All other things about the Mavic look great. I cannot take a step back in video quality. I think I'll stick with my Phantom 4

You are looking at the wrong videos then, or you are justifying your P4.   The only difference in the cameras is a extremely slight sharpness variance.  

Each to their own..
Compromise a tiny bit of quality for portability.
Camera is still yet to be proven by the public. All the Mavics are demo models and may still require tweaking. I still think focus is an excellent choice as it introduces depth. Kind of sick of seeing that flat 'infinite focus' aerial footage.
Question at the end of the day is... would your rather get a decent shot or nothing at all?

The Mavic has an adjustable focus and most reviewers did not know that so the camera was not focused.
Here's a couple reviews from people who know how to use the camera. And your P4 is also an incredible aircraft. The Mavic is all about portability and useful for unplanned events as most users will carry it around with them wherever they go. The P4 is used for planned events and you know you are going out to use it.

"All other things about the Mavic look great. I cannot take a step back in video quality. I think I'll stick with my Phantom 4"

You are simply mis-informed.  The image quality is on par or better than P4.

Fulgerite Posted at 2016-10-8 14:02
You are simply mis-informed.  The image quality is on par or better than P4.

Agreed. I'll wait for public reviews

waynepj3@gmail. Posted at 2016-10-8 23:53
Agreed. I'll wait for public reviews

Same sensor, but slightly slower lens. This means slightly noisier images but only pixel counters will notice.

Airwater Posted at 2016-10-9 07:39
Same sensor, but slightly slower lens. This means slightly noisier images but only pixel counters  ...

Since when is F2.2 slower than F2.8? Someone needs to find a beginner photography book.

sbug206 Posted at 2016-10-9 09:07
Since when is F2.2 slower than F2.8? Someone needs to find a beginner photography book.

I know huh? Folks, an f2.2 lens is 2/3 of an F stop faster than an f2.8 lens. Meaning more light gets to the sensor allowing lower ISOs (cleaner images) and faster shutter speeds.

I've linked a good explanation in the underlined text.

SR-71Habu Posted at 2016-10-9 10:17
I know huh? Folks, an f2.2 lens is 2/3 of an F stop faster than an f2.8 lens. Meaning more light ge ...

Look at the stunning picture clarity of the Phantom 4 on a windy day.
What if I don't want to tap to focus. What if I just want it to focus automatically. Will Mavic have that option?

waynepj3@gmail. Posted at 2016-10-9 10:29
Look at the stunning picture clarity of the Phantom 4 on a windy day.
What if I don't want to tap t ...

I've heard conflicting stories on whether there will be a continuous auto focus setting in addition to "tap to focus".

None of the focusing stuff has much to do with the speed of the lens though. Theoretically, a faster lens will give "cleaner" low light images particularly in the shadow areas. Meaning there will be less noise visible because the lens is letting in more light and allowing lower ISO settings.

My understanding is that the Phantom 4 has a fixed focus lens which means it has no focusing ability at all. Which is an inherent compromise. I think if you examined a still image from a Phantom 4 carefully that has subjects that are near and far you would find that not every part of the image would be equally sharp. I'm sure they optimized the fixed focus for distant subjects out to infinity.

Theoretically (again, ha ha) a lens that actually has a variable focus will result in sharper images because if you tap to focus on your desired subject it will be in sharp focus.

I will be surprised and a bit disappointed if they don't offer a full time intelligent auto focus mode just like what you find in video cameras. I think it is probably a tough call because aerial photography has a defined subject less often than you would when using a terrestrial camera.

I did read in one of these threads that you can set a focus point and have that mapped to one of the custom buttons on the transmitter. My strategy will be to set a focus point that optimized focus for mid range out to infinity if there is no full time auto focus.

Just because they "have the same sensor", it does not necessarily mean the images will be similar.  It really boils down to the lens.  Yes, the Mavic has 2.2 vs 2.8 of P4 but what is MORE important is the quality of the glass in terms of sharpness, distortion, vignetting, etc.  On my DSLR, I can put a 1.8 crappy lens and the pics/vids will not look as good as a good 4.0 pro lens though it's the "same sensor". I sincerely hope the Mavic images are good.  But none of the videos I've seen so far(and I have seen them ALL on a 4K monitor)  have blown me away.

I think it might be your eyes as you seem to need to type in upper case to see them clearly!

Tharg (from the Posted at 2016-10-10 00:57
I think it might be your eyes as you seem to need to type in upper case to see them clearly!

Mr useful back in the house.. do you just stalk forums posting non relevant crap in your spare time!?

I think I would reserve my opinion about the lens & camera quality until I see the raw footage files directly from the drone.

Looking at footage that has been through edit software and then transcoded again for YouTube or Vimeo... Can be very misleading.

In my opinion the P3 and P4 footage has an over sharpened look.  (Like a sharpen filter has been applied.)  The Mavic footage does not look as sharpened in some of these early tests.  But that could just be the preference of the people editing the footage.  Until I see the raw footage files from the Mavic... I will not pass any judgement other than to say it looks very impressive thus far.

I understand some people will just really "want" the P4 to look better...   And will insist it does.  So be it.

Fulgerite Posted at 2016-10-9 20:44
I think I would reserve my opinion about the lens & camera quality until I see the raw footage files ...

I kind of agree with you and I kinda don't ,but someone has to say it , since P4 came out I had not ever heard 1 complaint about its camera footage being too sharp , now that it is being compared to Mavic all of a sudden and I include you in this there is a problem with P4 camera footage being too sharp what a load of crap, I ask anyone including you to show me where in this forum there was a discussion on the footage of P4 camera being to sharp, it seems it's much easier to knock something down, rather than it is to discuss what are real concerns from people here , sometimes it better to say nothing than to make excuses about things we know nothing about

bert_vargas Posted at 2016-10-9 11:52
Just because they "have the same sensor", it does not necessarily mean the images will be similar.   ...

Sure it boils down to the lens. But my assumption until proven differently is that at these similar price points there is nothing significantly different about the quality of the glass in the areas you mention. It's not like the P4 has Canon L lens quality optics. Both of these drones have lenses that are equivalent to decent to good consumer grade lenses.

That being said, the sensor fab is the same to my knowledge and I think the biggest difference spec wise regarding the camera is the faster lens in the Mavic and the theoretical possibility that the tap to focus design in the Mavic would allow for better sharpness at and near the focus point than is possible with a fixed focus design.

People spend 1000s of dollars to buy 1 stop faster lenses in the interchangeable lens world and there is a massive benefit particularly in the areas of available/low light photography. I hope the lens will allow less noisy sunset footage out of the Mavic to think of one scenario.

hallmark007 Posted at 2016-10-9 13:03
I kind of agree with you and I kinda don't ,but someone has to say it , since P4 came out I had no ...

I was not making any "excuses".  And I definitely HAVE herd some complaints that the stock settings on the P4 are over sharpened.  Sharpening filters often add "ringing" artifacts around areas of high contrast.  I know my P3 does exhibit these artifacts on the "standard" setting.  This sharpening is easily dialed back in the advanced camera settings.  (And that's a matter of preference.)

Please don't take my comments as being biased toward the Mavic.  I just think that there has been a tendency to judge the camera based on very few examples shot by users of varying skill levels.  I will reserve my judgements about the Mavic camera until I can test it my self.  I have seen some video footage from Mavic that looked great and other examples that were not focused and not graded to my preference too.

Fulgerite Posted at 2016-10-11 01:21
I was not making any "excuses".  And I definitely HAVE herd some complaints that the stock settings ...

Yes, everyone please wait your Mavics arrive to judge. There's already been very sharp crystal clear footage posted online from the Mavic.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-10 18:34
Yes, everyone please wait your Mavics arrive to judge. There's already been very sharp crystal cle ...

Fully agree if it's anyway close to camera on P4 it will great , I for one am looking forward to using tap focus, anything that gives over control to the user is good for me.

hallmark007 Posted at 2016-10-11 01:55
Fully agree if it's anyway close to camera on P4 it will great , I for one am looking forward to u ...

It's the portability that I'm the most excited for.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-8 08:23
The Mavic has an adjustable focus and most reviewers did not know that so the camera was not focused ...

I think Mavic is also useful for filming expeditions in moutains, when one has to carry a lot uphill. Here is the video to film which we had to walk 1400 meter above sea level. It was filmed with my P3A, but I would certainly prefer a foldable lighter aircraft in this situation.

Oleksiy Posted at 2016-10-12 20:57
I think Mavic is also useful for filming expeditions in moutains, when one has to carry a lot uphi ...

Yes for sure, the Mavic will be the perfect aircraft for you.

Kind of a hard point to argue. For instance, some people base their opinion of quality on whether a camera shoots with more "vivid" colors, while other people look for cameras based on how flat the captures are. Some people shoot in manual mode with their DSLRs so that they have full control, and would never even consider a camera's "auto" modes as a gauge of quality, while others think a camera is crap if it only has a manual mode and isn't "easy" to use right out of the box. Some people want sharp, everything-in-focus images all the time with no effort, while some people want control over depth of field and varying degrees of bokeh. waynepj3 simply may want a different beast from what the Mavic offers. He sees the features as negatives, where many of us see the features as positives.

thegrindlab Posted at 2016-10-12 17:36
Kind of a hard point to argue. For instance, some people base their opinion of quality on whether a  ...

Like most things photography is subjective , my thinking is each to his/her own, sharp focus,soft focus, flat where you in post you can make it as sharp or soft as you please, i think Mavic!s camera will have something for everyone, which is great

Agreed. The Mavic is what I've been waiting for.

thegrindlab Posted at 2016-10-12 23:29
Agreed. The Mavic is what I've been waiting for.

Nice comparison in this review

hallmark007 Posted at 2016-10-13 06:42
https://youtu.be/zSmDrB_SC7k
Nice comparison in this review

Nice video, but your incorrect about the tilting up. The camera tilts up 30° just like the Phantom, you have to enable it same way as the Phantom in the Advanced tab of the Gimbal Settings.