I've seen a few comments and youtube videos about the M2P image quality being soft?  Has anyone performed some head to head tests between Mavic Pro, P4P, and Mavic 2 Pro?
If it is soft, I'm wondering if it's due to the larger sensor....kind of like on a DSLR between a crop sensor and full frame sensor, whereas the full frame sensor would yield shallower depth of field at the same aperture, and therefore be "softer" in the foreground/background?  

Watch this on a 4K TV or monitor to see  , it looks great on my 70 inch 4K TV.

Kingram Posted at 2018-8-26 10:04
Watch this on a 4K TV or monitor to see .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1AfRHfsy3U&t=2s

No point in watching a 1080 video on a 4k monitor.

I agree, looks almost out of focus the samples ive seen, and a little smudgy, at least the stills...

Then watch in on a 4K TV and let it scale it up.

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-26 10:07
I agree, looks almost out of focus the samples ive seen, and a little smudgy, at least the stills...

Do the samples show which aperture they were shot at?  I'm wondering if they were shot wide open or with a large aperture?

Makes me wonder if we will have to stop down with the M2P in order to obtain sharp images?

"Do the samples show which aperture they were shot at?  I'm wondering if they were shot wide open or with a large aperture?

Makes me wonder if we will have to stop down with the M2P in order to obtain sharp images?"


That makes perfect sense. We sell DSLR lenses. You would not believe the number of people who purchase a fast lens and then bring it back because of focus issues. If anything the MP2 variable aperture will require new techniques or stop it right down.


Mine is in the mail, looking forward to experimenting for myself.

Black Diesel Posted at 2018-8-26 10:38
Do the samples show which aperture they were shot at?  I'm wondering if they were shot wide open or with a large aperture?

Makes me wonder if we will have to stop down with the M2P in order to obtain sharp images?

Was thinking that myself, sweetspot on the P4P is 5.6, a couple outside that range and it starts to get blurry...

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-26 10:53
Was thinking that myself, sweetspot on the P4P is 5.6, a couple outside that range and it starts to get blurry...

Yeah, well be interesting if there is a "sweet spot" aperture on the M2P setting as to avoid soft OOF areas with large apertures, and avoid diffraction with the smaller apertures.

Here's another observation of the M2P image "softness".  I hope someone who's really qualified performs a detailed comparison on image quality (in relation to sharpness) between the P4P, Mavic Pro, and Mavic 2 Pro.  We all know the dynamic range is better with the new 1" sensor, but what about sharpness?

Scroll to 1:10 on this video:

Hmmm… a speculation comparison.
This guy doesn't have the 2 Pro and is using YouTube examples for comparison.
Rubbish.

Aeromirage Posted at 2018-8-26 12:07
Hmmm… a speculation comparison.
This guy doesn't have the 2 Pro and is using YouTube examples for comparison.
Rubbish.

Agreed, but I have seen this mentioned by multiple sources now, so maybe there's something we're missing. I'm hoping someone qualified who has access to the latest drones can make a legitimate IQ comparison.

Kingram Posted at 2018-8-26 10:08
Then watch in on a 4K TV and let it up scaled it .

The video you linked to is streaming at 4k here, and looks pretty good on 4k monitor.

I can't see how anyone can tell from here.

We *KNOW* the mavic 1 is mushy and unusable unless you set sharpness to +1.  On that level the image is over sharpened from the camera but its the best we can get.  Without the bug most of us would like to shoot at 0 or -1 to give us more flexibility later but the noise reduction bug means its unusable.

None of these M2 clips so far do we know what settings they used to film it (sharpness -1,0,+1 or whatever) and that WILL affect the output.
Ideally, without the bug of the mavic 1 you'd expect or hope an image to come out slightly soft (not OOF, thats different).  That allows you the most control i post processing to get it right without introducing artefacts.

Its possible the M1 looks sharper because the bug has forced people to shoot using more sharpening in-camera.

Also, trying to see these things on a youtube video is ludicrous.  It changes codec, it compresses, it completely changes the video to the extent you cant extract any useful data.

We need to wait for people who know what they're doing to get actual M2P samples and do controlled condition tests. Not just people with no idea extrapolating from a compressed youtube video and not knowing the starting settings!

As for stills, i havent seen any with any obvious oof/aperture issues.  Ive looked at all the ones from Ming Thien's blog and flickr along with the others i can find (and played in ACR) and cant see any issues regardless of aperture used.

I've seen a few comments and youtube videos about the M2P image quality being soft?

There is some softness to Mavic 2 images.  But softness is minor compared to Mavic Pro.

Being realistic, one should expect some softness or slight OoF or vignetting.  It is not like these drones have massive multi-element ultra high-quality lens (aka $1,500) sitting in front of their imaging sensors.  Not like Mavic Pro 2 could even take off with some of lens used on Pro DSLR cameras!

If anyone sees any legitimate tests done online please link them in this thread.  I'll be waiting patiently for some of the experts to dive into some IQ testing.

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-26 10:06
No point in watching a 1080 video on a 4k monitor.

hey there are option that you can chose for the video quality
there is 4k in the option

jacksonnai Posted at 2018-8-27 04:45
hey there are option that you can chose for the video quality
there is 4k in the option

No it itsnt, 1080 is the highest...

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-27 05:42
No it itsnt, 1080 is the highest...

There's a 4k option, it's your device that is limiting it to 1080p.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-26 14:46
I've seen a few comments and youtube videos about the M2P image quality being soft?

There is some softness to Mavic 2 images.  But softness is minor compared to Mavic Pro.

The fact that it's in the air and moving plays a massive part too. The test would be to mount the mavic on a tripod and see how sharp the results are at various apertures.

Chasing Light & Shadows Posted at 2018-8-27 05:47
There's a 4k option, it's your device that is limiting it to 1080p.

Ive got a 5k monitor

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-27 05:52
Ive got a 5k monitor [view_image]

Yeah, must be the device you're playing it from or some weird youtube problem. 4K works fine on mine.

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-27 05:52
Ive got a 5k monitor [view_image]

So what is this

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-27 05:52
Ive got a 5k monitor [view_image]

5k monitor that can't play a 4k video?

Chasing Light & Shadows Posted at 2018-8-27 05:55
[view_image]

Yeah, must be the device you're playing it from or some weird youtube problem. 4K works fine on mine.

Same here 4k work well

Black Diesel Posted at 2018-8-26 15:08
If anyone sees any legitimate tests done online please link them in this thread.  I'll be waiting patiently for some of the experts to dive into some IQ testing.

Closest legitimate test for drone cameras, I have seen.

DxOMark benchmarks for popular drone camera sensors

The video plays in 4K for me and generally looks good.  But is just a collage of clips, with no clue about the camera settings.  Some is shot with the 2 Zoom (0:26), and there are probably other clips with the 2 Pro.  All the internet chatter about softness is not based on any controlled tests.  I've seen some some YouTube 2 Pro video that seemed soft, and some that seemed good.  Anyone who is competent with photography and video should be able sort out the camera capability of the 2 Pro pretty quickly.  I have a 2 Pro on order and hope to test the camera this weekend.  And no, I won't post any YouTube video, but will have quantitative comments.  The sensor in the 2 Pro is capable of very good 4K.  If the lens design is anywhere reasonable it should be 4K capable, and beyond.  Then it's up to the Hasselblad/DJI algorithms and firmware to get it right.  I'm anxious to take a look.

jacksonnai Posted at 2018-8-27 05:58
So what is this
[view_image]

Someone just got wrecked , lol

The video quality from M2 is softer but it's not mushy and smeared like the M1. Upping the sharpness to +1 helps nicely. The main reason it looks a little soft is because it's using the full sensor, which is obviously not native 4k. The cropped video mode seems to be much sharper, at least in my tests.
If you add some sharpness in post production the video quality is on par/better than the Phantom 4 Pro.

Kingram Posted at 2018-8-28 13:09
Someone just got wrecked , lol

lol maybe there are some problem with his monitor or a bug on youtube

Found out that Safari no longer support 4k in YT, welcome to the future

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-26 14:14
I can't see how anyone can tell from here.

We *KNOW* the mavic 1 is mushy and unusable unless you set sharpness to +1.  On that level the image is over sharpened from the camera but its the best we can get.  Without the bug most of us would like to shoot at 0 or -1 to give us more flexibility later but the noise reduction bug means its unusable.

Totally agree. Thats why I bought MP2. Just because of that bug.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html   <--- there you go.  Sony RX100 has a 1" sensor so use that for the source.

Generally on a 1" sensor i'd expect some (but not a lot) of diffraction to start to creep in around about f/8 onwards.

We're all getting hyped on the 1 inche sensor but as far as ground based cameras go, 1" is really small!

CineView Media Posted at 2018-8-28 22:20
Found out that Safari no longer support 4k in YT, welcome to the future

Yeah been wondering what happened to 4K in my Safari! Gahhh Apple dropping the ball

I've seen soft mavic pro video on YouTube by Billy.  I figured it was the auto settings.  The spark is sharp but too sharp which causes flickering problems.  I'm sure at 4.8 n the right settings the pro will be great.

Mavic 2 pro that is!

A lot of M2P's were delivered by Fedex in the last two days....there's got to be someone testing the IQ as we speak.  Mine is arriving any day now but I won't have time for testing.  We need an "ideal M2P setting" thread.

Kingram Posted at 2018-8-26 10:04
Watch this on a 4K TV or monitor to see  , it looks great on my 70 inch 4K TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1AfRHfsy3U&t=2s

Looks good to me!

This is the best I've seen for an objective sharpness test. Unfortunately, it is not compared to the Mavic 1 Pro, but he claims that the Mavic 2 Pro is worse than the P4P and the Mavic 2 Zoom, even at the cropped, 1:1 pixel setting ("HQ mode").
https://mavicpilots.com/threads/ ... rone-this-is.46384/