Review of Mavic 2 Pro for Landscape Photography

[xjjon]

I got the mavic 2 pro for landscape photography. Been flying it every week and here are my early thoughts on the drone.
Have around 20 hours of flight time after 2 months. My experience using it covers flights near the car and on overnight backpacking trips.

Tried to focus on the imaging and photography experience of the drone in the review. So it doesn't cover many technical aspects of flying but it's through the experience of me trying to capture landscapes. Overall a very exceptional flying experience and a capable camera.

Since most of us on here already own the drone, the gallery / sample images may be more interesting. But hereis the full review.

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated

And here are some images..







First video (also in comments)

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[CarlStarke]

Very nice.

 

[xjjon]

Very nice.

Thank you

 

[THE CYBORG]

No2 & No3 are stunning

 

[Roy Rogers]

Honestly They are all great

 

[xjjon]

Thanks all, loving the mavic and happy to share the skies with y'all.

 

[Deepwater]

I got the mavic 2 pro for landscape photography. Been flying it every week and here are my early thoughts on the drone.
Have around 20 hours of flight time after 2 months. My experience using it covers flights near the car and on overnight backpacking trips.

Tried to focus on the imaging and photography experience of the drone in the review. So it doesn't cover many technical aspects of flying but it's through the experience of me trying to capture landscapes. Overall a very exceptional flying experience and a capable camera.

Since most of us on here already own the drone, the gallery / sample images may be more interesting. But hereis the full review.

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated

And here are some images..

View attachment 83330
View attachment 83331
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View attachment 83334
View attachment 83335

Did you film in 4K or did you take photos? If you took photos, what camera settings did you use? They are absolutely great.

 

[xjjon]

Did you film in 4K or did you take photos? If you took photos, what camera settings did you use? They are absolutely great.

All of those images are photos. Have the metadata in the captions under the full review but mostly I shoot f5.6-f8. Use auto ISO for the most part. Pretty much all the images are set to -1 exposure. I prefer to have the image darker and raised in post-processing instead of regular/over exposed.

Also important to shoot in RAW if you plan to edit the photos after.

For videos - still new to it but here's the first one I shot/edited. Haven't had much experience with video prior to the drone so I cannot comment too much on it. But 4k looks great.

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[Dale D]

All of those images are photos. Have the metadata in the captions under the full review but mostly I shoot f5.6-f8. Use auto ISO for the most part. Pretty much all the images are set to -1 exposure. I prefer to have the image darker and raised in post-processing instead of regular/over exposed.

Also important to shoot in RAW if you plan to edit the photos after.

For videos - still new to it but here's the first one I shot/edited. Haven't had much experience with video prior to the drone so I cannot comment too much on it. But 4k looks great.

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Beautiful video! Really enjoyed it as well as the music and the editing. Can you tell me the quick transition you used towards the end between two stills? Video editing software used? I'm looking to purchase or get free, an Adobe Premiere transition pack but they are all too flashy for me. I need simple transitions (fades, wipes, dissolves) which are mostly already provided by the Premiere software, but something a little extra.

 

[RickinWaST]

xjjon...

Excellent captures! Living in the Seattle area provides you with terrific access to great photography/video like the ones posted here. I have to chuckle, I purchased the M2P for photography as well, but instantly got interested in the video capabilities and wanting to learning how to edit video.

 

[rhberg]

Thanks for sharing these beautiful photos, and for the nicely informative review.

 

[Dacosta]

I very much like what you did.Both photos and videos, to me, were nicely done.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[xjjon]

Beautiful video! Really enjoyed it as well as the music and the editing. Can you tell me the quick transition you used towards the end between two stills? Video editing software used? I'm looking to purchase or get free, an Adobe Premiere transition pack but they are all too flashy for me. I need simple transitions (fades, wipes, dissolves) which are mostly already provided by the Premiere software, but something a little extra.

Thanks Dale, I use Adobe Premiere as well. I haven't tried any transitions that aren't included with the base software. For the last 3 images, the transitions used (in-order) are:

1. Dip to black
2. Cross zoom
3. Cross dissolve

For the video transitions, I mostly just used cross dissolve or dip to black.

 

[xjjon]

xjjon...

Excellent captures! Living in the Seattle area provides you with terrific access to great photography/video like the ones posted here. I have to chuckle, I purchased the M2P for photography as well, but instantly got interested in the video capabilities and wanting to learning how to edit video.

Exactly my thoughts too. I didn't think I would be making any videos but when I tried it out, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! Thought that an old dog can't learn new tricks but I think DJI did a good job making it really easy to capture what you want.

Learning how to use Premiere though... different story ?

 

[Smokieflies]

Thanks for sharing, love both the video and the stills

 

[xjjon]

Thanks for sharing, love both the video and the stills

Thank you, appreciate your kind words!

 

[Facious]

xjjon - great shots, especially 0549 and 0136-Edit

As for aperture - you might want to use f/2.8 - f/4 for best sharpness, check more here: At What Aperture is the Mavic 2 Pro Sharpest?

Btw. What software are you using to process RAWs?

 

[Skywatcher2001]

#4 spoke to me . . .

 

[xjjon]

xjjon - great shots, especially 0549 and 0136-Edit

As for aperture - you might want to use f/2.8 - f/4 for best sharpness, check more here: At What Aperture is the Mavic 2 Pro Sharpest?

Btw. What software are you using to process RAWs?

Thanks, I will keep that in mind Although a lot of times I need to use the fastest aperture to get light anyway (especially when shooting during sunset, sunrise).

I use lightroom for editing raw photos, premiere for the videos.