Apple ProRes RAW removed from DJI's Ronin 4D before launch – price reduced

(Image credit: DJI)

DJI has announced that its latest cinema camera, DJI Ronin 4D, which is the first endeavour into the world of cinematography cameras for DJI, will now no longer support Apple ProRes RAW, a spec which was highlighted as one of the main features of this new revolutionary product at its announcement.

Statement from DJI reads:

"Ronin 4D will not support internal compressed RAW (Apple ProRes RAW) recording at launch, but Apple ProRes 4444 XQ will be made available through a firmware update later in 2022.

“To reflect this change in specifications, the list price of the Ronin 4D 6K combo is being lowered to $6,800” and “Users who pre-ordered Ronin 4D at the original price, should contact their dealers to receive a refund of the difference”

• What is ProRes Raw?

DJI Statement Ronin 4D — DJI's statement on the Ronin 4D (Image credit: DJI)

This is certainly a blow to those filmmakers who have already pledged $6,799 / £4,715 / AU$10,149 to this revolutionary 6K cinema camera, because of its RAW recording capabilities. This is not the first time we have seen Apple ProRes RAW removed from a camera just before its official releases, chinese cinema camera manufacturer Kinefinity announced that were removing the ability of Apple ProRes RAW recording in all of its existing models and that the codec would be removed before launch of its Mavo Edge 8K cinema camera.

Rumor has it that this instance, and quite possibly the same for DJI, is that competitors and global cinema camera giant RED, or Red Digital Cinema as they are officially known, own the patent for compressed onboard RAW video recording.

We know that DJI’s Zenmuse x9, which is the camera used on the DJI Ronin 4D and on their professional cinematic drones, does shoot ProRes RAW internally, but via its crafty CineCore 3.0, which bypasses said patent’s limitations. However, it must be noted that this “patent bypass” does not fix the issue of the new DJI Ronin 4D not being able to record Apple ProRes.

DJI has held its hands up and are offering a reduction in price and has confirmed that Apple ProRes 4444 XQ will be available via a firmware update later in 2022, but it does beg the question… Why do we have to wait for a firmware update later in the year and not have it available on the day of its release?

For nearly two decades Sebastian's work has been published internationally. Originally specializing in Equestrianism, his visuals have been used by the leading names in the equestrian industry such as The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), The Jockey Club, Horse & Hound, and many more for various advertising campaigns, books, and pre/post-event highlights.

He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, holds a Foundation Degree in Equitation Science, and is a Master of Arts in Publishing. He is a member of Nikon NPS and has been a Nikon user since the film days using a Nikon F5 and saw the digital transition with Nikon's D series cameras and is still to this day the youngest member to be elected into BEWA, The British Equestrian Writers' Association.

He is familiar with and shows great interest in street, medium, and large format photography with products by Leica, Phase One, Hasselblad, Alpa, and Sinar. Sebastian has also used many cinema cameras from the likes of Sony, RED, ARRI, and everything in between. He now spends his spare time using his trusted Leica M-E or Leica M2 shooting Street photography or general life as he sees it, usually in Black and White.

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