Professional Film Making.

[shaunkolah18]

Hey guys,
Just had a quick question to throw out there.
I am a professional film maker in the advertising and tv series network.

Our production company is set out to shoot a travel show next month and we have been contemplating the Mavic for a few establishment shots of locations to throw into the show.

The convenience of its size. We own both the inspire and the Mavic. However the size of the Mavic permits us to carry it easily along with the ton of other gear we are battling to try and reduce.

Has any one on here used the Mavic for professional use?
Any pro work that you could show me ?

If given the full expensive post treatment will the Mavic footage pass as professional ?

It's impossible for us to carry the inspire as it's too big and too heavy.
Next option would be to hire one on rent in each place but the costs vary from place to place and some don't even have it.

Any advice and honest feedback would be great.

Thanks in advance
Shaun.


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[SNew76]

I am by no means a professional or an expert judge of what looks professional but I think I've got some great footage from my Mavic. People have told me the quality looks professional. Aside from the jerky movements that were my fault I like
It.

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[deltalimatango]

Great question. I am a photographer and I can say that the Mavic is a great portable device. However, you mentioned the pro device and that is the Inspire. In certain conditions, the Mavic is capable of delivering decent, maybe heavily processed quality. The issue is the sensor size of the Mavic. It is not optimized for low light or many things that a pro vidoegrapher or photographer would want. I use mine mainly for fun. Send me a private message and I can send you a link to my site where I shot some video with the Phantom 4, and you can get an idea of the video quality as both cameras are similar. Hope this helped.

p.s. I used iMovie and then moved on to Final Cut Pro X for the later videos.

 

[shaunkolah18]

I am by no means a professional or an expert judge of what looks professional but I think I've got some great footage from my Mavic. People have told me the quality looks professional. Aside from the jerky movements that were my fault I like
It.

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Thanks for writing back - that's good footage however there's a lot of extra softness in places at the far end of your footage. Pretty noticeable.
That's he problem I am seeing with almost all the Mavic Pro footage online.

Did you shoot in log ? And grade later ?


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[shaunkolah18]

Great question. I am a photographer and I can say that the Mavic is a great portable device. However, you mentioned the pro device and that is the Inspire. In certain conditions, the Mavic is capable of delivering decent, maybe heavily processed quality. The issue is the sensor size of the Mavic. It is not optimized for low light or many things that a pro vidoegrapher or photographer would want. I use mine mainly for fun. Send me a private message and I can send you a link to my site where I shot some video with the Phantom 4, and you can get an idea of the video quality as both cameras are similar. Hope this helped.

p.s. I used iMovie and then moved on to Final Cut Pro X for the later videos.

Hello,
Thanks for writing back.

I'm so tied between paying all that extra money on baggage etc for the inspire or just trusting the phantom.

I'll shoot you a private message and would love to see your footage.


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[SNew76]

Thanks for writing back - that's good footage however there's a lot of extra softness in places at the far end of your footage. Pretty noticeable.
That's he problem I am seeing with almost all the Mavic Pro footage online.

Did you shoot in log ? And grade later ?


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Thanks. Yes D log and I used a filter in iMovie. I would love to see the Mavic get the P4 Pro camera in the next version. I'd imagine that would probably be impossible to shrink down to that size. Though or what it lacks in camera quality the Mavic definitely makes up for as far as portability and convenience. 90 percent of people watching footage probably don't notice the softness around the edges anyway. Good luck with sorting out your issue and happy droning.


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[Reed L]

You can't take an Inspire because it's too heavy? That's weak... There's no comparing the 2 for film quality, the Mavic isn't designed for professional work and that's not what it was designed for. If you can't carry an Inspire, then sell it and buy a Phantom 4. They make backpacks for all 3 of them.

 

[f3honda4me]

My suggestion is that if you are looking for something smaller than the inspire, but still can be used for professional work, get the phantom 4 pro. The mavic camera is not good enough to do the kind of work I think you are looking for. The P4Pro camera is a huge step above the mavic and phantom 4 cameras. It's a 1" 20MP sensor with 12 stops of dynamic range (compared to the 5 or 6 you get with mavic).

 

[R24fran]

I know it is crazy but have you guys seen the footage dji took with the mavic? It can be used professionally but the light and wind speed have to be just right. Meaning you can only count on it about 25% of the time and I think THAT is why professionals have a tough time with it. But given everything is perfect, the mavic can perform perfect. I think


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[Rod]

Hi Shaun!

I'm a professional DP that does work for network TV as well. I have used the Mavic on 2 projects, and I tell you what, the clients love it. The producers have no idea what the footage was captured with, they just think it looks great. The projects I have worked are in post, but here is some from my personal Mavic Pro vlog. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope you find a solution!

 

[shaunkolah18]

Hi Shaun!

I'm a professional DP that does work for network TV as well. I have used the Mavic on 2 projects, and I tell you what, the clients love it. The producers have no idea what the footage was captured with, they just think it looks great. The projects I have worked are in post, but here is some from my personal Mavic Pro vlog. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope you find a solution!

Thanks Rod,
Ok this just closed it for me. The Mavic shall be carried along for our show.
I guess it all depends on who is handling the drone and grading it etc.
Good stuff mate. Would love to see your other work.
I am a film director and work with many DPs from all over.
Let's connect.
Can you also let me know what settings you used on the latest updated version of the go app ?
Thanks for taking the time to reply and send over your links.
Cheers
Shaun.




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[Rod]

Welcome @shaunkolah18! Just sent you a pm.

 

[Ateam043]

Hi Shaun!

I'm a professional DP that does work for network TV as well. I have used the Mavic on 2 projects, and I tell you what, the clients love it. The producers have no idea what the footage was captured with, they just think it looks great. The projects I have worked are in post, but here is some from my personal Mavic Pro vlog. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope you find a solution!

Outstanding vids!

 

[Rod]

Outstanding vids!

Thank you!

 

[Motley]

Several Mavics were hit with a flaw that caused the camera to shoot very soft in some areas. Mine was one of them and everythign on the right side and especially lower right corner would always be very very soft (unusable). I sent it back in and 2 weeks later got a new one that shoots perfectly from what I have tested so far. Sorry I am not a professional and don't have any footage to show you but I just wanted to mention that there is a known issue that several Mavics have had to be replaced for.

 

[IndianaJoe]

Fantastic footage Rod! I was wondering what the capabilities were for this bird and this was a great look. I'm looking to pick one up later this month. Did you use Resolve for the grading? I'm starting to work with Premiere but I haven't looked a grading yet. Any workflow tips would be greatly appreciated.

Motley, any tips on testing new units for this? Will the brick wall test work?

Thanks all for your great discussions here. Been lurking for a bit but now ready to take the plunge!

 

[Motley]

Motley, any tips on testing new units for this? Will the brick wall test work?

I could tell right away once I had a chance to fly after a snowstorm. I flew up and pointed the camera down and you could clearly see where dog tracks and such were very sharp and clean but on the right side you could see tracks were not sharp at all. After that I went back and looked at some of my earlier video which was of a bit more expansive landscape and it was not as noticeable but still there. I could see tree limbs that were perfectly sharp but other trees on right side that were the same distance away were very "muddy". I would assume a brick wall test would show it as well, I did not try that.

 

[joe_gomez]

here's a great example of a Mavic being used by one of the most professional professionals. Nothing beats the camera you have with you and in a lot of cases, you can't bring a phantom or inspire, I think the mavic holds it's ground just fine.

 

[shaunkolah18]

here's a great example of a Mavic being used by one of the most professional professionals. Nothing beats the camera you have with you and in a lot of cases, you can't bring a phantom or inspire, I think the mavic holds it's ground just fine.

Thanks Joe,
That's great stuff right there. Iv decided to shoot with the Mavic [emoji6]
Thank you all for jumping into this discussion and helping out.
Really appreciate it.
Shaun.


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[IcySparks]

Hi Shaun!

I'm a professional DP that does work for network TV as well. I have used the Mavic on 2 projects, and I tell you what, the clients love it. The producers have no idea what the footage was captured with, they just think it looks great. The projects I have worked are in post, but here is some from my personal Mavic Pro vlog. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope you find a solution!

Thinking that cow's moo might be copyrighted. LOL ;-)