DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

How different is Phanton 4 Pro from Mavic Air

Letac

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2018
Messages
46
Reactions
31
Age
48
Hi,

I'll have a job in early September that will require a drone that shoots better quality footage and stills than my Mavic Air, and for that, I'll need to rent the Phanton 4 Pro. Because this job is important and I've never flown a Phantom, I'm planning to rent one and practice for a few days prior to the shoot. Anyone here who's familiar with both aircraft who can give me more details about their differences and/or what I should be aware about the Phantom?

Thanks a lot!
 
Hi,

I'll have a job in early September that will require a drone that shoots better quality footage and stills than my Mavic Air, and for that, I'll need to rent the Phanton 4 Pro. Because this job is important and I've never flown a Phantom, I'm planning to rent one and practice for a few days prior to the shoot. Anyone here who's familiar with both aircraft who can give me more details about their differences and/or what I should be aware about the Phantom?

Thanks a lot!
Best of luck on new job and fair play for not jumping in and just attempting to fly it im sure some one here will help ya
 
Man, I dunno, they fly the same.. just one of them is dearer to fix!!
Good luck Sir!, Please report back!
 
Hi,

I'll have a job in early September that will require a drone that shoots better quality footage and stills than my Mavic Air, and for that, I'll need to rent the Phanton 4 Pro. Because this job is important and I've never flown a Phantom, I'm planning to rent one and practice for a few days prior to the shoot. Anyone here who's familiar with both aircraft who can give me more details about their differences and/or what I should be aware about the Phantom?

Thanks a lot!

Rent? just buy one. Its not like your flying a single engine prop plane then going to a 747. The both fly pretty much the same
 
I will assume you are renting a P4 Pro, with the 20MP camera.

For Stills, I would play around with the camera for a bit as you have full aperture control unlike the mavic.

I find the P4 Pro seems to work best in the F4.0 to F 6.3 range, much smaller and your image will show effects from diffraction. ISO is still best at 100 and try not to get over 400. DJI has a long way to go for true high ISO image quality, mainly due to the sensor size (in the Phantom).

You have focus control on the Phantom, not a fixed focus like on the Mavic air. I prefer to hit a general part of my subject with AF, then switch to MF and stay there. I don't like attempting to manually focus any of the Pro drones. The image on the iPad is just not sharp enough to really dial in the focus at least for me.

Again for stills, consider using AEB for critical shots. There is limited shadow recovery (on raw files) less on jpgs. The 5 shot AEB allows you to get a -1.34 to +1.34 exposure range.

Turn on the histogram and watch where you are before you shoot. I like to start out a tad over exposed on the P4 Pro as I find that it's more forgiving on pulling down highlights, vs. attempting to push shadows even at ISO 100.

Check your focus often, AF on your subject, get a lock, then switch back to MF.

Be aware that the P4 is very sensitive to sunlight for the avoidance sensors, so many times if you are flying back into the sun you will get a warning that you are wishing 10' to 20' of an object, but it's the sun causing the problem.

Paul C
 
Operationally, they both have pretty much the same characteristics. If you can fly one, you can fly the other.

The P4s pack a bigger punch in terms of power, but it's not like going from a bi-plane to a rocket. You'll have no problem flying it.
 
Good point on noise. MPP is like a stealth fighter compared to a P4 Pro. Even the V2

Can’t wait for the Pro2 Mavic

Paul C
 
Thanks to everyone, especially you @Paul2660 for the camera tips. The main reason I need the P4 is the footage/stills quality. If this job realizes and I do rent one, I'll have it for 3-4 days before the shoot so I'll have time to play with it.
Cheers!
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,597
Messages
1,554,228
Members
159,603
Latest member
refrigasketscanada