Thinking about buying Mavik Pro

[Charly B767]

Hi folks

After lots of research online I am seriously considering buying the Mavik Pro.

I have never flown a drone before, my main interest is good quality 4K footage and reliability.

Should I buy the Mavik or P4 pro ?

My professional background is aviation and photography

Many thanks

 

[daveeeee1975]

Don't buy the mavic, the camera is brutal. I know from personal experience! Stay with the phantom 4 or pro

 

[Charly B767]

Don't buy the mavic, the camera is brutal. I know from personal experience! Stay with the phantom 4 or pro

Thanks, my head said P4 but my heart said Mavik

 

[Former Member]

What's your budget and what features do you need aside from 4k? P3P $599, Mavic $999, P4P $1499 all have 4k capability.

P3P refurbed:

DJI Phantom 3 Professional 4K UHD Video Camera Drone-Newegg.com

 

[Former Member]

Better still, let the student be the teacher. You have done alot of research, can you share what you found?

 

[Charly B767]

Better still, let the student be the teacher. You have done alot of research, can you share what you found?

The need to tap to focus on the Mavik rather than AF as in the P4 Pro and the P4 Pro features a full one inch CMOS sensor with 20-megapixels in RAW, and can shoot video at up to 4K 4096 x 2160 in 24/25/30p at 100Mbps.
The Mavic has a narrower field of view, and it also has weaker low-light performance.

Maybe I should buy both and judge hands on ? I am sure they are both excellent but the P4 Pro would appear to have better video quality which is what is important to me

 

[BorisTheSpider]

4K60 as well on the P4P.

I bought a mavic on the basis that the best drone is the one you have with you, and I couldn't see myself carrying a phantom much - it's a LOT bigger packed up.

If the size is absolutely no concern in your application, then I'd go for a P4P.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

4K60 as well on the P4P.

I bought a mavic on the basis that the best drone is the one you have with you, and I couldn't see myself carrying a phantom much - it's a LOT bigger packed up.

If the size is absolutely no concern in your application, then I'd go for a P4P.

Also, the extra obstacle avoidance sensors would be nice to have, the mavic is sometimes hard to fly when circling things or panning past them, it would be nice to have sensors on the sides and back

 

[Charly B767]

4K60 as well on the P4P.

I bought a mavic on the basis that the best drone is the one you have with you, and I couldn't see myself carrying a phantom much - it's a LOT bigger packed up.

If the size is absolutely no concern in your application, then I'd go for a P4P.

I'm used to carrying lots of really heavy camera gear so P4P weight is no concern, most of my footage locations would enable the use of my 4X4 vehicle to get close

 

[Bunny Too]

The need to tap to focus on the Mavik rather than AF as in the P4 Pro and the P4 Pro features a full one inch CMOS sensor with 20-megapixels in RAW, and can shoot video at up to 4K 4096 x 2160 in 24/25/30p at 100Mbps.
The Mavic has a narrower field of view, and it also has weaker low-light performance.

Maybe I should buy both and judge hands on ? I am sure they are both excellent but the P4 Pro would appear to have better video quality which is what is important to me

If you have the means, I would buy both; they will compliment each other.
Regards,
-d.

 

[tomnjfl]

For all the gripes I hear and read about on here, I have never had an issue with the video quality of my Mavic Pro. To me, it looks perfectly awesome. Photos could be better to be honest, but in most cases I just grab screenshots from video and I'm happy. (Of course, now I just jinxed myself LOL)

Even if there is a small compromise in video quality between the P4 series and the Mavic Pro, the portability and ease of use of the Mavic makes it the winner for me. I have flown and taken video with my Mavic in places I would have never even considered bringing a P4 simply because of the convenience. I can literally have it in my backpack while hiking and never even notice the extra weight. Or sometimes I leave home and just pick it up and chuck it into back seat of my car, just in case I see somewhere I want to fly.

Using a P4 or any traditional sized drone requires "planning" or some sort of extra effort, whereas with the Mavic you can be much more spontaneous. To me, that makes it worth it.

 

[Former Member]

To address your initial concern about reliability, either the Mavic or P4P are very solid, low maintenance machines and are worthy of hundreds of hours of flight time depending on the care you give them. The P4P has evolved from 3 generations before it, and has pretty much gotten all the bugs out. The Mavics have been an extremely reliable platform despite being a first generation model. Most of the problems people are having are with firmware upgrades, but the birds themselves are built really well. the mavic gimbal is a little more fragile than the P4P, but either of them are going to get damage if you crash.

Since you have never flown a drone before, the 5 direction obstacle avoidance on the P4P is going to help you stay out of trouble. The mavic has only forward obstacle avoidance.

Here is another thread about the comparisons:

Mavic Pro or Phantom 4 Pro

 

[4wd]

Since you have never flown a drone before, the 5 direction obstacle avoidance on the P4P is going to help you stay out of trouble. The mavic has only forward obstacle avoidance.

Here is another thread about the comparisons:

Mavic Pro or Phantom 4 Pro

This only works in some modes though.
Mavic and Phantom are so different it makes little sense to compare them.
They might seem to rather compliment each other, but those of us with both struggle to actually use the Phantom much because Mavic is so portable. When I take the phantom, the relatively slow and fiddly set-up process is a disincentive to even starting, and it's not unusual to carry it haf the day but never get it out.
With Mavic I can even leave the phone attached and it can be out and running in about a minute

 

[Charly B767]

Thanks for replying guys, much appreciated. Another question. . I would like to use an ipad air with the controller. Does the ipad air work well with the latest app, and is the ipad air feasible attached to the Mavik with an additional attachment to secure it?

 

[msinger]

FYI, the P4P can only avoid obstacles on all sides (not downward). The side sensors are only used to avoid obstacles when flying in beginner/tripod mode. When comparing it to the Mavic, most people are only gaining the reverse obstacle avoidance. And that really isn't that useful for everyday flying.

 

[msinger]

I would like to use an ipad air with the controller

You can use the iPad Air (or the other Apple devices listed here). You'll need some kind of mount to attach it to the remote controller. I have a list of commonly used tablet mounts here.

 

[Former Member]

FYI, the P4P can only avoid obstacles on all sides (not downward). The side sensors are only used to avoid obstacles when flying in beginner/tripod mode. When comparing it to the Mavic, most people are only gaining the reverse obstacle avoidance. And that really isn't that useful for everyday flying.

Considering the fact that the OP has never flown a drone before, I think he will be flying in beginner and tripod mode until he is comfortable flying in a different mode. Most of the drones I have repaired were from beginners crashing into things front back and side, not down or up. IMHO the P4P's obstacle avoidance was designed for people like the OP who want an upscale drone with an excellent camera that they wont have to upgrade as their flying skills improve.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

I will second that I'm not particularly convinced about the p4p video being THAT much better, it's still only a 1" sensor and personally I'm very happy with the quality I'm getting from the mavic, I consider myself quite picky but possibly more experienced videographers might disagree. I think it produces great video.

One thing about the P4P which is really nice though is the adjustable aperture so you can fit a "roughly correct" ND filter with something like f/5.6 set, then as the light changes you can keep the shutter angle at 180° by varying the aperture. With the mavic you're stuck at f/2.2 so you either would have to use higher ISOs which isn't great on a tiny sensor, or let the shutter speed vary.

 

[msinger]

Considering the fact that the OP has never flown a drone before, I think he will be flying in beginner and tripod mode until he is comfortable flying in a different mode.

Right on -- I'm sure lots of people fly in beginner mode as they are learning. Once you leave that mode though (which most everyone does), you're back to what I noted above.

 

[Former Member]

I will second that I'm not particularly convinced about the p4p video being THAT much better, it's still only a 1" sensor and personally I'm very happy with the quality I'm getting from the mavic, I consider myself quite picky but possibly more experienced videographers might disagree. I think it produces great video.

One thing about the P4P which is really nice though is the adjustable aperture so you can fit a "roughly correct" ND filter with something like f/5.6 set, then as the light changes you can keep the shutter angle at 180° by varying the aperture. With the mavic you're stuck at f/2.2 so you either would have to use higher ISOs which isn't great on a tiny sensor, or let the shutter speed vary.

Would you go as far as to say that the P4P series is more of a "photographers drone" than the Mavic? I guess you have to sacrifice something depending on what your mission is, but to me, the flexibility of the camera and obstacle avoidance are it's strong points and the lack of portability is its weakest point. The OP is looking for "good quality 4K footage" and "reliability" and has already said he is willing to forsake portability to obtain his goal.

It's a testament to DJI that given the completely different designs, prices, and features of the Mavic vs. P4P that people have trouble deciding which to buy. DJI has stepped their game up so much in the recent past, that you dont have to sacrifice a huge amount of quality for portability, But if you want to go beyond what the mavic is capable of, you can get the P4P for not too much more money and have drone you can hang on to for a long time and use professionally with its advanced camera features.