bjedermann - Tumblr blog

bjedermann · 6 years

Text

DJI Mavic 2 Pro - WOW!!!

After my bad experience with the Parrot Anafi - especially with their extreme bad photo quality - I was a little bit afraid looking on the first pictures from the DJI Mavic 2 Pro - will it be acceptable? No, it’s not only acceptable, it’s amazing!

Here’s a sample picture from the DJI Mavic 2 Pro - just compare that to the photo coming from Parrot Anafi in my previous article ... it’s a different world!

So, Hasselblad really did more than just selling their name: They developed an amazing camera for this drone!

What about the drone itself?

Well, the drone itself is amazing, too! It feels like a high quality product already in your hands - while the Parrot Anafi was more like a toy... Yes, it’s double price from the Parrot Anafi, but it’s worth every cent! And the quality jump is much more than double compared to the Anafi - it’s a jump from useless to amazing!

So far I also did not encounter any technical problems. The controller works perfectly with my Huawei Mate 10 Pro smartphone, while Parrot claimed that the processor of that smartphone is too weak for them ... well, obviously DJI is a little bit smarter ...

Well, there are already many detailed reports in the web, so I just want to summarize: flight capabilities are amazing, too, and it’s really fun using that drone! And it simply feels much better when you have obstacle avoidance in all directions, while the Parrot Anafi would simply crash into anything in their way.

I give the DJI Mavic 2 Pro 10 of 10 points for now - not tested under too many different circumstances, but for now I’m more than happy, and I can really recommend that drone!

#Dji #DJI Mavic 2 Pro #djimavic #dji mavic #djimavicpro #djiglobal #drone #munich #bavaria #germany #dronephotography #photography #areal photography #arealphotography

0 notes

bjedermann · 6 years

Text

My (bad) Experience with the Parrot Anafi Drone

Oh boy, I was so excited getting the new Parrot Anafi: Finally a small portable drone, which has a high resolution sensor with RAW output. I immediately pre-ordered it, and couldn’t wait getting it in my hands!

Do they have Quality Assurance?

When it arrived, I charged the battery, installed the app, turned the drone on, and now I wanted to connect to the drone. Nothing - except for the fan, which became more and more noisy - and I couldn’t turn the drone off again. I really had to take out the battery in order to turn off the drone. Of course, at first you think, you made some mistake. So, I’ve tried everything from start. I’ve also tried to connect the smartphone directly with the drone, i.e. without the Parrot controller. Nothing. Finally, I had to accept that this drone was simply not doing anything - except of some noise from the fan.

Well, you can say “Sh... happens” - but in my opinion a product that is not only suffering from some small problems - which I would maybe accept for a brand new product - but is simply not doing anything, clearly shows that there is a lack of quality assurance at Parrot. And honestly, when you hold this drone in your hands, it really doesn’t feel like a quality product. If you hold in one hand the Anafi, and in the other one a DJI Mavic pro, you have the feeling the Anafi is just a toy.

Worst support ever

Ok, so let’s send it back to Parrot and get a new one: Not so easy ... Parrot tried everything to block my request, and the support was really the worst one I’ve ever experienced with any product. After many unanswered mails I’ve really thought I will never get my money back (after some weeks of fighting with their support, I’ve decided that I do not want a replacement, but that I want my money back instead). Obviously, they didn’t like that idea ... and it took them more and more time to react. They said, they have first to check if the drone is damaged. Ahhh, well, yes, IT IS DAMAGED, that’s exactly my problem ... Well, after 3 weeks I’ve got my money back.

If you like flying blind, Anafi is for you!

Crazy enough, I gave it a second chance ... how crazy can you be ...This time I bought it in a local store in Munich, since I didn’t want to deal with Parrot’s French office (their headquater) again. This time, indeed, the drone was flying - wow! And I saw a picture on my smartphone - wow. Well, I saw it for about 1 minute. After that the picture was frozen. Great ... Again, I’ve tried everything, but it didn’t get better. I always had to reboot the drone, after that I had a picture for max. 1 minute - that’s it. So, in a real flight situation that’s for sure thrilling: In the middle of your flight you loose the picture and have to fly blindly - well, ok, in Germany you always have to be able seeing your drone, but still, wouldn’t make me feel better, when I don’t see anything on my screen. And for sure I cannot take photos anymore, since I’m a little bit conservative: I always want to see what I’m shooting ;-)

Nevertheless, I gave it a try on the field. Drone started, I saw something on my smartphone, then again the picture was frozen, but this time the drone started flying straight ahead without any command from my side ... wow ... my adrenaline was really going up ... I’ve just managed right in time to get the drone down, before it would crash into a tree - don’t forget, the Anafi drone has no sensors for collision avoidance like most other drones, which is bad, but it’s even more bad, when the drone is uncontrollable and flying wherever it wants to.

The problem is always the smartphone, never ever the drone - of course ...

So, what Parrot is saying about that: The CPU of my smartphone is too slow. Ah, ok, I have a Huawei Mate 10 pro - is their a smartphone on the market, which has a faster CPU? If at all, not many ... so, that was really a bad excuse. I’ve taken the drone back to the shop, got my money back, and that was my last Parrot trial ever!

Picture quality: forget it ...

Ah, I should not forget letting you know my experience with the photo capabilities of that drone. Well, there’s a reason I didn’t mention it before: I simply tried to forget it. The pictures a terrible. Missing sharpness, no details, extreme color shifting, ... I could continue. So, even if this drone would be good, I couldn’t use those pictures for anything more than an Instagram fun shot. Well, maybe it was naive to expect more from a 1 / 2.4″ sensor ... but then again, smartphones can produce much better pictures with small sensors - so, I would expect at least that level of quality.

DJI Mavic 2 pro - I think, that’s my drone

Anyway, just yesterday DJI announced the new Mavic 2 pro with a Hasselblad (!) lens and a 1″ sensor(!!!) - yes, more expensive than Anafi, but after my Parrot experience I’m very sure that it’s worth spending a little bit more money on a drone ... I’ll let you know, what’s my experience with Mavic 2 pro, as soon as I’ve got one, and made some first shots.