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M2P purchase imminent. Questions inside.**Purchased 8-25-19**
1009 13 2019-7-14
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Johnny C!
Second Officer
Flight distance : 44839 ft
United States
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When I bought my Spark a year or so ago, I was
very frustrated that it spent 2-4 hours per day
for 6 days to get the firmware loaded before
I could fly. I later bought a second Spark from
a friend who moved up to a M2Z, which I have
only flown a few times, and consider it a backup
replacement in case of a mishap with my primary.
Both have performed flawlessly since I have owned
them.

I was excited to learn about the 1" sensor in the Pro,
but I knew I would wait at least a few months after
it's release to let some these issue settle out.

Questions as follows:

How is the initial FW update process going for the
current M2P's?

What FW version is least problematic?

Are the focus issues with still images still
occurring, and are they significant?

Is it safe to assume there is a FW update
required before I can use the Smart Controller?
And will/can it have FW update issues as mentioned
above about my Spark? Do they still get bricked
easily?

What functions, if any, would I give up if
I buy the Smart Controller?

Can I use my Samsung S8 with the standard
controller without the OTG? And are the charging
issues betweeen the controller & the phone corrected
or can this function be turned off?

I tend to read the 1 star reviews first to try to
determine if/when I should buy a Pro. I have
realized that this may not be be the best idea.
So, the bottom line question is, am I safe in
buy a Pro now, and not run into many significant
issues, and not incur a lot of frustration in getting
it going.


I have been doing professional still photography
for over 30 years along side my profession of
mechanical engineering & design. I am a full
size pilot & fly my home built Just Aircraft
Highlander. I am Part 107 certified. I have been
using one of my Sparks for real estate & construction
site images and landscapes, so far. I am interested
in the M2P to begin my second round of photographing
waterfalls and scenics in my area. And while I will play
with video, my primary intended use for the M2P will
be stills.  My intention is to buy my Pro with the
Standard controller, and then later add the SC.

Any imput will be appreciated.

Thanks.

2019-7-14
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SPIKE_151
First Officer
Flight distance : 69767 ft
United Kingdom
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How is the initial FW update process going for the
current M2P's? Going ok not too many updates.

Are the focus issues with still images still
occurring, and are they significant? No, some drones had defective focus but most people who complained got theirs replaced.


Is it safe to assume there is a FW update
required before I can use the Smart Controller?
And will/can it have FW update issues as mentioned
above about my Spark? Do they still get bricked
easily? Yes there will be an update, if your internet connection is good, you should have no problems downloading and installing the update

What functions, if any, would I give up if
I buy the Smart Controller? You wont be able to use Litchi or other 3rd party apps

Can I use my Samsung S8 with the standard
controller without the OTG? And are the charging
issues betweeen the controller & the phone corrected Dont know as I use IOS

What FW version is least problematic? The latest versions seems stable.

Are the focus issues with still images still
occurring, and are they significant? This seems to be with certain drones, most have no problems a few have complained and go their drones replaced
or can this function be turned off?
2019-7-15
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kovat53
Captain
Flight distance : 324521 ft
Hungary
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'Can I use my Samsung S8 with the standard controller without the OTG? And are the charging issues betweeen the controller & tphone corrected  or can this function be turned off?'

I have always used Samsung Galaxy (S5, S7 Edge, S8, S9+, occasionally Huawey Mate T3 8"), have never had any problem, OTG works fine on upper and lower USB with Mavic 2P (Formerly I had Spark, one of the reason I changed for MA  was the OTG problem, and then changed for M2P becoause of MA's noise)). Charging  problem exists on Android devices. You can find some posts on the Forum, it comes from the nature of Android, namely charging can not be controlled, so RC will load your Android phone. Only one possibility is available, you have to fully load your Android phone before flying. Anyway I didn't have too much problem with this fact, It needs some more paying attention  to..... I hope I could help,  Best regards
2019-7-15
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Johnny C!
Second Officer
Flight distance : 44839 ft
United States
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Thanks Spike & Kovat!

John
2019-7-15
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Jasper Dean
Second Officer
United States
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As far as bugs go, I think most of the kinks have been worked out and it should be rather stable from here out.
I purchased my M2P in Sept of last year and it got bricked a couple of months ago doing a firmware update. DJI sent me a new replacement drone which turned out to have a bad camera on it. There were very soft spots throughout and the lower left corner was distorted. DJI sent me another new replacement a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good. The camera on this seems a tad sharper than on my original one.
I don't think the current models shipping have the "bricking" issue anymore. I always wire my bird via usb to the computer to do firmware updates. No wireless... No probs...
As far as the camera, I would definately do some test pics right away. I used a new brick wall as it had straight lines and lots of fine detail to check for soft spots.

When it has a good camera, it takes some incredible shots considering its on a tiny floating tripod that can be placed virtually anywhere and be fully controlled remotely. I can also vouch for its ability to stay put in some pretty hefty winds and still get a great pic.

If you are coming from a photography background, the M2P has many advantages over the Spark.
Theres the obvious, 20MP on the M2P vs 12MP on the Spark.
One of the biggest for me is the ability to shoot in Raw format.
You can shoot 5 brackets but they only give you .7 per bracket. Not very useful for HDR in my opinion.
It has an adjustable aperture but gets soft stopping down past about F/5. Being as you are rarely doing anything real close up the aperture really dosent help in shooting stills as DOF dosent really come into play, but it does help with video exposure.
It has your usual DSLR White Ballance settings including Custom that can be adjusted in 100K increments.
The color tones from this camera are very accurate to me.

Other advantages;
You get about twice the flight time per battery vs the Spark.
It is alot quieter than most drones I have heard (havent heard the Spark).

I would say that to get a better floating camera, you are going to need a much larger craft for a whole lot more money...
2019-7-15
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David Martin Graff
Captain
Flight distance : 84805085 ft
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United States
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The biggest giveaway you would be finding with the Smart Controller as opposed to the M2P's controller is telemetry.
2019-7-15
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Johnny C!
Second Officer
Flight distance : 44839 ft
United States
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Thanks for the detailed input,  Jasper!

David, I will look in to this, as well.

Thanks again for the input everyone.

John
2019-7-16
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Johnny C!
Second Officer
Flight distance : 44839 ft
United States
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I bought a M2P Sunday at My local Best Buy. I made it through
the activation process in a couple of hours. It is supposed to
be real simple & straight forward, but I finally dumped my
G04 app & installed a new one & it worked straight away.

I flew it this am, and took a few photo's a couple of vids.
I cropped the corners of different images and I seem to
have a good camera/lens combo. I'll fly it again in the am
for more photo's to analyze (sp?). I am going to buy DJI Care
Refresh. $140+ for some piece of mind compared to $499
from Best Buy- no thanks.

As for flying. Holy Cow!  What an awesome thing to fly!
It seems much quieter than my Sparks, and so quick!
I wanted to try sport mode, but I couldn't figure out how
to switch modes, and I was little nervous on the first
flight, so I landed. No since in pushing things on the
maiden. Kind of like the first flight on my home built.

Thanks for the input! This is going to fun!

John
2019-8-28
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Mullheliflier
Captain
Flight distance : 12305135 ft
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United Kingdom
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Glad you have got your Mavic 2 Pro John. I have a Pro and a Zoom. Fantastic machines. Enjoy it!
2019-8-28
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El Diabolico
First Officer

Germany
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No issues in general, connection is rock solid, focus issues were limited and replaced under warranty (regarding focus remember that you need to 'tap to focus' on the Mavic unlikely with the Spark that has a fixed focus to infinity), image quality nothing short of amazing specially for a drone this size (photos are even better than video), FW update with iOS outstanding (no info on Android but it tends to be more problematic). Mind that the sharper aperture will be from f/2.8 to f/4 so don't get too excited about the variable aperture AND you will need ND filters.
2019-8-28
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El Diabolico
First Officer

Germany
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Johnny C! Posted at 8-28 18:58
I bought a M2P Sunday at My local Best Buy. I made it through
the activation process in a couple of hours. It is supposed to
be real simple & straight forward, but I finally dumped my

You need to enable the option in the menu and then you can switch modes using the buttons on the right side of the controller. MIND that in Sport Mode the 'anti-collision' sensors are deactivated!
2019-8-28
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DAFlys
Captain
Flight distance : 93626696 ft
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El Diabolico Posted at 8-28 23:45
You need to enable the option in the menu and then you can switch modes using the buttons on the right side of the controller. MIND that in Sport Mode the 'anti-collision' sensors are deactivated!

Keep and eye on that side switch, its easy for it to get knocked to sport unintentionally when packing/unpacking your drone.
2019-8-29
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El Diabolico
First Officer

Germany
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DAFlys Posted at 8-29 00:16
Keep and eye on that side switch, its easy for it to get knocked to sport unintentionally when packing/unpacking your drone.

Good tip

Personally I do a pre-flight check every-time so if the sensors are off, something must be off...
2019-8-29
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Johnny C!
Second Officer
Flight distance : 44839 ft
United States
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I did another test flight today. Just working on getting
things set up the way I want. I will go back to Best Buy
for the Fly More Kit & an SD card. My local Walmart
does not have the faster Sandisks.

I switched on the other modes. Sport is exhilarating!

One of the things I have learned since I bought it that is
a little disappointing is that it will only produce low quality
jpegs, or full size raw images. Coming from a still photography
background, it seems odd that you can't pick several sizes in
between. Oh well. That just makes it very clear when to use
the M2P & the Sparks for me.

Keep the comments going. I appreciate the input & the
comradery that we have here.

John
2019-8-29
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