Sunset over South Central Pennsylvania - Mavic Air 2 Side-by-Side Test

[DCM-PA]

Thought I'd go out and take a series of photos of the evening sky and see how the Air2 handles dusk. The shots are all un-altered, 16:9, direct from the bird, in full auto mode, no EV compensation, jpeg format. The sequence is normal 12MP, 48MP (resized so it could be uploaded), and Smart-HDR. Also, did a 180deg pano and wide angle (default settings). What do you think?

Personally, I'm very impressed with all of them - even the 12MP shots - and am hard pressed to see the advantage of the 48 over the 12. As for Smart-HDR, as expected detail within the shadows is much more clearly visible but the sky seems overexposed. Net effect for me, less dramatic.

As for the 180-deg pano......... I like !!

Oh yea, this is my little village of New Oxford, just outside Gettyburg.

12MP

48MP

Smart-HDR

180-deg Pano
DJI_0043.JPG

Wide-angle

 

[KtW23]

Wow that looks really good.

 

[Heijst]

Nice and useful comparison.

 

[DCM-PA]

Oh sorry, here are the settings from the data file.......

12 MP - ISO500, 1/12sec, +/-0
48 MP - ISO400, 1/8sec, +/-0
Smart-HDR - ISO520, 1/10sec, +/-0 ( ?? )
180-deg Pano - ISO270, 1/15sec, +/-0
Wide Angle - ISO820, 1/8sec, +/-0

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

Thought I'd go out and take a series of photos of the evening sky and see how the Air2 handles dusk. The shots are all un-altered, 16:9, direct from the bird, in full auto mode, no EV compensation, jpeg format. The sequence is normal 12MP, 48MP (resized so it could be uploaded), and Smart-HDR. Also, did a 180deg pano and wide angle (default settings). What do you think?

Personally, I'm very impressed with all of them - even the 12MP shots - and am hard pressed to see the advantage of the 48 over the 12. As for Smart-HDR, as expected detail within the shadows is much more clearly visible but the sky seems overexposed. Net effect for me, less dramatic.

As for the 180-deg pano......... I like !!

Oh yea, this is my little village of New Oxford, just outside Gettyburg.

12MP
View attachment 102012
48MP
View attachment 102013
Smart-HDR
View attachment 102014
180-deg Pano
DJI_0043.JPG

Wide-angle
View attachment 102016View attachment 102012View attachment 102013View attachment 102014View attachment 102016

Very nice! Been through New Oxford many times. My wife was born and raised in Hershey and I'm originally from SW PA.

 

[DCM-PA]

Very nice! Been through New Oxford many times. My wife was born and raised in Hershey and I'm originally from SW PA.

Small world, right RkyMtnHigh! I've been through Estes Park many a time too.

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

Small world, right RkyMtnHigh! I've been through Estes Park many a time too.

Yes, a very small world! I drove an air freight delivery truck in the late 80's and New Oxford was one of the places I used to go.

 

[z28lt1]

Oh sorry, here are the settings from the data file.......

12 MP - ISO500, 1/12sec, +/-0
48 MP - ISO400, 1/8sec, +/-0
Smart-HDR - ISO520, 1/10sec, +/-0 ( ?? )
180-deg Pano - ISO270, 1/15sec, +/-0
Wide Angle - ISO820, 1/8sec, +/-0

Thanks for the comparison -- good work!
As you noted, the "Smart" photo did much better with the bottom half of the picture, which I'm sure is coming from the multiple exposures. It may or may not be the effect you are looking for. Look at the cars and chimney on the right side of the picture. Better exposure allowing you to see the details that you can't on the non-smart pictures (again that might not be the goal of the photo). How that might compare to someone whow knows what they are doing (not me) working with a raw file, I'm not sure.