Mavic 2 Pro overrated?

Wacker2611 · Oct 8, 2018

Hello All
I’m a happy Mavic Air owner after having a Mavic Pro. As is always the case with these things, despite being perfectly happy with the Air I am starting to toy with the idea of a Mavic 2 and was originally focussed on the Pro.
However, there does some to be a groundswell of opinion that the Zoom is the better buy. I’m aware of the fact that the Pro has superior low light performance, better dynamic range etc. But being honest, I can see nothing wrong with the Zoom’s video quality, in fact in good light (when I fly 98% of the time) it can look superior if you like a sharp image like I do.
Anyone out there who has both? I’m very interested in a truly unbiased opinion on these two......

WithTheBirds · Oct 8, 2018

Good news is swapping the camera is a simple exercise. Buy the one your keenest on now with the option to change later.

Prmath · Oct 8, 2018

The aircraft is great........ the camera will improve

SteelFlyer · Oct 8, 2018

I think it really depends on what you want to use it for. I wanted the Pro for the bigger sensor, Hasselblad color and 10-bit Dlog-M, but I like working with my video and color grading etc. If all you want it for is casual videos and don’t want or need the bigger sensor, or you really want the zoom abilities, then the Zoom is the better choice. The aircraft itself is fantastic and a huge upgrade IMO from the Mavic Pro.

Kilrah · Oct 8, 2018

The zoom is fantastic in my view, very useful feature. The footage is great and a no brainer to work with.

JRT · Oct 8, 2018

I have both and I will say the zoom is more fun. The pro takes beautiful shots but there is a bit of a learning curve in regards to post production work which is very new to me... I come from a Mavic Air and I loved it but the range was questionable at times however the photos were great... the zoom is my go to drone... the pro I break out at night or when I know I am going somewhere cool.

jwt873 · Oct 8, 2018

I'm thrilled with the Zoom.. Especially the lossless 96mm optical+digital zoom. It's almost like having a 100 mm lens in the air. I can do things I couldn't dream of with the fixed 20mm lens on my Phantom 4.

Zoom owners.. Go to 1080P/30 Then zoom to the full 96mm and look towards the horizon. You'll see SO many things that just aren't visible at all or hard to see with a 20 or 24mm fixed lens.

Roamer105 · Oct 8, 2018

Prmath said:
The aircraft is great........ the camera will improve

Yes it might but more likely we will learn to appreciate it more going forward once we stop whining about having spent money on an outdated platform (P4P). I just had the chance to take some video and pictures with a P4P and a M2P. Same subject, framing size (different distances to subject to exact the same FOV/framing for a true comparison in all modes). I must say what I’ve learned was not surprising. The P4P shows a contrasty, sharpened image even at Style=standard. The M2P shows the same level of details appearing much softer but with richer and truer colors (in fact the difference is astronomical). After applying a little sharpening the M2P image is not only equally sharp and actually a bit more detailed (.in HQ mode) but in either modes does not display any of the ugly sharpening artifacts demonstrated by the P4P (brightness bounce at contrast edges for example that make it appear sharper but rather unnatural from a distance).

I am not even going to discuss the difference in stills - there is simply way too much. M2P stills define a whole new level of quality.

Lon Denard · Oct 9, 2018

Drone on · Oct 9, 2018

Wacker2611 said:
Hello All
I’m a happy Mavic Air owner after having a Mavic Pro. As is always the case with these things, despite being perfectly happy with the Air I am starting to toy with the idea of a Mavic 2 and was originally focussed on the Pro.
However, there does some to be a groundswell of opinion that the Zoom is the better buy. I’m aware of the fact that the Pro has superior low light performance, better dynamic range etc. But being honest, I can see nothing wrong with the Zoom’s video quality, in fact in good light (when I fly 98% of the time) it can look superior if you like a sharp image like I do.
Anyone out there who has both? I’m very interested in a truly unbiased opinion on these two......

I don't have either, and will likely stay with the MP original.
When I was considering buying one of the two, I learned
Zoom if you prefer to take video
Pro if you prefer to take photos

The reasoning (Tom's Tech Time YT channel) was based around OPTICAL zoom being a unique, and very useful tool for video.o 4

However, as was noted above, buy one drone, and the other drone's camera (ebay OEM), and swap out as needed. I've seen multiple videos on how easy it is to do, and the Go 4 app believes the drone is whatever the camera is, so it works.