide comprehensive protection for flying.[7] This design helps to avoid obstruction from the airframe when the landing gear is raised and allows for horizontal obstacle sensing when the landing gear is lowered.

• 360° Horizontal Visual Sensors
• Upward Visual Sensors
• Downward Visual Sensors
• Downward ToF Sensor

Customisable Obstacle Sensing

Inspire 3 additionally features a new customisable function for greater flight safety and more creative freedom. Horizontal, upward and downward obstacle sensing can be independently enabled or disabled, while an obstacle alert range can be manually set to suit different scenarios. [8]

When active avoidance is switched off, users can still view the distance from an obstacle on the navigation display in real-time and receive an audio alert when an obstacle is within a set range without the aircraft performing an automatic avoidance movement. This brings new possibilities to professional aerial teams that want to achieve more complex camera language.

Ultra Wide Night-Vision FPV Camera

A new 1/1.8-inch-sensor FPV camera with a 3μm pixel size, an ultra-wide DFOV of 161°, and the ability to transmit live feeds at up to 1080p/60fps are all included. Compared to its predecessor, the DFOV is approximately doubled and the FPV camera delivers more impressive light-sensing capability, allowing pilots to observe their surroundings vividly and clearly, even at night, and ensure greater levels of flight safety.

Compared to the previous generation, the new camera offers:

1. Sensor size 1/1.8-inch vs 1/7.5-inch
2. DFOV 161° vs 84°
3. Live Feed Quality 1080p/60fps vs 480p/30fps

Stunning Full-Frame 8K Imaging System

The X9-8K Air, is DJI’s lightest-ever full-frame three-axis gimbal camera, which has been custom-built for Inspire 3, in order to take drone cinematography to the next level. It features DJI’s latest image processing system, CineCore 3.0, supporting internal recording of up to 8K/25fps CinemaDNG video [9] as well as 8K/75fps [10] Apple ProRes RAW video, [9] meeting the needs of top-class film and television productions.

Ultra-high-resolution 8K aerial footage retains true-to-life texture, similar to what the human eye sees, with stunning clarity for audiences when displayed on larger screens. RAW brings X9-8K Air's sensor fully into play, providing abundant space for visual effects and colour grading during post production. In S&Q mode, X9-8K Air supports up to full-frame 4K/120fps ProRes RAW video internal recording without cropping, for more creative editing options.

Dual Native ISO

X9-8K Air also supports dual native ISO, with EI 800/4000 at full-frame 30fps and below, supporting the 24fps commonly seen in film productions and 25fps used in commercial and television productions. At above 30fps, EI 320/1600 is available. This allows X9-8K Air to record images with exquisite details and minimal noise on par with professional ground-based cinema cameras, even low-light cityscapes or beaches.

14+ Stops of Dynamic Range

X9-8K Air records up to 14+ stops of dynamic range, with rich highlight and shadow details in complex lighting scenarios such as sunrises and sunsets. High dynamic range brings more possibilities for post-production, retaining genuine colours even after significant exposure adjustments.

DL Mount Lens compatibility [11]

DJI’s proprietary DL mount is used on X9-8K Air, which is compatible with an additional 18 mm F2.8 full-frame ultra-wide lens and a new telephoto lens iiminent [12] on top of the previous full-frame lens selections of DL 24 / DL 35 / DL 50 mm F2.8.

All five lenses are custom-made for aerial cinematography with lightweight monocoque carbon fibre housings, so the lightest lens weighs just 178 g, complementing Inspire 3's ultra-high manoeuvrability.

New DL 18 mm f/2.8 Lens

The new DL 18 mm f/2.8 ASPH full-frame lens is made especially for 8K aerial cinematography, with sharpo, well controlled ultra wide angle results.

DJI Cinema Color System (DCCS)

The DJI Cinema Color System builds on DJI's mature colour science and technology, allowing the X9-8K Air to capture authentic colours which redefine aerial cinematography. This applies to natural settings and urban landscapes, and also accurately captures skin tones in different environments and lighting conditions. DCCS ensures effortless colour matching between X9-8K Air and ground-based cinema cameras such as DJI Ronin 4D, delivering consistent colour style from air to ground to meet the needs of film-production post-editing workflows.

Multi-Camera Timecode Sync

You can sync timecode between equipment in the air and on the ground through the 3.5mm port on the aircraft. When dealing with abundant footage from multiple cameras, timecode sync makes the editing process significantly more simplified and efficient.

O3 Pro Video Transmission and Control System

DJI RC Plus

Inspire 3 includes the DJI RC Plus, which is a professional-level remote controller, that has a built-in 7-inch 1,200-nit high-bright screen to provide an extraordinary outdoor monitoring experience. It also features an HDMI out port and several buttons and dials on the front, back and top, providing fast and intuitive operation. Button functions can be customised for a smoother operating experience and personalised workflow.

The built-in RC Plus battery provides an operating time of approximately 3.3 hours, and extends to 6 hours with an external WB37 battery. [11] It also supports battery hot-swapping to improve creative efficiency.

On top of the classic flight control interface, the new DJI Pilot 2 app for Inspire adds a cinema-grade monitoring interface, which allows simple and convenient checking of information like camera exposure, video specifications, focal length, and gimbal angle, easily meeting the monitoring requirements of gimbal operators and DPs. Professional accessories such as a strap and waist support are also included for more comfortable and efficient long-duration use.

Cinema-Quality O3 Pro Video Transmission [13]

Inspire 3 is equipped with O3 Pro, DJI’s latest cinema-grade video transmission system, which enables a max transmission distance of 15 km in single control mode [14] and 12 km [15] in dual-control mode. Both the gimbal camera and FPV camera support 1080p/60fps live feeds and an ultra-low latency of 90 ms. [16] Compared to the Lightbridge video transmission system of Inspire 2, O3 Pro has taken a generational leap in transmission distance, latency, and overall stability.

For the first time, 4K/30fps live feeds are also supported with a max 5km transmission distance to meet the needs of UHD monitoring and live streaming on set. [17].

Compared with the previous generation transmission system:

Independent Links for Dual Control [18]

Compared with its predecessor, the dual-control experience of Inspire 3 has been significantly upgraded. Two remote controllers can receive live feeds and control the drone independently, so the pilot and gimbal operator can be at different positions on set. This breaks Inspire 2's limitations of binding the primary and secondary control links.

If the pilot loses aircraft signal, the gimbal operator is now able to take control of the aircraft to safely return to home or land directly.

DJI PRO Ecosystem compatibility

Supports DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor [11]

In addition to RC Plus, Inspire 3 also allows use of the DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor as a second remote controller. The remote monitor can pair directly with Inspire 3 to receive live feeds, and can even control gimbal and focus when the Ronin 4D Hand Grips are attached. [11] HDMI [19] and SDI [19] ports on the remote monitor can also output live feeds to other monitoring devices.

Supports DJI Three-Channel Follow Focus [11]

As a member of the DJI PRO ecosystem, the new DJI Three-Channel Follow Focus can transmit control signals to Inspire 3 via the O3 Pro transmission system (this requires a DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor to act as an intermediary device). With Three-Channel Follow Focus, the focus puller can achieve accurate remote focus control and stepless aperture adjustments to deliver an integrated wireless monitoring and control experience.

Supports DJI Master Wheels [11]

When a DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor is paired as the second controller (as the intermediary to the PRO ecosystem), Inspire 3's gimbal can be controlled using DJI Master Wheels. In this way, it can provide a gimbal control experience on par with Ronin 2 to meet the operating habits of cinematographers.

Supports DJI Transmission [11]

With DJI Transmission, Inspire 3 supports expanded monitoring on set. Connect an RC Plus to a DJI Video Transmitter with Broadcast mode enabled. [20] Then, live feeds can be transmitted to an unlimited number of remote monitors, further improving coordination efficiency.

Supports DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor [11]

In addition to RC Plus, Inspire 3 also allows use of the DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor as a second remote controller. The remote monitor can pair directly with Inspire 3 to receive live feeds, and can even control gimbal and focus when the Ronin 4D Hand Grips are attached. [11] HDMI [19] and SDI [19] ports on the remote monitor can also output live feeds to other monitoring devices.

Supports DJI Three-Channel Follow Focus [11]

As a member of the DJI PRO ecosystem, the new DJI Three-Channel Follow Focus can transmit control signals to Inspire 3 via the O3 Pro transmission system (this requires a DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor to act as an intermediary device). With Three-Channel Follow Focus, the focus puller can achieve accurate remote focus control and stepless aperture adjustments to deliver an integrated wireless monitoring and control experience.

Supports DJI Master Wheels [11]

When a DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor is paired as the second controller (as the intermediary to the PRO ecosystem), Inspire 3's gimbal can be controlled using DJI Master Wheels. In this way, it can provide a gimbal control experience on par with Ronin 2 to meet the operating habits of cinematographers.

Supports DJI Transmission [11]

With DJI Transmission, Inspire 3 supports expanded monitoring on set. Connect an RC Plus to a DJI Video Transmitter with Broadcast mode enabled. [20] Then, live feeds can be transmitted to an unlimited number of remote monitors, further improving coordination efficiency.

Storage and Transitions

The newly designed trolley case is equipped with an extendable handle, two side handles, and four 360-degree-movement wheels, making transitions and transportation effortless. Additionally, two numbered locks are equipped for added safety. The well-designed trolley case can store one aircraft, one X9-8K Air gimbal camera, two RC Plus remote controllers, four lenses, twelve batteries, two battery charging hubs, three sets of propellers, and other items. New foldable quick-release propellers are easy to store and don’t require re-installation before each flight.

DJI footnotes

1. Full speed tested when flying in a windless environment at sea level, with gimbal camera and lens attached to the aircraft and without other accessories. The data is for reference only.

2. Measured when flying forward at a constant speed of 36 kph with the landing gear down in a windless environment at sea level, with gimbal camera and lens attached to the aircraft and without other accessories, and recording 4K/24fps H.264 (S35) video until the battery reached 0%. This data is for reference only. Please refer to the actual values in the app.

3. Measured using DL 50 mm lens with landing gear lowered and the aircraft hovering in a windless environment.

4. When RTK is disabled, DJI Inspire 3 uses GNSS positioning by default.

5. Before using custom network RTK, contact a local dealer to purchase the service.

6. The D-RTK 2 Mobile Station is sold separately.

7. Obstacle sensing is disabled while the landing gear is in the process of being raised or lowered. When the landing gear is down, there are obstacle-avoidance blind spots at the front-left and front-right areas of the aircraft of approximately 20°.

8. Custom brake range of obstacle avoidance: 2-10 meters horizontally, 1-3 meters upward, and 1 meter downward. Custom alert range of obstacle sensing: 2.1-30 meters horizontally, 1.1-10 meters upward, and 1.1-10 meters downward.

9. License key sold separately.

10. Shooting 8K/75fps video requires full-frame 2.4:1 aspect ratio and Apple ProRes RAW in S&Q mode.

11. Sold separately.

12. The new telephoto lens will be released at a later date.

13. Measured in an unobstructed outdoor environment free of interference, with gimbal camera and lens attached to the aircraft and without other accessories. The above data shows the farthest communication range for one-way, non-return flights under each standard. During flight, please pay attention to reminders in the app.

14. Longest video transmission distance in single control mode: FPV Camera: approx. 15 km (FCC), 8 km (CE/SRRC/MIC). Gimbal Camera (1080p/60fps live feeds): approx. 13 km (FCC), 7 km (CE/SRRC/MIC). Gimbal Camera (4K/30fps live feeds): approx. 5 km (FCC), 3 km (CE/SRRC/MIC).

15. Longest video transmission distance in dual-control mode: FPV Camera: approx. 12 km (FCC), 6.4 km (CE/SRRC/MIC). Gimbal Camera (1080p/60fps live feeds): approx. 11.2 km (FCC), 5.6 km (CE/SRRC/MIC). Gimbal Camera (4K/30fps live feeds): approx. 4 km (FCC), 2.4 km (CE/SRRC/MIC).

16. The lowest latency of the gimbal camera was measured when recording 4K/60fps ProRes RAW video. The lowest latency of the FPV camera was measured with strong video transmission signals.

17. Only when the frame rate is 30fps and below.

18. When using dual remote controllers, make sure that the antennas of both remote controllers are pointing toward the aircraft, and there is no obstruction between the remote controllers and the aircraft. Otherwise, a remote controller with poor signal may impair the communication quality of the other.

19. The port is located on the DJI Remote Monitor Expansion Plate, which is sold separately.

20. Transmission performance differs in Broadcast mode.

21. Tested at a room temperature of 25° C (77° F) in a well-ventilated environment and is for reference only.

22. Measured using the included USB-C to USB-C data cable on Apple MacBook Pro 2021 (Apple M1 Max chip).

What’s in the box

• 1 x Inspire 3 Aircraft
• 1 x RC Plus (Inspire 3)
• 1 x Double-Headed Screwdriver
• 1 x USB-C to USB-C High-Speed Data Cable
• 1 x USB-C to USB-A Data Cable
• 6 x TB51 Intelligent Battery
• 1 x TB51 Intelligent Battery Charging Hub
• 1 x TB51 Intelligent Battery Charging Hub AC Cable
• 1 x TB51 Intelligent Battery Paired Batteries Sticker
• 3 x Inspire 3 Foldable Quick-Release Propellers (Pair)
• 1 x PROSSD 1TB
• 1 x Inspire 3 Trolley Case
• 1 x RC Plus Strap
• 1 x RC Plus Waist Support
• 3 x Documents
• 1 x Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera
• 1 x Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera Case
• 1 x DL Mount Lens Cap
• 1 x X9 Gimbal Base Cap
• 1 x Lens Carrying Box (18/24/35/50mm)
• 2 x Inspire 3 Gimbal Rubber Dampers