Dji Mavic 2 Pro Hack

[Deb Cartelli]

Those little gaps are caused by the shutter command being tied to a waypoint or location, the only way to fix that is to just tell the drone to take a picture every 2 seconds, regardless of what ever the software tells it to do this ensures that on flat terrain your photos are even, on hilly terrain you get extra images when climbing and descending (which is good!) and gets you way better results.

But Honestly if you want good results get UGCS to make the autopilot flight files, then fly it with the native DJI Pilot app, its annoying you cant do it on site real quick like you can with the DD app, but the quality of the end product is better.

I wish DD had an option to just make the flight with the DD app and then export the KMZ it so it could be flown with the native DJI pilot app, this would solve all the issues on the M series of DJI drones (mavic and matrice)

Were you running RTK or not. If not did you PPK? DroneDeploy uses pre-calculated waypoints for shutter trigger as @Visio mentioned which when you are using standard GPS navigation on something this small can causes this issue. Especially if there are trees in the vicinity. The sloped rooves also cause a considerable amount of multi-path interference. Using DJI Pilot 2 to fly with 80/70 overlaps and a 1 second shutter would be much better. Make sure you are far enough above the roof to capture the actual overlap and use the distance to surface setting to account for the height of the structure. Did they have you do an oblique orbit as well?

We used to get these all the time, the solution was just to set the shutter interval to 2 seconds (works 99.95% of the time with no missed shots) and also has the added bonus of adding extra shots when going up and down which makes the quality of the job increase in orders of magnitude.

With drones having extra helps, I always plan my missions with 1/500 shutter speed in mind, (hence why the 7m/s) you could theoretically do 10, but if you plan the mission that way and you get there and SUPRISE! its a cloudy day you are going to have to remake the mission haha.

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My logic is telling me to set it at Distance Interval shots not time. I mean, it slows down around path changes, wind variations, etc. The test flight over the housing development in my gallery was shot at Distance Interval shots and Shutter Priority - 1/2000 sec shutter speed and they look pretty good with no missed shots. What do you think?

I operate a DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise, and have flown Zeitview missions with my M3E using Drone Deploy, and have not seen the issues you have described here. I also understand that Zeitview wants us to use their GPS checker before leaving the job site, and that appears to be showing the missing GPS tags with your M3E media files.

In your case it may be trying to set the camera setting manually, or that DD is using the wrong camera profile (maybe a bug) that is causing you to miss images. Maybe not enough satellites in view or a high KP during the flight.

One of the key strengths of using the M3E is that we can choose the workflow and flight control software that is best suited for our operation. DJI Flight Hub, Drone Deploy, etc., or the excellent mapping capability built into the RM510B controller.

One thing is clear, and I think this is something we can agree on. The Phantom 4 Pro v2 is still a very relevant and capable aircraft. I will not be selling mine any time soon. I am using mine as my backup for my M3E.

I see under camera settings, Zeitview wants you to check camera exposure and White balance. There is no setting in Pilot 2 App that can be used to control WB on the M3E. WB is always set to Auto regardless of the camera mode. There are allot of posts on the DJI Forum related to that ommision in Pilot 2. Video on the M3E is always set to 29.97 FPS and cannot be changed either. In addition, ISO is always in Auto mode, with no way to change on the Pilot 2 App. that I can find.

As you suggested, I did go out and buy a Mavic 3 Pro, right after I purchased my M3E in 2023 as a way to compensate for the limitations of the M3E as a photography platform. I am happy with that decision as they are both excellent tools that I use to serve the different needs of my clients.

I also run full Auto when executing mapping and photogrammetry missions and have had great success in doing so. I use Pro mode on the M3P and set the camera setting accordingly, again to great effect.

As expected from DJI, the build quality of the Mavic 2 Pro is excellent. So far I have put it to use in harsh desert conditions of Jordan, cold parts of Turkey and rainy conditions of New Zealand and the drone survived it all without any issues. Thanks to all the sensors on the drone, I have not been able to crash the drone even once, but if I did, I am sure the damage would highly depend on the impact speed and the height of the fall. Both the controller and the drone feel like they have been made to last, with high quality and yet lightweight plastic construction.

Unlike the Mavic Air, the Mavic 2 Pro standard package does not come with a nice carrying case. However, everything else that is needed to start flying the drone (as well as extra propellers) is included in the retail box. The charger designed for the Mavic 2 Pro comes with a single extra USB slot, but there is also a detachable micro USB cable that you can use to charge up the controller. So in essence, you are not losing anything compared to the Mavic Air and actually even gaining the convenience of having the charging cable integrated into the charger. The Mavic 2 Pro only comes in gray color, so you cannot choose between different colors like you can with the cheaper drones.

DJI did a great job by keeping the footprint of the Mavic 2 Pro relatively small. This not only applies to the drone itself, but also to its accessories and the controller. While the controller is definitely larger and bulkier compared to the one on the Mavic Air, keep in mind that it is functionally much more capable in comparison.

Operating the drone with the controller is super easy. To set it up, all you have to do is open up the radio antennas, open up the two compartments on the bottom, pull out the two joysticks and screw them on, then attach the right cable to your phone. All this can be done in less than 30 seconds.

To turn on the drone, you press the battery button once, then you press it again and hold it. The controlled is powered the same way. Once both are on, you wait for the controller to sync up with the Mavic 2 Pro, which can take a minute. After the controller is synced, the red light on the controller will turn green, as it does with other DJI drones. From there, you have to launch the DJI GO 4 app on your device to start controlling the unit.

You might want to wait a few more seconds for the GPS to get ready, so that it knows where the exact takeoff point is, in case the drone starts to get lost and needs to get back. Taking off is very easy. All you have to do is touch the take off icon on the top left corner and the screen will ask if you want to record the precise location of the take-off point, so that it can return there after the flight. You make the selection and proceed, after which the drone will fire up its propellers and take off.

I would recommend to keep most of the settings at their default values, but feel free to check these settings out and experiment after you are more comfortable with flying. In some situations, you might need to disable some of the functions, or perform specific tasks, such as controller calibration and button customization.

Keep in mind that you also have to charge the battery inside the controller. It will take about three hours to fully charge the controller and once it is charged, it will be good to go for a few hours. I often found myself charging the controller every other day and even then, I still had quite a bit of battery life left in it.

To switch to photo mode, you simply press the icon above the red video record button, which switches the camera to photo mode. Once you do that, you will see that the menus will change accordingly. Again, there are three tabs in the photo mode as well. The first one is to control the exposure settings:

This shows very easily when looking at images and videos, especially when shooting in less than ideal lighting conditions. While with the Mavic Air you are basically limited to capturing images and video in broad daylight (as high ISO noise levels can get extreme and there is very limited dynamic range to work with), you can do way more with the Mavic 2 Pro and shoot in much worse conditions. I found this to be extremely valuable for landscape photography and videography in particular, since the prime time to shoot is typically around sunrises and sunsets, where there are often extreme differences between highlights and shadows.

Although it was captured at ISO 100, I had to recover quite a bit of detail in the shadows, which resulted in added noise. With a little bit of noise reduction in post-processing, I could make this into a solid shot. Had I shot the same scene with a much smaller sensor on the Mavic Air, the image would have been completely unusable. These kinds of things do matter when dealing with low-light and extreme conditions. I tried my best to keep my ISO at base ISO 100 when shooting, but in some situations I was able to shoot at higher ISOs without adding too much noise to my images, which was great.

By now, you can probably already tell that I am a big fan of the Mavic 2 Pro. I have had a wonderful experience with it and I am happy to share some of the photographs and the footage I was able to get with our readers. Without a doubt, it is a truly versatile drone that can take stunning images and videos.

What about the Mavic Air? Do I still recommend it to our readers? Absolutely. In fact, I think both drones excel on their own. The Mavic Air is significantly lighter, cheaper and smaller compared to the Mavic 2 Pro, so it is perfectly suitable for doing more localized aerial work. If I need to grab quick footage of a subject during the day, I would not hesitate to use the Mavic Air. However, if I want a much more versatile tool for capturing distant landscapes or wildlife, or perhaps if I am dealing with a sunrise or sunset situation with a large dynamic range, then the Mavic 2 Pro is the right tool for the job.

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