48 Megapixels of Confusion

[coneslayer]

The 48 MP DNG files produced by the Mavic Air 2 are processed in some way to present a "regular" 2x2 Bayer pattern, instead of the quad-Bayer pattern:

Make                              : DJI
Camera Model Name                 : FC3170
Image Width                       : 8000
Image Height                      : 6000
CFA Repeat Pattern Dim            : 2 2
CFA Pattern 2                     : 0 1 1 2
CFA Plane Color                   : Red,Green,Blue

So, yeah, Lightroom and everything else can process them, but they're not seeing the real data. My guess is the drone is generating a 48 MP RGB image from the quad-Bayer data, then synthesizing a regular 2x2 Bayer representation of that image.

 

[Dave Maine]

That may well be.

I haven't yet figured out exactly what is being done. What is supposed to happen is that the photos in low light should get resolved as 12 mp images, and those in brighter light as 48 Pixels. This latter discrimination may or may not be happening.

 

[sar104]

The 48 MP DNG files produced by the Mavic Air 2 are processed in some way to present a "regular" 2x2 Bayer pattern, instead of the quad-Bayer pattern:

Make                              : DJI
Camera Model Name                 : FC3170
Image Width                       : 8000
Image Height                      : 6000
CFA Repeat Pattern Dim            : 2 2
CFA Pattern 2                     : 0 1 1 2
CFA Plane Color                   : Red,Green,Blue

So, yeah, Lightroom and everything else can process them, but they're not seeing the real data. My guess is the drone is generating a 48 MP RGB image from the quad-Bayer data, then synthesizing a regular 2x2 Bayer representation of that image.

Agreed - that has to be what it is doing.

 

[boblui]

A youtuber has provided some 48MP DNG and JPG image samples which can be downloaded from :

Dropbox - Link Expired - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

A password is needed, it's "tdm"

I have downloaded the ( huge ) DNG file and the JPG file. Here are the 200% crops of the DNG file opened with ACR under default settings vs JPG. It does give the impression that the DNG image has less details :



I then made some slight adjustment to the DNG file and compare with the JPG again. The difference becomes negligible to my eyes . bear in mind that these are 200% crops ! scale the difference down in your brain accordingly.

 

[boblui]

Not sure if this is true but from the DNG and JPG samples provided in the link above, the DNG file is always 48 MP no matter what resolution is chosen by the user.

 

[coneslayer]

Not sure if this is true but from the DNG and JPG samples provided in the link above, the DNG file is always 48 MP no matter what resolution is chosen by the user.

I've mostly been shooting in 12 MP RAW+JPEG stills, 12 MP RAW+JPEG AEB, and 1080p Hyperlapse with RAW enabled, and in all of those cases I get a 12 MP (4000x3000) DNG.

 

[Ars3nal3432]

It really seems like there is some type of noise reduction being applied to the original raw file

 

[sar104]

A youtuber has provided some 48MP DNG and JPG image samples which can be downloaded from :

Dropbox - Link Expired - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

A password is needed, it's "tdm"

I have downloaded the ( huge ) DNG file and the JPG file. Here are the 200% crops of the DNG file opened with ACR under default settings vs JPG. It does give the impression that the DNG image has less details :

View attachment 103442

I then made some slight adjustment to the DNG file and compare with the JPG again. The difference becomes negligible to my eyes . bear in mind that these are 200% crops ! scale the difference down in your brain accordingly.

View attachment 103443

The 48 MP DNG is certainly better than the 48 MP JPG, and does have more detail than the 12 MP DNG:


JPEG 48 MP


DNG 48MP processed


12 MP DNG processed

 

[LivinLarge]

A youtuber has provided some 48MP DNG and JPG image samples which can be downloaded from :

Dropbox - Link Expired - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

A password is needed, it's "tdm"

I have downloaded the ( huge ) DNG file and the JPG file. Here are the 200% crops of the DNG file opened with ACR under default settings vs JPG. It does give the impression that the DNG image has less details :

View attachment 103442

I then made some slight adjustment to the DNG file and compare with the JPG again. The difference becomes negligible to my eyes . bear in mind that these are 200% crops ! scale the difference down in your brain accordingly.

View attachment 103443

All of these look muddy. So much bright sky was included that the camera underexposed the foreground. Also, the foreground is mostly in shade, so it lacks contrast. Hard to make much judgement under the circumstances.
Any RAW image will need sharpening. Some software will apply sharpening in presenting a DNG image for viewing.

 

[dv8ed]

Since everyone in this post seems to have good knowledge of Air 2 48MP camera. Is Air 2 48MP better for photo or Mavic 2 Pro 1" sensor better or is about same?

 

[boblui]

Since everyone in this post seems to have good knowledge of Air 2 48MP camera. Is Air 2 48MP better for photo or Mavic 2 Pro 1" sensor better or is about same?

I don't have the MA2 but I would expect the M2P to win in the dynamic range department because of the larger sensor. This is the 100% crop of a picture taken with my M2P. RAW on the left and JPG on the right. The exposure has been increased by 3 stops in photoshop and the details in the darkest part compared. It's obvious that there are more details in the RAW image. I have not seen the same magnitude of difference between RAW and JPG in the MA2 sample pictures.

 

[sar104]

Since everyone in this post seems to have good knowledge of Air 2 48MP camera. Is Air 2 48MP better for photo or Mavic 2 Pro 1" sensor better or is about same?

For photos the M2P is much better.