Wishing for a zoom lens

[HiKen51]

Or at least a longer lens. Wide angle is great for general scenery, but if I had a 100mm lens on my Mavic I could make the mountain in the distance larger. Oh well, Photoshop to the rescue. I increased the distant scenery 150% in this photo of a local farm.

 

[Mossiback]

You can zoom the Mavic lens up to 2x.

 

[Qoncussion]

You can zoom the Mavic lens up to 2x.

Unfortunately, that's only a digital zoom (not optical) on the Mavic. You're better off zooming in post.

Nice shot! @HiKen51

 

[MiniPalourde]

Or at least a longer lens. Wide angle is great for general scenery, but if I had a 100mm lens on my Mavic I could make the mountain in the distance larger. Oh well, Photoshop to the rescue. I increased the distant scenery 150% in this photo of a local farm.View attachment 33536

Very nice picture! It looks very good.

Zoom lens would be awesome indeed. Digital zoom is unusable in most cases because it gives more grain to the already not perfect Mavic shots.

edit: replaced optical with digital

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

The beauty of aerial photography is you can always fly closer, in this case going an extra mile or 2 probably would not help too much.

 

[Qoncussion]

Very nice picture! It looks very good.

Zoom lens would be awesome indeed. Optical zoom is unusable in most cases because it gives more grain to the already not perfect Mavic shots.

I think you mean, digital zoom is unusable. Optical zoom would be a dream come true!

 

[Mossiback]

Unfortunately, that's only a digital zoom (not optical) on the Mavic. You're better off zooming in post.]

I know that a digital zoom is not optimal but it works in a pinch for a quick shot to share online. Some people forget it is available.

If you want quality it is best to start with RAW and adjust in post. It is just a hassle that some people do not want or are unable to do.

 

[Eric17]

Knew right away what mountain that was! Nice to see fellow wa state flyers!

 

[LivinLarge]

Longer focal length (telephoto lenses) will be much harder to stabilize. It is a shame that DJI does not make the camera/gimbal easily removable. Yuneec owners have been able to add longer focal length lenses on the CGO3 and CGO3+ cameras to get more than 2X closer. You can have two cameras and swap them easily for different FOV. There are longer lenses available for GoPro as well.
Actual zoom lenses which change focal length, would be heavier and a challenge to balance.

 

[MiniPalourde]

I think you mean, digital zoom is unusable. Optical zoom would be a dream come true!

Oops, you're right! Edited my comment

 

[HiKen51]

Very nice picture! It looks very good.

Zoom lens would be awesome indeed. Digital zoom is unusable in most cases because it gives more grain to the already not perfect Mavic shots.

edit: replaced optical with digital

The other thing about digital zoom is it doesn’t really have the same effect as optical zoom. That’s what I was wishing for. Digital zoom would not make things in the background appear larger in the same way as optical zoom which compresses the distance between objects.

 

[HiKen51]

I know that a digital zoom is not optimal but it works in a pinch for a quick shot to share online. Some people forget it is available.

If you want quality it is best to start with RAW and adjust in post. It is just a hassle that some people do not want or are unable to do.

Shooting in raw is not the solution. I always do that, but you need to understand the difference between digital and optical zoom. Optical zoom compresses the distance between objects, thus making distant things like mountains larger in the picture While still allowing you to compose an interesting foreground. Digital zoom simply enlarges the picture, decreasing the number of pixels exposed, which is the same thing as cropping in post, so there’s no point in using digital zoom.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Longer focal length (telephoto lenses) will be much harder to stabilize. It is a shame that DJI does not make the camera/gimbal easily removable. Yuneec owners have been able to add longer focal length lenses on the CGO3 and CGO3+ cameras to get more than 2X closer. You can have two cameras and swap them easily for different FOV. There are longer lenses available for GoPro as well.
Actual zoom lenses which change focal length, would be heavier and a challenge to balance.

My Z3 came perfectly balanced on my Inspire1. But your right, fully zoomed it's almost impossible to film. Every tiny movement is enlarged. For photo it is awesome to have 3x optical zoom in the max resolution though.

 

[LivinLarge]

The other thing about digital zoom is it doesn’t really have the same effect as optical zoom. That’s what I was wishing for. Digital zoom would not make things in the background appear larger in the same way as optical zoom which compresses the distance between objects.

Digital zoom (cropping) and actual zoom (changing focal length) have the same effect on perspective (the relative size of objects at different distances.) Perspective changes only when you change your distance to the subject.

 

[LivinLarge]

My Z3 came perfectly balanced on my Inspire1. But your right, fully zoomed it's almost impossible to film. Every tiny movement is enlarged. For photo it is awesome to have 3x optical zoom in the max resolution though.

I think anything more than 2X will require some sort of optical or electronic image stabilization in addition to the gimbal for video. For stills, it should be OK with a fast enough shutter speed.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

I think anything more than 2X will require some sort of optical or electronic image stabilization in addition to the gimbal for video. For stills, it should be OK with a fast enough shutter speed.

The Z3 has all that. The Firmware in the Inspire1 is updated to accommodate the Z3 for extra stabilisation. But still, it takes a very buttery smooth control to get decent results.

 

[HiKen51]

I think anything more than 2X will require some sort of optical or electronic image stabilization in addition to the gimbal for video. For stills, it should be OK with a fast enough shutter speed.

Good point about stabilization. I've tried mounting my Sony QX10 (10x zoom) atop the Mavic, but zoomed in even a little there is too much vibration. On the other hand I've seen video shot with a GoPro mounted about the same way, and no problem, apparently because it too is wide angle. Also zooming in and out optically would change the center of gravity. So I guess I'm really just wishing for interchangeable lenses.