On the evening of September 27, Dajiang "Royal" Mavic Pro UAV was released, which is a new series of Dajiang in addition to "Spirit" and "Understanding", focusing on professional and portable. Its configuration is very similar to that of Spirit 4, but its price is cheaper. The 743g body weight and the size of a water bottle crushed all competitors at the same level.
In addition to the ferocious configuration and cost performance ratio, the image transmission system with a transmission distance of up to 7 kilometers, the integrated PTZ, the folding arm, the quick disassembly folding paddle, and the FlightAutonomy system with 24 computing cores are all unprecedented designs and stacks. Even if we look back a few years later, Mavic Royal will also be the most important milestone among consumer UAVs in recent years.
Parameter comparison
Appearance and industrial design
In addition to the Mavic Pro UAV body and remote control, the accessories are only the remote control adapter cable and charger, which can charge the batteries of remote control and UAV at the same time, with the output power of 5V/2A and 13.05V/3.83A respectively (equivalent to about 50W).
The remote control has two kinds of adapter cables, Android mirco USB and Apple's lighting interface. The other end is a square mirco USB interface customized for users to distinguish. When charging, you can use ordinary data cables to connect.
Remote control appearance
The remote control of the Mavic Pro is only a little larger than that of the iPhone 7. It has the taste of a handheld game console, and its weight is a little larger than expected. Its appearance design has been optimized for folding and portability, for example, the folded antenna with asymmetric design and the mobile phone bracket folded inward. The size and teeth of the throttle and direction rocker are correspondingly reduced, and the one button takeoff and landing, power button, function pause button and small direction rocker on both sides of the rocker become quite small. The left and right shoulders are the video and shutter buttons, and below them are the wheels that control the PTZ.
The new OcuSync image transmission is in the Mavic Pro remote control. A cooling fan has been installed in such a small volume. After a period of power on, you can hear the sound of the motor and the wind in the air inlet and outlet grille. Although it is a plastic material that is easy to take care of, the smooth acrylic and stainless steel heat dissipation net play a great role in improving the texture. After the bracket is partially opened, it is the position of the palm rest, so the soft glue material is used. In addition to the edge, the hand feels natural.
Remote control transmits the new OcuSync image transmission data to the mobile phone screen through the data line. The transmission distance of the latter is upgraded from 5 km 720p of the previous generation Lightbridge image transmission to 7 km 1080P. This set of the most powerful long-distance image transmission system for civil use on the earth has left the former flagship product of peers and even Xinjiang. The design of this part of the connecting cable is also very interesting. The bracket has a mobile clip for fixing the data cable. After connecting the phone, it is fixed by the soft rubber pads on both sides, and can be clipped into the phone close to the iPhone 7 Plus.
UAV main body
The main body of the UAV is really close to the mineral water bottle. People who see it at the first sight will be surprised by its size. The real object is far more shocking than the online pictures. The folding mechanism of the boom is very special. The horizontal folding front boom is in the upper layer, and the longitudinal folding rear boom is in the lower layer. The cable protected by nylon mesh can be seen at the front boom swivel.
The above is an official X-ray picture, and Fang Xuan said that its folding life is at least 5000 cycles. Although the space inside the machine is limited and the actual folding feel is good, the folding mechanism itself does eat a lot of places.
The camera of the front stereo vision system and the PTZ protective cover have their own contrast and cuteness. If the remote control bracket looks like a crab, then the head is a bit like a "tadpole frog". The protective cover can be easily removed. There is a sports car style cooling grille on the back, and detailed stainless steel mesh can be seen inside.
8.3 inch quick release folding paddle
In order to control the weight and simplify the structure, the motor shell is directly connected to the rotor, which is also a folding mechanism. When rotating, it can straighten and expand itself, and the design is quite ingenious.
Battery
In the center of the fuselage is the battery compartment, which maintains the 4-format power indication. The body battery is relatively light, 11.4V/3830mAh, with an equivalent capacity of 43.6Wh.
Belly
The inside of the extremely small body is the same crazy heat dissipation design. After starting the machine, you will find that the whole body is a unified air duct like the Apple Mac Pro, and the whole belly is covered by a magnesium aluminum alloy heat dissipation plate. The air enters from the opening on the right side of the PTZ protective cover, passes through the fuselage, and is discharged from the bottom and tail heat dissipation grids.
In addition, the opening on the belly of the machine is a dual camera and ultrasonic sensor of the visual positioning system, because the lens of the camera will not be dirty if directly touched under the cooling grid. I have to accept that so many details and machine components can be crammed in such a small place.
Integrated PTZ&4K camera
The most sophisticated part of Mavic Pro is the three-axis integrated mechanical pan tilt and 4K camera. The camera is integrated with one of the mechanical shafts of the PTZ, but it is still one circle smaller than the one yuan coin. The PTZ and the fuselage are connected by four very small silicone "gaskets", the latter is very soft and has large moving space. If you do not wear a protective cover, you may even be disturbed by the airflow during flight. Its wires and connection cables are the size level of the original mobile phone, which is simply a popular miniature model. The degree of integration and miniaturization is amazing.
Under the sliding covers on both sides of the belly are the TF card slot, the connection mode switch lever and the mirco USB interface for debugging. A status indicator light is hidden next to the TF card slot.
Summary
The arms that fold in different directions, the folding paddles that support quick disassembly, the protective cover of the pan tilt, the cooling air duct from the pan tilt to the tail, and the magnesium aluminum alloy fins at the bottom are all very exquisite designs, giving people a sense of "this is what it should be" everywhere. The solid materials and the mechanical appearance, together with the compact body and weight, are very pleasing physically and psychologically, and make people love it.
However, the compact body inevitably brings heat dissipation pressure, and the radiator on the belly of the machine will be hot when the machine flies down. The plastic shell of the engineering machine battery even slightly collapses due to the high temperature. In addition, the integrated PTZ and ultra-high integration fuselage are also accompanied by higher "frying" costs and maintenance trouble, which are the inevitable trade-offs when pursuing thinness.
Remote control and operation
The number of remote control keys of the Mavic Pro is close to that of the wizard series, and the rocker and keys are correspondingly reduced. The damping and anti mistouch design are very good, but the rocker is too short, which may not suit the tastes of many traditional aircraft model players. For Apple and Android phones, the mobile phone connection cable on the left side of the remote control can be replaced by itself, but this is also the charging interface of the remote control. During charging, there will be multiple plugging and unplugging processes.
The mobile phone holder is an extremely rare bottom mounted type, which can fill the empty space in the palm of the hand. But as a price, this holder can only clamp the mobile phone with the size/thickness similar to that of the iPhone 6/7 Plus, and cannot clamp the iPad like the smart remote control. Even Note5 cannot be inserted because of the thickness and edge transition problems
In addition, the position of the mobile phone will definitely be blocked by the light sensor, and the automatic brightness adjustment has to be turned off manually. As a result, the screen readability of the iPhone 7 and other machines that can further improve the brightness under the automatic brightness mode is also very ordinary in sunny days.
But Dajiang finally added a display screen to the remote control, which greatly improved the use experience!!! Important information such as "flight mode, high flight speed, distance, altitude, video recording status, signal strength, camera exposure compensation level, body and remote control power" can be read directly. Even when the phone is not powered or lazy to answer the phone, it can fly calmly.
Almost all the buttons on the remote control are designed for the PTZ and camera. By default, the dial wheel is used for PTZ pitch and zoom control. The newly added five dimensional buttons can be used for digital zoom, horizontal and vertical shooting switching, etc. The buttons on the back can also be customized as forearm light switch, metering, AE lock, center return, PTZ follow/FPV mode switching buttons, etc., which are highly customizable.
Take off preparation: All the operation settings of the Mavic Pro are the same as those of the Genie 4 at the same level. Short press and long press on/off, double rocker "internal and external eight" lighting/off motors and other settings are common settings for UAVs. All calibration before takeoff is completed by the machine itself. If you run to an open place or even indoors, you can take off with one button after receiving the power from your mobile phone.
Takeoff and landing: The setting of Mavic Pro is simple and rough but full of humanistic care in the landing link where it is easiest to "blow up" the aircraft. In addition to one button landing, the algorithm will automatically intervene to prevent further descent after the flight altitude drops to 0.3m, and a one button landing slider will pop up on the mobile phone. Users will not explode if they close their eyes and drop down casually, which is simply touching.
Rocker operation: Mavic Pro The default setting is American hand (the left joystick controls the flight altitude and left and right spins, and the right joystick is responsible for the front, rear, left and right on the horizontal plane). There is a movement mode switch on the right side of the remote control. When it is turned on, the speed limit will be turned on, but advanced intelligent functions such as automatic obstacle avoidance and intelligent follow cannot be used (even the intelligent function entrance on the left side of the screen disappears).
Operation performance
Mavic Pro "Yu" flight test video
Image transmission: The measurement standards mainly include delay, distance, clarity and power consumption. Mavic Pro launched the new OcuSync image transmission system in Dajiang, which has been upgraded from 5km 720P of Lightbridge image transmission (released in 2014) to the current 7km. In the near field, it has even reached 1080P. Although the delay and clarity are enough to kill all smart cameras on the market, it is difficult to detect the difference between OcuSync image transmission and Lightbridge image transmission in common use scenarios within 100 meters.
The essence of this image transmission system can be generally understood as a radically revised wifi. There will be signal quality prompts in the office. The transmission distance is directly related to the operator's height and the surrounding radio environment. The actual distance must be lower than the official standard, but at least the official standard value is several times that of the opponent... As a price, the power consumption of this image transmission is not low, Even the remote control has a built-in cooling fan.
Hover stability: After taking off and landing automatically, the Mavic Pro will rise to 1.2m in a few seconds and hover. The maintenance of height is better than the maintenance of horizontal position. The hovering accuracy is relatively ordinary in Dajiang's own products. In the 2-3 wind, there will be tens of cm level drift in every minute under exaggerated circumstances, which is still more stable than many 3 and 4000 UAVs, but certainly not as good as the Genie 4.
Wind resistance: The official logo supports resistance to force five winds (38.5 km/h). The actual crosswind has a greater impact than the positive and negative winds. The fuselage will tilt slightly when self correcting, which seems unstable, but the actual position and camera pictures change little.
pattern: Maybe because of the unique flight algorithm of Dajiang, the flight experience of Mavic Pro is "very smart 4. Dajiang". Non motion mode is born for aerial photography and novices. Speed limit is likely to be the highest compatible speed for visual obstacle avoidance (36km/h). Climbing/descending, front and rear emergency stops, left and right emergency stops have obvious algorithm intervention to ensure the stability of flight attitude and PTZ.
The controllability and ease of use in this mode are the same as those of the Genie 4. It is impossible to fry chicken unless your hands fly back against the wall or the light is too poor. Four colleagues in the editorial department who have never played UAV can play by themselves after simple joystick operation instructions.
Speed and attitude control: When the speed is unblocked in the movement mode, there will be very obvious head up movement during emergency stop, but it feels that there is still a certain degree of algorithm intervention. Because the difference between the rotor wheelbase of Genie 4 and that of Genie 4 is small (15mm), but the weight difference is nearly twice, the Mavic Pro benefits from the emergency stop/braking distance. The response speed of steering and other maneuvers should have advantages over Genie 4, However, the thin body of the Mavic Pro brings stability problems.
Generally, the belly of UAV is hung with a PTZ, and the center of gravity below the rotor lift center will produce a self stabilizing effect similar to that of a ship. The distance between the lift center of the rotor and the center of gravity of the Mavic Pro is very close, and the longitudinal force arm is shorter than that of conventional UAVs such as Elf 4. In addition to the large wheelbase and low weight, the Mavic Pro needs a larger tilt angle to change its attitude. In addition to being a negative factor for shooting, this also makes Mavic's actions less crisp than expected.
Shock absorption of PTZ and others: The Mavic Pro has a record breaking small integrated three-axis mechanical PTZ. In order to match the super small PTZ and the dead weight of the camera, the camera cable and buffer washer are very thin, and the PTZ can tilt at a large angle to offset the tilt of part of the body.
The shock absorption effect of the PTZ is obviously different from that of the Genie 4, which is slightly lower than expected. When the posture changes and the descent speed is fast, it will be subject to obvious shaking. However, it is worth noting that the wide angle of the camera of the Mavic Pro is smaller and in the front of the fuselage. The opportunity and influence of the propeller will be less than that of the Spirit 4 when flying at high speed.
APP
App page
Camera Settings
The consumer UAVs in Dajiang use one app, but different models have different functions. The basic layout is the top bar flight parameters, the right camera parameters, and the left intelligent functions (one button takeoff and landing, intelligent follow, etc.).
Detailed settings
The setting page has very detailed flight control parameters, remote control keys and sensitivity, intelligent functions, image transmission and other adjustment items. Among the intelligent functions on the Mavic Pro, "interest point circling (around a certain place), waypoint flying (manual guidance on the map), hot spot following (running with people), turn back locking, and heading locking (regardless of the direction of the nose)" are relatively common old functions, which will not be repeated here.
Intelligent follow
Intelligent tracking is another function of Dajiang based on visual recognition technology after visual positioning hover. After the tracking target is selected in the frame on the image transmission screen, it can automatically follow. The machine will calculate and judge according to the color, size, shape, texture and other characteristics of the target. Its requirements for processors and algorithms are far higher than the camera itself. It has even been downloaded to Dajiang's own handheld PTZ OSMO app. By calling the mobile camera, it can also be used at the same level as Genie 4.
During the following process, the screen can be selected in the following three modes by sliding left:
Standard mode It is also called tracking mode, that is, the PTZ keeps a certain distance from the target, and the specific route and speed are determined by the target's path and correction algorithm;
Lock Mode Will set the machine at a position and track the target only by turning the pan tilt;
Parallel mode Side shots will be taken parallel to the target.
The latter two are very common camera techniques in the film, and it is easy to shoot magnificent and grand costumes. In actual use, after setting the target and selecting the mode, the target can perform in front of the camera. The operator does not need to do anything at all. At a distance of 5-10m, which requires fast tracking, the machine's rocking mirror is very natural and "large scale". The availability of the film is very high, and it can be used with a little later cutting and color mixing.
The actual following ability of Mavic Pro is not different from that of Genie 4. If the target color and background are too similar, it is easy to lose it even when encountering specific problems such as camouflage clothes. In addition, it is easy to keep up when walking around in front of the camera during the 3-5 meter close range tracking, but if you run too fast in the direction of the machine, you may lose track (there is more horizontal data margin in the 16:9 picture? The amount of data processed by the pan tilt moving from left to right and up and down is different?)
Other intelligent functions
Gesture selfie: After entering, the following mode will be triggered when someone waves his hand. During the process, the machine camera will keep chasing the target, and the user will trigger the shutter by making a selfie gesture in front of himself. This is a very high-tech point, which greatly reduces the workload of the UAV operator and facilitates the person being photographed to pose. There is a distance limit during use. When the distance between the machine and the person exceeds 10 meters, it will be impossible to track because of the narrowing of the person's vision. Maintaining the distance beyond 3-5 meters will be more consistent with normal composition habits, and the machine is also convenient to follow.
Pointing flight: Principle and intelligent follow approach: after the object is identified visually, the target can be pointed on the screen to fly. As long as the angle of the PTZ is not too low, the camera's field of vision is close to the level of availability.
Terrain follow: That is, keep a constant distance from the ground to follow, which is very practical when climbing mountains. However, no open slope was found in actual use, and the machine did not respond to the grassland slope with a length of 3 meters and an elevation of 0.5 meters. The user had to test the scope of application by himself to ensure the safety of the machine and the photographed personnel
Automatic obstacle avoidance: This is a function that is enabled by default in the non motion mode. If there is an obstacle, it will be forced to hover. No matter how you push the forward rocker, it will not respond. In the settings, you can enable the advanced function of left and right/up and down detour, and the overall availability feels higher than that of Genie 4. There will be a warning sound 3 or 5 meters away from the obstacle, and it will stop about 1 meter in front of the object. There is no pressure to avoid the stones and trees on the front facade. Even the relatively loose branches can be recognized and automatically hover. However, because only the forward direction has a binocular perspective to avoid obstacles, there is still a risk of hitting trees left, right and backward.
Camera changes
The camera of Mavic Pro has reduced the wide-angle, increased manual focus, more convenient digital focus, more intelligent follow modes and self timer trigger, all of which are very obvious self timer optimization. If the UAV aerial photography before Dajiang was used to shoot scenes, the setting of the Mavic Pro was a sign that Dajiang began to go in the direction of photographing people:
Focus and large aperture: The common feature of motion camera and UAV is the fixed focus lens with large wide-angle and short focal length, so there is no trouble of focusing, but there is no possibility of blurring the distant and near scenes. This time, the Mavic Pro uses an auto focus lens, and the aperture has also been raised to f2.2. The nearest focus distance is 0.5 meters. It supports manual focus selection, and has exposure and focus locking functions. Its functions and settings are very similar to those of mobile phones.
Small wide angle: If you want to shoot people, the wide angle should not be too large, otherwise the people on the ground will become one by one as soon as the UAV takes off... The wide angle of the Mavic Pro is reduced from 94 degrees of Genie 4 to 78.8 degrees, which is a rare setting in the UAV. The wide angle close to the mobile phone can improve the level of local discrimination, and the size of the characters in the picture can also be ensured by following within 5-10 meters, However, the field of vision will be sacrificed, and the performance of automatic tracking and anti shake will be more tested.
Vertical shooting mode and live sharing: In addition to its size advantage, the integrated PTZ also has a vertical shooting mode. The machine image can stand up like a mobile phone for shooting. It will be more convenient to shoot the road or building elevation after more vertical composition. By default, the live broadcast platform supports live broadcast on Facebook, YouTube and Weibo, while platforms such as Douyu Panda connect by filling in the address of the live broadcast room.
Film production and video quality
The CMOS parameters of the Mavic Pro are very close to those of the Genie 4. They are also 1/2.3 inch CMOS with 12 million pixels at 4:3. They also support 4K 30 frame and C4K 24 frame video recording. However, the aperture of the previous generation's f2.8 "bursts" to f2.2, and the 28mm equivalent focal length is closer to the commonly used mobile phone/camera than the original 20mm focal length. In addition, the protective cover of the PTZ is relatively fragile, which is easy to leave scratches and will affect the details of the picture, so it must be removed before flying during aerial photography.
Live proof
Although the hardware parameters are quite attractive, the overall imaging is lower than expected. Maybe the lens quality and anti shake are still limited by the volume. Except that the discrimination power of the scene with sufficient light is higher than that of Spirit 4, the other performance is weaker.
This camera, which is highly similar to the mobile phone, is slightly weaker than the iPhone 7 in terms of daytime limit discrimination, but has reached the level of a normal mobile phone with the same pixel. Thanks to the larger unit pixel size, its tolerance is like the HDR effect.
There are some sharpening algorithms, but the noise control in dark places is general, and the blue-green saturation is relatively high. The picture quality deterioration at the corner of the picture is well controlled, and the optical quality of the edge is general and there is a certain picture distortion. After the light becomes worse, the picture quality drops obviously. The jelly effect during movement will have a negative impact on the imaging, both of which are more serious than Spirit 4.
Endurance, charging and price
Airframe endurance: It is a technological wall that UAVs have never been able to break through. Between flight performance and flight time, most manufacturers choose performance. The official flight time of Mavic Pro can be up to 27 minutes, one minute shorter than that of Genie 4. There will be a reminder when the power is 30%, and it also provides automatic return at low power. According to the driving intensity, video duration and clarity, the actual flight duration is generally 15-20 minutes.
Remote control: The remote control is equipped with a screen and a cooling fan. Its endurance is worse than that of the Genie 4, but it is still within the acceptable range. The power consumption of the UAV battery is about 15% after it is consumed once, and the charging frequency is at least 5 times lower than that of the UAV.
charge: The 43.6Wh battery is nearly twice as small as the 81.3Wh battery of Smart 4, and the power of the charger is just 1/2 of the latter. The 5-100% charging time is about 1 hour and 20 minutes. If you want to fly faster, you still need to prepare 2 or 3 more batteries to go out together (the price of the battery is 499 yuan), or you need to make a big power charging.
To review the parameter table again, the price of Dajiang Mavic Pro is 6499 yuan, including two batteries, a shoulder bag, and four spare paddles , vehicle charging The set of charging steward and charging bank converter is 7999 yuan, while the Smart 4 bare metal is 7499 yuan.
summary
Mavic Pro is a new product category, which is redesigned for portability based on the functions of Genie 4, with smaller size but more functions. Although the Mavic Pro always loses 4 points when it comes to detailed projects, the gap is not big. To sum up, the Mavic Pro is more portable, powerful, remote control distance and intelligent, but it is more powerful in terms of image quality, anti shake, extreme speed, wind resistance, endurance and other items directly related to volume and weight.
However, the Mavic Pro is 1000 yuan cheaper, and its size is a crushing advantage. This is the only real aerial camera UAV that can be carried with you. Scientific and technological products are never sold by weight or volume. Mavic Pro has not sacrificed much in core performance, and it has been very successful in ensuring the level close to Elf 4 while "slimming down".
For 99% of the entry-level users, their positioning and actual performance are highly substitutive products, which have a taste of what is good and what is good. The Genie 4 will only be beaten on the ground in front of the size and price of the Mavic Pro. As expected at the beginning, the Mavic Pro is one of the most worth buying aerial UAVs between 5000-8000 yuan now and for a long time.
