the new zoom feature is great . don't know how long it's been out but just discovered today when flying . really helps to get in close with out getting in to close . so far i have done all the firmware upgrades and have not had issues other then ones i created . which were easily solved with the help of this forum . now the drone is even better . almost at my 100hr mark with out any damage or serous issues
love the new 2X zoom
- Thread starter lmmavrick
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Given the 2X zoom as you call it is simply throwing 3/4 of the pixels away you might be best cropping in post to get the same effect and have more flexibility while doing it.
works really well it's not lost pixels it's digital zoom . looks good with 1080 or pictures . makes a big difference
Digital zoom is by definition lost pixels, it must be as you are simply taking a cropped read out of the sensor.
Many people jump to conclusions about DJI's "lossless zoom" and miss the point. Zoom is very helpful for the average Phantom pilot. Please realize that many pilots don't record 4K because it's such a hassle to edit on mid range computers (creating proxies, etc) for the average person. Capturing in 1080 is fine for many folks, easy to edit, takes 1/4 the disk space, and in most cases 4K is simply not needed. Many times 1080 resolution is all they can view anyway.
When shooting 1080 you can enjoy the 2X zoom WHILE FLYING to SEE THINGS CLOSER without having to fly closer. There is NO DEGRADATION in the 1080 capture since it's cropping native pixels, not enlarging them. This is highly useful when capturing animals so you don't scare them, or shots you simply feel uncomfortable getting closer. Seeing things twice as close WHILE FLYING helps to spot things you would otherwise miss without ZOOM. As a result you can decide to spend more time capturing these discoveries, things would have normally missed with no ZOOM. POST EDIT can't help with what you've missed, so it's not the "same effect". If you don't take the opportunity to ZOOM in to get a closer look, you'll miss things that you wish you had seen and spent more time capturing.
If you're recording in 1080, the 2X zoom resolution is LOSSLESS, you are cropping native pixels, not enlarging them, as many assume or imply. IMO some pilots are too snooty and negative on this issue, and totally miss the irreplaceable "real time" utility of the 2X zoom which works great on P4 and Mavic. I miss this feature on P4P, as DJI hasn't done the firmware to support this yet on the 1" sensor.
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Yes, a great feature that doesn't exist on P4P yet!. This zoom feature has been out since the P4 was released Mar 2016 on iOS, I use it all the time. For over a year it wasn't available on Android Go4, but zoom is supported now on Android for about 6mos now I think. I don't think Litchi supports this yet.
All you say is right, no question, and if your happy with 1080 all good. Each to their own.
Personally I can’t see why I might chose to record at anything below the potential of the equipment. Even the iMac now has a 5k standard display and to the extent I may choose to render a 1080 output a 4K source gives me more options in post including the benefit of selective cropping and having lower noise in a 1080 output.
For you that may be true. For most others it's easy to understand. I record in both 1080 and 4k. It's a huge hassle to edit 4K because my computer isn't adequate, a 4 core I5, HHD, 16GB, no GPU. Because of that I just spent $3300 for an Alienware 6 core with GTX1080ti GPU and SSD, plus another $500 for a 4K monitor, just to reduce the pain of editing 4K. That's good reason to stay away from recording in 4k for many pilots that can't afford the extra equipment. I addition 4K occupies 4X the disk space, yet another cost, and more if you backup.
It’s true for me. Even for those who don’t have the gear for 4K editing/display now why not have the 4K footage for later use when it’s mainstream. Storage is cheap and transcodeljg to lower res pre edit is a simple exercise.
Just my view- I’m not interested in trying to influence your position. We all have different takes on things/
Just my view- I’m not interested in trying to influence your position. We all have different takes on things/
it boils down to being able to get a closer shot with out getting closer with the drone . a safety margin i like when trying to film dolphins or should i say will be trying .
Ok, so from a practical perspective if you were to film in 4K you may still enjoy the same resolution in your 1080 rendered output with the luxury of changing your crop in post. You could still use the zoom function to aid In framing your shot.
Yes, I didn’t miss that. If you take a 1080 crop from 4K footage you get the same result with the added luxury of changing the framing.
However you can't see the dolphins close-up while recording 4K. You have to record in 1080 for 2X zoom to work during flight. If the pilot doesn't care about 4K the 2X zoom has greater value and utility DURING the flight. You keep missing the point, seeing close-up DURING the flight has value. In addition, this alleviates the hassle of 4K editing using the average computer.
For those munching popcorn reading this debate, here's an example I'm editing today. I just rendered proxies for 16min of 4K video, 11GB worth of original video data. It took 7hrs to render the proxies, yawn. The proxy files at 720 resolution added another 1GB for 16min of video. So now I have 12GB of disk space occupied for a 16min video capture of Seattle's skyline at the golden hour. My computer is 3yrs old, a Haswell 4th Gen i5-4670 3.8Ghz CPU, 16GB, 1TB HDD, Win7 64bit, no GPU card. So this proxy image took all day to create. It started rendering the proxies this morning and now this evening I can start editing. Yes, it's a real hassle waiting,but that's me, impatient sometimes. Unless you can afford a much better gaming computer, it's not worth the hassle for the added clarity that few will appreciate, making it worth the extra hassle and disk space you sacrifice. HD is good enough for the masses, UHD is overkill for most pilots, given the ROI. Commercial work is completely a different story, but still over half of the customers only need and ask for 1080 HD, it's good enough.
Wow all this time , where have I been , new nothing of it ,just had look, could be handy,,(note to self take notice of what I'm reading) 
I’m not missing the point- I’m sharing my 2c worth. If you can pony up the cash to buy a phantom a few dollars for storage won’t hurt. You can’t turn 1080 footage into higher res worth watching later when 4K capable gear is the current 1080 norm. Basic IMAC machines even have a 5K display now.
A SSD and graphics card would make things a lot better for you in your current rig.
The Zemuse x7 is 6K, don’t be surprised If you see better than 4K in whatever the P4P successor is.
Don’t worry it will still do 1080 ok....
I seem to remember that zoom does work also in 3K (3072). Or at least was the case with previous GO4 app version.
Could be useful for some crop edit towards final 1080.
Wonder why nobody mention that zoom works up to 3K, if I'm correct - and my question is: Still no degradation ?
Could be useful for some crop edit towards final 1080.
Wonder why nobody mention that zoom works up to 3K, if I'm correct - and my question is: Still no degradation ?
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