Mavic vs P4 on photo quality

[RPP]

Since the portability is not an issue for me... based on what I've seen so far... I'm oriented to buy a P4 at a low discount price... maybe a new P5 is gonna released on the market soon but the price will be not so low like the P4 in this period...

As a photographer I see no compelling reason to switch from my P4 to the Mavic. What I am really looking for in the next release of the Phantom is a better and a higher resolution sensor. A zoom lens is probably not going to happen but one can dream.

 

[Richard in ky]

From what I read on specs its the only difference beetwen the 2 cameras...

Anyway, Im waiting for more comparisions and reviews to discover is theres for real that quality gap...

I agree they keep showing that one set of comparisons between the P4 and Mavic how do we know they had it setup right or did they have the plastic cap on, and weren't these the two dummies that flew the Mavic under a bridge that they were bound to loose signal and got the message that the Mavic was about to land in the water. I saw that one coming thinking there is no way that is going to transmit through that bridge.

 

[jephoto]

Thanks a lot.
They both looking fantastic.
Processed both images with adobe camera-raw. Only lightness corrections.
As soon as Adobe gets the new Mavic cameradata it will even look better. (lens corrections)

View attachment 66094 View attachment 66095

P4 on top?


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[PeteM]

In my work I do not need high resolutions or "fascinating images"... here's my workflow...

1) The drone, at a regular interval, automatically shots photos along a path defined by waypoints (Litchi app).
2) Through a photogrammetric software, from all these photos I get a "dense point cloud".
3) From this dense point cloud, I extract simple topographic maps consist of few points and polylines.

I'm interested in well-defined edges (without no post-process) and in a good focusing on a large field at ground. Even with the focus "tapped", Mavic seems to generate images not weel-sharpened like P4...

There remains the mystery of how the autofocus will work in the workflow I've described above...

So RPP, since you are a photographer, if you should buy a drone today (not owning P4), considering my workflow, what will be your choice ?

 

[4wd]

 

[RPP]

So RPP, since you are a photographer, if you should buy a drone today (not owning P4), considering my workflow, what will be your choice ?

If the quality of the images is comparable, I would say probably the Mavic.

That said, the wider lens on the P4, with its relatively flat field, has advantages to a landscape photographer. Initial reports say that the faster lens in the Mavic (f2.2) and its less wide (28mm) focal length is optimized for performance at the centre of the frame. If this is true, I am happy I have the P4.

 

[RPP]

The target for the comparison above isn't terribly illustrative. You don't have to fly the drone for this test. Just put it in front of a real world target (say, a fence in the garden that has some features).

 

[TonG]

P4 on top?


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Mavic on top.

 

[m0j0]

I have a Phantom 3. I bought the Mavic which is portable and has pretty much all the features and then some of a P4 for less! Seriously 3 batteries and other goodies for 12 bills. Image quality is pretty comparable but based on the early shots I would give the edge to the P4. That said P3,4 Mavic all fantastic birds.


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[John Locke]

Look at the glass on the front of a P4 camera verses a Mavic camera. I think that explains why the P4 shots are superior.

With the small display limitation of the RC, squinting to see it in bright sunlight, I can imagine Mavic pilots ALWAYS wondering.... "should I focus?".... "Is my camera in focus?"..... "this darn camera better be in focus"

This whole focus issue could be an issue.

 

[brothers]

PeteM -

The choir you're trying to preach to is not in the church.

You represent possibly .01 percent of potential users of either P4 or Mavic, if that many. Your constant interjections in this thread are noise, not signal.

 

[datincan]

If the bad focus was to blame for the soft images we are seeing, it's strange that 4k "actual" footage from Dji's youtube promos are just as soft as those bouncing around blogs and vlogs.

 

[Morgon]

For what it's worth, I have come to the conclusion that the Mavic is softer than the P4. This has been echoed by every (competent) person who has had hands-on time with the Mavic. However, this is a trivial point, because many of the people who do high-end (or even casual, like myself) media work from P4s turn down the sharpness in the camera settings, so now it's just one less setup step to do. And if you decide you want the extra sharpness, at least two folks I've seen have stated no issues running a post-process filter that makes the resulting quality pretty equal.

So the question people have to ask themselves (and themselves alone) is whether the tradeoff between form factor and maximum out-of-camera image potential is worthwhile. For many people I have come to respect, their answer is yes. I'm a hobbyist and I'm not trying to win any awards, so having something I can carry with me at almost all times is mind-blowing.

Nitpicking between the P4 vs Mavic has run its course at this point. If you have reservations about the Mavic, or have specific needs/desires about consistent and known quality, buy a P4. Even DJI even states in their FAQ (via the Go app) that the P4 is better suited for landscape photography, for instance.

 

[RPP]

The question still remains: if the Mavic footage out of the camera is less sharp than the P4, what is the reason? (Assuming that it really is less sharp - I think the jury is still out on that.)

 

[soamz]

Since the portability is not an issue for me... based on what I've seen so far... I'm oriented to buy a P4 at a low discount price... maybe a new P5 is gonna released on the market soon but the price will be not so low like the P4 in this period...

P5 will come in april 2017 most likely which is too far.
But good thing is P5 will eventually come with 360 degree collision control.

 

[treeboy]

please have look at the attachment (actually not a good example but proves the point). When creating a 2D mosaic, useful portion of the image with large FOV is low. Optimal focal length would be between 80-200 mm, see for example Aerial Photography.

I'm thinking that's a GoPro your distortion is blown out. You're right it's not a good example and I'm not sure it does prove your point. Below is a photo captured with the P4 at 300' AGL and one of the photos used to create an orthomosaic. I don't know the altitude of your photo, but with a max AGL of 400' the distortion just isn't that bad.

 

[Ozz]

If the bad focus was to blame for the soft images we are seeing, it's strange that 4k "actual" footage from Dji's youtube promos are just as soft as those bouncing around blogs and vlogs.

Hard enough to remember to press record sometimes - never mind tap in correct place before any footage is usable!

Id be pretty bummed if I traveled to Easter island and those were the shots I came back with - really hope they can fix it in software.

 

[datincan]

Hard enough to remember to press record sometimes - never mind tap in correct place before any footage is usable!

Id be pretty bummed if I traveled to Easter island and those were the shots I came back with - really hope they can fix it in software.

If they only sacrificed something like a little more size or a few mins less in flight time to add a camera like the P4 it would have been worth it, this looked so interesting but as the camera seems to be a potato and it all about the camera, the rest may as well be a vegetable. Maybe the P5 will be like this only bigger? with a good camera.

 

[PeteM]

So the question people have to ask themselves (and themselves alone) is whether the tradeoff between form factor and maximum out-of-camera image potential is worthwhile.

The question still remains: if the Mavic footage out of the camera is less sharp than the P4, what is the reason?

The advantage of Mavic, compared to P4, is not only the form factor.

The technology contained in Mavic, in terms of intelligent navigation and flight assistance, is undoubtedly the "next generation". The next Phantoms will come out for sure with all these sensors and aids...

With Mavic can I load a Litchi flight mission, fly and automatically take pictures with sufficient quality for a photogrammetric reconstruction, as good as in P4 ? How manage the fact that I must "tap to focus" ?

 

[4wd]

You can bet Litchi will be updated to work with it.
I think people are getting too hung up on fretting over the new (useful) closer focus feature.
Most likely a firmware update will have it default to infinity if they get a lot of negative feedback about it.