Quality Control... is there any?

[MikeyNick]

This is my ideal drone. Yes, I want a cheapie one to fly around the house, and a bulkier one with a better camera for more professional work, but the Mavic is my ideal, go to drone for most situations, just due to the convenience. It flies great for the size, has impressive specifications, and when the camera works, it's excellent. And I can fit the Mavic, controller, and all accessories into a camera backpack with my DSLR, two lenses, and filters, and all in a size smaller than my old P3P backpack. That's great!

But I just haven't been able to really fall in love with it yet because I'm on my second one and still having issues. Now let me preface this with saying I have much less right to complain than a lot of you, since I've already received and tested two Mavics in a week and have the third coming on Monday (hearing about some of you having to wait a month and a half to get a repair unit back... what a nightmare!). I know perfect Mavics exist. I've seen videos of rock steady footage with sharpness and detail across the entire image. I know they're out there. But how long is it going to take me to find one? Luckily Amazon is great about returns/exchanges, and I can essentially just keep ordering them until I get a perfect one. But we really shouldn't have to be doing this. And I almost feel guilty that Amazon is footing these shipping fees because DJI can't get their quality control in line.

So my first Mavic had the blurry right edge. It was a pretty good chunk of the right side of the image, and a pretty bad amount of blur. The second mavic has a smaller, less blurry spot on the left. So it is certainly better, maybe 50-60% better, but definitely noticeable if you have a discerning eye.

And don't get me started on the quality control of the Android app. If you're interested, you can see my latest post on that here... Here maps location bug back??

After my P3P incident, I had been deciding between the P4P (best on the market until you get into hex), MP (super convenience), and Autel X Star Premium (P3P quality but from a US based company). I had a really hard time justifying buying from DJI after the customer support nightmare regarding my P3P, but a quote I heard really sold me on the Mavic: "The best camera is the camera you have with you". And there were far more opportunities to squeeze the Mavic into places that I just couldn't do with a phantom or x star. I was willing to swallow my pride for the product I'd get the most out of.

But thus far I'm really not getting a lot out of it. Two MPs now that have produced sub par imagery, and a ceaselessly awful app experience. I want to hold out, because I know if they get it right, it really is the perfect drone for 80% of my wants. And software aside, DJI just kills the competition when it comes to drone technology.

So out of curiosity, two questions:

1) How many of you have received a "perfect Mavic"? (I know there was a poll on this, so let me elaborate). Specifically, I'd like to hear from people who work with raw imagery and post processing, as (not trying to sound condescending), they tend to have a more discerning eye and higher standards of quality. How many returns/repairs/exchanges did you have to go through before you got the perfect one?

2) How many of you got fed up with the quality control and bought either a different DJI product or went with a different company altogether? What did you get? What do you think of it? Are you happy? Do you have any regrets?

 

[Former Member]

The Mavics' cam is good but not great. Maybe you should try a P4P and see if that meets your standards. Thats more of a photographers drone than the Mavic.

 

[MikeyNick]

The Mavics' cam is good but not great. Maybe you should try a P4P and see if that meets your standards. Thats more of a photographers drone than the Mavic.

The Mavics cam is actually really decent for the size. I'm not talking about the overall quality of the sensor. I'm talking about the quality control of the lens assembly, which seems to be all over the place. Which is to say, it's not a limitation of the hardware, but faulty assembly. That's why some people have totally clear images, other have blurry right sides, others have blurry left sides, and those with blur tend to vary in the size of the blurred spot, as well as the extent to which the detail is blurred.

If you're saying that, on a camera of this size, "it should be acceptable that part of the image doesn't look as good as the rest", would you feel the same way about your cell phone? Just because it's small doesn't mean it has to be bad or inconsistent.

 

[Former Member]

If you're saying that, on a camera of this size, "it should be acceptable that part of the image doesn't look as good as the rest", would you feel the same way about your cell phone? Just because it's small doesn't mean it has to be bad or inconsistent.

If you are talking about QC and build quality for all DJI products, 95% of the time they are very good. Maybe you just had some bad luck.

If you're saying that, on a camera of this size, "it should be acceptable that part of the image doesn't look as good as the rest", would you feel the same way about your cell phone? Just because it's small doesn't mean it has to be bad or inconsistent.

Im not sure where you got that analogy about size from, but what I am saying is that the more expensive drones in the DJI lineup offer better image quality.

 

[jarred125]

Have you really worked with the camera's settings to get the best out of it? Shooting in JPEG is okay, but RAW and then post process will pull out a lot more from the sensor. My iPhone 7 had some good (surprisingly) detail in RAW mode, this sensor is a little larger.

 

[MikeyNick]

If you are talking about QC and build quality for all DJI products, 95% of the time they are very good. Maybe you just had some bad luck.



Im not sure where you got that analogy about size from, but what I am saying is that the more expensive drones in the DJI lineup offer better image quality.

Not all products. I owned an original phantom and a phantom 3 pro. Never had issues with either (until the P3P flyaway, which was a software issue, not hardware). And yes, for sure the P4P has a larger sensor that captures better images. That's the closest you can get to a "DSLR drone" before the inspire / actually mounting a DSLR to a hex. I was saying that the Mavic should be able to take photos/videos that are at least as good as most high end phone cameras now, but a lot of people have been seeing issues in the image quality (such as the blurred areas). It sounds like the general consensus is that, in a rush to beat the gopro karma to market, there was not enough QA done on the assembled cameras.

I would be perfectly happy with the Mavic if it worked perfectly. For 80% of the time, its convenience will outweigh the difference in image quality (assuming I get one with uniform focus).

Jarred, yes I know how to deal with the settings. I always shoot in raw where available (unfortunately my new phone doesn't support it), and always process my photos in lightroom and videos with premiere. I save in JPEG+RAW in case I wanna send a quick picture to some friends or something after a flight.

Thanks for the input guys. I know I just sound like another whiny bastard. I'm trying hard to look at this objectively and provide/elicit valuable conversation instead of just complain. I really am giddy about this device, it's a feat of engineering!

 

[jarred125]

You don't sound whiny at all. I'd love to see a combo of the 1" sensor in the P4P on the Mavic .. or the m43 sensor!

 

[Former Member]

I really am giddy about this device, it's a feat of engineering!

I think youre not alone. Every time I look at mine, and unfold it, I think this drone is 3-5 years ahead of it's time.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

I do post processing and my Mavic produces a very good image with one exception I can live with. It has the pink "hotspot" under certain conditions. I can live with it because it only occurs during light, or white background and is so subtle as to go unnoticed by the average person. Like you say, we, being critical users, are more discerning than most.

I've done some research, and have found that this is not an uncommon phenomenon with some of the smaller sensors anyway and sending it back, to me runs more risk than keeping it. And... the remaining image characteristics, dynamic range, color gamut, resolution, noise performance, lens performance including distortion and resistance to aberration, capabilities, zoom, rotation, focal range... well pretty much overall, is very, very impressive for a camera this size.

Bottom line, I agree feeling that we shouldn't have to be dealing with things like this, but I am also a realist, and know that rarely does this happen in real life.

Given that the Mavic has been pretty much a flawless machine otherwise, and I have been able to produce some top notch imagery, with a lot less effort than before, I fall in to the "it's a big improvement, and I'll keep it" class.

As for the Andriod software dysfunction, and constant DJI, airspace "nannying", don't get me started. You wouldn't have the time or patience for it anyway!

 

[MikeyNick]

Yea, I've read about and wouldn't mind the hot spot (I haven't noticed it yet as I've mostly shot footage of forested area), because that's fairly simple to fix in post. I'm unwilling to accept a camera that cannot focus the entire image. There is actual science behind the hot spot limitation, but I've not seen any explanation from DJI as to why some people have this focal issue and some don't. and I can't fix poor focus in post. and it's not a limitation because you can still focus on that point/area, but at the expense of the focus of the rest of the image. Once I get one with a good camera, I'll start building my own android app and then I can have the perfect drone I've always wanted

 

[Robert Mitchell]

Yea, I've read about and wouldn't mind the hot spot (I haven't noticed it yet as I've mostly shot footage of forested area), because that's fairly simple to fix in post. I'm unwilling to accept a camera that cannot focus the entire image. There is actual science behind the hot spot limitation, but I've not seen any explanation from DJI as to why some people have this focal issue and some don't. and I can't fix poor focus in post. and it's not a limitation because you can still focus on that point/area, but at the expense of the focus of the rest of the image. Once I get one with a good camera, I'll start building my own android app and then I can have the perfect drone I've always wanted

And MN, I have not had the focus issue, at all. It has been sharp, side to side since day one, knock on wood.