Mavic 4 100MP camera?

[landscapetog]

Can anyone provide me more details on the "100MP main camera"? All the youtube videos I have seen just mention it but I am wondering what the details are on this. I do still photography for 95% of my use of my Mavic 3 and that's what I'll do with the Mavic 4 when it arrives stateside.

Thanks!

 

[Johnmcl7]

I've not seen any details on which sensor it is exactly and since it's a new one it's possibly not used elsewhere but I'm thinking it's probably fairly close to the Olympus OM-1 MKII/OM-3 sensor. This is a quad bayer 20MP 4/3 sensor (80MP total), DXOmark rate it slightly ahead for high iso and slightly behind for dynamic range against the GH5 sensor which I think the Mavic 3 used:

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II vs Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 vs | DXOMARK

www.dxomark.com

 

[Meta4]

Can anyone provide me more details on the "100MP main camera"? All the youtube videos I have seen just mention it but I am wondering what the details are on this. I do still photography for 95% of my use of my Mavic 3 and that's what I'll do with the Mavic 4 when it arrives stateside.

The best review that I found specifically for photography is here:

Dji Mavic 4 Pro review from Pro Photographer (+download RAW samples)

Buy DJI Mavic 4 Pro from dji.com...

kaupokalda.com

 

[landscapetog]

The best review that I found specifically for photography is here:

Dji Mavic 4 Pro review from Pro Photographer (+download RAW samples)

Buy DJI Mavic 4 Pro from dji.com...

kaupokalda.com

This looks absolutely great. I downloaded all the high-res images and they look pretty fantastic! Can't wait to get my Mavic 4 Pro with the new controller and 3 battery kit!

Downrezzing the 100MP files to 25MP in photoshop they absolutely destroy my M3 files.

Only thing remaining to see is if the new gimbal + drone is just as steady as the old one for exposure bracketing.

 

[Darkabaz]

Hello
100mp is little bit better than 25mp t.b.h.
But not a game changing difference.
In lowlight 100mp is not so good

 

[Johnmcl7]

I went to have a look at the DNG files but surprised to find my raw processor doesn't support them which I didn't think was possible with DNG files.

Something that surprised me in the review was it says the sensor is 3:2 not 4:3, some of the Panasonic cameras have had oversized sensors but usually 4/3 sensors are 4:3 whereas 1in, APS-C and FF are all 3:2. I'm wondering if this is a different sized sensor.

 

[Meta4]

I went to have a look at the DNG files but surprised to find my raw processor doesn't support them which I didn't think was possible with DNG files.

Photoshop has no problem reading the files.

 

[landscapetog]

Hello
100mp is little bit better than 25mp t.b.h.
But not a game changing difference.
In lowlight 100mp is not so good

I didn't look at the 25MP pictures, but if you downrez the 100MP to 25MP in Photoshop (bicubic sharper) they look fabulous!

 

[KS-6]

This looks absolutely great. I downloaded all the high-res images and they look pretty fantastic! Can't wait to get my Mavic 4 Pro with the new controller and 3 battery kit!

Downrezzing the 100MP files to 25MP in photoshop they absolutely destroy my M3 files.

Only thing remaining to see is if the new gimbal + drone is just as steady as the old one for exposure bracketing.

I don't see a big difference between them overall compared to my Mavic 3 Pro and in fact, the wide camera is de-centered a bit, the mid right side is terribly soft / smeared in all shots. To qualify this, I have done commercial and fine art full time for 37 years, so I have a very high bar. The other two cams look good although the 168mm is a bit soft in the corners and needs a ton of sharpening compared to the 70mm.

It's not a big jump from my Mavic 3 Pro from what I see thus far so I will have to see a better sample of the 28mm cam to decide.

 

[KS-6]

Hello
100mp is little bit better than 25mp t.b.h.
But not a game changing difference.
In lowlight 100mp is not so good

When I down res the 100MP file to around 46mp in RAW, it seems to be the sweet spot. But the right side is just trashed from having a de-centered lens.

 

[landscapetog]

Here is a 100% crop from the central area, downrezzed to 25MP with bicubic sharper. ACR default conversion, photoshop 2025.

I have never seen a 20MP Mavic 3 / 3 Pro image from the 4/3 camera with this level of detail.

Obviously we need some images taken with both drones from (approximately) the same location at the same time to make a definitive comparison.

 

[landscapetog]

A smaller crop:

 

[landscapetog]

Here it is downrezzed to 20 MP, so it is directly comparable to the Mavic 3.

Again, for a true comparison we do need to take images with both drones from approximately the same place / same time. But I think this looks pretty spectacular in comparison to the output I get from my Mavic 3 4/3" camera.

Probably the best way to compare will be to uprez the output of the M3 to 100MP from two images taken at the same place / time.

 

[Johnmcl7]

This was mentioned over on DPR, it's a camera system attachment Xiaomi were showing which uses a 100MB 4/3 quad bayer sensor:

Xiaomi Modular Optical System concept hands-on

Although still a concept, it almost felt like a finished product. Xiaomi showcased an interesting new cameraphone concept at this year's MWC in Barcelona,...

www.gsmarena.com

I can't find any sample images from it though as I'm curious if it's also 3:2

 

[KS-6]

Here is a 100% crop from the central area, downrezzed to 25MP with bicubic sharper. ACR default conversion, photoshop 2025.

I have never seen a 20MP Mavic 3 / 3 Pro image from the 4/3 camera with this level of detail.

Obviously we need some images taken with both drones from (approximately) the same location at the same time to make a definitive comparison.


View attachment 182460

But that is the center and yes it is very sharp and showing what the extra resolution can do. The outer part of the image circle is suffering even at 5.6, in particular the right central side. I don’t shoot landscapes just to crop out the majority of the image area, having as uniform sharpness as possible is absolutely essential in my business.

I understand that this a small drone, not my 501CM on a gyro in a proper helicopter, but I really do hope that once I get this drone (hopefully) that the optics are well collimated, poorly aligned ones are absolute deal breakers.

 

[Filmarik]

But that is the center and yes it is very sharp and showing what the extra resolution can do. The outer part of the image circle is suffering even at 5.6, in particular the right central side. I don’t shoot landscapes just to crop out the majority of the image area, having as uniform sharpness as possible is absolutely essential in my business.

I understand that this a small drone, not my 501CM on a gyro in a proper helicopter, but I really do hope that once I get this drone (hopefully) that the optics are well collimated, poorly aligned ones are absolute deal breakers.

I played with the sample photo of Talinn. While there is a great level of detail in the central area I have noticed blurry zone on right side of the frame. If I should speculate why DJI decided to crop 4/3 sensor ( if that's what behind the 28mm lens) to 3:2 ratio it might have been that the corners are pretty soft on the new f2 lens. The easiest way to deal with it is to use smaller portion of the lens' projection image circle. The full 4/3 ratio shows larger portion of that circle and the corners would look naturally worse than they look on 3:2 crop. My other issue upon closer examination of the 25MP version was to observe the same color bleed over sharp high contrast edges as is the case with the A3S QB sensor. It looks like pink CA everywhere. Not a huge deal but visible. The DNG file also required fair bit more sharpening in Lr than my M3P files to bring out the similar amount of detail. I'd have loved to see M3P shots taken of the same subject at the same time to be able to compare the detail but from my experience in processing M3P DNG files for over a year I believe the difference between the M4P and M3P cameras is marginal, and I actually prefer how the microdetail is rendered by the old 20MP sensor.

 

[wco81]

So the sensor is native 25 Mp but it’s upscaled to 100 Mp and now people are downscaling it back to 25 Mp?

No artifacts from these operations, especially the upscaling?

 

[KS-6]

So the sensor is native 25 Mp but it’s upscaled to 100 Mp and now people are downscaling it back to 25 Mp?

No artifacts from these operations, especially the upscaling?

If I can ever get it, I am planning on setting at native on the controller and then going up from there as needed in post.

 

[Meta4]

So the sensor is native 25 Mp but it’s upscaled to 100 Mp and now people are downscaling it back to 25 Mp?

I'm not sure why anyone would waste their time doing that.
The camera produces great results at 25MP without any messing around.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The 100MP is more of a marketing gimmick than anything. Under certain circumstances, it can produce a marginal improvement, but most professionals don't bother, and just use the native 25MP setting for everything.