DJI Mavic 2 Pro announced

[Jan Anne]

With all the commotion of the announcement around the Nikon Zee platform I kind of forgot that DJI also scheduled the announcement of the Mavic 2 drones today.

In case you missed it like I did, here's the info:
https://www.dji.com/mavic-2?site=brandsite&from=homepage

And the review from my favourite Youtube tech reviewer iPhonedo of the Pro version with the Hasselblad camera and the 1" sensor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Hks_NieMk&t=0s

I have been waiting for a long time for an update of the Mavic Pro as I wanted all the capabilities of the bigger drones in a small foldable travel friendly package and now finally the second iteration has the 1" sensor, adjustable aperture and collision avoidance sensors on all sides which were missing on the original model.

Plan to order one soon, anybody else interested?

[Erik Lund]

Thanks for the heads up!


Always wanted one, just difficult to get an overview of the offerings 

[Jan Anne]

You probably remember the amazing aerial Lofoten shots from BjørnJ, he took those with a Sony RX100 fixed to a big DJI Phantom drone if my memory is correct. The Mavic 2 Pro has the latest version of the RX100 sensor and the Mavic 2 drone is less than half the size of te Phantom and folds up to fit in a backpack or camera bag

But DJI didn't make it easy by announcing two flavours of the Mavic 2, the other one is the Zoom which has a smaller sensor with a 24-48mm equivalent optical zoom range which provides more creativity for filming like the dolly zoom effect.

[MFloyd]

The DJI Mavic Pro is a fantastic machine - my son flies one - but the image quality was a little bit on the weak side. The 2 (not the zoom one) is good news, allowing to level up from the current smartphone picture quality.

Have you noticed the Hasselblad tag ? Hasselblad was recently acquired by DJI. Let’s just hop that Hasselblad doesn’t fall back in their hately habit of rebadging.

[Erik Lund]

Very nice review, creative and fun 


So nice this drone, funny with the Hasselblad camera,,, seems so wrong to see such a small item with Hasselblad logo 

[Bjørn J]

You probably remember the amazing aerial Lofoten shots from BjørnJ, he took those with a Sony RX100 fixed to a big DJI Phantom drone if my memory is correct.

Thanks, JA. Since then I have purchased a Phantom 4 Advanced + . It has a camera with the 1" Sony sensor, and incredible stability - it is possible to take photos with several seconds shutter speed. These photos are from this summer, the panorama of the golf course is 5 or 6 photos stitched. I simply rotated the bird between the shots. The tif is 130 MB.
The Mavic 2 Pro is highly interesting, the camera is certainly at least as good as the one in P4A or Pro. Same sensor, but maybe a bit better electronics. And the Mavic has of course the big advantage of easier transportation. The Phantom needs its own bacpack.
I haven't tried the Mavic, but some say the Phantom is a little more stable in wind because it's heavier. I also like the built-in screen in the Phantom plus-models, it's twice as bright as a phone or a tablet. Great in sunshine.

[Jan Anne]

Thanks for the update Bjørn, and impressive images as always

[Jan Anne]

Always wanted one, just difficult to get an overview of the offerings 

Though I would like to venture into video soon and the Mavic 2 Zoom seems to be the ticket for making cool videos for social media purposes the photographer in me wants to go for the Mavic 2 Pro with the 1" sensor and "Hasselblad" camera so thats the one I've just pre-ordered.

Hopefully the drone will be here in a few weeks so you can get some hands-on experience when you guys come over for the Photokina visit

[Erik Lund]

That would be amazing wow!


Bjørn J thanks for the update Yes gret images as always !

[Bjørn J]

Though I would like to venture into video soon and the Mavic 2 Zoom seems to be the ticket for making cool videos for social media purposes the photographer in me wants to go for the Mavic 2 Pro with the 1" sensor and "Hasselblad" camera so thats the one I've just pre-ordered.

The "dolly-zoom effect" with M2 Zoom is impressive if used with care. I read somewhere that the Mavic 2 can not record video in 4k at 60fps, as the Phantom 4P and 4A can.
The Mavic 2 Zoom has a smaller sensor, but it has a super-resolution mode, where it takes 9 shots at 48mm and stacks them into one 48MP photo with a field of view as a 24mm. Interesting feature, I wonder how it works in real life. Could be great for landscapes.

[Jan Anne]

The DJI Mavic Pro is a fantastic machine - my son flies one - but the image quality was a little bit on the weak side. The 2 (not the zoom one) is good news, allowing to level up from the current smartphone picture quality.

Have you noticed the Hasselblad tag ? Hasselblad was recently acquired by DJI. Let’s just hop that Hasselblad doesn’t fall back in their hately habit of rebadging.

That was exactly the reason to wait for the Mavic 2 and luckily DJI did not disappoint

I don't believe the Hasselblad marketing all that much but do think they were involved in the design of the camera and optics as there must be some kind of logic behind the Hasselblad purchase by DJI.

[Jan Anne]

The Mavic 2 Zoom has a smaller sensor, but it has a super-resolution mode, where it takes 9 shots at 48mm and stacks them into one 48MP photo with a field of view as a 24mm. Interesting feature, I wonder how it works in real life. Could be great for landscapes.

True, but feels more like a nice consumer feature whereas one could probably get better results by doing the stitching in post processing with RAW files like you have been doing?

[Bjørn J]

True, but feels more like a nice consumer feature whereas one could probably get better results by doing the stitching in post processing with RAW files like you have been doing?

Sure, and the resulting 48MP file from the 9-photo stich will of course be jpg only. Shooting panos manually with the Phantom and Mavic is so easy beacuase of the stability. I shoot RAW (dng), process them in LR or Camera Raw, export them as 16-bit TIF, and stitch them with PTGui.
I will order a Mavic 2 Pro next year when most of the bugs have been ruled out

[Jan Anne]

DJI shipped my Mavic 2 Pro today from China so it should be here in a week or so.

Lets hope I keep it in one piece for at least a month so the crew will be able to test it when they come over for the Photokina visit 

[Bjørn J]

Congratulations JA. Looking forward to see some photos!
I will order mine early next year.
Did you get the "fly more" combo?