DJI’s new Inspire 3 professional drone is the ultimate flying camera for filmmakers

DJI has unveiled the sleek Inspire 3 professional drone for aerial cinematographers which has an all-new design, improved aerodynamics and the ability to shoot 8K video.

The Inspire all-in-one cinematic-grade aerial filming system has already been used on some of the world’s biggest films and the Inspire 3 takes things to another level.

It’s been more than six years since the release of the Inspire 2 so this upgrade has been highly anticipated.

“The Inspire 3 is the professional-level aerial platform all filmmakers have been waiting for,” said Ferdinand Wolf, Creative Director at DJI.

“It empowers users to fully maximize the potential of any shot as they can record in cinematic-grade image quality previously only available with large and clunky camera systems.

“We are looking forward to seeing how the Inspire 3 will push aerial cinematography to a completely new level.”

The Inspire 3 has been completely redesigned provides filmmakers with a lightweight and portable form factor with the streamlined body integrating FPV (first person view) camera, visual sensors, positioning antennas and storage card slots.

With the landing gear lowered the Inspire 3 can handle 80-degree upward angle shooting giving cinematographers even more options.

But, of course, when the landing gear is up, you have a 360-degree unobstructed view with the included Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera which can shoot 8K/75fps Apple ProRes RAW video and 4K/120fps ProRes RAW.

Onboard the Inspire 3 is advanced positioning technology so cinematographers can plan their shooting routes more accurately and save production time.

The new Waypoint Pro function makes it possible to set flight routes for shot planning.

Repeatable Routes is a Waypoint Pro feature so pilots can precisely fly the same route and remember settings like speed, altitude, gimbal angle and camera settings.

This means filmmakers can perform difficult single shots and fly the same location at different times of the day for long timelapses and transitions.

3D Dolly is a feature that makes it possible for the Inspire 3 to imitate cranes, cable cams and a dolly without the limits of those tools.

With this feature you can create an aerial motion path where the pilot can move backwards and forwards along that path at different speeds and different gimbal settings.

On the safety side the Inspire 3 has numerous sensors that can detect obstacles in all directions.

And when this active avoidance is switched off, the drone will still display the distance from an obstacle on the navigation display.

The Inspire 3 comes with the DJI RC Plus which has a 7-inch 1200 nit high-brightness display so it’s still easy to see in direct sunlight and is powered by a hot-swappable battery.

Speaking of batteries, the Inspire 3 runs on TB51 dual batteries which offer up to 28 minutes of flying time.

The Inspire 3 can reach speeds of up to 94km/h and has an ascent/descent speed of 8m/sec and a dive speed of 10m/sec.

The Inspire 3 comes in a trolley case with an extendable handle and two side handles and four 360-degree movement wheels.

So much does all this cost? The DJI Inspire 3 drone comes with a controller, Zenmuse X9-8K camera, six batteries and other accessories. It is priced at $20,469.