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New Zoom owner.

Huckleberry

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Just purchased the zoom to go with my 2 Pro. I’m looking forward to learning the differences and utilizing the zoom function. For those who own both, anything I should be aware of between the two? I’ve got the muscle memory of the M2P functions so is there anything I should be cognizant of that I need to adjust for when flying the zoom?
 
A Pro and a Zoom.. Perfect combo. The Zoom for poking around and the Pro for the quality images.

The Zoom should handle exactly the same as the Pro.. The only difference is the slightly smaller camera.

The two Zoom features that impress me the most are the lossless digital zoom and the 'super rez' picture function.

The lossless digital zoom gives you an effective focal length range of 24mm to 96mm (4X zoom). You need to be in 1980P/30 frame or lower. It doesn't work for stills. It's amazing how close in it can bring things in on the ground when you're flying at 300-400 feet.

The super rez function gives you 8000x6000 photos. If you're at 24mm, the camera will zoom to 48mm and take six shots of what you see on your screen.

It will then stitch them together while in the air so you get a 48 megapixel image of exactly what you saw on your screen instead of the normal 12 megapixel image.
 
Just purchased the zoom to go with my 2 Pro. I’m looking forward to learning the differences and utilizing the zoom function. For those who own both, anything I should be aware of between the two? I’ve got the muscle memory of the M2P functions so is there anything I should be cognizant of that I need to adjust for when flying the zoom?
The biggest change is the right scroll wheel used for exposure compensation on the M2P is now dedicated to the zoom function on the M2Z and this cannot be changed. You will need to assign two of 5 way button directions to exposure compensation. Also, just like on the M2P, there is no ability to set a spot exposure while recording video by touching the screen like on the P4P (works for still photos, though!). So you will need to use Exposure Compensation a lot, if using the AutoExposure setting while recording video. Pro Tip: if you use the press and hold on the screen, and then drag the camera left or right, the only way to reset it back to straight ahead is to use another 5 way button assigned to toggle between pointing the camera straight down and back to level.
 
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You can program the C buttons for that as well if I recall.

I don't know why they call it 5p button. Pressing it is same as down.
 
You can program the C buttons for that as well if I recall.

I don't know why they call it 5p button. Pressing it is same as down.
Correct. However, I use the C1 to dismiss the on screen nag messages without touching the screen, which otherwise requires taking a hand off the sticks to dismiss them, and I use the C2 button for turning on the landing lights to assist with finding the aircraft in the sky from below for landing after sunset, and turn them off before landing so I don't get blinded by them! That forces me to use two opposing sides of the the 5p button for exposure compensation, which does require removing a hand from the sticks, so not a fan of it, as the right side scroll button can be reached while still keeping the right thumb on the throttle, but dedicating it to Zoom makes more sense on the M2Z.

The 5p button is a programmable joy stick with separately programmable functions for pressing forward and backward and left and right, as well as pressing down on it. Was that what you meant?
 
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That’s a good idea.

Left scroll wheel is still used for up and down pan of the camera I assume?
Yes! Same as all other DJI RC's. That's why the right scroll wheel zoom function kind of changed everything! Takes some getting used to, along with remembering the movement of the exposure adjustment to another custom setting location. Switching between the M2 Zoom and the M2 Pro requires remembering that you still have the more convenient old style, right scroll wheel exposure adjustment when flying the Pro.
 
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The ole gal took her maiden flight this morning. Thoroughly enjoyable. I’m really digging the zoom function. It amazes me how similar, yet completely different the M2P and M2Z are.
 
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Just purchased the zoom to go with my 2 Pro. I’m looking forward to learning the differences and utilizing the zoom function. For those who own both, anything I should be aware of between the two? I’ve got the muscle memory of the M2P functions so is there anything I should be cognizant of that I need to adjust for when flying the zoom?

Biggest thing IMO is knowing that if you change your zoom level mid-shot, your footage will be uneven because the aperture drops from F2.8 to F3.8 (almost an entire stop) and does not have an adjustable aperture like your Pro. So, if you zoom (in or out) and need to maintain even looking footage all else equal, you will need to land and swap your ND filter to accommodate the ~1-stop difference in light capture.
 
Biggest thing IMO is knowing that if you change your zoom level mid-shot, your footage will be uneven because the aperture drops from F2.8 to F3.8 (almost an entire stop) and does not have an adjustable aperture like your Pro. So, if you zoom (in or out) and need to maintain even looking footage all else equal, you will need to land and swap your ND filter to accommodate the ~1-stop difference in light capture.
The real problem is that the zoom is not a fixed aperture zoom, which is why zooming at night, after reaching maximum ISO, means the shot just gets darker. It will affect your ND filter choice, messing with your chosen shutter speed, and it is also a variable aperture change in between 24mm and 48mm, so the actual aperture varies continuously with the focal length. It does also lose some contrast as it zooms.

It's not for cinematographers, but for the first optical zoom on a consumer drone, it's a real game changer to be able to zoom in, during flight, and fill the frame, with the option of 4x combo zoom in 1080p, while staying farther away, deciding whether it is worth flying closer. It effectively doubles your flying range, as you can see the same size image and detail as you would by flying twice as far, assuming good lighting, and a clear day! The compression of the scene gives far more impact to distant landscape shots, as the background is pulled forward into the scene.
 
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The real problem is that the zoom is not a fixed aperture zoom, which is why zooming at night, after reaching maximum ISO, means the shot just gets darker. It will affect your ND filter choice, messing with your chosen shutter speed, and it is also a variable aperture change in between 24mm and 48mm, so the actual aperture varies continuously with the focal length. It does also lose some contrast as it zooms.

It's not for cinematographers, but for the first optical zoom on a consumer drone, it's a real game changer to be able to zoom in, during flight, and fill the frame, with the option of 4x combo zoom in 1080p, while staying farther away, deciding whether it is worth flying closer. It effectively doubles your flying range, as you can see the same size image and detail as you would by flying twice as far, assuming good lighting, and a clear day! The compression of the scene gives far more impact to distant landscape shots, as the background is pulled forward into the scene.

Yup...that's what I said above ;)

Also, you would never really want to be above ISO 100, let alone anywhere near max ISO on the Zoom with the tiny 1/2.3" sensor if you care about image quality at all. Even with the Pro I wouldn't suggest anyone stray beyond ISO 100 unless absolutely necessary if image quality is a priority.

The problem is with ISO 100, 1/60 shutter, once you zoom you're hooped if you want even footage unless you land and swap NDs. I have come across a lot of people who did not realize this and it affected their decision to buy, so it's important for people to know IMHO.
 
Yup...that's what I said above ;)

Also, you would never really want to be above ISO 100, let alone anywhere near max ISO on the Zoom with the tiny 1/2.3" sensor if you care about image quality at all. Even with the Pro I wouldn't suggest anyone stray beyond ISO 100 unless absolutely necessary if image quality is a priority.

The problem is with ISO 100, 1/60 shutter, once you zoom you're hooped if you want even footage unless you land and swap NDs. I have come across a lot of people who did not realize this and it affected their decision to buy, so it's important for people to know IMHO.
Agreed. However, if it affected their decision to buy, what would they buy instead, if they really need the continuous 2x optical zoom? Not really any other choice under $5,000. It's a choice of a variable zoom without full cinematic shutter speed control, requiring landing and swapping ND's, or the choice of either 28mm vs. 39mm equivalent on the M2 Pro, where you can use the same aperture, but still have to stop recording to switch between FOV and HQ, while changing to the 4K crop zoom. Both are a compromise, and neither are comparable to a studio video camera hanging from a heavy lifter.
 
so what was said above - zoom stays almost ever in the 1080p30 mode for videos, as its 4x magnifier is excellent.

other thing - always set photo mode to pano superres mode and make sure to activate storing original raw files for panos to be able to reconstruct them, if needed - but i find that M2Z makes those stiches almost perfectly, it is not often needed to alter anything.
for ND filter i keep ND4 on it all the time - it seems to be the best option. M2P i now use mostly for photos only and fly it with no ND.

other thing that i did recently - hard case to fit both drones - this one worked ok:

but a 18" model probably would fit them better.
 

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Correct. However, I use the C1 to dismiss the on screen nag messages without touching the screen, which otherwise requires taking a hand off the sticks to dismiss them, and I use the C2 button for turning on the landing lights to assist with finding the aircraft in the sky from below for landing after sunset, and turn them off before landing so I don't get blinded by them! That forces me to use two opposing sides of the the 5p button for exposure compensation, which does require removing a hand from the sticks, so not a fan of it, as the right side scroll button can be reached while still keeping the right thumb on the throttle, but dedicating it to Zoom makes more sense on the M2Z.

The 5p button is a programmable joy stick with separately programmable functions for pressing forward and backward and left and right, as well as pressing down on it. Was that what you meant?
The 5p only has 4 programmable positions. Pushing in uses the same setting as down. Unless they changed it recently.

You may be better off moving the landing light to one of the 5P positions, since if I understand you correctly, you only change it once or twice per flight.
 
so what was said above - zoom stays almost ever in the 1080p30 mode for videos, as its 4x magnifier is excellent.

I'm the same.

90% of the time I'm in 1080/30. My drone use consists primarily of flying around and looking at things using FPV. Higher resolutions aren't of much use for FPV since the Occusync transmission rate is only 1080.

The lossless 4x zoom function available at that resolution adds greatly to the simple 'flying about' experience that I enjoy.

If taking photos and video were an important part of my drone hobby, I wouldn't waste my time with a Mavic. I'd pick up an Inspire with a Zenmuse X5S camera... With things like a 4/3 sensor, interchangeable lenses, 5.3K video, 20 shot burst for stills and CinemaDNG RAW.
 
The 5p only has 4 programmable positions. Pushing in uses the same setting as down. Unless they changed it recently.

You may be better off moving the landing light to one of the 5P positions, since if I understand you correctly, you only change it once or twice per flight.
Good point about the 5p button actually being a 4p button. However, you missed the part about my wanting to dismiss the onscreen messages, which can only be done with C1 or C2, and the awkwardness of using the 5p button while landing with thumbs on both sticks. I'm happy with my setup. However, the loss of the exposure compensation on the right scroll wheel on the Zoom does require replacing it elsewhere. The landing light control is a single cycling control (On, Off, Auto), best used on C1 or C2. The 5p button offers increasing or decreasing only when paired to two of its 4 possible settings movements, and the only way to reset the on screen camera dragging is to point the camera down and then up, which uses the other two 5p settings. Increasing and decreasing exposure uses the other two. No more custom settings possible.
 
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