GlassKnees
Well-Known Member
I have been wanting to get a Mavic ever since DJI introduced it, but it was too pricey for my budget. so I contented myself with building a Tarot Ironman - I wanted a stabilized aerial video platform. But I had an accident with the Tarot - that's another story, suffice to say, 17" carbon fiber props driven by T-Motor MN3420's are like spinning Ginzu knives! Anyway, I found an ad on Facebook Marketplace - a guy was selling his Mavic Pro for $725 and I decided I had to get it.
Turned out that the seller is a young professional photographer who has flown DJI Phantoms, an Inspire and now the Mavic - he bought it from another guy as an experiment and liked it so much that he bought a Mavic 2. So I am the third owner of this machine. No evidence of abuse, no scratches or scuffs. I got the aircraft, controller, three sets of spare props, three spare batteries, chargers, including a car charger, and three optical filters - all for $725!
There is a significant learning curve, but I as able to surmount much of it from my previous building and flying experience. I didn't have to go through the compass calibration, but I might do it anyway just for the experience. It didn't take long for my to try to fly it on my own and I have to say it was a breeze! It is obvious that DJI put a lot of effort and expense into making this aircraft easy to fly.
For now, my main challenge is figuring out the camera settings that are optimal for conditions - this is somewhat of an art and there is all manner of conflicting information on YouTube and amongst other DJI owners, so I have to figure this out on my own.
I have found that the gimbal is not all that smooth - there is a bit of jitter when yawing the aircraft as well as tilting the camera. The trick here is to pan and tilt very slowly.
I shot images in raw mode as I was advised that shooting in jpeg resulted in lousy resolution. But you end up with DNG files which have to be converted - I found an online tool for doing such conversions for free.
I've been told that the Phantom 4 camera is better than the Mavic (don't know about the Mavic 2), and I suppose that this is true, but hey, its as least as good as my GoPro - I just need to get the camera settings figured out.
But I am sold on the Mavic. I like having the collision avoidance capability as well as the optical/sonic sensors to aid in landing. Also, the downward facing cameras also help to lock the aircraft in position on breezy days.
I will still fly my two Elev-8's and Tarot but for videography work I will use the Mavic.
Turned out that the seller is a young professional photographer who has flown DJI Phantoms, an Inspire and now the Mavic - he bought it from another guy as an experiment and liked it so much that he bought a Mavic 2. So I am the third owner of this machine. No evidence of abuse, no scratches or scuffs. I got the aircraft, controller, three sets of spare props, three spare batteries, chargers, including a car charger, and three optical filters - all for $725!
There is a significant learning curve, but I as able to surmount much of it from my previous building and flying experience. I didn't have to go through the compass calibration, but I might do it anyway just for the experience. It didn't take long for my to try to fly it on my own and I have to say it was a breeze! It is obvious that DJI put a lot of effort and expense into making this aircraft easy to fly.
For now, my main challenge is figuring out the camera settings that are optimal for conditions - this is somewhat of an art and there is all manner of conflicting information on YouTube and amongst other DJI owners, so I have to figure this out on my own.
I have found that the gimbal is not all that smooth - there is a bit of jitter when yawing the aircraft as well as tilting the camera. The trick here is to pan and tilt very slowly.
I shot images in raw mode as I was advised that shooting in jpeg resulted in lousy resolution. But you end up with DNG files which have to be converted - I found an online tool for doing such conversions for free.
I've been told that the Phantom 4 camera is better than the Mavic (don't know about the Mavic 2), and I suppose that this is true, but hey, its as least as good as my GoPro - I just need to get the camera settings figured out.
But I am sold on the Mavic. I like having the collision avoidance capability as well as the optical/sonic sensors to aid in landing. Also, the downward facing cameras also help to lock the aircraft in position on breezy days.
I will still fly my two Elev-8's and Tarot but for videography work I will use the Mavic.