DJI Mavic Pro

tedpan · 01-09-2017 7:50am

deco nate wrote:

Only 3 minutes extra flying time for a 100 euro more, just buy another battery. And for me it's quiet enough. Plus the new blades can be used on the pro

Yep, the blades should lower the sound. I'd love to see the difference in real life. They state that the updated speed controllers are the main noise reduction factor. I suppose we'll have to wait for YouTube comparisons to see if it's worth the difference.

ozmo · 01-09-2017 10:25am

tedpan wrote: »

deco nate wrote:

Yep, the blades should lower the sound. I'd love to see the difference in real life

Another small possible advantage- when folded - if the blades were very very slightly longer they would sit nicer inside the rear landing leg- might help keep the blades from catching in the shoulder bag as you remove the drone.

shepworth · 01-09-2017 3:32pm

Hello all.

Quick question, anyone happen to have the IAA maps handy? I live in a Class C airspace and my understanding might be wrong in whether or not I'm allowed to fly up to a certain height before needing permission.

Thanks

ozmo · 01-09-2017 4:53pm

shepworth wrote: »

Hello all.

Quick question, anyone happen to have the IAA maps handy? I live in a Class C airspace and my understanding might be wrong in whether or not I'm allowed to fly up to a certain height before needing permission.

Thanks

The regulations are here->
https://www.iaa.ie/general-aviation/drones/drone-regulations-guidance

There was a map posted earlier in this thread - but I'm not sure how accurate it or the rules on the page are - or if it even applies to drones (or model aircraft under 25Kg as IAA refers to them) as that site wasnt linked as a reputable trainer from the long list of training sites on the IAA site.

shepworth · 01-09-2017 5:20pm

Schindlers Pissed wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm new to this thread so hope you don't mind if I ask a question. I bought a Mavic last month and what a piece of kit!! I download mine onto a MacBook Pro as I don't have a desktop. I've noticed a "quiver" when playing back video, and I assume that it's the video quality and that my Mac is struggling to cope with 4k video. I've changed the camera settings to 1080p and 60fps.......I've not had a chance to test these on a flight (work, weather etc).....any other tips would be greatly appreciated.....

Not sure anyone replied to you about this but you shouldn't shoot at 1080p/60fps on the Mavic, it's well know for being absolutely horrific, mostly unwatchable and worse than 720. if you're struggling to play back the 4K on your mac, then you have two options. Re-encode it to ProRes 422LT which should work well (I think that supports 4K). Going by my own personal experience and balancing file size with image quality, the sweet spot is 2.7K at 25fps. A few caveats to note though are you should never shoot above 400 ISO and even that is pushing it, the absolutely sweet spot is 100ISO/50fps or close to it which means you need to buy some ND filters. Essentially, the Mavic's camera sensor is quite poor in anything less than ideal conditions. I nearly got rid of mine due to the absolute horrific noise in the shadows when shooting in D-Log and D-Cinelike but eventually worked out the best settings and now I think it's really very very good!

hope that helps.

shepworth · 01-09-2017 5:24pm

ozmo wrote: »

The regulations are here->

There was a map posted earlier in this thread - but I'm not sure how accurate it or the rules on the page are - or if it even applies to drones (or model aircraft under 25Kg as IAA refers to them) as that site wasnt linked as a reputable trainer from the long list of training sites on the IAA site.

Thanks, couldn't find the map. You have to pay for the official ones of course!

Not entirely sure about the rules as they apply to the Mavic due to it being under 1kg, I'd have thought the regulations should apply to any unmanned craft.

The thing with class C airspace is that it's shaped like a funnel with an inner and outer radius. I'm in the outer radius part which theoretically doesn't start until about 1200ft up and extends to 4000ft though that obviously depends on how high you are when you start flying the drone!

I may just give the local tower a call and see if they can give an answer.

shepworth · 01-09-2017 5:33pm

Schindlers Pissed wrote: »

Hi Andy, thanks.

It isn't a constant flicker, it's like the computer isn't able to transfer the high quality of the data.

I've reduced the resolution to 1080p and 60fps but didn't have a chance to test it due to weather and work.....

As an extra note, the flicker is on all shooting modes. It's to do with the intra-frame way that the Mavic records footage. Essentially, the sensor only records a FULL frame of info every 8 frames. In between that the processor guesses and fills in the blanks as it sees fit which is why you'll get a bunch of noise and watercolour effect if the exposure isn't spot on. There is a solution, which is to buy Neat Videos noise reduction software and then purchase the noise profiles which are around, but it's not cheap. Or, learn to live with it

CelticRambler · 01-09-2017 5:40pm

tedpan wrote: »

The mavic pro platinum has been announced. Longer flight time and 60% reduction in propeller noise. Impressive..

deco nate wrote: »

Only 3 minutes extra flying time for a 100 euro more, just buy another battery. And for me it's quiet enough. Plus the new blades can be used on the pro

Only 100€? I've been keeping an eye on prices since opting out of pre-ordering at the start of the year, and the combo is suddenly on offer for up to 370€ cheaper than RRP on my usual sites. Stock clearance?

Very tempted to click "add to basket" ... :cool:

PeterMilford · 02-09-2017 10:43am

New here, just wanted to say hello to all and post a vid of a few things I've shot around the place.

There Is No Up

tedpan · 02-09-2017 12:57pm

PeterMilford wrote:

New here, just wanted to say hello to all and post a vid of a few things I've shot around the place.

Class! What do you use for editing?

deco nate · 03-09-2017 1:32am

PeterMilford wrote: »

New here, just wanted to say hello to all and post a vid of a few things I've shot around the place.

There Is No Up

Private video?

tedpan · 03-09-2017 1:57am

deco nate wrote:

Private video?

It wasn't earlier..

McMurphy · 03-09-2017 8:29am

deco nate wrote: »

Private video?

And closed account.

yoshimitsu · 03-09-2017 11:06am

PeterMilford wrote: »

New here, just wanted to say hello to all and post a vid of a few things I've shot around the place.

There Is No Up

Good job! some very nice cinematic shots in there.
Not sure what you use for editing but you may want to try a bit more colour grading. Some of the shots with lots of vegetation looked a bit pale while the sunset shots over the sea looked fab.
Try DaVinci Resolve, free near-professional grade colour grading.

shepworth · 03-09-2017 12:14pm

Rick Shaw wrote: »

And closed account.

Sorry, that was because I'd opened two accounts. I was having trouble logging in to my usual one so created another one with a different email address to troubleshoot and then, obviously, that's against board rules so I had to close it.

Turns out i can't log in using Safari, so have to use a different browser.

shepworth · 03-09-2017 12:21pm

yoshimitsu wrote: »

Good job! some very nice cinematic shots in there.
Not sure what you use for editing but you may want to try a bit more colour grading. Some of the shots with lots of vegetation looked a bit pale while the sunset shots over the sea looked fab.
Try DaVinci Resolve, free near-professional grade colour grading.

Thanks for the advice, it is actually graded, and those pale shots are there as a choice and test of the D-Log v D-Cinelike settings and to see where the latitude lies as it can be horrific, though they look good on my EizoCG277, Flanders BM210 and Sony LCD screen! As I'm sure you're aware, there's VERY little leeway on the footage from a Mavic, with the relatively low bitrate and small sensor so I'm trying to find the sweet spot. Also, there's the age old problem of personal preference and no two monitors are alike unless they're calibrated, which mine are every month. I use Premiere, Avid and full blown Resolve on a daily basis, it's my day job!

yoshimitsu · 03-09-2017 3:57pm

shepworth wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, it is actually graded, and those pale shots are there as a choice and test of the D-Log v D-Cinelike settings and to see where the latitude lies as it can be horrific, though they look good on my EizoCG277, Flanders BM210 and Sony LCD screen! As I'm sure you're aware, there's VERY little leeway on the footage from a Mavic, with the relatively low bitrate and small sensor so I'm trying to find the sweet spot. Also, there's the age old problem of personal preference and no two monitors are alike unless they're calibrated, which mine are every month. I use Premiere, Avid and full blown Resolve on a daily basis, it's my day job!

Got it... looks like you know your video editing stuff alright. Absolutely agree, personal preference and screens make a big difference.
So what do you prefer: D-log or Cinelike? Are you using any ND Filters?
When I got started there seemed to be a consensus (on a couple of forums) around shooting on D-Log -1,0,0 to have more leeway in post-production. I've set it up like that and havent tinkered with it since (too many other things to worry about!)

shepworth · 03-09-2017 4:22pm

yoshimitsu wrote: »

Got it... looks like you know your video editing stuff alright. Absolutely agree, personal preference and screens make a big difference.
So what do you prefer: D-log or Cinelike? Are you using any ND Filters?
When I got started there seemed to be a consensus (on a couple of forums) around shooting on D-Log -1,0,0 to have more leeway in post-production. I've set it up like that and havent tinkered with it since (too many other things to worry about!)

Okay, so having read and watched hundreds of things on the t'internet, there's all sorts of different opinions on what settings to use. So depending on your personal preference you can find someone to agree with you!

For me, I have tended to keep my settings as follows though it could change depending on time of day and light quality etc.

Firstly, ND filters are a must, whilst you *can* shoot with high shutter speed, you shouldn't if you trying to do any form of camera gimbal movement because the footage will look 'too' sharp/crisp and I find it hard on the eyes so you need to get as close to 50/60fps as you can, ideally at 100ISO though absolutely no higher than 400ISO unless you want to kill your footage with grain/noise/watercolour effect. That said, you can shoot higher s/s and then artificially add motion blur to your footage, though your render time will increase and it's better to get it right in camera.

Secondly, you CANNOT get rid of the flickering any other way than by using software and correct exposure, I explained in a different post about intra-frame codecs but there's simply no way around it other than using something like neat-video and purchasing some of the many anti-flicker presets available. You can though, minimise its effect by correctly exposing.

Thirdly, folllowing on from one and two, ND filters are crucial. I picked up a pack of 2 + CPL from Model Heli - ordering at 4pm Thursday, arrived 9am following morning and very helpful on the phone. Looking back, I should have waited to get the more expensive pack which goes to ND64 but even with the one I've got, the difference is immediately obvious and better.

Fourthly, as for settings I can recommend +1 -1 0 and buying the pack of LUTs from Paulo - they're an excellent starting point, are specifically designed for the Mavic and don't so much colour your footage as put it back to where it should have been in the first place, balances things out, removes the magenta cast on some settings and plus, he's very helpful too.

Prior to using them I was ready to get rid of the Mavic, I followed lots of tutorials, did a lot of reading but the footage looked, in terms of noise/grain, absolutely terrible, they may give it the Pro name, but it's not. However, now, I'm much happier although I still need to tinker with the gimabl settings which I can't quite get right.

That said, it's still a great piece of kit for fun and basically just carrying around on the off-chance you see something cool. I'm working away for a few days and it's the first thing that's going in my car!

Hope that helps a little bit.

yoshimitsu · 04-09-2017 3:57pm

shepworth wrote: »

Okay, so having read and watched hundreds of things on the t'internet, there's all sorts of different opinions on what settings to use. So depending on your personal preference you can find someone to agree with you!

For me, I have tended to keep my settings as follows though it could change depending on time of day and light quality etc.

Firstly, ND filters are a must, whilst you *can* shoot with high shutter speed, you shouldn't if you trying to do any form of camera gimbal movement because the footage will look 'too' sharp/crisp and I find it hard on the eyes so you need to get as close to 50/60fps as you can, ideally at 100ISO though absolutely no higher than 400ISO unless you want to kill your footage with grain/noise/watercolour effect. That said, you can shoot higher s/s and then artificially add motion blur to your footage, though your render time will increase and it's better to get it right in camera.

Secondly, you CANNOT get rid of the flickering any other way than by using software and correct exposure, I explained in a different post about intra-frame codecs but there's simply no way around it other than using something like neat-video and purchasing some of the many anti-flicker presets available. You can though, minimise its effect by correctly exposing.

Thirdly, folllowing on from one and two, ND filters are crucial. I picked up a pack of 2 + CPL from Model Heli - ordering at 4pm Thursday, arrived 9am following morning and very helpful on the phone. Looking back, I should have waited to get the more expensive pack which goes to ND64 but even with the one I've got, the difference is immediately obvious and better.

Fourthly, as for settings I can recommend +1 -1 0 and buying the pack of LUTs from Paulo - they're an excellent starting point, are specifically designed for the Mavic and don't so much colour your footage as put it back to where it should have been in the first place, balances things out, removes the magenta cast on some settings and plus, he's very helpful too.

Prior to using them I was ready to get rid of the Mavic, I followed lots of tutorials, did a lot of reading but the footage looked, in terms of noise/grain, absolutely terrible, they may give it the Pro name, but it's not. However, now, I'm much happier although I still need to tinker with the gimabl settings which I can't quite get right.

That said, it's still a great piece of kit for fun and basically just carrying around on the off-chance you see something cool. I'm working away for a few days and it's the first thing that's going in my car!

Hope that helps a little bit.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I'm away on business this week but will do some research and try some of your advice above. Cheers

McMurphy · 12-09-2017 1:09pm

Anyone recommend an app and method for taking 360 panoramic shots with?

ozmo · 12-09-2017 1:23pm

Rick Shaw wrote: »

Anyone recommend an app and method for taking 360 panoramic shots with?

Hanger360 - its free and works well.

Plus: you can paste the urls into facebook and twitter and it just works with no software required by the viewer. On a desktop pc you get to zoom in and out also - very cool.

Downsides are you have to force kill the DJI app to switchover to it - and the resultant 360 panaromas stay on their servers - so could at some stage go away like PhotoSynth (an even better panaroma site) did. Also you need to be fairly close to the drone for it to work reliably - if the signal drops too low it stops the capture and you have to restart.

McMurphy · 13-09-2017 8:01pm

ozmo wrote: »

Hanger360 - its free and works well.

Plus: you can paste the urls into facebook and twitter and it just works with no software required by the viewer. On a desktop pc you get to zoom in and out also - very cool.

Downsides are you have to force kill the DJI app to switchover to it - and the resultant 360 panaromas stay on their servers - so could at some stage go away like PhotoSynth (an even better panaroma site) did. Also you need to be fairly close to the drone for it to work reliably - if the signal drops too low it stops the capture and you have to restart.

I'm presuming this is for iOS, as I can't find it in android?

ozmo · 13-09-2017 9:33pm

Rick Shaw wrote: »

I'm presuming this is for iOS, as I can't find it in android?

I use an IPad for my drones... havn't looked for an Android version but here is the site - its fairly new and they might be working on one

https://hangar.com/hangar360/

Good demo of what it looks like on their main page.

You can also do it using Microsoft ICE (free) and Litchi (not free) on Android - I did it and it works pretty good also.

http://fromwhereidrone.com/how-to-create-interactive-360-aerial-panoramas-using-a-drone/

CelticRambler · 15-11-2017 6:06pm

Rick Shaw wrote: »

Where do people reckon the best value can be found these days for the Mavic?

Rick Shaw wrote: »

Just a quick heads up, anyone considering purchasing the Mavic Pro, the fly more combo pack can now be picked up for less than €900 using the following method.

Tomtop website have them here, use code HXFMAVIC260 to get a further $260 off. (down to $1139) €978

Buy via topcashback.co.uk to receive a further 8.5% back in cash back (€92)

€978 - €92 = €886.

Amazon are selling this same package at £1350. (€1511)

For anyone ready to buy right about now, Tomtop have two offers that *look* like they can be combined to give a really good price.
First, the base price for the FlyMore Combo is reduced to 988€
Secondly, they're offering an extra 13% off for PayPal payments (988-128) = 860€.
Not sure if you can use a third party rebate as well, but I (finally! :pac: ) ordered one a few weeks ago, when the price was just over 1k and got an 8% cashback yesterday.

Delivery would have been 12 calendar days if UPS weren't such a bunch of idiots (customer service doesn't talk to the delivery guys :mad:); there was no "extra delivery time" to avoid customs charges.

Only slight problem is the instruction leaflet - all in Chinese! But I've downloaded the English versions from DJI. Oh, and the EU plug is fine for my EU sockets, but you guys would need an adaptor.

ozmo · 16-11-2017 1:19pm

CelticRambler wrote: »

Secondly, they're offering an extra 13% off for PayPal payments (988-128) = 860€.

Tried it on the Sparc and got:

"Does not meet the rules of use"

Good for other things on the site though.

CelticRambler · 16-11-2017 1:51pm

Ah, right. Obviously some T&Cs buried somewhere that we're not supposed to see.

But at least it makes me feel I didn't miss out on an even better deal, seeing as I paid by PP four weeks ago! :pac:

CelticRambler · 18-11-2017 11:03pm

Well ... had a distraction free day today so decided to get started. Now it's 11pm here and I haven't even got as far as spinning the propellors. Can't get past the last step - online activation. DJI Go keeps telling me that I have no internet connection, even though I obviously used it to download the app itself :rolleyes: and downloaded firmware updates for the handset and the Mavic, and I can see that the phone is swapping data with the internet every time I hit the Activate button. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Have tried all the usual "off and on again" strategies, switched from my sluggish broadband to faster 3G, nothing's made any difference. A quick google suggests that there are several thousand other users who've had the same problem ... Anyone here have a magic solution?

Fanny Wank · 18-11-2017 11:10pm

ozmo wrote: »

Tried it on the Sparc and got:

"Does not meet the rules of use"

Good for other things on the site though.

No voucher codes I try seem to work on the Mavic. They even emailed me one to use on the contents of the shopping basket I didn't go through to purchase (which contained the Mavic) and it wouldn't apply to the Mavic. They often flash 4 or 5% codes up while browsing that are supposed to be site wide but none work on that bloody Mavic

Emailed their almost worse then useless customer support who said the voucher codes were expired (despite being generic ones that pop up time and time again) and would an alternative voucher code be acceptable. When I said yes I got an email back thanking me for my custom and hoping I'd use them again

CelticRambler · 18-11-2017 11:17pm

Yeah, their customer service is pretty dire (but not as bad as UPS). However, I placed my order through one of those cash-back partner sites (8% cashback) and the validation was a lot quicker than some other companies.

CelticRambler · 19-11-2017 10:35pm

CelticRambler wrote: »

Have tried all the usual "off and on again" strategies, switched from my sluggish broadband to faster 3G, nothing's made any difference. A quick google suggests that there are several thousand other users who've had the same problem ... Anyone here have a magic solution?

Obviously not!

But in case anyone else runs into the same problem (which seems unreasonably common), the solution is to use an old version of the DJI Go app (pre-Phantom 4) to complete the activation process, then use the current version for flying. The steps are described on this DJI forum thread

I am not impressed that DJI suggest that it's a problem with new owner's old phones, dodgy internet connections and faulty USB cables when it's quite clearly a bug in the current version of their app.

Any way, much googling and almost twenty four hours later, I finally got to turn on the motors. But it's dark now, so first flight will have to wait till tomorrow.

DJI Mavic Pro

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