Should I buy a Mavic now or wait?

Michael Thames said:
The trick is not to watch reviews of the P4 along side the Mavic. If you look at the Mavic footage on it's own its not quite so bad.
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...Casey Neistat was one of the first reviewers of the Mavic, but most of his early comparison videos against the P4 had the Mavic camera not focused properly so the image looks very soft. Make sure you check out other Mavic test footage as Casey's early test footage does not do the Mavic justice.
 
TheDingo said:
...Casey Neistat was one of the first reviewers of the Mavic, but most of his early comparison videos against the P4 had the Mavic camera not focused properly so the image looks very soft. Make sure you check out other Mavic test footage as Casey's early test footage does not do the Mavic justice.
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I looked at the video you sent me and that footage is much better. I think I'm about to buy a Mavic today! One of the features I like most is tripod mode. While Greg suggested to learn to fly on a cheap P3, which makes sense, I think it might be better to start off learning the newest software, which seems like it will take some time to figure out anyway.

Thinking about my next guitar videos inside a Church...... in tripod mode it could interesting, and going milli-vanilli.

BTW, I love Casey's crazy videos he cracks me up! Sounds though like he got a lemon Mavic as he lost it in the river..... probably a fault in the early Mavic's.
 
Greg_E said:
You do know that these things are MONSTEROUSLY loud don't you? Something about in church, and guitar with a UAV doesn't go together for me. I doubt there is any mic. technique that could be used to prevent the swarm of bees sound from getting into a music recording.

Remember... Just because you can shoot a porn movie with a UAV doesn't mean it should be done that way. https://www.cultofmac.com/302006/nsfw-first-porn-shot-aerial-drone/
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Ha ha! Yea they seem pretty loud that's another reason why I went for the Mavic...... seems noticeably less loud that the p4's.

I assume everyone knows what "milli-vanilli" means, or maybe not. It's means lip-sinking. The guitarist would play along to a prerecorded sound track so the noise from the drone wouldn't matter other than to drive people nuts, or I could edit the,drone footage into the live recording because from a distance and flying around you can't really make out the fingers of the guitarist anyway.
 
Thanks for the porn! If it was shot in 4K and could punch in, it would have been more interesting.... ha! Just think of all the possibilities in tripod mode!!!

Is it me....... but there is something un-natural about having sex in the natural.
 
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Just ordered the Mavic. Ive been doing a lot of research into this. Was on the fence about getting the DJI Refresh card, but it seems like a rip-off. Guys are saying they got State Farm insurance for $60 a year, which covers loss and theft. DJI doesn't cover the Mavic if it drops into the ocean and you never find it. Also, Adorama has the VIP-360 club of which Im a member. Theier 360 covers 2-day shipping on all orders, extended warranties, AND basically the same coverage DJI offers on damages. for $49.00 a year. Just thought I'd pass that on.
 
I've had a Mavic Pro for a month. I am not 107, just playing with it for fun, not for clients or my own projects. So far, here are some things to be aware of.

1. The latest version of the DJi Go 4 App is defective. Mine worked perfectly for two weeks, then out of the blue, the video feed back to my iPad Mini 4 (which is supposed to be the ideal Mavic Pro screen) has become very choppy and stuttery.
2. Along with the lagging video, which makes flying it not fun and risky, I, as well as many hundreds of other users, are constantly getting a "CPU Overload - Performance May be Affected" warning. DJI knows the app is currently defective. They will eventually issue a fix but who knows when? In the meantime, I have barely flown my drone because it is not fun to not be able to see smooth, constantly updated video. The screen on my iPad freezes for up to a second to three seconds. Not good.
3. The Mavic Pro is super easy to fly. Watch some YouTube videos and get up to speed.
4. Get Airmap, B4uFly and Hover apps and use them. Don't fly where you shouldn't. Call airport control towers when you will fly within 5 miles of an airport. Don't do stupid things like fly it over people or roads or schools. Be aware of your local heliports and air traffic.
5. I tried flying with my Phone and the controller and was still getting the CPU overload warning so it's not the device, its the app that is defective.
6. I bought the DJI Refresh. Cheap insurance for a $1,000.00 piece of gear.
7. When the app was behaving, flying is super fun and addicting. Can't wait until they fix it.
 
puredrifting said:
I've had a Mavic Pro for a month. I am not 107, just playing with it for fun, not for clients or my own projects. So far, here are some things to be aware of.

1. The latest version of the DJi Go 4 App is defective. Mine worked perfectly for two weeks, then out of the blue, the video feed back to my iPad Mini 4 (which is supposed to be the ideal Mavic Pro screen) has become very choppy and stuttery.
2. Along with the lagging video, which makes flying it not fun and risky, I, as well as many hundreds of other users, are constantly getting a "CPU Overload - Performance May be Affected" warning. DJI knows the app is currently defective. They will eventually issue a fix but who knows when? In the meantime, I have barely flown my drone because it is not fun to not be able to see smooth, constantly updated video. The screen on my iPad freezes for up to a second to three seconds. Not good.
3. The Mavic Pro is super easy to fly. Watch some YouTube videos and get up to speed.
4. Get Airmap, B4uFly and Hover apps and use them. Don't fly where you shouldn't. Call airport control towers when you will fly within 5 miles of an airport. Don't do stupid things like fly it over people or roads or schools. Be aware of your local heliports and air traffic.
5. I tried flying with my Phone and the controller and was still getting the CPU overload warning so it's not the device, its the app that is defective.
6. I bought the DJI Refresh. Cheap insurance for a $1,000.00 piece of gear.
7. When the app was behaving, flying is super fun and addicting. Can't wait until they fix it.
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Bummer to hear about the flaws in the DJI app. It seems DJI from what I researched has been plagued with problems since its release.

I cancelled my order, but ordered a bunch of Mavic accessories on Amazon! I'll most likely reorder next week after my CC clears, and have a little more time researching. Really its just a fun toy for me with no relevance in my professional career. Since I work in my shop all day I watch lots of videos on the Part 107 certificate, so Im slowly familiarizing myself.

I don't see myself using a drone for anything other than fun.

You know you can get State Farm insurance for $60.00 a year that covers loss and theft. DJI refresh dosen't cover loss or theft, then if something happens they replace your new Mavic with an old refurbished one. Adorama has a better deal than DJI...... Like any extended warranty DJI is a rip-off.
 
The more contact you have with DJI the more you realize they're a company that puts out amazing hardware that's often saddled with sub-par software and downright shitty customer service.

Firmware updates are nearly always a painful experience. GO app updates are often messy and buggy.

My P4 Pro sat in it's box for a few days waiting on their GO 4 app to be released... because apparently it came as a surprise to them (they've been doing iOS apps for how long?) that Apple's review process can sometimes take a few days to a week or two to release an app.

Trying to get customer service for their gear (even the insanely expensive "pro" stuff) is like pulling teeth and having your own teeth pulled at the same time.

I had a Spreading Wings S900 for a while and the plastic cover that covers the wiring in the center hub of the airframe cracked. They wanted me to send in the ENTIRE aircraft at my expense so THEY could replace a 30 cent piece of Chinese plastic. The alternative was buying an entire lower center hub assembly at over $200. Keep in mind this is a user-serviceable part... you have to take it off when you assemble the craft out of the box. They just didn't sell the part.

That said, DJI is about all we have right now for a turnkey drone and their stuff (when it works) works really well. Lest I be branded a DJI hater, here's the list of birds and other gear I've owned or own from them: Phantoms (1, 2, 3 Pro, 4, 4 Pro), Mavic Pro, Inspire 1 (X3, X5, X5R), Spreading Wings S900, Zenmuse Z15-GH4, Zenmuse Z15-NEX, Ronin, Ronin M, Osmo Plus, Osmo Mobile. I currently own the P4 Pro, Inspire 1 X5R, Ronin M and Osmo Plus (with mount for my X5R).
 
jbregar said:
The more contact you have with DJI the more you realize they're a company that puts out amazing hardware that's often saddled with sub-par software and downright s*%tty customer service.

Firmware updates are nearly always a painful experience. GO app updates are often messy and buggy.

My P4 Pro sat in it's box for a few days waiting on their GO 4 app to be released... because apparently it came as a surprise to them (they've been doing iOS apps for how long?) that Apple's review process can sometimes take a few days to a week or two to release an app.

Trying to get customer service for their gear (even the insanely expensive "pro" stuff) is like pulling teeth and having your own teeth pulled at the same time.

I had a Spreading Wings S900 for a while and the plastic cover that covers the wiring in the center hub of the airframe cracked. They wanted me to send in the ENTIRE aircraft at my expense so THEY could replace a 30 cent piece of Chinese plastic. The alternative was buying an entire lower center hub assembly at over $200. Keep in mind this is a user-serviceable part... you have to take it off when you assemble the craft out of the box. They just didn't sell the part.

That said, DJI is about all we have right now for a turnkey drone and their stuff (when it works) works really well. Lest I be branded a DJI hater, here's the list of birds and other gear I've owned or own from them: Phantoms (1, 2, 3 Pro, 4, 4 Pro), Mavic Pro, Inspire 1 (X3, X5, X5R), Spreading Wings S900, Zenmuse Z15-GH4, Zenmuse Z15-NEX, Ronin, Ronin M, Osmo Plus, Osmo Mobile. I currently own the P4 Pro, Inspire 1 X5R, Ronin M and Osmo Plus (with mount for my X5R).
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Thanks for the info. That's what happens when companies have the vast majority of market share.

BTW, is the X5R good? The images from it are stunning. Is it easy to work with the footage?
 
Jbregar, I'm seriously now considering the Osmo Pro as well. It would be a good solution to the Letus Helix with the C100 mkii set up, not to mention the fatigue factor that makes it unbearable to hold for more than a few minutes at a time. The question you may be able to help me with is ...... what are the differences between the X5 and the X5R besides Raw? Both cameras identical image wise shooting 4K?

I like the idea of being able to shoot raw, but the raw work flow seems unbearable for me with my present computers. The images with the X5R blow my mind. Would you recommend going with the X5 or future proofing and get the X5R? It just a matter of a $1000 bucks?

Any problems you can foresee with the Osmo pro I'm not seeing? Thanks!
 
I had an Osmo, (not a Pro). All I can say is "meh". PITA to tie up your phone with your camera, it doesn't work well. Osmo eats batteries. It's also a Sony imager. As a Canon shooter, you may not be happy with the Sony colorimetry. I shot a show on my C300 and 100 a year and a half ago and used the Osmo for B-roll and I could never even get the footage in the same neighborhood as far as color. It's a fun gadget but overall, probably not what a pro is looking for (and I know you are not a pro). I would recommend a Zhiyun Crane with a Fujinon XT-2 over it hands down.
 
puredrifting said:
I had an Osmo, (not a Pro). All I can say is "meh". PITA to tie up your phone with your camera, it doesn't work well. Osmo eats batteries. It's also a Sony imager. As a Canon shooter, you may not be happy with the Sony colorimetry. I shot a show on my C300 and 100 a year and a half ago and used the Osmo for B-roll and I could never even get the footage in the same neighborhood as far as color. It's a fun gadget but overall, probably not what a pro is looking for (and I know you are not a pro). I would recommend a Zhiyun Crane with a Fujinon XT-2 over it hands down.
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Thanks Puredrifting, thats pretty much the conclusion Ive come to watching Osmo videos all day. I'm back to using the Helix, but I need a good cheaper camera with auto-focus. That's probably the best route to take at this point. Was looking seriously at getting a GH5 but it's AF is not up to speed to use on a gimbal by all accounts.
 
The only difference between the X5 and the X5R is that the X5R can record raw to the proprietary SSDs. That's it. The imaging is exactly the same. The X5R even requires that you have an SD card in there in addition to the SSD that gets a dump of exactly what you'd get from an X5 on it.

So, save some bucks and get the X5, right?

Well, the biggest handicap of the X5 is the codec DJI saddled it with. It does a 60Mb/s flavor of H.264 that has DJI's normal codec issues. In particular they're TERRIBLE with detail in green. Which means foliage looks like someone smeared poo on a plate. The ability to record raw helps a ton with that.

That said, DJI raw from the X5R is a pain in the butt to work with. I end up usually kicking out CinemaDNG from CineLight (the only software that can read the proprietary DJI raw format) and then pulling the CinemaDNG into Resolve or Lightroom for processing. If it's less critical stuff, I'll grade it in CineLight and kick out ProRes.

Yes, the X5R is capable of stunning footage... but it's painful to get there sometimes. I fly my P4 Pro a lot more than the Inspire Raw these days.

If you're not shooting foliage (where I've really noticed the issues with greens) then you'd probably be pretty happy with the X5 on the Osmo handle. It's capable of some stunning stuff as well. For me, foliage is a major part of most drone shoots, so I never really loved what I was getting off of the X5.

I really need to break down and buy the Oslo handle and X5R adapter.
 
For those of you that just want to learn to fly a uav, Newegg has the DJI refurbished Phantom 3 Standard with 2.7k camera on sale for $350 with a $20 gift card for future purchases on sale again. Decided I would go ahead and buy it this time around.

It was discussed in another thread that the 2.7k camera is not the best, but everything else is pretty high if you are just looking to see if flying one if these is even within your ability. There is some alternate phone software that you can use to bring things like optical object tracking to this old uav. You'll have to search because I don't remember the name right now.

To me this purchase will let me hold off the desire for a Mavic Pro, maybe until they bring the second generation Mavic to market. I'm only working in HD, and only for hobby use so the old P3 will probably fill a lot of desires for a while. But eventually I'll want the folding portability of Mavic, assuming I can get the hang of flying one of these. I have crashed a lot of RC planes and helicopters, but those were with no guidance and barely any tail gyro almost 10 years ago.
 
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