Going forward “Which DJI Drone”

[Earls Court]

Background to question: I migrated from DJI Spark to a used P3S primarily for drone fishing. Used “lockdown“ to get to know my newly acquired P3S and enjoyed the photography side and bought Litchi and enrolled into Phantomfilmschool (great decision) and tried Litchi’s Pano 360 to capture large areas, but results was not what I wanted (a high resolution 2D image). I then discovered Mapping and experimented with those apps that supported the P3S (Map Pilot, Pix4Dcapture, DD). Flew my first mapping mission successfully and with ease using MME (MapPilot and uploaded file to MME for processing). I want to continue with mapping as a hobb, but it seems that the P3S is not the ideal drone to use because of its limited range, no avoidance sensor, and only supported by a few mapping platforms.
The question I want to ask the forum of experienced mapping pilots is. - what second hand DJI drone should I consider going forward with photography and mapping? I will keep the P3S for drone fishing! Thanks for your Response!

 

[Meta4]

The question I want to ask the forum of experienced mapping pilots is. - what second hand DJI drone should I consider going forward with photography and mapping?

The Phantom 4 pro (either version) is a huge improvement photographically and it the most popular mapping drone.
The camera and Light bridge controller are about 10 times better than what you're used to.

 

[Earls Court]

Thanks and appreciate. Will start looking for used/refurbished locally in South Africa

 

[Meta4]

Thanks and appreciate. Will start looking for used/refurbished locally in South Africa

I should have added ... If you are wanting to do mapping, don't get the + version with its integrated screen.
The + versions will not load mapping software.
The standard P4 pro or P4 pro V2.0 both run mapping software perfectly.

 

[vgo195]

You can also go with P4 Advanced which is great for mapping too!!

 

[R Martin]

Background to question: I migrated from DJI Spark to a used P3S primarily for drone fishing. Used “lockdown“ to get to know my newly acquired P3S and enjoyed the photography side and bought Litchi and enrolled into Phantomfilmschool (great decision) and tried Litchi’s Pano 360 to capture large areas, but results was not what I wanted (a high resolution 2D image). I then discovered Mapping and experimented with those apps that supported the P3S (Map Pilot, Pix4Dcapture, DD). Flew my first mapping mission successfully and with ease using MME (MapPilot and uploaded file to MME for processing). I want to continue with mapping as a hobb, but it seems that the P3S is not the ideal drone to use because of its limited range, no avoidance sensor, and only supported by a few mapping platforms.
The question I want to ask the forum of experienced mapping pilots is. - what second hand DJI drone should I consider going forward with photography and mapping? I will keep the P3S for drone fishing! Thanks for your Response!

P4 Pro v2.0 is a good starting place. It has a 20MP camera with a mechanical shutter which you want for mapping to prevent the "rolling shutter" effect. If has a decent hand time (30 minutes on new batteries), more range than you need for VLOS flight and batteries aren't that expensive. The downside is it has fixed landing gear and no swivel on the gimble.; not a big deal for mapping but the photography side might pose a problem. On the up side, it only requires one person to operate the controls instead of a pilot and sensor operator as in the Inspire class for complex photography/videography.

The Mavic 2 Pro is another option, though a lessor one. Also has a 20 MP camera, spare batteries are almost $40US cheaper, same 1" CMOS sensor, same f/2.8-f/11 aperture, a 77° vs an 84° lens FOV and flight characteristics that are really similar enough as to be not worth mentioning. The Mavic 2 Pro has, on paper, better max wind resistance but also weighs in at 1.99 lbs vs the Phantom 4 Pro v2.0's 3.03 lbs. My money for a backup aircraft went to the Phantom 4 Pro 2.0.

I do this partly for a living so my workhorse is a FireFly 4 Pro that outperforms DJI hands down. The Phantom 4 is used to train new pilots and for very small jobs that are not worth breaking out the big guns.

 

[Earls Court]

Thanks for the input. Have as yet not bought a second drone and think the Mavic 2 Pro is worth considerin.

 

[R Martin]

Thanks for the input. Have as yet not bought a second drone and think the Mavic 2 Pro is worth considerin.

As a hobby, either should get you by but when the time comes to start earning money mapping, you are going to want an aircraft that is more capable. Maintaining a stable of batteries to fly larger tracts is extremely time-consuming and the batteries, even religiously maintained, don't last forever.