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I've been talked out of the Mavic 2 for now

melmartin

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I was one of those DJI customers that could not wait for the second generation Mavic, but reading many of the threads up here has really given me pause.

Sloppy assembly, killing useful features, and plenty of reported 'issues' have me really not wanting to upgrade.

My current drone is a Mavic Pro Platinum. It's quiet, stable, and has been reliable.

As a pro photographer I understand the limitations of the camera it has, but doing panos and shooting RAW I can get some breathtaking images.

http://www.azdeepskies.com/_Media/pano000y-pano.jpeg

No precision landing is a non-starter. Sure, I usually land manually, but there are times it's very nice to have, so why take it away?

Jpegs only on panoramas? What are they thinking at DJI? The Mavic 2 is supposed to be a better photography tool than the Mavic 1. Why have a better sensor and then prohibit you from shooting RAW in that mode?

The Zoom model is also another head scratcher. It's basically the same camera (sensor) I have now.

In my view a new model should improve on the old in many areas, but never get behind the model it replaces. That's the apparent mistake DJI has made here.

Some of these things can be fixed in firmware if DJI decides it wants to. Some things, like the camera sensor on the Zoom can't be fixed.

I'm sticking with my MPP, which takes fine pictures, is quieter than the new Mavic 2 according to several reports, and doesn't have crippled RAW capabilities.

I was ready to buy, and maybe in months or a year Q/A will get better and the Mavic Pro 2 will tempt me. But for now, no sale.
 
I am also a loyal dji owner and have tried allmost all the dji products so far including the mavic pro and the mavic air.
Now i just received the mavic 2 pro and i have used it for a few days so i can say that i know what i am talking about..
Its an amazing machine which is emproved in everything over the mavic pro which i had (i dont have the platinum).
All the things you are saying are not true, it has everything the mavic 1 had plus much much much more..
I mean the Haseblad 1" camera is just amazing.
The precision landing is there with even a led light for the night!!
more sensors .. faster... more flight time... come on now ..
And the quality is exaclty the same as the mavic pro was not better not worse.. just perfect!
Didnt you see the video of a guy hiting the mavic at speed to a tree and nothing happened to it??
 
I am also a loyal dji owner and have tried allmost all the dji products so far including the mavic pro and the mavic air.
Now i just received the mavic 2 pro and i have used it for a few days so i can say that i know what i am talking about..
Its an amazing machine which is emproved in everything over the mavic pro which i had (i dont have the platinum).
All the things you are saying are not true, it has everything the mavic 1 had plus much much much more..
I mean the Haseblad 1" camera is just amazing.
The precision landing is there with even a led light for the night!!
more sensors .. faster... more flight time... come on now ..
And the quality is exaclty the same as the mavic pro was not better not worse.. just perfect!
Didnt you see the video of a guy hiting the mavic at speed to a tree and nothing happened to it??

Sorry, but you are in error. DJI has already confirmed it does not have precision landing. It's not a feature of the Mavic 2. Also, Panos can not shoot in RAW. Therefore, the new Mavic 2, as nice as it is in some respects, is still missing features that the Mavic 1 had. Plus, my MPP is less noisy. So that's another missing, or deprecated feature on the Mavic 2.
 
I was one of those DJI customers that could not wait for the second generation Mavic, but reading many of the threads up here has really given me pause.

Sloppy assembly, killing useful features, and plenty of reported 'issues' have me really not wanting to upgrade.

One report of a detached gimbal leads you to conclude widespread sloppy assembly?

My current drone is a Mavic Pro Platinum. It's quiet, stable, and has been reliable.

As a pro photographer I understand the limitations of the camera it has, but doing panos and shooting RAW I can get some breathtaking images.

http://www.azdeepskies.com/_Media/pano000y-pano.jpeg

No precision landing is a non-starter. Sure, I usually land manually, but there are times it's very nice to have, so why take it away?

It's nice to have, or the lack of it is a non-starter? Have you ever needed it?

Jpegs only on panoramas? What are they thinking at DJI? The Mavic 2 is supposed to be a better photography tool than the Mavic 1. Why have a better sensor and then prohibit you from shooting RAW in that mode?

The DNGs are there: Mavic Pro 2 - No RAW in Panoramic mode?

The Zoom model is also another head scratcher. It's basically the same camera (sensor) I have now.

The limitations of physics. Were you considering the zoom, or the Pro?

In my view a new model should improve on the old in many areas, but never get behind the model it replaces. That's the apparent mistake DJI has made here.

Some of these things can be fixed in firmware if DJI decides it wants to. Some things, like the camera sensor on the Zoom can't be fixed.

The only thing I'm seeing as missing on the Pro is the precision RTH, and that's likely just a firmware upgrade to deal with the new sensors. It also has two IMUs and one compass (like the MA), as opposed to one IMU and two compasses on the MP. Hard to say which is better, but it looks like they have been finding two compasses a bit redundant, which is consistent with what we see as failure modes.

I'm sticking with my MPP, which takes fine pictures, is quieter than the new Mavic 2 according to several reports, and doesn't have crippled RAW capabilities.

Most reports indicate the M2P is quieter, although I haven't made any measurements yet to confirm that.
 
Fllow my mavic 2 yesterday in the evening and i guarantee you the auto return home landing was very precise! it has a very powerufl led under it and scans the area under it before it lands.
It landed exactly where it started from in the middle of the night... how more precise do you want it to be!!
Pano raw probably need a software upgrade no bigy i think.
About the noise we are talking a couple of DBs difference! come on !! you dont hear it when it flies a couple of feet away in the firist case .. when its near you it does not make much difference.
Did you read all the hasselblad 1" features the mavic 2 has ? the bitrates, the d-logs, the variable f range, you cannot compare it to the mavic pro.
And in any case mine works perfectly well so far!
 
One report of a detached gimbal leads you to conclude widespread sloppy assembly?



It's nice to have, or the lack of it is a non-starter? Have you ever needed it?



The DNGs are there: Mavic Pro 2 - No RAW in Panoramic mode?



The limitations of physics. Were you considering the zoom, or the Pro?



The only thing I'm seeing as missing on the Pro is the precision RTH, and that's likely just a firmware upgrade to deal with the new sensors. It also has two IMUs and one compass (like the MA), as opposed to one IMU and two compasses on the MP. Hard to say which is better, but it looks like they have been finding two compasses a bit redundant, which is consistent with what we see as failure modes.



Most reports indicate the M2P is quieter, although I haven't made any measurements yet to confirm that.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. It appears it does shoot RAW in pano mode, they looks like DJI 'improved' the GUI and made it less obvious.

I never used the word widespread. Seeing more than a few reports of out of the box issues. All new products have them, but they still give a shopper pause.

Precision take off should not have been taken out. Lot's of people use it, it was reliable and useful. It's a feature taken away for no obvious good reason. In am emergency it could save a drone.

My interest was the pro. The zoom does not really have updated image quality, but it should have been improved. I expect the next version of the Mavic will have the zoom function AND a 1" sensor. That will be great.

I think if the Mavic 2 appeals to a person they should buy it for sure. But it doesn't tick all the boxes for me. It may with appropriate firmware updates, but in my judgement, and MY judgement only, it's not the compelling purchase I expected it to be. It may be after some tweeks. I'm standing by.
 
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. It appears it does shoot RAW in pano mode, they looks like DJI 'improved' the GUI and made it less obvious.

I never used the word widespread. Seeing more than a few reports of out of the box issues. All new products have them, but they still give a shopper pause.

Precision take off should not have been taken out. Lot's of people use it, it was reliable and useful. It's a feature taken away for no obvious good reason. In am emergency it could save a drone.

My interest was the pro. The zoom does not really have updated image quality, but it should have been improved. I expect the next version of the Mavic will have the zoom function AND a 1" sensor. That will be great.

I think if the Mavic 2 appeals to a person they should buy it for sure. But it doesn't tick all the boxes for me. It may with appropriate firmware updates, but in my judgement, and MY judgement only, it's not the compelling purchase I expected it to be. It may be after some tweeks. I'm standing by.

Fair enough. On the zoom issue though - there is simply no way in that size of camera to have both an optical zoom capability with a 1" sensor. DJI clearly went to the much bigger sensor for people interested in image quality, with a zoom option for those who want more imaging flexibility.
 
Fair enough. On the zoom issue though - there is simply no way in that size of camera to have both an optical zoom capability with a 1" sensor. DJI clearly went to the much bigger sensor for people interested in image quality, with a zoom option for those who want more imaging flexibility.
Don't know the weight and balance issues. You may be right, but I'd like to see a second generation drone have a second generation camera. They've done that with the non-zoom model.

On the matter of the RAW/pano issue, several experienced Mavic 1 pilots noted it was missing, so I deferred to their observations. I'm glad you can still take RAW images in that mode. I'll put that in the plus column, but the low light photos I'm seeing from the Mavic 2, despite claims to the contrary, don't look drastically better than what I can get processing my RAW files from the MPP. It may be much better in terms of video, but that's not something I care greatly about.
 
Don't know the weight and balance issues. You may be right, but I'd like to see a second generation drone have a second generation camera. They've done that with the non-zoom model.

On the matter of the RAW/pano issue, several experienced Mavic 1 pilots noted it was missing, so I deferred to their observations. I'm glad you can still take RAW images in that mode. I'll put that in the plus column, but the low light photos I'm seeing from the Mavic 2, despite claims to the contrary, don't look drastically better than what I can get processing my RAW files from the MPP. It may be much better in terms of video, but that's not something I care greatly about.

Again - it's not just a weight issue with the zoom - it's simply geometric optics. To achieve optical zoom requires increasing the focal length of the lens, and the larger the sensor size the longer the required focal length. To get even just the 2x optical zoom on the 1" sensor camera would require doubling the length of the camera.
 
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For those who own a MPP waiting for the next iteration is safer.

However I don't get all the fuss about precision landing. I never landed it on the ground and I guess that even in case of failsafe all the sensors would avoid a bad ending.

It's more annoying not being able of having vertical stills and the increased loudness compared to the Platinum.
 
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For those who own a MPP waiting for the next iteration is safer.

However I don't get all the fuss about precision landing. I never landed it on the ground and I guess that even in case of failsafe all the sensors would avoid a bad ending.

It's more annoying not being able of having vertical stills and the increased loudness compared to the Platinum.

The only quantitative tests I've seen show the M2 and the MPP as almost identical in sound level.
 
Unless the difference is >10db its hardly worth mentioning IMO.
I still dont understand why volume level is such a big deal to some? The louder it is, the easier it is to keep track of in flight.
(Other than the pilots that dont want to alert their victims to their presence) :D
 
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Unless the difference is >10db its hardly worth mentioning IMO.

Nope. The dB scale is logaritmic, a 3dB step equals double sound pressure, without even entering frequencies.
The difference between a MPP and a M1P (without even mentioning Phantoms) is total.
 
The only quantitative tests I've seen show the M2 and the MPP as almost identical in sound level.
There hasn't been a proper test with frequency meters etc but the ones circulating on youtube clearly highlight that the Platinum is still the quietest, closely followed by the M2.
 
Nope. The dB scale is logaritmic, a 3dB step equals double sound pressure, without even entering frequencies.
The difference between a MPP and a M1P (without even mentioning Phantoms) is total.

That would be a power ratio, not a field ratio, so 6 db represents a doubling of sound pressure.
 
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Nope. The dB scale is logaritmic, a 3dB step equals double sound pressure, without even entering frequencies.
The difference between a MPP and a M1P (without even mentioning Phantoms) is total.
I have read many threads on this. It seems to me that a lot of people perceive the different frequency of the MPP as significantly quieter.

Doubling sound pressure every three db is like doubling anything else. double 1 is only 2, and so on. Its not until you get above 90db or so before its really noticeable.
I was in the car audio business for 30 years. Had MANY SPL contests, also known as DB drag races. and I owned the equipment to measure SPL very accurately.
I can tell you without any reservation, That a human ear CAN NOT detect the difference between even sound pressure levels in excess of 150db, in 3 db increments. It would have saved me a lot of money in equipment if that was the case.
Sound pressure is measured in free air, that is highly compressible, it takes large changes in db to alter the perceived volume.
 
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There hasn't been a proper test with frequency meters etc but the ones circulating on youtube clearly highlight that the Platinum is still the quietest, closely followed by the M2.

I haven't seen one that is at all clear on that, but YouTube is a bottomless pit of speculation and bad experimentation, so there are undoubtedly many that I have not seen.
 
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. It appears it does shoot RAW in pano mode, they looks like DJI 'improved' the GUI and made it less obvious.

I never used the word widespread. Seeing more than a few reports of out of the box issues. All new products have them, but they still give a shopper pause.

Precision take off should not have been taken out. Lot's of people use it, it was reliable and useful. It's a feature taken away for no obvious good reason. In am emergency it could save a drone.

My interest was the pro. The zoom does not really have updated image quality, but it should have been improved. I expect the next version of the Mavic will have the zoom function AND a 1" sensor. That will be great.

I think if the Mavic 2 appeals to a person they should buy it for sure. But it doesn't tick all the boxes for me. It may with appropriate firmware updates, but in my judgement, and MY judgement only, it's not the compelling purchase I expected it to be. It may be after some tweeks. I'm standing by.
I get the distinct feeling that despite everything you’ve said... your totally gonna break down and buy a Mavic2Pro. LOL.

Come on. Go for it. You can live without percision landing. They’ll add that back in once they update firmware for the new sensors anyway. And if you’re a serious photographer, you’re better off stitching panos together from raw images in a separate program. More control of the outcome.

Better lens optics, bigger sensor, better sensor, better in camera processing. If you can afford it, go for it. You won’t regret it.
 
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