Photo quality Mavic 2 Zoom & FCC/CE

[Darkabaz]

Dear all,

Question 1 : I have bought a Mavic 2 Zoom a few days ago, and have made some test flights. After i made some stills, i compare these pictures with some stills from the DJI Spark.
The shots of the Mavic 2 disappointed me very, very much. The Spark looks much more sharper. Can someone told me the same?
When select super resolution, the picture is more sharper than stock.
I use auto focus and auto setup for camera.

Question 2 : Yesterday i got some "attitude too large" errors on my screen. The sensors were disabled. Yes,there was a little windy but is this the reason for the error?

Question 3:
My mavic 2 is now on ce mode. Is it possible to change to fcc and does this really make a difference like it did on mavic1/Spark?

Thankyou very much!!

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Dear all,

Question 1 : I have bought a Mavic 2 Zoom a few days ago, and have made some test flights. After i made some stills, i compare these pictures with some stills from the DJI Spark.
The shots of the Mavic 2 disappointed me very, very much. The Spark looks much more sharper. Can someone told me the same?
When select super resolution, the picture is more sharper than stock.
I use auto focus and auto setup for camera.

Question 2 : Yesterday i got some "attitude too large" errors on my screen. The sensors were disabled. Yes,there was a little windy but is this the reason for the error?

Question 3:
My mavic 2 is now on ce mode. Is it possible to change to fcc and does this really make a difference like it did on mavic1/Spark?

Thankyou very much!!

This some chinese mumbo jumbo, its not really an error message and has nothing to do with how high you are, but more to do with the sensors and the air speed being disabled.

As far as the pictures we also found that the Super Rez pictures were spot on. compared to the single shot , could be an algo used, not sure.

 

[Former Member]

Question 1 : I have bought a Mavic 2 Zoom a few days ago, and have made some test flights. After i made some stills, i compare these pictures with some stills from the DJI Spark.
The shots of the Mavic 2 disappointed me very, very much. The Spark looks much more sharper. Can someone told me the same? When select super resolution, the picture is more sharper than stock. I use auto focus and auto setup for camera.

It might be due to something in your settings. The Spark is extremely capable of taking awesome footage. Check out this video.

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Question 2 : Yesterday i got some "attitude too large" errors on my screen. The sensors were disabled. Yes,there was a little windy but is this the reason for the error?

Yes the wind can make your attitude too high. Best to not fly in such windy conditions. Were you also getting wind warnings in DJI Go 4?

 

[jwt873]

Not sure what's happening with the sharpness of your M2Z photos. Can you post examples? One shot from the Spark and another from the Zoom. Both of the same subject.... It might be a focus issue.. Super rez is nothing more than 9 regular shots stitched together giving you 48 megapixel images so it should be similar.

FWIW, my only other DJI product is a Phantom 4. Both the P4 and Zoom produce good quality images.

As mentioned above. The wind/attitude warnings are something you have to put up with. They become very frequent if the wind is over 16 Km/h (10 mph). They constantly flash on the screen and there's no way to turn them off.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Dear all,

Question 1 : I have bought a Mavic 2 Zoom a few days ago, and have made some test flights. After i made some stills, i compare these pictures with some stills from the DJI Spark.
The shots of the Mavic 2 disappointed me very, very much. The Spark looks much more sharper. Can someone told me the same?
When select super resolution, the picture is more sharper than stock.
I use auto focus and auto setup for camera.

Question 2 : Yesterday i got some "attitude too large" errors on my screen. The sensors were disabled. Yes,there was a little windy but is this the reason for the error?

Question 3:
My mavic 2 is now on ce mode. Is it possible to change to fcc and does this really make a difference like it did on mavic1/Spark?

Thankyou very much!!

1) The M2Z still image quality is quite poor, relatively speaking. It is using a tiny (1/2.3"), low resolution (12MP) sensor, that simply has many physics-based limitations compared to larger sensors. It shouldn't be much different than your Spark though - make sure you are viewing the actual original image file, and not just the embedded JPEG inside the RAW file (the embedded JPEGs look pretty terrible and are not intended for final use). The M2Z also has adjustable focus, where the Spark does not - if you're used to not worrying about that with the Spark, make sure your M2Z is actually in focus. Autofocus is generally not recommended for video because if the drone hunts for focus at all, even for a second, it ruins the continuity of your footage - should be OK for stills though. Super resolution is literally just a panorama, it is really just a gimmick to make stitching multiple photos together a bit easier - the camera isn't doing anything special or getting any better. If you're still having sharpness issues, some original (not downsized) sample photos would help us help you.

2) Attitude is the pitch/tilt of your drone. If it is fighting wind (remember wind is often much stronger in the air than you feel on the ground) it's going to have to pitch in a certain direction to maintain it's position and avoid drifting. If that pitch becomes too steep, the collision sensors can no longer operate properly and you will get the warning you experienced. Take that as an indication that it is too windy and probably not safe to fly.

3) Yes it makes a difference - range is significantly further in FCC mode. There are various tutorials on how to switch to FCC if you live in a CE area that differ slightly whether you are using an iOS or Android device - just Google it or watch a video on YouTube that explains the process and you'll be back in business in no time.

Good luck.

 

[Darkabaz]

Thank you all for the help.

About the pictures, they are far too noisy. Noise is maybe the right word for it. When zoomed in on mobile device, it is just sh#t quality .
When choose super resolution, the images become a bit better. The noisy pictures were a big disappointing in the zoom, in my opinion.
All the images were saved in the intern SD card, and were saved as JPEG.

With your help i understand now what the errors mean, thankyou for this. No worries

I could only find one way to choose fcc, but only with some extra handeling like a hand above the GPS receiver every time you would fly. With the Spark, it was easy. Once fake gps and ready to Play for a looooot of time. Not needed to do some handlings every time...

 

[Fruxen]

Super resolution is literally just a panorama, it is really just a gimmick to make stitching multiple photos together a bit easier - the camera isn't doing anything special or getting any better.

In Super resolution the camera optically zooms in and take several photos to create a "zoomed out" final image. The feature has it's limitations when stuff is moving etc but you do get an actual noticable increase in resolution and details on objects compared to a normal photo of the same view. While it is technically a panorama, it's not the same as the panorama feature on non zoom drones that only increases the field of view without any improvement on object resolution.

 

[CanadaDrone]

In Super resolution the camera optically zooms in and take several photos to create a "zoomed out" final image. The feature has it's limitations when stuff is moving etc but you do get an actual noticable increase in resolution and details on objects compared to a normal photo of the same view. While it is technically a panorama, it's not the same as the panorama feature on non zoom drones that only increases the field of view without any improvement on object resolution.

Yup, I know exactly how it works It is literally just a simple panorama (more than 1 stitched image in any direction). You still aren't getting anything more at the pixel level than the camera is capable of delivering in a single image, because all it's doing is making a simple panorama at 48mm. The other problem with it is at 48mm, the M2Z image quality is being negatively affected by diffraction due to the variable aperture. The reason some people might think it's sharper is they are viewing the final image at a lower magnification due to the larger overall image size, but the quality of the individual images used to make up the pano is no different than a regular still image from the M2Z, all else equal.

That type of pano is easily duplicated on other drones or with a traditional camera, the M2Z just does it for you, which in my mind makes it a fun gimmick (I don't mean that in a bad way). DJI's marketing of the feature is somewhat misleading though.

 

[Elude]

1) The M2Z still image quality is quite poor, relatively speaking. It is using a tiny (1/2.3"), low resolution (12MP) sensor, that simply has many physics-based limitations compared to larger sensors....

Good luck.

I was wondering how long until someone replied with this. It wasn’t long, post number five.

 

[Fruxen]

Yup, I know exactly how it works It is literally just a simple panorama (more than 1 stitched image in any direction). You still aren't getting anything more at the pixel level than the camera is capable of delivering in a single image, because all it's doing is making a simple panorama at 48mm. The other problem with it is at 48mm, the M2Z image quality is being negatively affected by diffraction due to the variable aperture. The reason some people might think it's sharper is they are viewing the final image at a lower magnification due to the larger overall image size, but the quality of the individual images used to make up the pano is no different than a regular still image from the M2Z, all else equal.

That type of pano is easily duplicated on other drones or with a traditional camera, the M2Z just does it for you, which in my mind makes it a fun gimmick (I don't mean that in a bad way). DJI's marketing of the feature is somewhat misleading though.

The feature produces a photo at 24 mm FOV with an actual higher resolution detail compared to a single photo at 24 mm FOV. From the same camera, obviously. That's it. I don't see anyone claiming anything else.

Super Resolution is a variant of an automated panorama, it's even located under "Pano" in the menus. But the feature must have a zoom lens to work. You can't duplicate the exact same mechanics manually on other drones without a zoom lens.

With that said, I'm not a fan of DJI marketing either, and I don't own a Mavic Zoom btw. The overall image quality compared to other cameras like the Phantom 2 Pro is still wide open for discussion.

 

[CanadaDrone]

The feature produces a photo at 24 mm FOV with an actual higher resolution detail compared to a single photo at 24 mm FOV. From the same camera, obviously. That's it. I don't see anyone claiming anything else.

Super Resolution is a variant of an automated panorama, it's even located under "Pano" in the menus. But the feature must have a zoom lens to work. You can't duplicate the exact same mechanics manually on other drones without a zoom lens.

With that said, I'm not a fan of DJI marketing either, and I don't own a Mavic Zoom btw. The overall image quality compared to other cameras like the Phantom 2 Pro is still wide open for discussion.

The photo does a good job of illustrating exactly what I said above. The reason the "superzoom" pano looks sharper in your image is because you are viewing it at a much lower magnification, made possible due to it's higher resolution. Comparing images at different resolutions and different magnifications is apples & oranges. There are broader benefits of the higher resolution of course, but the pixel-level quality is exactly the same, there is no other possibility because the camera of course hasn't changed. DJI's marketing of the feature is clever no doubt, as is their 4x 'zoom' feature.

The feature is a literally a simple panorama, regardless of what DJI chooses to call it or where they choose to locate it in the menu. The fact that they use 48mm (equivalent) images to make a pano with a 24mm (equivalent) FOV is a very common practice and does not change the type of panorama that it is making. A 'normal' panorama works in exactly the same way - for example you take your 50mm lens and take a bunch of vertical shots, you end up with a pano with a FOV equivalent much wider than 50mm. Taking such a panorama does not require a zoom lens, you can simply fly the drone closer and very easily replicate the panorama manually with a M2P or any other drone (or camera). It is standard practice in traditional photography as well. A zoom lens allows you to do so without moving the drone (or camera if you're on the ground), but most of the time that is a much bigger problem on the ground than it is in the air. The other issue is at 48mm equivalent the M2Z is at F3.8, well past the diffraction limit (F3) and image quality is negatively impacted.

Regarding overall image quality, the nice thing is that it's not really open for discussion, there is plenty of measurable, objective data already available regarding all of DJI's setups and their respective resolution, dynamic range, diffraction limits, bit depth, ISO performance, lenses, etc. DJI uses off-the-shelf Sony sensors in their drones that have been around for years, so in that respect there aren't really any secrets there (or in any other camera that uses those sensors - that part is not at all DJI specific).

 

[jwt873]

Taking such a panorama does not require a zoom lens, you can simply fly the drone closer and very easily replicate the panorama manually with a M2P or any other drone (or camera).

Changing your position changes the perspective. This means that you can't replicate the same thing that you saw on your screen when you pressed the shutter release.

Consider you're doing a real estate shot of a house in the country. You're 20 feet up and you've composed a shot with the house in the center, framed with a tree on each side of the screen. The trees are in the foreground, closer to the drone than they are to the house.

With the Zoom, you just press the shutter button and 18 seconds later (I timed it), you have a 48 Mp image of *precisely* what you composed on the screen of your device.

Now consider a fixed lens. As you say, the camera has to be moved closer in order to obtain the FOV that double the focal length would have provided. What if this takes you in between the trees that were used to frame the subject? Or, to get the desired FOV, you had to fly past the trees so they're are behind you?

Or consider that you're shooting a sunset.. The sun is a red ball on the horizon. Doubling the focal length makes the sun appear larger. How far would you have to fly in a M2 Pro to make the sun appear larger?

You simply can't get the same effect with a fixed lens drone that you can with a variable focal length lens. And even if it were somehow possible, you couldn't' do it in 18 seconds flat.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Changing your position changes the perspective. This means that you can't replicate the same thing that you saw on your screen when you pressed the shutter release.

Consider you're doing a real estate shot of a house in the country. You're 20 feet up and you've composed a shot with the house in the center, framed with a tree on each side of the screen. The trees are in the foreground, closer to the drone than they are to the house.

With the Zoom, you just press the shutter button and 18 seconds later (I timed it), you have a 48 Mp image of *precisely* what you composed on the screen of your device.

Now consider a fixed lens. As you say, the camera has to be moved closer in order to obtain the FOV that double the focal length would have provided. What if this takes you in between the trees that were used to frame the subject? Or, to get the desired FOV, you had to fly past the trees so they're are behind you?

Or consider that you're shooting a sunset.. The sun is a red ball on the horizon. Doubling the focal length makes the sun appear larger. How far would you have to fly in a M2 Pro to make the sun appear larger?

You simply can't get the same effect with a fixed lens drone that you can with a variable focal length lens. And even if it were somehow possible, you couldn't' do it in 18 seconds flat.

You are just repeating much of what I have said above in different words You seem to be confused about FOV, magnification, resolution, and how they all come together.

Obviously, and something I acknowledged, you cannot in 100% of scenarios just fly closer or walk closer or whatever it is you want to do in order to make a matching simple pano with a prime and a zoom. A zoom lens will allow you to stay put, again as mentioned above, and is the same for traditional 'ground' photography. Personally I have never in all my time flying been in that scenario, but I don't doubt it happens from time to time.

I can (and have) taken a 48MP+ pano with my M2P (and DSLR) 'manually' in very little time, it is extremely easy to do. I haven''t timed it but it is quick & easy enough to be a complete non-issue. It's nice to have it done automatically, but you are unfortunately left with only an 8bit JPEG that is already succumbing to diffraction. By doing it yourself, you have the benefit of better stitching and access to the RAW files which is huge if you are picky about image quality - the price you pay for that is it takes 2 minutes of post processing out of the field. The argument could be made that there are few applications of a 48MP pano other than making a large print, and if you were making a print you would want to be doing so from a manually processed/stitched RAW set for best results. Everyone has different standards though, which is 100% fine.

Anyway, this doesn't seem to be going anywhere but I think we can agree that super resolution is a gimmick that becomes more useful in scenarios where you may not have the desire to stitch your own pano. Like most things, it's better to have the option than not have it, but DJI's marketing is also somewhat misleading. The M2P and M2Z are marketed to two very different groups of consumers and it's great that we have so many capable options.

 

[Mike4884]

The feature produces a photo at 24 mm FOV with an actual higher resolution detail compared to a single photo at 24 mm FOV. From the same camera, obviously. That's it. I don't see anyone claiming anything else.

Super Resolution is a variant of an automated panorama, it's even located under "Pano" in the menus. But the feature must have a zoom lens to work. You can't duplicate the exact same mechanics manually on other drones without a zoom lens.

With that said, I'm not a fan of DJI marketing either, and I don't own a Mavic Zoom btw. The overall image quality compared to other cameras like the Phantom 2 Pro is still wide open for discussion.

View attachment 69859

Idk about that last part ....phantom 2? A little much. I think pics from zoom are great given its sensor size....def looks better then my old p4 and mav pro

 

[Fruxen]

Idk about that last part ....phantom 2? A little much. I think pics from zoom are great given its sensor size....def looks better then my old p4 and mav pro

Doh. Phantom 4 Pro and Mavic 2 Pro cameras, my fingers obviously thought a Phantom 2 Pro would sum them up nicely.

 

[Mike4884]

Doh. Phantom 4 Pro and Mavic 2 Pro cameras, my fingers obviously thought a Phantom 2 Pro would sum them up nicely.

Got ya ....