Mavic 2 Pro, or Phantom 4 Pro for a photographer?

[simsurf]

Portability portability portability. I've been flying since the phantom 2 when the only option was the GoPro. And I just bought the mavic 2 pro. Having the variable f stop on the mavic 2 pro is a complete game changer. Never really liked the shots I got with the original mavic at f2.8. Whether it's an actual hasselbrad camera or just the name on the front of debatable but the photos look great in my opinion.

The differences in the sizes of cases needed for the phantom and the mavic is huge and why I will always choose the mavic. Now if you could just pull the legs off the phantom I would consider it again, but taking the phantom on a flight and having to check in a big pelican case against having the mavic in your backpack cannot compare.

 

[simsurf]

You can edit video in Lightroom although Premier or FCP are better options.

Davinci if completely free minus a couple of features and recommended by many many people.

 

[mstuartk]

Hi everyone,

I am debating between a Mavic 2 Pro, and a Phantom 4 Pro. Can't decide which one to buy.

My main focus will be taking photos, not so much videos. I have been seeing a lot of debate between the two about which one is better, but mostly are just video related.

So what do you guys recommend?
I do travel fairly enough, but most of the traveling is done in my car, but Mavic's portability is definitely a plus since I can toss it in a backpack with my DSLR.

Any input will be highly appreciated [emoji4]

P.S: The reason I want to buy one of these is because I will love to add an aerial perspective to the landscapes I shoot.

If you are interested in seeing some of my work, check out my Instagram (nakul_kataria): www.instagram.com/nakul_kataria

Believe me; in my opinion your question is very easy to answer. I have owned the P4: and the P4P. I currently own the original mavic pro and the M2P. I sold each of the P4 versions soon after I purchased the original mavic pro and my decision was not only about portability.

First of all: The original mavic pro and the new m2p both has occusync transmission and after experiencing a drone with occusync I will never go back. I have dropped these drones behind structures and tree lines without losing connections!

Second: the mavic pros are quiet as a church mouse in comparison to any of the P4s

Third: public view; we mentioned portability but it is also worth mentioning that many people in the public tend to be annoyed by drones even if you are just trying to get a great landscape shot. The mavic pro drones are smaller and because they have such great range and connections I find that I can often be positioned away from the area I am filming and if people don't see me standing there flying, they tend to ignore the drone. You cannot drop a P4 down behind the tree line and not lose connection and there is also the noise of it.

Fourth: remote locations, even if you are traveling by car. I have actually placed my mavic pro drones in one of my pockets and an extra battery to get to where I wanted to launch it-try this with a P4!

Number 5: image quality. Honestly, image quality is mostly up to the photographer! To be honest I did suffer a loss of image quality when I went from the P4P to original mavic pro, and had to adjust, but after purchasing the M2P that is not the case. Be very wary of youtube videos and comparisons of image quality of the M2P and the P4P! Sometimes I view some of the youtube complaints of the mavic 2 Pro and wonder if I have the same drone that they are speaking of.

Of course, you cannot take my word for it, but the M2P shoots great video and also takes pictures that will blow you away if you use it correctly. The M2P has all of the improvements that I wanted from the original mavic pro: a better gimbal and a much more capable camera. Yet, they also improved it in many other ways, including stability; avoidance, range and flight time. Hope this helps.

 

[angell]

I do not have the problems with my M2P as described above. Bought it 3 weeks ago. I'm a demanding photographer since 20 years and bought the drone to extend my possibilities for different perspectives and getting to previously unaccessible views and areas. I'm not much interested in video, although there may be occasional opportunities. I'm quite pleased with the quality of the images. Important are the settings of aperture, ISO, control of autofocus and how you fly the drone, not to forget afterprocessing. Hasselblad fullframe 20MP is tremendous for a small drone camera.
On my flickr website are 4 images by drone:

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Reiner Boehme
You can judge for yourself
Reiner
Germany

beautiful pictures !

 

[angell]

those are beautiful pictures ! i also have a mavic 2 pro and am very happy with it so far

 

[kilomikebravo]

JFTR, aren’t you supposed to stay clear of clouds and remain 500 feet below?

KB

 

[brettbrandon]

I am a photographer that has always wanted a drone for fun and finally picked a M2P to take my photography to new heights (pun intended).
I haven't had a chance to really use it, but here are some test shots messing around with the camera. It has a built in HDR mode that i tried out as well.
This is the jpg untouched.


This is the raw file messed with.


This is the built in hdr untouched.


Here's a couple more untouched hdr's.




I hope this helps you to decide. I have no experience with any other drones so I can't help there. I went with this model becase of the Hassleblad name... It does take some good pictures. I also have to comment that the drone itself is rock solid and you can kind of set it and forget it while you are adjusting the camera. The fact that it can hold steady enough for an hdr is quite something. I am finding some noise in the dark areas even at 100 iso.

I have some of my regular photos here,
brettbrandon | photo.net

This is my first post and hope to find out alot here...

 

[noosaguy]

JFTR, aren’t you supposed to stay clear of clouds and remain 500 feet below?

KB

I agree, looks like irresponsible piloting to me. I'd like to see his justification.

 

[SteveCA]

The MP 2 pro is the way to go for photography. The image quality is excellent. The thing that blows me away is it’s stability. It is capable of getting sharp multisecond long exposures that other drones can’t get. Here is a 4 second exposure in 10-15 MPH winds.

 

[DanMan32]

As for common issues with the M2, there was only one or two reports that I can think of about batteries swelling. There is a possible trend of batteries popping out mid-flight however. The likely reason is that it is easy to not completely latch the battery all the way in. The latching barb on one side of one of my batteries doesn't stick out quite as far as the other two.

 

[SteveCA]

As for common issues with the M2, there was only one or two reports that I can think of about batteries swelling. There is a possible trend of batteries popping out mid-flight however. The likely reason is that it is easy to not completely latch the battery all the way in. The latching barb on one side of one of my batteries doesn't stick out quite as far as the other two.

As far as batteries popping out mid flight, it is easy to remedy. Just be sure to give the battery a little squeeze and hear the 2 latches clicking in place before flying. You can also pull up on the batteries to make sure they are securely latched. The ones that popped off midflight must have been pretty loose, but I dont doubt it happens if they are not latched in place.

 

[reinerboehme]

The MP 2 pro is the way to go for photography. The image quality is excellent. The thing that blows me away is it’s stability. It is capable of getting sharp multisecond long exposures that other drones can’t get. Here is a 4 second exposure in 10-15 MPH winds. View attachment 53507

I made a video lasting 34 seconds to test stability. To my surprise the drone didn't move at all. With my Nikon DSLR I don't make photos longer than 1/40th second. I wanted to upload that video, but I got a message saying that mp4 files are not allowed.

 

[noosaguy]

The MP 2 pro is the way to go for photography. The image quality is excellent. The thing that blows me away is it’s stability. It is capable of getting sharp multisecond long exposures that other drones can’t get. Here is a 4 second exposure in 10-15 MPH winds.

That's a great image and well done you. I'm amazed you got this in (eq) 15-24 km/h winds. How many exposures did it take to get that one?

 

[SteveCA]

That's a great image and well done you. I'm amazed you got this in (eq) 15-24 km/h winds. How many exposures did it take to get that one?

I took 6 shots with half of them coming out sharp. That's the lesson, shoot a lot of shots and some will come out sharp, even in 20-25 MPH winds in my experience.