DJI Mavic Air

[bkushner]

Getting tired of these little toy drones they keep putting out. When will the phantom 5 be released for us that are into the more professional models??

The cheaper "toys" always sell more. Most camera companies do the same.

 

[UpLift Aerial]

Getting tired of these little toy drones they keep putting out. When will the phantom 5 be released for us that are into the more professional models??

Agree 1000%

 

[Brojon]

Known possible specs...

You can replace that entire sentence with one word; "speculation".
"Known possible" is an oxymoron.

 

[UpLift Aerial]

You can replace that entire sentence with one word; "speculation".
"Known possible" is an oxymoron.

Good to know.

 

[Brojon]

Good to know.

Glad to be of assistance

 

[GadgetGuy]

Reality today is 4K at 30fps, not 60fps. However, video is 100Mbs instead of 60Mbs, but the same sensor size as the Mavic, instead of the larger P4P/P4A sensor size.

 

[danno02]

I think many of us (including me) have a love affair with our phantoms and are a bit sceptical of these toy sized quads. They are amazing little machines packed with some incredible technology. Not sure if I would consider it a "professional model", but definitely a super compact and very portable device. If it's as good as they say, I may have to pick one up before my Mexico trip. Lugging my phantom out there would be tough.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I think many of us (including me) have a love affair with our phantoms and are a bit sceptical of these toy sized quads. They are amazing little machines packed with some incredible technology. Not sure if I would consider it a "professional model", but definitely a super compact and very portable device. If it's as good as they say, I may have to pick one up before my Mexico trip. Lugging my phantom out there would be tough.

The compact, portable quad you brought with you is always better than the luggable one you left at home! True with all cameras, too! Hence the growing popularity of high end cell phone cameras to the the demise of DSLR's!

 

[hit-n-run]

Getting tired of these little toy drones they keep putting out. When will the phantom 5 be released for us that are into the more professional models??

If you are a pro and you are tired of these toy drones, why are you on a website for consumer level drones and not the inspire site?

 

[UpLift Aerial]

If you are a pro and you are tired of these toy drones, why are you on a website for consumer level drones and not the inspire site?

A Phantom is a pro drone. Yes I know it is in the consumer category on DJI's website but it is more or a pro drone.

 

[hit-n-run]

Is consumer drone an Alta is a professional drone.

 

[GadgetGuy]

A Phantom is a pro drone. Yes I know it is in the consumer category on DJI's website but it is more or a pro drone.

P4P camera is the same as the X4S on the Inspire 2 at 1/3 the cost!
Good enough for government work!

 

[AndrewCCM]

Yeah they bested the P4P with the Mavic....32mb camera???

No they didn't. Megapixels does not make one better. I've worked as a photojournalist for years and there is SO MUCH MORE than megapixels to make a better image. More megapixels in a small sensor typically means more noise and less dynamic range. Cramming more "smaller" photosites into a sensor of the same size is not a good thing in my opinion. Cleaner, bigger photosites are where it's at in my opinion. A bigger sensor will almost always give you a better image regardless of megapixels. The Mavic Air is still a very small sensor and adding more pixels won't improve it (especially in lower light). I would choose the 1" sensor of the P4P over any small sensor Mavic. I'm not commenting on other abilities of the Mavic vs. Phantom...just Sensor/Camera. For reference, check out a higher iso image from a crop body consumer dSLR vs. a Full Frame. Significant IMO. What I want to see is a better dynamic range sensor in all of the DJI quads.

Anyway...thought I'd throw out my opinion.

Andrew
Crystal Clear Media

 

[GadgetGuy]

No they didn't. Megapixels does not make one better. I've worked as a photojournalist for years and there is SO MUCH MORE than megapixels to make a better image. More megapixels in a small sensor typically means more noise and less dynamic range. Cramming more "smaller" photosites into a sensor of the same size is not a good thing in my opinion. Cleaner, bigger photosites are where it's at in my opinion. A bigger sensor will almost always give you a better image regardless of megapixels. The Mavic Air is still a very small sensor and adding more pixels won't improve it (especially in lower light). I would choose the 1" sensor of the P4P over any small sensor Mavic. I'm not commenting on other abilities of the Mavic vs. Phantom...just Sensor/Camera. For reference, check out a higher iso image from a crop body consumer dSLR vs. a Full Frame. Significant IMO. What I want to see is a better dynamic range sensor in all of the DJI quads.

Anyway...thought I'd throw out my opinion.

Andrew
Crystal Clear Media

To be clear, it's not 32 megapixel anyway. That's only the size of the resulting 360°panorama it can stitch from multiple images of 12MP size. It's only 12MP.

 

[AndrewCCM]

To be clear, it's not 32 megapixel anyway. That's only the size of the resulting 360°panorama it can stitch from multiple images of 12MP size. It's only 12MP.

Yep... My response was mainly due to the "It's better because it's got more megapixels"

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yep... My response was mainly due to the "It's better because it's got more megapixels"

Understood. Just wanted to make sure we were clear that it cannot record a 32MP image without stitching its 12MP images. Lots of the initial media reports were very misleading.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

there is SO MUCH MORE than megapixels to make a better image. More megapixels in a small sensor typically means more noise and less dynamic range.

A bigger sensor will almost always give you a better image regardless of megapixels.

A couple of excellent but often overlooked concerns. More pixels on small sensors was all the rage not that long ago in consumer camera marketing, until people realized that, adding more pixels on a given size sensor, typically doesn't produce better images, especially when you're working with less than optimal lighting conditions. As Andrew pointed out, increasing the number of smaller photosites on a sensor generally only results in bragging rights, not better images.

 

[GadgetGuy]

A couple of excellent but often overlooked concerns. More pixels on small sensors was all the rage not that long ago in consumer camera marketing, until people realized that, adding more pixels on a given size sensor, typically doesn't produce better images, especially when you're working with less than optimal lighting conditions. As Andrew pointed out, increasing the number of smaller photosites on a sensor generally only results in bragging rights, not better images.

Exactly! Remember the old 43MP Nokia camera phone? Anyone think those images were as good as those from a full frame 40MP Nikon D800 DSLR? Sensor size is most important. The bigger the pixels, the more sensitive they are, and the better the dynamic range. That's why the P4P is so much better than the P4, the P3P, and the Mavics.

 

[SLVSRFR]

Camera on the Mavic Air ousts the Mavic “Pro” in quality. I hated my Mavic because it only took great shots in perfect conditions, even with ND Filters. I jumped ship when I got my P4P+.

Watching comparison videos of the air and MP looks promising, I just hate the childish looking remote and WiFi-based transmission they switched to on the air. If it used the MP’s remote and the same transmission system, I’d buy the Mavic Air as a travel drone.

 

[Brojon]

Camera on the Mavic Air ousts the Mavic “Pro” in quality. I hated my Mavic because it only took great shots in perfect conditions, even with ND Filters. I jumped ship when I got my P4P+.

Watching comparison videos of the air and MP looks promising, I just hate the childish looking remote and WiFi-based transmission they switched to on the air. If it used the MP’s remote and the same transmission system, I’d buy the Mavic Air as a travel drone.

Initial reports are showing that the "wifi" control seems to work just dandy. The 100 mbps video rate will assuredly result in much improved video - especially the dreaded "watercolor effect" that plagued the MP videos.