Mavic Mini dealbreakers : panos and 360 spheres missing !

[webvan]

The lack of Occusync is fine by me if the range of the MM is as good as the Air's and I can even live with the lack of the Sports Mode and Custom switches but the lack of Panos and Spheres is a complete dealbreaker, especially Spheres as that's probably my prefered feature on the DJI drones. The best way to "go back" to your favorite spots IMHO !

As a side note I find hard to believe that none of the "influencers" mentioned that, I guess they don't want to get on the wrong side of DJI by calling them out on this ;-)

 

[LivinLarge]

There is a lot more than that missing

 

[webvan]

Right, hence my leading sentence, but we're talking dealbreakers here and you only need one by definition. Feel free to share yours.

 

[f13dfx]

Not having Occusync 2.0 like in my M2P is a dealbreaker.

 

[Lastrexking]

Not having Occusync 2.0 like in my M2P is a dealbreaker.

You can’t have that in anything smaller than a Mavic Pro.

 

[JoostGT3]

The lack of Occusyinc is fine by me if the range of the MM is as good as the Air's and I can even live with the lack of the Sports Mode and Custom switches but the lack of Panos and Spheres is a complete dealbreaker, especially Spheres as that's probably my prefered feature on the DJI drones. The best way to "go back" to your favorite spots IMHO !

As a side not I find hard to believe that none of the "influencers" noticed that, I guess they don't want to get on the wrong side of DJI by calling them out on this ;-)

Well, "missed"... at leas they didn't talk about it. Don't forget that all the "reviewers" that had their movie online by today are all endorsed by DJI and provided with a test specimen... You don't bite the hand that feeds you, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were kindly "advised" by DJI about what topics they should and should not stress during their "reviews".

Anyway, the good news is that it is perfectly possible to create panos and spheres by yourself by taking the shots manually and stitching them with software like Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE).
In addition, it is even possible to FILM a couple of rotations of your drone, then use VLC to spit out all the individual frames of that footage and use those for stitching....

I know, all not as convenient as having the DJI app do it for you, but still. I do agree with you that this is a feature that will be dearly missed by me as well, especially since it is a deliberate omission in the software, this is not something that would require extra hardware I think. Perhaps this is done to not let the Mavic Mini overlap too much with the Spark?

 

[Chrislaf]

Me too! 80 - 90% of everything I shoot is panos so not having this is definitely a dealbreaker. Also I read that you can’t adjust ISO and probably shutter speed so it looks like there will be limited or no manual camera control. Again 80 - 90% of everything I shoot is manual.

I also wonder if there will be 3rd party app support like Litchi or AutoPilot with all the camera restrictions there seem to be. Will be looking forward to reading some real user reviews.

Chris

 

[Cyber3xpert]

It’s too bad you can’t just use the regular GO 4 app with the mini. DJI had to make a whole new one, for just one drone. Unless... they make other drones you use with the DJI Fly app? Thoughts?

 

[dirkclod]

Thoughts on that would be a good thread , this one is for deal breakers. ?

 

[LivinLarge]

Another possible deal breaker if you fly at higher altitudes. Watch at 9:50

Specs say the ceiling is 3000 M (9842 feet) but this one fails at 7200.

 

[MaviCam]

Anyway, the good news is that it is perfectly possible to create panos and spheres by yourself by taking the shots manually and stitching them with software like Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE).
In addition, it is even possible to FILM a couple of rotations of your drone, then use VLC to spit out all the individual frames of that footage and use those for stitching....

Why wouldn't you use "New Panorama from Video" in ICE? I use that at least once a week and am, generally, very happy with the results. I simply fly my Mavic Pro to where I want the panorama centered and do four 360 degree circles at 90,120, 150 and 180 degree camera tilt angles. As of today, I have done 79 panoramas this way. I just don't see the lack of pano's on the Mavic Mini as a shortcoming.

 

[BD0G]

Why wouldn't you use "New Panorama from Video" in ICE? I use that at least once a week and am, generally, very happy with the results. I simply fly my Mavic Pro to where I want the panorama centered and do four 360 degree circles at 90,120, 150 and 180 degree camera tilt angles. As of today, I have done 79 panoramas this way. I just don't see the lack of pano's on the Mavic Mini as a shortcoming.

Is there a way that you determine what the 120 ,150, and 180 degree angles are when shooting these videos? I can do 90 degree's

 

[webvan]

Another possible deal breaker if you fly at higher altitudes. Watch at 9:50

Specs say the ceiling is 3000 M (9842 feet) but this one fails at 7200.

That was scary indeed, certainly never happened to me with my Spark even though I once took off at 2800 meters and can't recall seeing that in a video.

 

[Starz]

It’s too bad you can’t just use the regular GO 4 app with the mini. DJI had to make a whole new one, for just one drone. Unless... they make other drones you use with the DJI Fly app? Thoughts?

Possibly the go4 app is too crowded as it is. I can live with panos on the m2. I gave dji more of my money today.(again)

 

[Starz]

Another possible deal breaker if you fly at higher altitudes. Watch at 9:50

Specs say the ceiling is 3000 M (9842 feet) but this one fails at 7200.

Typical silly video.Pilot facing 180 degrees off from where the aircraft was.

 

[KONY]

especially Spheres as that's probably my prefered feature on the DJI drones. The best way to "go back" to your favorite spots IMHO !

can you elaborate on this ?


what you mean by ''go back to your favorite spot" ? is it some kind of 3D type of viewing , and if so what application you use for that.


I actually never use the sphere pano because i don't see the practicality of viewing those, but maybe i'm missing something

the few times i shot a sphere and export the ile on my computer, all i see is a flat image which is pretty useless as per say.

 

[recsf]

Dealbreakers for me: full manual control of the camera and lack of raw.

 

[thermalflyer]

what about the tracking feature ? does it have follow me feature ? no one mentioned it ... its kind of deal breaker for me ...

 

[webvan]

No it doesn't, that was actually mentioned in a few reviews. Another "marketing decision" because as iphonedo shows it can actually track during a quickshot.

I haven't found any comments about direct smartphone connection? That's convenient on my Spark for...Active Track.

 

[tcope]

Basically, you are getting a lot less for a lot less. There is nothing new about the mini. DJI has simply remove a lot off features so they could make a smaller drone for less money. If naming were correct, this would be the Mavic Air Lite.

A lot more than a few photo features were removed, collision avoidance and lack of a controller display are two big ones. DJI would tell us we don't need a display on the controller and a lot of people would agree. However, wait until you lose a connection with the drone or the app. You are then 100% blind. The only thing you can do is press the RTH button and wait. With the Lite... I mean Mini, you then also just need to hope there is nothing between you and the drone or you will probably never see it again. Of course, given current laws in the US, this should not be an issue. Course, no one should be caring what the drone can fly more than 800' away then anyway.

If a person already owns a DJI product I see no real reason to buy the Lite... again, sorry.. the Mini. It is not like the size is going to matter in 99.99% of all situations. There is still the controller and phone needed anyway.