DJI Mavic 4 Pro Image Quality for Landscape Photographers
Aerial landscape photographers using drones have come to accept that achieving optimal image quality is an art in itself. DJI make the best drones for photographers, but as recently as a few years ago, the image quality was suitable for web use but would not have been deemed suitable for larger prints.
Improving DJI drone image quality
My first drone was a DJI Air 2 which took 12 megapixel RAW files with a small sensor and a wide angle lens. I then progressed to an Air 2s which had a 20 megapixel 1 inch sensor. My next upgrade was to a DJI Mavic 3 Pro which had a wide angle camera with a 4/3 sensor, and a 3x (12/48 megapixel) and 7x camera (12 megapixel).
The difference in image quality between the Air 2 and Air 2s was huge. The DJI Air 2 felt like a flying cell phone camera, with noisy, soft images and distinctly average colours. As someone who was used to shooting on a full frame Canon R camera I found myself excited by the aerial perspective, but firmly grounded in terms image quality.
However, the Air 2s with its larger sensor was somewhat of a revelation. No longer did I feel like I was flying a cell phone camera, but rather I was flying a very capable imaging system. I estimated to be similar in quality to an older generation DLR with a basic kit lens. By that I mean it captured nice colours and clear images, but there was a lot of digital noise and the edges and corners of the images were a little soft.
My current drone is a DJI Mavic 3 Pro. This has a larger 4/3 sensor than my Air 2s. Whilst the image quality was significantly better than the Air 2s, it wasn’t a night and day difference in the way the jump from the Air2 > Airs 2s had been.
DJI Drone Megapixels: Advertised vs Native Resolution
When I bought my DJI Mavic 3 Pro it was advertised as having a 48MP 3x camera and a 12MP 7x camera. It should be noted when buying a DJI drone that quite often the advertised resolution is often as a result of some technical wizardry. For example, in the case of my 48 megapixel 3x camera, this is actually a 12 megapixel native-resolution sensor which has the ability to produce 48 megapixel files.
Under perfect conditions in a landscape evenly lit by strong sun, the 48 megapixel files are quite good. However, if you have any areas of shadow at all or anything but the bright direct light, you are better to capture native resolution images at 12 megapixels. The larger images are full of digital noise and the colours and dynamic range are not as good. If you try and brighten shadow areas you will have a message image.
With DJI drones, you will be capturing RAW files at the native resolution in 90% of circumstances.
A good way to think about it is you are able to choose between a high quality native resolution, or a lower quality higher resolution file.
Mavic 4 Pro Image Quality
The newly released DJI Mavic 4 Pro makes some big claims. The first is that the wide angle camera captures 100 megapixel images. However, this is actually a 25 megapixel sensor with the ability to produce 100 megapixel files. On the DJI website they have made RAW file samples available and these are all 25 megapixels.
I think it is safe to assume that as I mention above, the larger files will only be suitable for use under extremely optimal conditions. This is a drone with a 25 megapixel main sensor – still an improvement on the Mavic 3 Pro’s 20 megapixel sensor.
Similarly, the 3x camera is a 12 megapixel native size with 48 megapixel advertised, and the 7x camera is a 12 megapixel native size with a 50 megapixel advertised resolution.
| Mavic 4 Pro Camera | Advertised Resolution | Native Resolution |
| 1x / 28mm / wide angle | 100 megapixels | 25 megapixels |
| 3x / 70mm / medium tele | 48 megapixels | 12.1 megapixels |
| 7x / 168mm / tele camera | 50 megapixels | 12.5 megapixels |
As you can see, the advertised resolutions are 4x bigger than the native file size, because each sensor is using
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