Save to iCloud or download from SD Card?

flyinblackpro · Sep 2, 2019

I was just wanting ask if anyone that does editing of drone footage, do you think the image quality is better to pop out the sd card and download directly to a computer or is it ok to simply save to iCloud and then use that video for editing? I am not sure if there is a quality loss issue by saving to iCloud and wanted to know if anyone had experience with that?

Thomas B · Sep 2, 2019

I download from the SD card to my computer. For images I save RAW + jpeg of each one.

WithTheBirds · Sep 2, 2019

There is no difference in quality. There will be a difference in how long it might take to get your file off the cloud (compared to local storage) to edit. You will want it on the machine you are editing with.

flyinblackpro · Sep 2, 2019

I was mostly wondering about the quality...right now most of my videos are 2-3 minutes in length and it only takes 20 seconds to save to iCloud. I can save directly from my phone and never need to eject the SD Card which makes everything easy. I mostly shoot in 2.7k rather than 4K, my devices don’t really show much difference. I did try to save from SD card once and couldn’t tell a difference.

dawgpilot · Sep 2, 2019

Are you talking about saving the preview copy of videos that is cached to your phone? That will always be lesser quality since its transmitted over the air before being saved to your device. You'll see video glitches in that version from any transmission issues during your flight. I recommend copying the file from the SD card for the highest quality.

flyinblackpro · Sep 3, 2019

That is exactly what I’m talking about. However, visually, I can’t tell a difference in saving from the SD Card and saving to my iCloud files directly from the go4 app. I admit, I’m very new to drones (about 2 months in), and I’m even more new to editing. I currently use iMovie and it seems to work well for my purposes at the moment. I ask this question simply because I feel at some point, I will graduate in editing and wonder if the SD Card save is better and for what reasons? I personally have not experienced data loss or glitches when saving directly to iCloud and it seems faster than removing the sd card and inserting into the micro adapter and then opening that drive. I am using a Mac and everything flows well with DJI. With all that said, I wonder as I get more involved with editing will this affect my footage. I guess time will tell ?

dawgpilot · Sep 3, 2019

flyinblackpro said:
That is exactly what I’m talking about. However, visually, I can’t tell a difference in saving from the SD Card and saving to my iCloud files directly from the go4 app. I admit, I’m very new to drones (about 2 months in), and I’m even more new to editing. I currently use iMovie and it seems to work well for my purposes at the moment. I ask this question simply because I feel at some point, I will graduate in editing and wonder if the SD Card save is better and for what reasons? I personally have not experienced data loss or glitches when saving directly to iCloud and it seems faster than removing the sd card and inserting into the micro adapter and then opening that drive. I am using a Mac and everything flows well with DJI. With all that said, I wonder as I get more involved with editing will this affect my footage. I guess time will tell ?

I forgot to add, the preview copy is limited to 720p (at least with my Mavic Air), whereas the drone can record 4K footage directly to the SD card. There is a massive difference in quality if you have a display that can show that level of resolution.