Mavic 2 Pro 4K HQ vs 4K FOV

[czajunia]

I had exact the same question. And for my research - M2Pro in HQ mode has a bit more detailed image than M2Zoom at 40mm. But if you want to compare M2Zoom at 48mm, you have to digitally scale M2Pro HQ footage by additional 20%. And in this case M2Zoom becomes a bit cleaner, since it's completely optical, but still very similar with scaled M2Pro. All depends from digital scaling algorithm you applied to M2Pro. But again, the level of details and sharpness are VERY similar even after 20% digital scaling. And if you're ok with 40mm instead of 48mm, then you can use HQ mode without additional digital scaling, and it will give you sharper results than you could achieve with M2Zoom at 40mm.

I picked M2Pro, because I don't need to zoom while I filming, and HQ mode gives the same "cinematic" perspective compression (so it's not an exclusive "feature" of M2Zoom), also we gain 10 bit, D-Log and much better low light capabilities (thanks to constant f/2.8 aperture and 1 inch sensor)

You can find good comparison between M2Z 48mm and M2P HQ mode in this article: DJI Mavic 2 Pro VS Mavic 2 Zoom: The Ultimate Comparison | MyFirstDrone

Thank you for your input.

From what I've managed to find on the forums and watching youtube reviews I kind of expected that could be the case. Unfortunately I couldn't see anyone testing this even though there seems to be quite a few people having the same question. I had no doubt that Pro would outperform Zoom in low light. I thought that maybe in good light the Zoom could actually resolve a bit more detail even though it's still using smaller portion of the sensor albeit with more pixels. The link you provided proves it's not the case, really.

Cheers.

 

[Romano77]

4K HQ mode is some kind of "pixel to pixel" readout of cropped sensor area without downsampling from "5K" full sensor area (all other modes have it to fit proper resolution). This means that in this "cropped" mode you will get the best possible 4K image from the sensor. Not sure that this "quality boost" will be so much noticeable, because nowadays domnsampling algorithms do their job well in all modern cameras. But at least you may be sure, that this "cropped" mode will not spoil your 4K image quality. Also, for some info, only in HQ mode you can use 10 bit video.
BTW, In this 4K HQ mode FOV converts 77 to 55 degrees, which is not far away from M2 Zoom's 48 degrees after optical zoom. This means that you may be able to get a more cinematic perspective too. But you still can't do lossless "dolly-zoom" effect in-camera. Only in post, and only for FullHD output (just animate scaling for 4K footage).

Here is examples with downloadable footage for you:

Mavic 2 Pro 4K HQ:

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Mavic 2 Pro 4K Full FOV:

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I can't see any difference!