Three of the best things come from Scotland - 1.) Single malt Scotch; 2.) the comedy series "Still Game", and 3.) your reviews and tips - Keep up the great work!!!
The best review I have seen among the dozens of clickbait overexcited RUclips reviewers/promoters. Keep up the good work! This video actually answered some really important questions i was wondering about like the shadow recovery and possibility of zooming in anyway in post with the m2pro. thanks again
I respect your opinions and professional advice more than any other drone guy on RUclips. Your always honest and extremely pro in your work and reviews. Thank you brother, i truly appreciate it!!!👍👍👍
I'm glad you mentioned about the lack of digital sharpening on the pro 2. Many people have been criticizing the pro 2 because of that. But tbh most people were pulling back the sharpness on every other DJI drone anyway so that argument against the pro 2 never made any sense to me. I like the fact that they don't do any digital sharpening because that should be left up to post-production and I believe the pro 2 looks way more filmic as a result. The other mavics remind me of super sharp Sony Alpha cameras which is not bad but the pro reminds me of a BMPCC 4k. Just very organic.
Done it again Stewart, best video review yet on the new mavics. Great to see it from a film maker's prospective. If you find some good settings for removing the lens distortion, please share. On the subject of max speed, I thought you would love the fact it will overcome most of the strong winds up in Scotland 😁
it is actually very easy to treat the hlg color space, in fcpx you can use the included custom lut effect and apply any LUT there is an option convert you have to select input Rec 2020 HLG and output Rec 709
One thing that you might mention that a lot of people are overlooking is the ability to rotate the gimbal back and forth like you can on my Inspire 2 by dragging your finger on the screen. btw I really enjoy your videos they are very professional and look forward to seeing new ones in the future. Thanks, Jeremy
I know you usually concentrate on moving images Stewart, but I use my drones almost exclusively for stills so would appreciate a few still image quality appraisals of the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom vs Inspire 1 and Mavic Pro (original). Thanks Keith
I'm with you Keith, in my private investigation business dealing in cheaters, insurance frauds and as drug dealer busts, stills at high heights at night (occasionally) are my bread n butter. I have inspire 2 but not portability sane for me
I do mostly landscape photography and the M2P is a significant upgrade. I found dusk shots completely unusable for sale with the MP1. These are very nice and hyperlapse really shows this off, nicely.
Great tutorial. The best nugget for me was at the end in respect to pulling out the Lightning plug from the side of the controller, to enable use of the USB socket!
Stewart - really nice review. Of the MANY reviews out there this is definitely one of the best and most helpful for those making the pro vs. zoom decision. I'd really love it if you were able to address one thing: The affect that the different 4k modes have on noise/picture quality (4k HQ mode vs 4k Full FOV mode). It's one of the most talked about topics in recent videos but no one really has answers because they don't analyze the footage like you guys do with your 400% comparisons in this video. I wasn't sure if the clips you showed of the mavic 2 pro when discussing noise, etc. was in HQ or Full FOV mode an how that changes when modes are switched.
I’m so glad I’ve subscribed to your videos. I truly respect how you give your honest opinion on these drones. It really helps me understand the full capabilities of these drones. Completely torn on which way I should go between the Zoom and M2P. But after watching this I’m leaning more towards the M2P. Keep up the good work.
Very nice overview of features from a cinematographer's perspective! I really enjoy your patient, in-depth style! Thanks, Stewart! And, yes, you were first with dolly zoom tutorial. I remember watching that as soon as it came out. Very useful and well explained. In fact, it's still applicable today, even for Zoom owners, IMO.
@@DroneFilmGuide good to still be here, Stewart. Thanks. I've been preoccupied with growing my own channel so don't comment as often as I should, though I do watch. Very sorry for that. Ah, time!
Great review. The image noise and zoomed in clips have helped me make up my mind for the M2P. I have the original MP and have never liked the camera but love the portability on the hills. I've always had to work hard with the M1P to get anything half decent and my videos are always too zingy. Where in Glasgow are you based?! I stay near Lochwinnoch if you ever need a hand! I'm all PfCO'd and insured. Hint hint. There's plenty of kind souls offering M2P DLOG 10 bit footage for free online if you want to test your PC/editing software before investing. For some it might be a deal breaker if they end up having to upgrade PC and SW as well. For anyone interested, the free version of Windows DaVinci Resolve 15 will import the 10bit H265 footage if its wrapped in an MP4 container (MOV didn't work for me but it might on the Apple version).
Excellent review. I wasn't aware of the issues with Codec H.265 and how memory hungry it is with the M2P. Like you, I have an older Macbook Pro where I use FCP for editing so it looks like an expensive upgrade is required. Thanks again for the continued high quality, informative videos.
Very interesting and informative as usual. Well done Stewart and Alina. I shall start saving for a Mavic2 Zoom but first I have to test fly my repaired Hubsan quad. It's taken 3 months to get it up and running again. Fingers crossed.
@ 14:15 Great breakdown! I saw on Amazon a case similar to the mavic airs. It's called "YIFAN Mini Drone Bag Portable Storage Hand Bag Carrying Case for DJI Mavic 2 PRO/Mavic 2 Zoom". similar to the mavic air case, you can put the remote outside the case.
Sure thing. Didn’t want people to think I was putting up an affiliate link. YIFAN Mini Drone Bag Portable Storage Hand Bag Carrying Case for DJI Mavic 2 PRO/Mavic 2 Zoom www.amazon.com/dp/B07GWL3HZX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BvwLBbS3XJR78
Great review and video . . . as always! Sounds like you might want to consider updating to a new desktop Mac for your editing. Can't say enough about how professionally done and helpful your 8 hour course has been for me. Keep up the great work!
Delighted to hear you enjoyed the Masterclass! Would love to update the computers but that's a heavy price to pay for H.265 footage. We'll work with proxy files for now as this is a good work around.
Great video Stuart. I'm delighted that din retained the telemetry on the controller on the pro and zoom. The ditched it for the spark and air. If the mavic is out of earshot behind something (in my case a lighthouse ) and either the app crashes or the occusync fails you know the mavic is up, stable and not moving. It makes it comforting to hit RTH while you restart the app or cancel it when the signal comes back. The air and spark don't have that, so it's hit the button and wait a tense couple of minutes till you hear the angry bees.......not funny.
Very helpful to see the comparison in footage! Seeing that there is image noise even on the Pro footage when it is filmed in normal mode makes me wonder if the Zoom would have a more comparable amount of noise to the Pro, if the Zoom had a D-LOG mode. Also it's helpful to know how performance heavy the D-LOG H265 footage is. These negatives of the Pro, and the creative opportunities of the Zoom, definitely make me side towards the Zoom for my usage. The framing of the shot and the ability to get in close seems more important for video work, than a slight difference in image noise. Also, having to de-fish-eye the footage of the Pro, makes me even more worried about editing times with it's footage, on an older computer (a year older than your Macbook).
The H.265 is a real pain for the computer, I'm not going to lie. You can proxy the files to make it run faster so that helps. Having done a lot more shooting now, regarding the barrel distortion, I'd say you don't notice it on 90% of the shots. The only time you see it is if you are shooting an uninterrupted view of a horizon with the camera tilted down. I've seen it look bad filming skyscrapers because of all the straight lines but we don't have skyscrapers in Scotland and it's obviously illegal to film them anyway! It's an easy fix in post and it doesn't seem to deteriorate the image doing so.
Links for RUclips app users on an iPad 0:49 Picture Analysis 6:51 Field of View 9:14 Variable Aperture 10:13 Noise 11:07 Cinematic Control 11:44 Stability 12:12 Battery Life 12:39 Range 13:47 Portability 14:45 Speed 15:54 Active Track 17:25 Quickshots 18:40 HLG 19:26 Controller OUR BUSINESSES ******************* Drone Cinematography Education: dronefilmguide.com/ Commercial Film By Captain Cornelius: www.captaincornelius.co.uk Wedding Cinematography By White Balloon Films: www.whiteballoonfilms.co.uk BUSINESS CONTACT: captaincorneliusfilms@gmail.com
Thank. Informative video. I have the m2pro. What colour grading software do you recommend using? I'm using cyberlink video editor which gives some options for editing colours but I want to learn about using LUTS and not sure where to start with that.
I see you compare it to the Mavic Air. But how does it stack up to the old Mavic Pro? I've noticed in other videos that there is no moe course lock feature available. And the warping on the Mavic 2 Pro would bother me quite a bit when I look at those images. General question: would you recommend an upgrade from the old Mavic Pro to the Mavic 2 Pro? I know you always say "it's what you do with it", but in all honesty, is the quality that much better that it is worth it?
Steven Peeters I have the same question and would like to hear his thoughts on this. I bought the Pro 2 and so far I have not seen a huge improvement over my Mavic Pro 1. I am hoping that I am simply not getting the settings right. I am not getting that much more picture quality over the 1. After hearing that .265 format will run slow on my MacBook Pro scares the hell out of me. I will give it a try today with some footage I shot yesterday. No way my wife will let me upgrade my Mac after upgrading the Mavic. :) Hopefully the Captain shares his thoughts on comparing the old Mavic Pro with the new. I am keeping the shipping box and might decide to return Mavic Pro 2 unless I can pull out better image quality.
John C sounds like you experience my fear of upgrading. Old Mavic Pro did a wonderful job this summer in Norway.but if that 1” sensor would Provide a lot better image quality that would be great. I’m also using ActiveTrack on my car, so higher speeds in ActiveTrack would bevthe main reason for upgrading to me. But so far, I haven’t seen a video of this tracking a car at 70kph
I don't have the original Mavic Pro to do side-by-side tests unfortunately but assuming the Mavic 2 Zoom is approximately the same as the Mavic Pro then the analysis and conclusions would be the same. As for whether to upgrade, much as I am very impressed with the M2P, I could only suggest upgrading if want to geek out about picture quality like we do. This is our job after all, so things like blending drone footage with ground cameras matters to us, as does manipulating the image in post. If on the other hand you are mainly shooting nicely illuminated landscapes on more of a hobby basis, then there's probably no compelling reason to upgrade and then we're back to the "it's what you do with it that counts" argument.
Hi from the just outside Inverness... Fantastic Video by the way...😉I am fairly New to the world of Drones just Wondering my goal is to do photography and short films I have at the moment the Mavic Pro but looking at getting a New Mavic with 1 would you go for the M2P or the M2Z ..?
Hey! We just put out a new video there on the M2P vs M2Z and you'll see that we favour the M2P. Check it out and see if your considerations and priorities are similar to ours. Cheers!
I got the zoom , pushing it 800 iso is as far as i can go and it still look good to me. And im using 2.7k it save space on the card. All and all i am very happy with it.
I am going to use straight HLG i feel. Brighter highlights and increased contrast should look amazing. But i guess you shouldnt color grade those files. Should look amazing on TV's with HDR thats for sure :)
Great stuff, as always. One odd thing. I have a Mavic Air and I don't have to unplug the side connector to get the iPad to work. I've just received my M2PRO so if I do have that issue there then you just saved me some frustration.
in the early comparisons i thought the mavic air looked nicer for picture quality. sharper and colors looked more vivid (i know this is something that color grading and correct but still)
Hi Stewart, I was always led to believe H265 was very slightly lower quality than H264 but with a much smaller file size! have I got the wrong end of the stick? I only ask because you mentioned your computers difficulty in coping with it. Your channel has been a great help in getting me started in the world of flying cameras, and helping my channel grow. thanks for the effort you both put in!
The technicalities of codecs are a little too much for my brain in all honesty! Nothing I've read suggests H.265 is lower quality however as its reason for being is to allow higher quality files to be compressed to usable sizes, e.g. 4K 10-bit. Apparently it uses 10x the computing power of H.264 however which is a bit of an issue!
I'm taking a long hard look at myself in the mirror lol. I'm actually on-board with the size of the 2 Pro for what it does (yes, I'd love to have one some day). For the amount of hiking I do with my gear, I'm very happy living without another bag right now. If I could only find a better way to carry my gimbal, my life would be complete lol.
Another great video , think the zoom was really brought out to try and kill off Autel Evo sales ,, but for me the Pro wins all the way , my M air will be upgraded soon , 😬 oh and the dolly zoom will soon be like shellsuits on Sauchiehall St
As usual, fantastic breakdown and information from a pro's point of view. I was wondering what your opinion was of the built-in hyper-lapse mode in the Mavic Pro 2 when compared to just using tap-fly for hyperlapse. Does the built in EIS do a good job? I have a Mavic Air and use Davinci Resolve for editing, but I can never seem to get the stabilization good enougth in Davinvi :-( Cheers for another great review!
The built in hyperlapse defaults to recording in 1080P at 25fps , if you want full 4k , set up in settings to keep the timelapse pictures , then use these to do a better time lapse in your edit program
Thanks for the reply. I would have thought the hyper-lapse would default to photo burst rather than video or is video better than photo burst for hyperlapse?
It does take pictures for the hyper-lapse , but the GO4 app converts the pictures down to 1080 video once the hyper-lapse quick-shot is finished , but if you set the GO4 app to keep the pictures taken during the quick-shot you can make a better hyper-lapse using these pictures once back home using your own video editor .
Thank you for sharing your settings when filming during overcast weather. Do you have a good starting point for bright sunny days? I live in Las Vegas, Nevada and you can't escape the sun.
Nightmare...too much sun! Anything we discussed in terms of settings is not weather dependent. In the bright sun you just need to watch you don't blow out the highlights so you might want to under expose slightly to protect the whites in the image. The M2P is brilliant for this because you can pull detail out of the mid-tones and shadows in post production without ruining the image.
Just a short correction/warning on HLG. HLG is an OUTPUT gamma. It is meant for footage which is displayed directly on HDR displays/TVs or uploaded to RUclips or such. It is NOT meant for grading! Of course, you can convert it to another Log/Linear/… gamma in your software for grading. Also, HLG is only the gamma and not directly bound to the color space. Don’t know exactly if DJI use the Rec.709 or BT.2020 color space - I would say they use the BT.2020, because TVs which support HLG normally also support 2020. Short: if you want to grade your footage, I suggest using DLOG-M and NOT HLG. Short search for a more “professional” description if you want to know more about this: ruclips.net/video/dvTYhWkBXaU/видео.html Also, if you want to bring back DLOG-M to Rec.709 quickly: DJI has released a “official” LUT: www.dji.com/en/mavic-2/info#downloads (but I hope Blackmagic will include it to Resolves RCM) Greetings
Wait a minute, did you say that there is only CINELIKE-D profile on the Mavic 2 Zoom? I'm only using this profile because it's also available on my GH4 and i have to say i kinda like it now. Do you know if DJI will make available the CINELIKE-D profile on the pro version in the future? Because so far i was only interested in this one lol Thanks for the great job as always! Have a great weekend and keep on flying :D
H.265 tip. My Lenovo has a Gpu but h.265 footage was slowwwwww until I went into control panel > graphics and added all adobe programs to the graphics menu and set it for high performance. Mine works great now on h.265 footage. Maybe your MacBook has a similar setting.
Great vid as usual... Like it a lot and about to pull the trigger on a Mavic 2 Pro. But still looking for a few low light (early eve, night, morning) sample pics in DNG format. Any chance of you making some available? Thanks Steward!
Hello i own a DJI Spark and i wanted to upgrade to a MV2P or MV2Z i saw many YT videos comparing the 2 drones but I'm a little bit confuse i can't make up my mind about which one to choose I do photography and videos but i don't do postproduction and i post my pictures/video on social media and the camera of my spark is the same 12mp of the M2Z I know that the pro have better quality than the zoom but i wanted to know if it is really worth it to take the Mavic 2 Pro only for social media content ?
Another good review-reminds me I need to get back up to Glencoe and Ballachulish-and see if I have the courage to fly it down the loch! I'm debating whether to sell the old P4, as the size and quietness really appeals to me.Which hill/Munro did you use for the high shots?
Hi Stewart, thanks for the great video, looking forward to seeing more of them using the two new Mavics. Couple of quick questions if I may, I’ve noticed that your video course is priced in $ and wondered what it was in £s, also I think I mentioned coming up to Scotland next year for a week or so driving around.....any tips on locations for getting some great shots? Thanks again take care and catch you later. Peter
Hello Peter! The course will translate to GBP at the prevailing rate when you purchase it. As for locations in Scotland, head up to Glencoe, it's insane.
Hey! I just have the yaw dialled down to 0.1 and the others at 0.25 I think. The others don't make a huge difference but it's crucial to get the yaw down.
Hi! Great review, one of the best ive seen! Is it any chance to get some similar unedited sample footage (from M2Z & M2P) of any high contrast scene? I have big doubts about which drone one I should choose.. thx!)
Hello. Do you know if the quick shots doesn't default to 30 frames like it did with air. It was super frustrating when your shooting everything else at 25 frames.
We use an iPhone SE because it turned out our iPad Mini 2 wasn't fast enough. Can't see any reason why this should be the case other than to sell more Apple products but then I'm not cynical enough to arrive at that conclusion!!
Great video @dronefilmguide 👍 just a quick question... Which sd card are you using in the Mavic 2pro? I have a Sandisk Extreme 64GB U3 in mine & experience jerky/skipping in playback on macbook air.
@@DroneFilmGuide ya but tried .264 also & it was the same but footage plays smooth on my phone from sd card so I guess it's a problem with the mac air.
On the Zoom version, can the speed of the zoom be modified in the menus somewhere? And, can it be made to "easy-ease" into or out of a zoom, rather than just hard-stopping at one end or the other?
Is there a gimbal clip included with the Mavic 2 Pro? I see where it has the gimbal cover but I am always a little paranoid about my gimbal when travelling and like knowing its properly secured.
Greetings, Stewart. Thanks for another helpful video. You note the "curvature" of the M2 Pro image. Presume this is due to the electronic shutter, vs. the mechanical shutter of the Phantom 4 Pro. I have a P4P and a Mavic Pro. so I've been back and forth like a tennis match on M2 Pro vs. Zoom. In the comparison videos I've seen, I've yet to run across someone who puts a high priority on the mechanical shutter. Other than the obvious point that with a P4P I already have a 1" sensor lens drone available to me, in making my decision am I putting too much importance on also avoiding the M2 Pro because of the electronic shutter?
I've read on rcgroups that the distortion is unlikely to be fixed. The inspire 2 has it too. Infact all cameras have it but many of them use the onboard processing to remove it. The thinking is that it is better to use the onboard processing to get the best possible picture and the distortion can be removed in the edit if need be, which will do a better job of removing than the onboard processing trying to remove it realtime.
Thanks for the reply, Roger. So, to be sure I understand, the distortion of the window sash sides in Stewart's video is not related to electronic vs. mechanical shutter? Rather, to the lens itself?
I would say that the distortion is because the lens is round rather than flat, I don't think whether it is mechanical or electronic shutter makes any difference. That makes a difference to the rolling shutter effect which is something different than distortion
From what I understand it Will be fixed in a firmware update. The programming to fix it in the software on the drone was left out by mistake and will be added to get rid of the curvature
I was not able to buy that drone here in Costa Rica because the store told me that there is a problem with that so they are not seling that drone until the problem get fix it, so i have bought the zoom :( i hope my desition was not a waste of money.
Interesting. Well you'll still get amazing results with the M2 Zoom. They are all amazing drones, just the M2P gives you a more 'pro' image IF you know what to do with it. A lot of the bad information on RUclips has come about from a lack of understanding about what professional filmmakers look for when it comes to image quality. Much as we love the M2P, it is hard work using the H.265 codec and there is a lot of post-processing required to grade the flat image, deal with the barrel distortion etc., so don't worry about that, just focus making some great aerial cinematography with your Zoom!
@@DroneFilmGuide Yes your observation of the market share is moot but only if you look at the high end models £1000++. If you look at the poor pleb end of the market, DJI aren't so strong. However, I would like a DJI Mavic pro - who wouldn't? I will have to wait my lottery win though.
I’ve watched maybe 20-30 reviews of the mavic 2. This is by far the most comprehensive. We’ll done!
Three of the best things come from Scotland - 1.) Single malt Scotch; 2.) the comedy series "Still Game", and 3.) your reviews and tips - Keep up the great work!!!
The depth and professionalism in your videos are just unmatched. Thanks so much for putting out such a comprehensive review of these two drones!
Thanks so much for then kind words!
The best review I have seen among the dozens of clickbait overexcited RUclips reviewers/promoters. Keep up the good work! This video actually answered some really important questions i was wondering about like the shadow recovery and possibility of zooming in anyway in post with the m2pro. thanks again
I respect your opinions and professional advice more than any other drone guy on RUclips. Your always honest and extremely pro in your work and reviews. Thank you brother, i truly appreciate it!!!👍👍👍
Thank you so much! Great to still have you with us!
Thanks for that ipad tip at the end! I had no idea about that. I haven't used my ipad yet but I plan to soon. That tip saved me a lot of WTH's!
I've been watching these kinds of videos for years and your videos are the best I've ever watched.
Thank you so much!!
Great video bro. Really enjoyed it. Subscribed!
Hope to see more Mavic 2 videos from you
Thanks for this. I am trying to decided on either the Pro2 or the Zoom. This really helps.
I'm glad you mentioned about the lack of digital sharpening on the pro 2. Many people have been criticizing the pro 2 because of that. But tbh most people were pulling back the sharpness on every other DJI drone anyway so that argument against the pro 2 never made any sense to me. I like the fact that they don't do any digital sharpening because that should be left up to post-production and I believe the pro 2 looks way more filmic as a result. The other mavics remind me of super sharp Sony Alpha cameras which is not bad but the pro reminds me of a BMPCC 4k. Just very organic.
great video av learned a lot of useful things . Just bought the dji zoom and love it does every thing am lookin for
Done it again Stewart, best video review yet on the new mavics. Great to see it from a film maker's prospective. If you find some good settings for removing the lens distortion, please share. On the subject of max speed, I thought you would love the fact it will overcome most of the strong winds up in Scotland 😁
it is actually very easy to treat the hlg color space, in fcpx you can use the included custom lut effect and apply any LUT there is an option convert you have to select input Rec 2020 HLG and output Rec 709
Very informative and packed with specs on the camera for both models. Nicely done!
You, Sir, are like a breath of fresh air!
Was looking forward for this video! Simply awesome as usual, thanks for the great content!
One thing that you might mention that a lot of people are overlooking is the ability to rotate the gimbal back and forth like you can on my Inspire 2 by dragging your finger on the screen. btw I really enjoy your videos they are very professional and look forward to seeing new ones in the future.
Thanks, Jeremy
Thanks for the review. One of the better ones I've seen. Covered all the major points with clarity.
Wow! By far the best review video on those two drones!!!
I know you usually concentrate on moving images Stewart, but I use my drones almost exclusively for stills so would appreciate a few still image quality appraisals of the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom vs Inspire 1 and Mavic Pro (original). Thanks Keith
I'm with you Keith, in my private investigation business dealing in cheaters, insurance frauds and as drug dealer busts, stills at high heights at night (occasionally) are my bread n butter. I have inspire 2 but not portability sane for me
It's a bit noisy too K
I do mostly landscape photography and the M2P is a significant upgrade. I found dusk shots completely unusable for sale with the MP1. These are very nice and hyperlapse really shows this off, nicely.
Great tutorial. The best nugget for me was at the end in respect to pulling out the Lightning plug from the side of the controller, to enable use of the USB socket!
Absolutely...nearly lost my mind trying to figure that out at one point!
Extremely useful as always. Thank you.
Best Mavic 2 review I've seen so far. Really useful sensor analysis including noise, picture profiles and colors. Awesome stuff!
Stewart - really nice review. Of the MANY reviews out there this is definitely one of the best and most helpful for those making the pro vs. zoom decision. I'd really love it if you were able to address one thing: The affect that the different 4k modes have on noise/picture quality (4k HQ mode vs 4k Full FOV mode). It's one of the most talked about topics in recent videos but no one really has answers because they don't analyze the footage like you guys do with your 400% comparisons in this video. I wasn't sure if the clips you showed of the mavic 2 pro when discussing noise, etc. was in HQ or Full FOV mode an how that changes when modes are switched.
Thanks for this, Stewart. Packed full of thought-provoking and fascinating insights as usual.
I’m so glad I’ve subscribed to your videos. I truly respect how you give your honest opinion on these drones. It really helps me understand the full capabilities of these drones. Completely torn on which way I should go between the Zoom and M2P. But after watching this I’m leaning more towards the M2P. Keep up the good work.
Delighted to have you with us on the channel!
I feel the Zoom is more hobbyist friendly. I never film in 4k since I don't have anything that displays that high. I film in 2.7 at most.
Excellent, impartial advice including information I had not heard anywhere else. Thanks Stewart.
Great video, I really enjoy your take on these new drones and the angle you come at them from.
Very nice overview of features from a cinematographer's perspective! I really enjoy your patient, in-depth style!
Thanks, Stewart! And, yes, you were first with dolly zoom tutorial. I remember watching that as soon as it came out. Very useful and well explained. In fact, it's still applicable today, even for Zoom owners, IMO.
Good to still have you with us Dennis!!
@@DroneFilmGuide good to still be here, Stewart. Thanks. I've been preoccupied with growing my own channel so don't comment as often as I should, though I do watch. Very sorry for that. Ah, time!
Always so good and informative!!! Thanks
Great review. The image noise and zoomed in clips have helped me make up my mind for the M2P. I have the original MP and have never liked the camera but love the portability on the hills. I've always had to work hard with the M1P to get anything half decent and my videos are always too zingy.
Where in Glasgow are you based?! I stay near Lochwinnoch if you ever need a hand! I'm all PfCO'd and insured. Hint hint.
There's plenty of kind souls offering M2P DLOG 10 bit footage for free online if you want to test your PC/editing software before investing. For some it might be a deal breaker if they end up having to upgrade PC and SW as well. For anyone interested, the free version of Windows DaVinci Resolve 15 will import the 10bit H265 footage if its wrapped in an MP4 container (MOV didn't work for me but it might on the Apple version).
Great information both of these comments, thanks
Top notch as always!
Nice breakdown with very useful information.
Awesome tips about the PRO.
Excellent review. I wasn't aware of the issues with Codec H.265 and how memory hungry it is with the M2P. Like you, I have an older Macbook Pro where I use FCP for editing so it looks like an expensive upgrade is required. Thanks again for the continued high quality, informative videos.
Very interesting and informative as usual. Well done Stewart and Alina. I shall start saving for a Mavic2 Zoom but first I have to test fly my repaired Hubsan quad. It's taken 3 months to get it up and running again. Fingers crossed.
@ 14:15 Great breakdown! I saw on Amazon a case similar to the mavic airs. It's called "YIFAN Mini Drone Bag Portable Storage Hand Bag Carrying Case for DJI Mavic 2 PRO/Mavic 2 Zoom". similar to the mavic air case, you can put the remote outside the case.
Hey! I just tried to find it but couldn't. Could you put a link to it please?
Sure thing. Didn’t want people to think I was putting up an affiliate link. YIFAN Mini Drone Bag Portable Storage Hand Bag Carrying Case for DJI Mavic 2 PRO/Mavic 2 Zoom www.amazon.com/dp/B07GWL3HZX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BvwLBbS3XJR78
Great review and video . . . as always! Sounds like you might want to consider updating to a new desktop Mac for your editing. Can't say enough about how professionally done and helpful your 8 hour course has been for me. Keep up the great work!
Delighted to hear you enjoyed the Masterclass! Would love to update the computers but that's a heavy price to pay for H.265 footage. We'll work with proxy files for now as this is a good work around.
Great informative video! Thank you
Love to see some tests on the variable aperture and if the quality degrades the nearer to f11 you go.
Great video Stuart. I'm delighted that din retained the telemetry on the controller on the pro and zoom. The ditched it for the spark and air. If the mavic is out of earshot behind something (in my case a lighthouse ) and either the app crashes or the occusync fails you know the mavic is up, stable and not moving. It makes it comforting to hit RTH while you restart the app or cancel it when the signal comes back. The air and spark don't have that, so it's hit the button and wait a tense couple of minutes till you hear the angry bees.......not funny.
Not in the market for a new drone, but I still enjoyed the practical info. One of the few channels I turned on notifications :)
What kind of films do you make? Documentaries?
Very helpful to see the comparison in footage! Seeing that there is image noise even on the Pro footage when it is filmed in normal mode makes me wonder if the Zoom would have a more comparable amount of noise to the Pro, if the Zoom had a D-LOG mode.
Also it's helpful to know how performance heavy the D-LOG H265 footage is. These negatives of the Pro, and the creative opportunities of the Zoom, definitely make me side towards the Zoom for my usage. The framing of the shot and the ability to get in close seems more important for video work, than a slight difference in image noise. Also, having to de-fish-eye the footage of the Pro, makes me even more worried about editing times with it's footage, on an older computer (a year older than your Macbook).
The H.265 is a real pain for the computer, I'm not going to lie. You can proxy the files to make it run faster so that helps. Having done a lot more shooting now, regarding the barrel distortion, I'd say you don't notice it on 90% of the shots. The only time you see it is if you are shooting an uninterrupted view of a horizon with the camera tilted down. I've seen it look bad filming skyscrapers because of all the straight lines but we don't have skyscrapers in Scotland and it's obviously illegal to film them anyway! It's an easy fix in post and it doesn't seem to deteriorate the image doing so.
Nice review. Gave a complete overview
Great stuff again!
Very good Stewart - looking forward to getting to grips with the Pro sometime :)
You'll love it Chris!
Links for RUclips app users on an iPad
0:49 Picture Analysis
6:51 Field of View
9:14 Variable Aperture
10:13 Noise
11:07 Cinematic Control
11:44 Stability
12:12 Battery Life
12:39 Range
13:47 Portability
14:45 Speed
15:54 Active Track
17:25 Quickshots
18:40 HLG
19:26 Controller
OUR BUSINESSES
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Drone Cinematography Education: dronefilmguide.com/
Commercial Film By Captain Cornelius: www.captaincornelius.co.uk
Wedding Cinematography By White Balloon Films: www.whiteballoonfilms.co.uk
BUSINESS CONTACT: captaincorneliusfilms@gmail.com
Thanks for the most useful wrap on these new Mavics that I've seen so far. The downside is that now I will have to get one, obviously...
Thank. Informative video. I have the m2pro. What colour grading software do you recommend using? I'm using cyberlink video editor which gives some options for editing colours but I want to learn about using LUTS and not sure where to start with that.
Great review, I found it very informative.
Thanks Ron!
I see you compare it to the Mavic Air. But how does it stack up to the old Mavic Pro? I've noticed in other videos that there is no moe course lock feature available. And the warping on the Mavic 2 Pro would bother me quite a bit when I look at those images.
General question: would you recommend an upgrade from the old Mavic Pro to the Mavic 2 Pro? I know you always say "it's what you do with it", but in all honesty, is the quality that much better that it is worth it?
Steven Peeters I have the same question and would like to hear his thoughts on this. I bought the Pro 2 and so far I have not seen a huge improvement over my Mavic Pro 1. I am hoping that I am simply not getting the settings right. I am not getting that much more picture quality over the 1. After hearing that .265 format will run slow on my MacBook Pro scares the hell out of me. I will give it a try today with some footage I shot yesterday. No way my wife will let me upgrade my Mac after upgrading the Mavic. :) Hopefully the Captain shares his thoughts on comparing the old Mavic Pro with the new. I am keeping the shipping box and might decide to return Mavic Pro 2 unless I can pull out better image quality.
John C sounds like you experience my fear of upgrading. Old Mavic Pro did a wonderful job this summer in Norway.but if that 1” sensor would Provide a lot better image quality that would be great. I’m also using ActiveTrack on my car, so higher speeds in ActiveTrack would bevthe main reason for upgrading to me. But so far, I haven’t seen a video of this tracking a car at 70kph
I don't have the original Mavic Pro to do side-by-side tests unfortunately but assuming the Mavic 2 Zoom is approximately the same as the Mavic Pro then the analysis and conclusions would be the same. As for whether to upgrade, much as I am very impressed with the M2P, I could only suggest upgrading if want to geek out about picture quality like we do. This is our job after all, so things like blending drone footage with ground cameras matters to us, as does manipulating the image in post. If on the other hand you are mainly shooting nicely illuminated landscapes on more of a hobby basis, then there's probably no compelling reason to upgrade and then we're back to the "it's what you do with it that counts" argument.
John C you can always change your wife :-)
Hi from the just outside Inverness... Fantastic Video by the way...😉I am fairly New to the world of Drones just Wondering my goal is to do photography and short films I have at the moment the Mavic Pro but looking at getting a New Mavic with 1 would you go for the M2P or the M2Z ..?
Hey! We just put out a new video there on the M2P vs M2Z and you'll see that we favour the M2P. Check it out and see if your considerations and priorities are similar to ours. Cheers!
Txs Stewart. Very informative.
Hello. Could you upload a best settings video for drone and gimbal. Do you think that we can use the same settings as the mavic 1?
Yeah, settings are basically the same.
I got the zoom , pushing it 800 iso is as far as i can go and it still look good to me. And im using 2.7k it save space on the card.
All and all i am very happy with it.
I am going to use straight HLG i feel. Brighter highlights and increased contrast should look amazing. But i guess you shouldnt color grade those files. Should look amazing on TV's with HDR thats for sure :)
Great stuff, as always. One odd thing. I have a Mavic Air and I don't have to unplug the side connector to get the iPad to work. I've just received my M2PRO so if I do have that issue there then you just saved me some frustration.
Have you reviewed the Autel Evo? If not, I'd be interested in seeing you do so. Thanks! Love your videos!
in the early comparisons i thought the mavic air looked nicer for picture quality. sharper and colors looked more vivid (i know this is something that color grading and correct but still)
Hi Stewart, I was always led to believe H265 was very slightly lower quality than H264 but with a much smaller file size! have I got the wrong end of the stick?
I only ask because you mentioned your computers difficulty in coping with it.
Your channel has been a great help in getting me started in the world of flying cameras, and helping my channel grow. thanks for the effort you both put in!
The technicalities of codecs are a little too much for my brain in all honesty! Nothing I've read suggests H.265 is lower quality however as its reason for being is to allow higher quality files to be compressed to usable sizes, e.g. 4K 10-bit. Apparently it uses 10x the computing power of H.264 however which is a bit of an issue!
Ah ok, its been a long time, I shall have to do some re reading up! Thank you!
I'm taking a long hard look at myself in the mirror lol. I'm actually on-board with the size of the 2 Pro for what it does (yes, I'd love to have one some day). For the amount of hiking I do with my gear, I'm very happy living without another bag right now. If I could only find a better way to carry my gimbal, my life would be complete lol.
Interesting that the Mac is in stumbling. I even find RUclips 4k stubbles with it and compressed! thanks for the video. I agree the codec is a issue
Maybe it's RUclips but in the comparison at 2:15, the Pro was the least sharp.
Another great video , think the zoom was really brought out to try and kill off Autel Evo sales ,, but for me the Pro wins all the way , my M air will be upgraded soon , 😬 oh and the dolly zoom will soon be like shellsuits on Sauchiehall St
As usual, fantastic breakdown and information from a pro's point of view. I was wondering what your opinion was of the built-in hyper-lapse mode in the Mavic Pro 2 when compared to just using tap-fly for hyperlapse. Does the built in EIS do a good job? I have a Mavic Air and use Davinci Resolve for editing, but I can never seem to get the stabilization good enougth in Davinvi :-(
Cheers for another great review!
The built in hyperlapse defaults to recording in 1080P at 25fps , if you want full 4k , set up in settings to keep the timelapse pictures , then use these to do a better time lapse in your edit program
Haven't tried it yet but will report back as and when we do!
Thanks for the reply. I would have thought the hyper-lapse would default to photo burst rather than video or is video better than photo burst for hyperlapse?
It does take pictures for the hyper-lapse , but the GO4 app converts the pictures down to 1080 video once the hyper-lapse quick-shot is finished , but if you set the GO4 app to keep the pictures taken during the quick-shot you can make a better hyper-lapse using these pictures once back home using your own video editor .
Thank you for sharing your settings when filming during overcast weather. Do you have a good starting point for bright sunny days? I live in Las Vegas, Nevada and you can't escape the sun.
Nightmare...too much sun! Anything we discussed in terms of settings is not weather dependent. In the bright sun you just need to watch you don't blow out the highlights so you might want to under expose slightly to protect the whites in the image. The M2P is brilliant for this because you can pull detail out of the mid-tones and shadows in post production without ruining the image.
Just a short correction/warning on HLG. HLG is an OUTPUT gamma. It is meant for footage which is displayed directly on HDR displays/TVs or uploaded to RUclips or such. It is NOT meant for grading! Of course, you can convert it to another Log/Linear/… gamma in your software for grading. Also, HLG is only the gamma and not directly bound to the color space. Don’t know exactly if DJI use the Rec.709 or BT.2020 color space - I would say they use the BT.2020, because TVs which support HLG normally also support 2020.
Short: if you want to grade your footage, I suggest using DLOG-M and NOT HLG.
Short search for a more “professional” description if you want to know more about this:
ruclips.net/video/dvTYhWkBXaU/видео.html
Also, if you want to bring back DLOG-M to Rec.709 quickly: DJI has released a “official” LUT:
www.dji.com/en/mavic-2/info#downloads
(but I hope Blackmagic will include it to Resolves RCM)
Greetings
Thanks for this!
Wait a minute, did you say that there is only CINELIKE-D profile on the Mavic 2 Zoom?
I'm only using this profile because it's also available on my GH4 and i have to say i kinda like it now.
Do you know if DJI will make available the CINELIKE-D profile on the pro version in the future? Because so far i was only interested in this one lol
Thanks for the great job as always! Have a great weekend and keep on flying :D
The DLog-M on the M2P is similar in appearance to D-Cinelike so I wouldn't worry about that.
H.265 tip. My Lenovo has a Gpu but h.265 footage was slowwwwww until I went into control panel > graphics and added all adobe programs to the graphics menu and set it for high performance. Mine works great now on h.265 footage. Maybe your MacBook has a similar setting.
I'll need to check that out!
Great vid as usual... Like it a lot and about to pull the trigger on a Mavic 2 Pro. But still looking for a few low light (early eve, night, morning) sample pics in DNG format. Any chance of you making some available? Thanks Steward!
Hello i own a DJI Spark and i wanted to upgrade to a MV2P or MV2Z i saw many YT videos comparing the 2 drones but I'm a little bit confuse i can't make up my mind about which one to choose
I do photography and videos but i don't do postproduction and i post my pictures/video on social media and the camera of my spark is the same 12mp of the M2Z
I know that the pro have better quality than the zoom but i wanted to know if it is really worth it to take the Mavic 2 Pro only for social media content ?
Your channel is an oasis of excellent, unbiased information - the only one I trust! Thank you!
Another good review-reminds me I need to get back up to Glencoe and Ballachulish-and see if I have the courage to fly it down the loch! I'm debating whether to sell the old P4, as the size and quietness really appeals to me.Which hill/Munro did you use for the high shots?
Hey! It's at the top of the Glencoe chair lift.
Hi Stewart, thanks for the great video, looking forward to seeing more of them using the two new Mavics. Couple of quick questions if I may, I’ve noticed that your video course is priced in $ and wondered what it was in £s, also I think I mentioned coming up to Scotland next year for a week or so driving around.....any tips on locations for getting some great shots? Thanks again take care and catch you later. Peter
Hello Peter! The course will translate to GBP at the prevailing rate when you purchase it. As for locations in Scotland, head up to Glencoe, it's insane.
First! LOL....I have never done that but I didn’t see anymore comments. Love your channel and I’m loving my Mavic 2 Pro. Very true about H.265.
Love your videos and are very helpful 👍 could you tell me your EXP settings for the mavic 2 Pro? Many thanks
Nathan Hollingsworth wanted to know the same thing.
Hey! I just have the yaw dialled down to 0.1 and the others at 0.25 I think. The others don't make a huge difference but it's crucial to get the yaw down.
Hi! Great review, one of the best ive seen!
Is it any chance to get some similar unedited sample footage (from M2Z & M2P) of any high contrast scene? I have big doubts about which drone one I should choose.. thx!)
Hey! Don't have any available online but I think you'll be able to find some in a forum. Cheers!
I don't have any problems editing the DLOG -M footage on my i7 laptop.
Great!
Hello. Do you know if the quick shots doesn't default to 30 frames like it did with air. It was super frustrating when your shooting everything else at 25 frames.
thanks, great help, any advice on phone or tablet to use
We use an iPhone SE because it turned out our iPad Mini 2 wasn't fast enough. Can't see any reason why this should be the case other than to sell more Apple products but then I'm not cynical enough to arrive at that conclusion!!
Great video @dronefilmguide 👍 just a quick question... Which sd card are you using in the Mavic 2pro? I have a Sandisk Extreme 64GB U3 in mine & experience jerky/skipping in playback on macbook air.
Hey! We have the same card as you I think. Are you playing back H.265 files though? As per the video, these are hard going on the computer.
@@DroneFilmGuide ya but tried .264 also & it was the same but footage plays smooth on my phone from sd card so I guess it's a problem with the mac air.
nice video, does active track 2.0 work correct when the object change alt (hiking, ski sports...) ?
In theory yes. We've had very mixed results with active track though.
On the Zoom version, can the speed of the zoom be modified in the menus somewhere? And, can it be made to "easy-ease" into or out of a zoom, rather than just hard-stopping at one end or the other?
You can control the speed a bit with the zoom wheel on the controller but from what I can tell it's only hard stopping.
Yeah,the zoom is not smooth while stop the zooming, have a look at parrot annafi, it using digital but very smooth!
Is there a gimbal clip included with the Mavic 2 Pro? I see where it has the gimbal cover but I am always a little paranoid about my gimbal when travelling and like knowing its properly secured.
The gimbal/camera cover locks the whole assembly in pretty tight so I wouldn't be too concerned about that.
Just got the M2Z and realized my editing software doesn’t take h265. Thinking of buying a newer one, does it worth it in term of image quality?
Just shoot everything in H.264 on the Zoom.
Good video sir, good to hear another accent aside from the yanks lol keep them coming.
Greetings, Stewart. Thanks for another helpful video. You note the "curvature" of the M2 Pro image. Presume this is due to the electronic shutter, vs. the mechanical shutter of the Phantom 4 Pro. I have a P4P and a Mavic Pro. so I've been back and forth like a tennis match on M2 Pro vs. Zoom. In the comparison videos I've seen, I've yet to run across someone who puts a high priority on the mechanical shutter. Other than the obvious point that with a P4P I already have a 1" sensor lens drone available to me, in making my decision am I putting too much importance on also avoiding the M2 Pro because of the electronic shutter?
I've read on rcgroups that the distortion is unlikely to be fixed. The inspire 2 has it too. Infact all cameras have it but many of them use the onboard processing to remove it. The thinking is that it is better to use the onboard processing to get the best possible picture and the distortion can be removed in the edit if need be, which will do a better job of removing than the onboard processing trying to remove it realtime.
Thanks for the reply, Roger. So, to be sure I understand, the distortion of the window sash sides in Stewart's video is not related to electronic vs. mechanical shutter? Rather, to the lens itself?
I would say that the distortion is because the lens is round rather than flat, I don't think whether it is mechanical or electronic shutter makes any difference. That makes a difference to the rolling shutter effect which is something different than distortion
Copy that. Thanks, again, Roger.
From what I understand it Will be fixed in a firmware update. The programming to fix it in the software on the drone was left out by mistake and will be added to get rid of the curvature
As you say, mavic air at ISO 100 is dire enough.....
Haha i hear you about the 10bit making powerful pc seem 25 years ok
it is true that the mavic 2 pro has problems with the camera sensor ?
Nope, not based on our tests. Quite the opposite, the picture is far superior to all other comparable drones.
I was not able to buy that drone here in Costa Rica because the store told me that there is a problem with that so they are not seling that drone until the problem get fix it, so i have bought the zoom :( i hope my desition was not a waste of money.
Interesting. Well you'll still get amazing results with the M2 Zoom. They are all amazing drones, just the M2P gives you a more 'pro' image IF you know what to do with it. A lot of the bad information on RUclips has come about from a lack of understanding about what professional filmmakers look for when it comes to image quality. Much as we love the M2P, it is hard work using the H.265 codec and there is a lot of post-processing required to grade the flat image, deal with the barrel distortion etc., so don't worry about that, just focus making some great aerial cinematography with your Zoom!
thanks, i will try it, thanks for all the info you share in your chanel is a big help.
Good video Stewart but you are becoming very DJI-centric.
A legitimate observation (mindful of course that DJI control 99% of the drone market)! :)
@@DroneFilmGuide Yes your observation of the market share is moot but only if you look at the high end models £1000++. If you look at the poor pleb end of the market, DJI aren't so strong. However, I would like a DJI Mavic pro - who wouldn't? I will have to wait my lottery win though.
I hear 10-bit only works with the cropped in 4k? Otherwise it's 8-bit at full width 28mm equivalent? Is that right?
No, that's not correct fortunately. H.265 10-bit DLog-M is available on both the 28mm full with and the 40mm (approx) narrower FOV.
@@DroneFilmGuide thanks a lot! I'll share that feedback with others! Just got to prepare the wife for my M2P purchase...
Quickshots aren't 4k = Garbage and False Advertising by DJI!
Great review, but your obsession with cinematic softness kills my eyes.