Do you use the digital zoom?

[Kennetf]

Zup peepz!
I shot some stills with the mavic pro the other day, and needed to crop them in post due to poor framing. If I were aware of the long distance between the subject and the quad when I shot the images, I could zoom in a little, but to my understanding, you loose the same amount of data when cropping in post, am I right?

So...is there any reason why you would use the digital zoom while shooting, when you can safely crop in post? Other than saving time if you need to crop many images I suppose there are no advantages in digital zoom?

 

[newnan3]

Is there any reason you'd use the digital zoom when you can just get closer? The camera is attached to a drone right? Lol

Ive tried to stay away from using the digital zoom very much. Ive noticed it magnifies camera movement if the shutter speed is low.

 

[Kilrah]

but to my understanding, you loose the same amount of data when cropping in post, am I right?

When shooting 4K, yep

So...is there any reason why you would use the digital zoom while shooting

Well if you can use digital zoom it means you're not shooting 4K, and there you do get some advantage. E.g. cropping 1080 to the same level digital zoom allows for will give you <720p output, while digital zoom would still give you "real" 1080p output.

 

[Big Fil]

I believe it's just cropping in on the sensor so i think there's no loss like on a digital zoom that actually blows up the pixels to zoom in. If your only intent is to shoot 1080p, which is the only way you have access to the zoom feature, would seem to be one way to do it. There could be situations where you want the image to be close to the subject but may not want to have the aircraft be that close.

 

[Robbyg]

I stayed away from it because of all my past experience with cheapo to mid range cameras and digital zoom. I was actually surprised when I tried the Mavics and it worked pretty well.

Rob

 

[Khophace]

I believe it's just cropping in on the sensor so i think there's no loss like on a digital zoom that actually blows up the pixels to zoom in.

The two scenarios that you just described are exactly the same thing, just two different ways of looking at it. Either way you're losing both data (the part that's being cropped out) and detail (because to make your zoomed image the same size as the original, your resolution is shrinking).

To answer the OP, I recommend anybody not bother with any digital zoom on any camera unless you simply don't like loading them onto the computer and then doing simple editing on them. A digital zoom is no different than cropping in Paint. You might as well get ALL the data you can possibly get in-camera so you then have the most to work with in post. Or, as a previous reply stated, just fly closer if possible.

 

[Foxtrot Uniform]

Is there any reason you'd use the digital zoom when you can just get closer? The camera is attached to a drone right? .

I use mine to spot fish in shallow water. Zoom is critical because if you get too close the noise will spook the fish before you can cast to them!

 

[hilti]

Sometimes I use it to watch a small Thing biger (ex. a possible Animal) on the Screen to decide to fly nearer or not.

 

[Mavic Maniac]

I finally tried the zoom today, after a million flights. It worked surprisingly well. I'll be playing with it a little more.

 

[CyberNate]

I've used it. Works well for checking if the camera is over softening the image on trees. It becomes apparent if you zoom in on a leafy tree. I increase the sharpening until the details are returned.

 

[bill1992]

I know you are losing data and losing pixels, but is this really EXACTLY the same as just cropping in in post production? My simple experiments make me feel like although I've lost the pixels, the digital zoomed in area has a much cleaner image (for video anyway) than a cropped in area and the bit rate has not changed from a non zoomed file?

 

[CyberNate]

I know you are losing data and losing pixels, but is this really EXACTLY the same as just cropping in in post production? My simple experiments make me feel like although I've lost the pixels, the digital zoomed in area has a much cleaner image (for video anyway) than a cropped in area and the bit rate has not changed from a non zoomed file?

You are cropping the sensor, but not not the data rate. So when you digitally zoom in, yes, there are less overall pixels, but you gain some details in having more data to capture the information from the smaller capture area.

 

[Mossiback]

I sometimes use it to verify the focus, especially in low light. Zoom in, set focus, zoom out, take picture.