OliKMIA Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 After two days and about 10 flights, here are my first impressions: >>> THE GOOD - Small and light, about the size a of a mirrorless camera or small APSC once folded. The gimbal design is much better than the Mavic Pro. Less exposed in case of crash and without shitty rubber band attachment. - The gimbal is very stable and there is little amount of horizon/IMU drift. The wider focal (24mm) also helps. Even in windy condition (tested up to 16mph) the video looks very smooth and stable. - The 100mbps bitrate makes a big difference in terms of grading and image artifact. 4k becomes manageable. However I noticed some noise in the shadow, even at 100 ISO but I need to check that more carefully and see what exposure and image settings perform best with this camera. - The drone is very fast and agile in Sport mode (I reached 40mph ground/GPS speed with no wind). It’s very slow to descend in regular mode (1.5 m/s). Switch to Sport mode to increase the descent rate (up to 3 m/s). - Flight time is about 15-16 minutes to 20% battery in normal flight mode. So about 17-18 min to drain it down to the minimum (by this time it will enter in RTH mode) >>> THE BAD - The Wifi mode instead of Lightbridge or OcuSync is bad. The radio quality and range are horrible, it’s ok in remote area free of any RF interference but as soon as you are in sub-urban area (whether in 2.4 or 5.8GHz band) the video starts getting bad at 1000 feet or so. Loosing signal at 2000 feet. Using a cheap “range extender” (dish that focus the signal to give higher gain) improves the situation (better video and 20-30% more range) but it's still bad. TIP: You will loose video signal before RC control and telemetry, turn 90 degrees to position the antenna on the skids facing you, it helps to regain video (then you can fly back sideway with the roll axis until you regain better signal). The problem is not only the range but the lag of the image. Note that modern phones and tablet perform better. Older one will generate more lag (lack of processing power) - There is no EV indication on the screen anymore (perhaps I missed it in the options) but you can enable the “overexposure” indicator, basically zebra. You can also assign one button to lock the exposure. - There is no Log curve, only Cinelike-D but you can adjust the picture settings (sharpness, contrast, saturation) to get a "log-like" custom profile. - Controller: same as the Spark. The second top wheel is missing so forget about this one to change the shutter speed, you’ll have to tap it on the screen. Tablets won’t fit on the controller and the side grip are still too small. Only fits very slim smartphones without their protective cases. - As you can expect on this type of tiny sensor, sensitivity and low light capabilities are very limited. The image starts to degrade at ISO 200-400 depending on the exposure. Kisaha and EthanAlexander 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EthanAlexander Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 Thanks for the write-up. I'd be interested in seeing some footage if you have any. You've got a P3P, right? Which do you think you'll be flying more often? If anyone cares, my prediction, based on the Mavic Air: I think the Mavic Pro 2 is going to be everything the P4P is, maybe even with longer flight time (and of course it will fold), but they're going to leave out h.265 and variable aperture. Idk about P5P but I'd say 35 minute flight time and 4K60 will finally be h.265. OliKMIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kisaha Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 If the Mavic Pro 2 has an 1" sensor, will be in most people's shopping list.. and a little bit more stability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntblowz Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 Thanks for the write up! Gonna stick with Mavic Pro til v2 OliKMIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliKMIA Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 2 hours ago, EthanAlexander said: Thanks for the write-up. I'd be interested in seeing some footage if you have any. You've got a P3P, right? Which do you think you'll be flying more often? If anyone cares, my prediction, based on the Mavic Air: I think the Mavic Pro 2 is going to be everything the P4P is, maybe even with longer flight time (and of course it will fold), but they're going to leave out h.265 and variable aperture. Idk about P5P but I'd say 35 minute flight time and 4K60 will finally be h.265. Thanks. Yes, I need to do more filming and find the right settings, I think that by underexposing 0.3 EV in reference to the EV indicator I should be fine. I need to check about the noise too. I'll upload a few sequences soon. I used to fly the P3P a lot, surprisingly the 4k30 at 60 mbps was quite good (much better than the Mavic Pro) and the Log is not stretching the image too. I also have the P4P which is great. I had the Mavic Pro, I flew 3 days with it and I sold it, I hated the image. I use the Inspire from time to time on big project but never own one, I hate big rigs and this thing is way too big for what I'm doing even though the long focals and image quality is amazing. 1 hour ago, ntblowz said: Thanks for the write up! Gonna stick with Mavic Pro til v2 2 hours ago, Kisaha said: If the Mavic Pro 2 has an 1" sensor, will be in most people's shopping list.. and a little bit more stability. The stability is quite good actually, since the drone is smaller with shorter arms, this "dense" frame seems to handle wind fairly, well. I haven't noticed any bump in the video so far. As for the Mavic Pro 2, I'm sure it will be a nice drone, a bigger sensor would be welcome, not sure a 1 inch can fit but with DJI I should be careful, they managed to make very small and light lenses for the APS-C X7 camera. We should know soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EthanAlexander Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 11 hours ago, OliKMIA said: I also have the P4P which is great. Didn't realize you had one. Me too. So what made you get the Air? I don't think I can ever use a drone anymore without at least the 100Mbps h.265... It's game-changing. OliKMIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliKMIA Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 27 minutes ago, EthanAlexander said: Didn't realize you had one. Me too. So what made you get the Air? I don't think I can ever use a drone anymore without at least the 100Mbps h.265... It's game-changing. I got the Air for an incoming job, I need to travel and it will be my "B cam". For practical reasons, I can't take two P4P on this trip. I agree with the 100mbps, that's the minimum today for 4k video. EthanAlexander 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliKMIA Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 Here are some video samples. I shot in 4k30 in various modes (check the file names). Basically a first test in normal video mode (standard, not cinelikeD) then I tried cinelike-D with everything set to 0 (sharpness, saturation, contrast), finally Cinelike-D with Sharpness 0 and saturation and contrast at -3. https://we.tl/vKlDNaYV61 The rest of the files are to compare the crop modes. 2.7k/60 does crop, same for 1080/60 which is strange. The 1080/120 (conformed in camera to 30fps) is garbage, that was to be expected. Check the video sample, I left the drone in a static position and changed the resolutions. Regarding the image, I found the image a bit on the soft side but nothing bad, actually it's better than the usual DJI razor sharp look. It must be because of the "plastic" lens but I don't mind. Add a bit of sharpness in post. However, I still noticed this noise in the shadow, especially in Cinelike-D when the contrast is lowered (eg -3). That's the limit of the dynamic and ISO on this type of sensor I guess. The noise is less obvious in standard baked mode. Overall I think this drone is well made, the range and radio link quality suck but the features are good in terms of value and size. You can't expect Inspire image quality from a 1 pound drone at $800. EthanAlexander 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EthanAlexander Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 13 hours ago, OliKMIA said: However, I still noticed this noise in the shadow, especially in Cinelike-D when the contrast is lowered (eg -3). That's the limit of the dynamic and ISO on this type of sensor I guess. The noise is less obvious in standard baked mode. That was at ISO 100? If so that's really not impressive. I'm sure some of it can be graded away but that severely limits the useable dynamic range. It's interesting how they're encoding. The GOP is HUGE. Definitely would worry about fast moving shots falling apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliKMIA Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 @EthanAlexander Yes, that was all in ISO 100. I saw the very big GOP length but I haven't noticed big issue so far like with the Mavic Pro where the footage craps out every 8 frames or so. However you can see a little bit of macro blocking in the sky. Of course the static footage in the video samples helps but I didn't find much difference in videos with motion. I didn't look to closely neither. I can upload more video sample with motion if you want. Overall, I think this is not too bad considering the price and size. I mean, this thing takes the space of a regular lens in my bag. It's very small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronFilm Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 On 2/11/2018 at 4:54 AM, OliKMIA said: I need to travel and it will be my "B cam". For practical reasons, I can't take two P4P on this trip. Are you flying two drones at once?? :-o Or is the Mavic there as your back up should anything go wrong with the P4P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliKMIA Posted February 12, 2018 Author Share Posted February 12, 2018 @IronFilm Yes, B as back up. No double drone flight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronFilm Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Disappointed, thought you might be an octopus! Kisaha and OliKMIA 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliKMIA Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 It's that small. The drone is not perfect but with this size, I can live with it. jonpais and EthanAlexander 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kisaha Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Where is it? I can't even see it! OliKMIA, jonpais and IronFilm 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronFilm Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 I'll admit it took me more than a moment to spot where it was :-/ OliKMIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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