4K Frame Rate

[Raptorman]

I've previously owned the Inspire Pro and the Phantom 4 Pro, both now sold, and the Air 2 has me very interested. The P4P was a significant improvement in video quality over the Inspire Pro given the bump in bitrate from 60Mbps to 100Mbps and a general improvement in image processing, but I was never able to get 4K60 to work and even at 4K30 I had periodic glitches in the video that really annoyed me. I've been waiting for DJI to release a drone that had a clearly superior camera with even higher bitrate and the ability to actually use 4K60 but I'm wondering about using, perhaps, 48fps or 50fps to get smoother video than 30fps but not perhaps push things as much as 4K60.

One of the things that bothers me about the Air 2 is the fixed aperture and focus -- I'd have preferred the ability to stop down to, say, f/5.6 or there abouts and being able to tweak focus seems really critical given the variability in manufacturing and the possibility that the ND filters might alter focus a tad.

But, the overall size and flight time along with improvements in bitrate make the Air 2 really frickin tempting.

With the Inspire Pro I used an iPad Pro (2015 model I think) that was pretty big -- with the P4P I used a Samsung tablet (Galaxy Tab 2) that was a fair amount smaller than the iPad and had the problem of unreliable connection to the P4P. I am looking to upgrade my 5.5 year old Samsung Note 4 to, perhaps, the S20+ and if I do that's probably the smartphone I'd use with the Air 2 if I get one. Please, anyone that get's the Air 2 and has an S20 series phone please update about connection issues if any.


Brian

 

[GadgetGuy]

I've previously owned the Inspire Pro and the Phantom 4 Pro, both now sold, and the Air 2 has me very interested. The P4P was a significant improvement in video quality over the Inspire Pro given the bump in bitrate from 60Mbps to 100Mbps and a general improvement in image processing, but I was never able to get 4K60 to work and even at 4K30 I had periodic glitches in the video that really annoyed me. I've been waiting for DJI to release a drone that had a clearly superior camera with even higher bitrate and the ability to actually use 4K60 but I'm wondering about using, perhaps, 48fps or 50fps to get smoother video than 30fps but not perhaps push things as much as 4K60.

One of the things that bothers me about the Air 2 is the fixed aperture and focus -- I'd have preferred the ability to stop down to, say, f/5.6 or there abouts and being able to tweak focus seems really critical given the variability in manufacturing and the possibility that the ND filters might alter focus a tad.

But, the overall size and flight time along with improvements in bitrate make the Air 2 really frickin tempting.

With the Inspire Pro I used an iPad Pro (2015 model I think) that was pretty big -- with the P4P I used a Samsung tablet (Galaxy Tab 2) that was a fair amount smaller than the iPad and had the problem of unreliable connection to the P4P. I am looking to upgrade my 5.5 year old Samsung Note 4 to, perhaps, the S20+ and if I do that's probably the smartphone I'd use with the Air 2 if I get one. Please, anyone that get's the Air 2 and has an S20 series phone please update about connection issues if any.


Brian

Sounds like you had the exact same video glitch issues I had with 4k@60fps and even 4K@30fps on the P4P. The problem was eventually solved by using the narrower 3840x2160 frame, rather than the wider 4096x2160. No more video glitches that had me pulling my hair out!

I am confident that DJI learned from that, and that the MA2 will be able to handle 4K 3840x2160@60fps, just like the P4P before it.

 

[Raptorman]

Sounds like you had the exact same video glitch issues I had with 4k@60fps and even 4K@30fps on the P4P. The problem was eventually solved by using the narrower 3840x2160 frame, rather than the wider 4096x2160. No more video glitches that had me pulling my hair out!

I am confident that DJI learned from that, and that the MA2 will be able to handle 4K 3840x2160@60fps, just like the P4P before it.

I never shot in 4096x2160 -- never. All the problems I had with video glitches was shooting at 3840x2160x30.

See this video at 6:03 for the artifact I'm talking about.

Brian

 

[GadgetGuy]

I never shot in 4096x2160 -- never. All the problems I had with video glitches was shooting at 3840x2160x30.

See this video at 6:03 for the artifact I'm talking about.

Brian

Yes, I see it there, too. Mine all went away when I shot in 3840x2160@60fps. However, I did go through some ten P4P's to get three good ones without glitches. Sounds like many of them had weird video glitches, even at 3840x2160. I only tried the 3840x2160 on the last three P4P's, so perhaps the other seven had your issue, too! Annoying, as it ruins continuous video! No glitches on the M2P and M2Z, so the MA2 should be fine. We'll all see shortly!

 

[Raptorman]

Yes, I see it there, too. Mine all went away when I shot in 3840x2160@60fps. However, I did go through some ten P4P's to get three good ones without glitches. Sounds like many of them had weird video glitches, even at 3840x2160. I only tried the 3840x2160 on the last three P4P's, so perhaps the other seven had your issue, too! Annoying, as it ruins continuous video! No glitches on the M2P and M2Z, so the MA2 should be fine. We'll all see shortly!

Yeah, I'm hoping the video glitch thing is a thing of the past with the Mavic Air 2 -- it was the single biggest let-down for me with the P4P.

I'm hoping DJI comes out with a new pro grade Mavic or similar series drone later this year with similar flight times but with a larger sensor (1") camera and even higher bitrate. The jump from 60Mbps on the I1P to 100Mbps on the P4P made a huge difference in how small detail like leaves on a tree or blades of grass was recorded so the bump to 120Mbps should permit another, though smaller, improvement. For a next generation pro drone of a Mavic like size and form factor a 150Mbps bitrate with bullet-proof 4K60 would be most tempting. It would also need full manual exposure and focus control and control of the aperture to quality in my book. The Air 2 being smaller and generally quieter with still good video makes it a great option where a larger and noisier drone is less desirable. One other factor that would be useful for a pro series drone is higher resolution FPV video feed so that you can better see things when flying. I came real close to buying the farm with my I1P when I flew within a few microns of some power lines -- see video below.

Brian

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yeah, I'm hoping the video glitch thing is a thing of the past with the Mavic Air 2 -- it was the single biggest let-down for me with the P4P.

I'm hoping DJI comes out with a new pro grade Mavic or similar series drone later this year with similar flight times but with a larger sensor (1") camera and even higher bitrate. The jump from 60Mbps on the I1P to 100Mbps on the P4P made a huge difference in how small detail like leaves on a tree or blades of grass was recorded so the bump to 120Mbps should permit another, though smaller, improvement. For a next generation pro drone of a Mavic like size and form factor a 150Mbps bitrate with bullet-proof 4K60 would be most tempting. It would also need full manual exposure and focus control and control of the aperture to quality in my book. The Air 2 being smaller and generally quieter with still good video makes it a great option where a larger and noisier drone is less desirable. One other factor that would be useful for a pro series drone is higher resolution FPV video feed so that you can better see things when flying. I came real close to buying the farm with my I1P when I flew within a few microns of some power lines -- see video below.

Brian

Yeah those power lines and trees seem to jump out of nowhere! I've trimmed a few trees myself, when not paying close enough attention. Drone recovers pretty well. Orbiting and flying sideways is not without its risks! Need to know the area well! I doubt the FPV will ever be much better than 1080p, and certainly not at long range, but we can hope!