On paper, there isn’t a lot to divide the dji drones and the Mavic Pro when it comes to image quality. Both have a stabilized 3-axis gimbal, while the Phantom 4’s camera shoots 4K video at 30fps and 1080p HD at 120fps. The Mavic Pro’s camera also shoots 4K video at 30 fps, but has a slightly lower fps at 1080p HD, maxing out at 96 fps. The Phantom 4 Pro featuers an upgraded Return to Home mode that will ensure crash-free flights when the drone is called to return to its launch site. The Phantom 4 Pro can intelligently select the best route to return home according to the environmental conditions for added safety in the air.
The Phantom 4 Pro drone uses a brand new camera lens optimized for aerial imaging, with an aperture range from F2.8 to F11 and a 24mm equivalent focal length. It’s equipped with a mechanical shutter and adjustable aperture range, with auto focus support. The Phantom 4 Pro camera is equipped with a 1-inch 20-megapixel sensor and has a manually adjustable aperture from F2.8 to F11. It also supports auto focus by half-pressing the shutter button, and has a focus range, from 1m to infinity.
You have a live feed from the drone’s main camera on the screen of your mobile device. Tap anywhere on that image and the drone will fly in that direction. The drone will automatically ease into turns, avoiding the jerky motion that I often got in my footage while flying manually. When you have object avoidance turned on, it tops out at a little above 22 miles per hour.
Use the higher positional accuracy of the dji drones RTK to build better 3D models for any type of work. Take advantage of the RTK accuracy of the Phantom 4 RTK to capture data and create topographic maps of work sites. Offering a range of control schemes and complementary technologies, the DJI Phantom 4 RTK is developed to provide survey-grade results with greater efficiency than ever before. As a test image we used a custom reference poster you can download here.
First, if photo and video quality are your focus, the Phantom 4 Pro or Advanced are absolutely worth saving up for. Second, if you are just looking for a fun drone to bounce around the backyard, not really planning to take videos, the Phantom 3 standard at less than half the price of the Phantom 4 is a smart move. Announced and released in August 2018, the two versions of the update to the Mavic Pro have some tricks up their sleeve. The DJI Mavic 2 Pro rocks a 1-inch camera sensor from Hasselblad, this 20MP shooter produces some of the best aerial footage we’ve seen from a drone under $2000.
It easily feels like $1,500 worth of product and functionality, especially when you consider how easily you can spend $1,500 on a decent (not even high-end!) camera body without even a lens. We didn’t encounter any other issues with setup once this was out of the way. Needless to say, if you’re having issues, making sure to update the firmware before spending too much time pulling your hair out looking for other fixes. If it weren’t for DJI one-upping itself and releasing the Mavic series of drones, we would probably be talking about how small and portable the Phantom is compared to the competition. However, given the Mavic 2 Pro exists, the Pro doesn’t seem quite as compact. A lot of the more notable features and improvements in the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V. 2.0 are specifically aimed at protecting your investment, with features like Obstacle Avoidance, Terrain Follow, and Active Track.