I've been using mine for about 5 months and I absolutely love it. The new flex mount further takes it to the next level. The modular design makes this such a versatile camera I'm excited to see what comes next. Last year was a slow year for the promised progress, but I think things are moving along now. They also just released a license for RAW. I'm not changing frame rates and aspect ratios much so that's not an issue for me.
I just love my Ronin 4d! It is so easy and like a plug and play solution for run and shoot situations. The quality is amazing and the overall package worth the price (just calculate how much you would pay for everything in single parts (gimbal/camera etc)) great video btw :)
Thank you very much for giving a truly in depth and useful review. My FX6 has 10% crop and change to UHD for over 60fps. changing to super 35 and reframing is not as big of a deal when filming b roll of people, but I understand it can be a big deal if you’re filming sports with landscape. I think for my usage, I would not have a problem with it especially when using a zoom where I can just zoom out or change lens, or take a few steps back on a local subject.
Been waiting patiently over here for this video and appreciate you going into so much detail. That’s the problem with this camera, it’s like one big catch 22. There is almost every reason to buy this thing, but for $10,000 all-in there shouldn’t be an “almost.” And after 1.5 years now since release, the “almost” should have at least been addressed. DJI is constantly innovating and releasing new stuff year after year, why not this? At this point with no new features (other than the prores422/h.264 update w/ the flex), it makes you question what’s going on behind the scenes like you said. So much so, it makes me want to hold onto my money for the next big innovation by DJI or someone else, or simply just settle for a different cinema rig and gimbal. But even after typing this whole thing out I still want it so bad. And now I will have another sleepless night thinking about this camera.
Haha man I couldn't agree more. Even after making this video basically complaining about it's shortcomings for 8 solid minutes I still want one SO bad. The potential is absolutely through the roof, I just hope DJI hires a video consultant for the next iteration.
The fact it comes with a built-in gimbal would be a key factor for me. I detest balancing gimbals and dislike their ergonomics with a passion, but clients nowadays want them everywhere. Plus it has a lot of sweet features to boot. Hopefully they'll come up with a firmware update
Couldn't agree more. I spend a ton of time with a gimbal and I love the fact that this one is just built in. It's like 90% of the way there, and I have to imagine that V2.0 will be jaw-dropping.
Daaam what a deal breaker, I was going to purchase one however I hadn’t seen anyone mention that very strange aspect ratio change 😟 Thanks for an awesome review
I have held off buying this camera because I'm still waiting for some promised firmware updates which re-introduce ProRes RAW recording and the new Zenmuse 8K resolution, full frame sensor version head. Thus far it's vapourware from DJI.
Couldn't agree more. It makes me sad because the lack of updates for this camera for so long has me worried they're going to abandon the platform altogether.
Hello Nate, I just got mine yesterday and I totally loved it , it's revolutionary. I'm coming from a Red Komodo and now need to set uo the 4D to have same result as Komodo. Have U recorded any clip in Pro res Raw? I'm curios to color grade a clip from ronin 4d recorded I n pro res raw before buy the license but at the moment I haven't find any. I agree with U the change format is pain in the ass but maybe Dji will fix it. Cheers
Hey there! Since my product was a loaner I didn't think it was worth buying a license or the DJI SSD, so I didn't test ProRes RAW or the 4444 formats. I'd love to hear what you think once you dive in!
Question: Anyone that might know, so this Camera uses the Zenmuse X9, and has native DJI lenses. Are their lens filters made for these native lenses? Has anyone had success with mounting filters to these native lenses? I know there's some for X7 and for their drones, but can't find much about these lenses that seem to not be threaded.
It can be done, concerning codec and aspect, but what other cameras aren't telling you is that they're introducing way more rolling shutter, its a nasty thing to find in post, and something that has no standard and no way as a consumer to know what the camera is actually doing without prior extensive testing, that which isn't even consistent anyways. DJI rolling shutter stays the same, so no matter what action you get in, yes whatever weird aspect ratio the footage you do have will be usable.
I'm not that sure the crop factor when shooting highspeed is really an issue since it's a common thing on Cinema and profesional cameras. For example FX9 which is more expensive than the Ronin uses crop mode to shoot 60 and You have to lower resolution too. Same on Canon cameras. It's a normal issue, and adjusting in post is no Big deal since scaling algoritmos are si good now that is very easy yo match shots. 2:40:1 crop factor is very common in cinema and many high end productions tend to upscale and crop to deliver in 16:9 or other formats, croping is a common practice with deliveries shot with alexas that cost more than ten times the price of the Ronin 4D. You can easily adapt to V.Mount or Gold mount but those are twoce as expensive and You need them to output 22V for the 4D axis to work, so TB50 end up bring much cheaper. I ve done a couple of features films and tv shows and used almost every single camera system and in all cases bringing My vision meant adjusting to the limitiations of the hardware. Sometimes you'll have to bring specific gear to achieve certain shots. But framing one shot in cinascope for a 16:9 delivery can be done automatically this days.
I agree with this about the crop factor. Most cams have that sensor cropping with frame rates. It's always been a thing across multiple camera systems. If you were a working "professional" you would already know this.
