Mavic Pro-2 vs Zoom and P4P - Line Skipping + Sensor Heat?

[Cliff_622]

I have done some lab comparisons between the Mavic-2-Pro, Mavic-2 Zoom and Phantom 4 Pro and have come up with some shocking results.

In my video, I theorize that DJI is doing a "line skipping" and/or "pixel binning" technique that significantly degrades it's image quality in 4k video mode. I have clearly demonstrated this and I and even theorized that this was done and an emergency measure to solve a sensor over-heating problem stemming from a possible design issue of the new Hasselblad 1inch-type sensor camera.

Here are some of the points I discuss in this video:

• Mavic-2 Pro has a 1 inch-type sensor....but does NOT use that full sensor surface area in either "HQ" or FOV mode. (customers are not "truly" using a full 1inch-type sensor in video mode like the Phantom 4 Pro does)
• Mavic-2 Pro "line skips" and/or "pixel binns" as a very crude scaling solution to reduce a potential over-heating problem of this sensor? No other explanation for it aside from marketing cripple trick.
• Mavic-2 Pro does NOT use the full sensor area in "HQ" to again, solve an a possible overheating design flaw on the camera body?
• Mavic-2 Pro's "4K" FOV wide mode has no more real, actual resolution than it's 2.7k recording mode! (demonstrated in stationary, identical scene recordings with zoom-in examination)
• I love the Mavic-2 Pro and I am NOT "trashing" it, but I do feel it has been heavily "crippled".

There is also a full length video on my channel right next to this one.

What do you guys think? I did give DJI 1 week to watch this privately and give me their feedback. There were 76 views all within DJI internally but they declined to comment.

CT

 

[msavic6]

The Sony IMX183 Sensor that is supposedly being used in the Mavic 2 Pro supports full read out at a maximum of 25fps if it is recording 10 bit video. The H3 processor is capable of 8k 30fps video so there should be no issue downsampling the 5.5K footage into 4K. It seems as if DJI couldn’t offer 5.5K 10 Bit at 30fps due to the sensor limitations. Still doesn’t excuse them for not working around these limitations and at least offering other recording options.

I am disappointed that the sensor and image processor are not being use to their full potential. While the Mavic 2 Pro does produce better footage than the first Mavic, the quality could be so much better if they actually fully utilized the image sensor and image processor.

I will be extremely disappointed if they don’t rectify this with a firmware update. They did fix the pixel binning in the 1080p 60fps footage on the Mavic Pro so my fingers are crossed.

 

[Cliff_622]

Dont believe the Sony sensor public white papers completely. In the past, I have seen them post lower read-out specs than what the sensors can actually do. Sony SemiConductor is also famous for producing several sensors that are 99.99% similar with different model numbers that each carry altered specs for marketing and selling purposes. I bet there are probably 3 variations of the IMX183 sensor that are for sale but not publicly listed. (i.e. IMX183xyz)

 

[AeroJ]

Wow :/ Thank you for bringing this to our attention... REALLY good video, and expertly explained

The launch delay would seem to suggest they found this problem late, but I also agree with you that they want to maintain separation between Mavic and P4/5. I would think this is further evidenced
by the lack of 4K60 on the Mavics.

I have been considering getting the M2P for a while, but this is the first video that has given me some pause for thought...

 

[Cliff_622]

Get it!...it's a GREAT product. I know it sounds like I'm "slamming" it but I'm only "partially" slamming it. On the whole,..it truly is a fantastic product for the price! Don't let my video stop you from buying it. Just don't expect a Phantom 4 Pro image quality.

 

[AeroJ]

Just don't expect a Phantom 4 Pro image quality.

Lols - thanks, but I kind of do want P4 quality (and ideally 4K60 like the Autel Evo), even though I have to confess I don't like almost anything else about those Phantoms. Perhaps that's a little unfair, but I still haven't quite forgiven DJI for the 2 NPE flyaways I had on their Naza M2 units 4 years back !

So I'm afraid I'm the proverbial 'traitor in your midst' at the moment, flying as I do now a Yuneec Typhoon H. There are things I really like about that camera and craft as well (360 degree gimbal is a total winner) but I have been lured back by the sheer video quality of the new Mavics, and so I have joined here to 'monitor their status' and see how they get on in the real world before I take the plunge and reinvest in DJI. With that in mind, this video is more helpful to me than you might think !

 

[Jixxer]

I have done some lab comparisons between the Mavic-2-Pro, Mavic-2 Zoom and Phantom 4 Pro and have come up with some shocking results.

In my video, I theorize that DJI is doing a "line skipping" and/or "pixel binning" technique that significantly degrades it's image quality in 4k video mode. I have clearly demonstrated this and I and even theorized that this was done and an emergency measure to solve a sensor over-heating problem stemming from a possible design issue of the new Hasselblad 1inch-type sensor camera.

Here are some of the points I discuss in this video:

• Mavic-2 Pro has a 1 inch-type sensor....but does NOT use that full sensor surface area in either "HQ" or FOV mode. (customers are not "truly" using a full 1inch-type sensor in video mode like the Phantom 4 Pro does)
• Mavic-2 Pro "line skips" and/or "pixel binns" as a very crude scaling solution to reduce a potential over-heating problem of this sensor? No other explanation for it aside from marketing cripple trick.
• Mavic-2 Pro does NOT use the full sensor area in "HQ" to again, solve an a possible overheating design flaw on the camera body?
• Mavic-2 Pro's "4K" FOV wide mode has no more real, actual resolution than it's 2.7k recording mode! (demonstrated in stationary, identical scene recordings with zoom-in examination)
• I love the Mavic-2 Pro and I am NOT "trashing" it, but I do feel it has been heavily "crippled".

There is also a full length video on my channel right next to this one.

What do you guys think? I did give DJI 1 week to watch this privately and give me their feedback. There were 76 views all within DJI internally but they declined to comment.

CT

Ok great video. Have you sent this to DJI. ? Would really enjoy reading there response .
Good job.

 

[Cliff_622]

I sent it to them as a 100% private link. They had one week to review it and send me their comments. There were 70+ views, all completely within the DJI company and there was absolutely no comment.

I have to guess that this is something they completely want to avoid and not discuss.

 

[Eugenious99]

I have done some lab comparisons between the Mavic-2-Pro, Mavic-2 Zoom and Phantom 4 Pro and have come up with some shocking results.

In my video, I theorize that DJI is doing a "line skipping" and/or "pixel binning" technique that significantly degrades it's image quality in 4k video mode. I have clearly demonstrated this and I and even theorized that this was done and an emergency measure to solve a sensor over-heating problem stemming from a possible design issue of the new Hasselblad 1inch-type sensor camera.

Here are some of the points I discuss in this video:

• Mavic-2 Pro has a 1 inch-type sensor....but does NOT use that full sensor surface area in either "HQ" or FOV mode. (customers are not "truly" using a full 1inch-type sensor in video mode like the Phantom 4 Pro does)
• Mavic-2 Pro "line skips" and/or "pixel binns" as a very crude scaling solution to reduce a potential over-heating problem of this sensor? No other explanation for it aside from marketing cripple trick.
• Mavic-2 Pro does NOT use the full sensor area in "HQ" to again, solve an a possible overheating design flaw on the camera body?
• Mavic-2 Pro's "4K" FOV wide mode has no more real, actual resolution than it's 2.7k recording mode! (demonstrated in stationary, identical scene recordings with zoom-in examination)
• I love the Mavic-2 Pro and I am NOT "trashing" it, but I do feel it has been heavily "crippled".

There is also a full length video on my channel right next to this one.

What do you guys think? I did give DJI 1 week to watch this privately and give me their feedback. There were 76 views all within DJI internally but they declined to comment.

CT

wow !

 

[Jixxer]

I sent it to them as a 100% private link. They had one week to review it and send me their comments. There were 70+ views, all completely within the DJI company and there was absolutely no comment.

I have to guess that this is something they completely want to avoid and not discuss.

I just sent an email asking them to review video .And to please respond with explanation
Doubt if they will
J

 

[Cliff_622]

I just sent an email asking them to review video .And to please respond with explanation
Doubt if they will
J

Yeah,...they have already been watching it for a week. I want to really reiterate that I LOVE the Mavic-II. I think its' a great aircraft and I'm certainly holding on to it and will probably make 5 or 10 flights with it this weekend.

 

[Fireblade]

Glad someone was finally able to confirm a lot of people's hunches. Watching countless YT vids, the m2p just didn't seem to be at the same level as the p4p. Dare I say I preferred the daytime shots of my autel evo over the m2p. But hopefully though, this is something that can be updated later via firmware for current m2p users our there.

 

[Jeffdj]

I have done some lab comparisons between the Mavic-2-Pro, Mavic-2 Zoom and Phantom 4 Pro and have come up with some shocking results.

In my video, I theorize that DJI is doing a "line skipping" and/or "pixel binning" technique that significantly degrades it's image quality in 4k video mode. I have clearly demonstrated this and I and even theorized that this was done and an emergency measure to solve a sensor over-heating problem stemming from a possible design issue of the new Hasselblad 1inch-type sensor camera.

Here are some of the points I discuss in this video:

• Mavic-2 Pro has a 1 inch-type sensor....but does NOT use that full sensor surface area in either "HQ" or FOV mode. (customers are not "truly" using a full 1inch-type sensor in video mode like the Phantom 4 Pro does)
• Mavic-2 Pro "line skips" and/or "pixel binns" as a very crude scaling solution to reduce a potential over-heating problem of this sensor? No other explanation for it aside from marketing cripple trick.
• Mavic-2 Pro does NOT use the full sensor area in "HQ" to again, solve an a possible overheating design flaw on the camera body?
• Mavic-2 Pro's "4K" FOV wide mode has no more real, actual resolution than it's 2.7k recording mode! (demonstrated in stationary, identical scene recordings with zoom-in examination)
• I love the Mavic-2 Pro and I am NOT "trashing" it, but I do feel it has been heavily "crippled".

There is also a full length video on my channel right next to this one.

What do you guys think? I did give DJI 1 week to watch this privately and give me their feedback. There were 76 views all within DJI internally but they declined to comment.

CT

I have done a similar test and agree the Phantom 4 Pro has the best video quality however if you look at the photo quality this is not a problem. This suggests a processing problem with the Mavic 2 video. Unfortunately my Phantom 4 Pro is an earlier model without occusynch and its range reliability is not as good as the Mavic Pro.

 

[Cliff_622]

Very true. Photos are equal to the P4P. It's all about the video processing. Having a 1inch-type sensor is only half the story. HOW YOU "READ" that sensor is the other half of the story. Remember,...the faster you read it and the more you read it, the hotter it gets!

They Mavic-2 Pro's camera "box" is absolutely TINY. It's a miracle DJI can keep it cool at all!

Limiting the surface area that is being used can help cool that puppy down. Limiting surface area usage via line skipping or FOV center crop can help. The only other way to cool it with software was to slow that read clock but that was a huge "no no" as rolling shutter would get worse and worse.

 

[emkay]

Thanks for doing this CT. This is very thorough and well done! I really was hoping the M2P would be a lot closer to the P4P than the comparative videos I've seen. Let's hope there's something that DJI can work on to at least improve this and that we're not that close to a hardware limitation. I can accept some resolution loss if there are gains on other aspects such as colour and dynamic range (or at least on par with the P4P). Thanks again for taking the time to do this.

 

[dv8ed]

Mavic 2 Pro 4K60 from DJI Enterprise Support
#185

 

[Jixxer]

I sent the video to dji support.
Here is the response lol

 

[Cliff_622]

Sensor's get HOT my friend. DJI had to find a way to pack that "big" 1inch-type sensor into a VERY tiny little cube....AND!....find some way to keep it from burning up.

Answer?....don't uses the whole sensor. Leave a portion of it untouched.

Just the laws of physics. Sony, the company that makes this sensor is famous for fighting heat problems on many of their Alpha bodies. DJI is no different.

I suspect THIS was the reason why the original DJI "See The Bigger Picture" event was moved so suddenly. (just a guess folks!)

 

[Derlisz]

Good work on analysis. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

 

[parkgt]

Compared to the P4P the M2 may be using a bunch of it's processing power to manage all the sensors that the P4P does not have. Not sure of the overhead for them but it could be just enough.