How do you like your new Mavic 2?

SteveCA · Oct 15, 2018

For me, The mavic 2 pro is good enough given the portability and decent image quality. Of course it is nowhere near as good as my full frame nikons with $2000+ prime lenses but it is good enough considering the unlimited composition capabilities. It simply can get shots that my full frame cameras can only dream of.

I’ve played with the Raw files and they are nowhere near as malleable as those from good FF cameras but malleable enough to work.

Bottom line is this... it is a hell of a good camera set up for under $2000 period.

Here is a single shot from this fine piece of technology.

noosaguy · Oct 15, 2018

SteveCA said:
For me, The mavic 2 pro is good enough given the portability and decent image quality. Of course it is nowhere near as good as my full frame nikons with $2000+ prime lenses but it is good enough considering the unlimited composition capabilities. It simply can get shots that my full frame cameras can only dream of.

I’ve played with the Raw files and they are nowhere near as malleable as those from good FF cameras but malleable enough to work.

Bottom line is this... it is a **** of a good camera set up for under $2000 period.

Here is a single shot from this fine piece of technology.

That is a great shot, well done. Does need some editing though. Do you mind sharing your settings and wind conditions when you shot it?
I've had no luck with long exposures but we've had windy, crappy weather pretty much since it arrived.

SteveCA · Oct 15, 2018

noosaguy said:
That is a great shot, well done. Does need some editing though. Do you mind sharing your settings and wind conditions when you shot it?
I've had no luck with long exposures but we've had windy, crappy weather pretty much since it arrived.

This was shot on a fairly windy night in San Francisco. Winds were 10-15 gusting to 25+. I got multiple high wind warnings while flying.

My settings were ISO 100, .6 seconds at F4.0. Shot in RAW, processed in Photoshop, noise reduction applied, sharpened, etc...

noosaguy · Oct 15, 2018

SteveCA said:
This was shot on a fairly windy night in San Francisco. Winds were 10-15 gusting to 25+. I got multiple high wind warnings while flying.

My settings were ISO 100, .6 seconds at F4.0. Shot in RAW, processed in Photoshop, noise reduction applied, sharpened, etc...

There must be something going on with me. I find my M2P moves around quite a lot when hovering, especially at low altitudes. Thanks for sharing.

SteveCA · Oct 15, 2018

noosaguy said:
There must be something going on with me. I find my M2P moves around quite a lot when hovering, especially at low altitudes. Thanks for sharing.

Have you tried taking some long exposure photos? i've seen some pretty impressive ones posted taken between 3-8 seconds. That gimble is doing yeomans work. I am going to do some long exposure shots this week and will post.

SteveCA · Oct 15, 2018

here is a shot taken at .8 seconds, F3.2, ISO 100 on a windy evening with 10-15 MPH winds with higher gusts.

Andrija 87 · Oct 15, 2018

What's the point od using f/ 3.2 or 4.0.. you just lose a stop of light. The camera is just as sharp at 2.8.

ssvdh66 · Oct 15, 2018

noosaguy said:
There must be something going on with me. I find my M2P moves around quite a lot when hovering, especially at low altitudes. Thanks for sharing.

Try a sensor calibration,which btw is a pain on the Mav2 because there are so many more sensors but I was having the same problem as you & it corrected it

kilomikebravo · Oct 15, 2018

Saw this today and thought it was a good video. Another happy M2P owner who made some excellent points, IMHO.

Mavic 2 Pro Thoughts

KB

SteveCA · Oct 15, 2018

Andrija 87 said:
What's the point od using f/ 3.2 or 4.0.. you just lose a stop of light. The camera is just as sharp at 2.8.

F2.8 is not sharp. F4.0 is the sharpest. search it as it has been covered extensively. It was the first thing I tested upon receiving this drone.

Billhim · Oct 24, 2018

old_hat · Oct 25, 2018

I love the mp2. I don’t know much about photography. Just take pics and video for the enjoyment. Below is a pic over Pensacola beach.

Porky · Oct 25, 2018

old_hat said:
I love the mp2. I don’t know much about photography. Just take pics and video for the enjoyment. Below is a pic over Pensacola beach.

Nice photo but a tad out of focus. When taking a pic, 1st thing to do is lightly press the focus/shutter button until you hear a click from the controller, this will auto focus the shot then press it again to take the photo. Should improve your photos

old_hat · Oct 25, 2018

Porky said:
Nice photo but a tad out of focus. When taking a pic, 1st thing to do is lightly press the focus/shutter button until you hear a click from the controller, this will auto focus the shot then press it again to take the photo. Should improve your photos

Thanks[emoji106]

CanadaDrone · Oct 25, 2018

Andrija 87 said:
What's the point od using f/ 3.2 or 4.0.. you just lose a stop of light. The camera is just as sharp at 2.8.

Camera lenses are always subject to sample variation, and are rarely their sharpest at maximum aperture (though that is not a rule). Also, everyone seems to have different thresholds for acceptable image quality. Best thing to do would be to test for yourself and if you are OK with F2.8 then by all means use it, that's what it's there for. I don't doubt that some M2P's are better at F2.8 than others - in fact I would be shocked if that wasn't the case.

The variable aperture is also handy in a pinch - slight diffraction or image softness is always preferable to no footage at all.

Given the pixel size of the M2P though, you are also battling diffraction, which starts to negatively impact the image after F4, but again may not be an issue for some people until later than that depending on your personal tolerances. So you are kind of in between two 'limitations' - lens performance and diffraction, and on a sensor this tiny, diffraction unfortunately starts very early, so your aperture range for maximum image quality is very small. That doesn't mean you can't use others, of course, there will just be compromises (everything in photography/videography is a compromise). I suspect that is also one reason why you don't get a variable aperture on the Zoom model - anything beyond maximum aperture would have horrible diffraction on a 1/2.3" sensor with such high pixel density.