Which is better?

Johnmcl7 · Apr 1, 2019

jwt873 said:
If you're only interested in what you see on your phone or tablet while flying and not the quality of the image, the Zoom has the advantage.

When the video mode is set to 1080P/30 or less, the Zoom has the ability to do 2X optical zoom plus 2X lossless digital zoom for an effective 4X focal length of 96mm.

This is not really a lossless zoom as it's just cropping the video which is why it's not available at the full 4K video mode, it's possible to crop any other 4k video to produce a lower resolution 1080p video for the same 'zoom'.

sar104 · Apr 1, 2019

Johnmcl7 said:
This is not really a lossless zoom as it's just cropping the video which is why it's not available at the full 4K video mode, it's possible to crop any other 4k video to produce a lower resolution 1080p video for the same 'zoom'.

I think he probably means lossless in the sense that it is still better than the display resolution of the mobile device.

drsumitasofat · Apr 2, 2019

Mavic 2 Zoom zoomed is better

jwt873 · Apr 2, 2019

Johnmcl7 said:
This is not really a lossless zoom as it's just cropping the video which is why it's not available at the full 4K video mode, it's possible to crop any other 4k video to produce a lower resolution 1080p video for the same 'zoom'.

Yes you can do lots in post processing.. But the thing is that you get the effect on your phone or tablet screen while in flight. (Hence my comment; "If you're only interested in what you see on your phone or tablet while flying).

The OP stated "I am trying to distinguish people walking from long distances". If he wants to do this while in the air, then the Zoom set to 1080P/30 is the obvious choice. You've got close to a 100mm lens in the air and you can see what it sees real time in 1080P.

If the OP really wants to see farther with a drone, the Enterprise edition of the Zoom does 2X optical + 3X lossless digital for an effective focal length range of 24mm to 144mm.

sar104 · Apr 2, 2019

jwt873 said:
Yes you can do lots in post processing.. But the thing is that you get the effect on your phone or tablet screen while in flight. (Hence my comment; "If you're only interested in what you see on your phone or tablet while flying).

The OP stated "I am trying to distinguish people walking from long distances". If he wants to do this while in the air, then the Zoom set to 1080P/30 is the obvious choice. You've got close to a 100mm lens in the air and you can see what it sees real time in 1080P.

If the OP really wants to see farther with a drone, the Enterprise edition of the Zoom does 2X optical + 3X lossless digital for an effective focal length range of 24mm to 144mm.

It's still not going to work at the range he mentioned (2000 ft) because the subjects are only going to be represented by a few pixels on the sensor.

Live LA · Apr 2, 2019

sar104 said:
That's just arithmetic. Well maybe with some very basic trigonometry. I guess it's easy to forget that many people don't use this kind of thing on a regular basis.

C’mon man thats some Good Will Hunting kindof stuff there. ? Thats awesome man, ??

offtheback · Apr 2, 2019

sar104 said:
No - but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Whoa-You're moving upfrom Econo Lodge!?

sar104 · Apr 2, 2019

Robert Granata said:
I take it that's with the M2P in HQ mode and not FOV.

Lens and sensor are fixed on the M2P, so it's for any full-pixel readout mode. The calculation is for 20 MP images but would equally apply to HQ video. FOV is downsampled to 4k, so the resolution at any given distance in px/m is lower.

G Saunders · Apr 6, 2019

I'm still practicing with my M2 Zoom. The longer the zoom, the harder it is to keep the target in the frame. I've got a lot more practicing to do, and I've been practicing mostly on roofs and towers that stand still and there's a lot of value in being able to stand off farther and get good details. If I try to zoom in on and follow joggers across a couple of soccer fields it's still difficult to do and I sure can't recognize faces, and it's not 2000 feet...