Try to fly it from your hand, apply throttle, but dont let the quad go just yet.
Be careful with the prop tho. Feel which way the quad want to go, and if you hold it in your hand, you can feel which motor is vibrating more than the others.
I used this method when i try to tune the pid settings on my quad.
Hold the quad from the bottom frame so your arm wouldn't get in the prop way
Yeah, the props are small enough that they should not cause that bad of a problem, the motor hubs are probably un-balanced.