The modern drone catches beautiful aerial and video images of these flying quadcopters. DJI is one of the leading UAV manufacturers in the sky, and its Mavic Pro is one of the easiest-to-fly drones. The compact size and lightness make the Mavic Pro an ideal drone for transport and driving, but a small size means a small camera.
Small camera means poor quality pictures and video, is not it? Still trying; let's see that in more detail in this article. We tried it while shooting on the hills of Denver, Colorado, USA. It was really a fantastic experience to have it.
Technical details With a starting price of $ 1000, the DJI Mavic Pro is not a toy; it is a severe drone for passionate pilots who want to fly a flying camera in the sky. The camera in question catches video in 4K resolution.
Deep dive: the camera on the Mavic Pro offers multiple shooting resolutions and variable speeds, from video capture in C4K (4096 x 2160p) to 24 frames per second at 720p resolution that starts at 24 fps and can be increased up to 120 fps. If you want to move, you can capture up to 120 frames per second in 720p and 96 frames per second in full HD, 1920 x 1080.
The camera itself is a CMOS sensor with a total number of 12.71 M pixels, capturing photos at 4000 x 3000 pixels. The lens has a focal length of 28mm with a field of view of 78.8 degrees at f / 2.2. The truth is that the Mavic Pro's camera is as long as a full-size camera. Finally, the camera rotates 90 degrees, optimally using the sensor.
Modes of flight One of the hands of the camera on the DJI Mavic Pro uses FPV camera mode for your output. It's a 720p stream to your mobile device to see what your drone sees. Better than that, though, are the possible Full HD stream and the sky view using the new DJI glasses? These VR glasses are a powerful flight tool and a great way to visualize your flights.
Also worth noting, the DJI Mavic Pro is also equipped with DJI Quick Shot. The quick shot is a set of self-flying flight modes focused on capturing selfie-style photos and videos with style.
Photo results and video footage We can talk about camera specifications on the DJI Mavic Pro all day, but what matters, of course, is to see the results. The capture of photos takes a new life; we must admit that the lens and the overall configuration of the camera are video-oriented; the photos are beautiful but not as clear and crisp as some of the best Smartphones, not to mention the SLRs digital.
Note that we want to enhance the color saturation with the Mavic Pro. The real problem with aerial photography is that you always capture the sky in the frame. As you may know, the sky is usually too bright to overexpose when you set your sights on better than the ground below. Conversely, the capture of the sky often darkens the ground to the point of losing details. Along with a professional drone camera, you need to know how to use it.
Otherwise, you better hire professional photographer for this purpose. Aerial photography is not a joke; you must also be more professional. It’s essential to have the latest technology.
Your modern Smartphone probably offers HDR photo capture, designed to overcome the dramatic and dark situations of a bright sky in the background, or any other low-light capture, but not the Mavic Pro, unfortunately. Fortunately, you can rotate the right wheel on the spot (EV) in increments of about 0.3 points and lighten or darken the image quickly.
Most of the time, your white, black, contrast, highlights, and shadows are well-balanced, and you may need to adjust the exposure afterward.
The last thing is the stray light; unfortunately, the lens of the Mavic is quite sensitive to stray light, often creating lines on the video. We think it's an acceptable distortion, all things considered, but we're going to test the ND filters to see if that helps.
Here is a video of some video samples with or without color calibration. As you can see, things look great at the exit of the camera, but a little tweaking can really change the look of your video.
