It certainly has its shortcomings as well and yes it is an aging quadcopter that has been overdue for a successor. The camera is for the most part unchanged from the Phantom 3 Professional’s excellent shooter. But DJI added a slow-motion option capturing 1080p at 120fps and it has improved the lens so there’s less chromatic aberration and better corner sharpness. It, too, is not removable, which means it can’t simply be upgraded or replaced. On the spec sheet the Mavic Pro offers a very similar set of capabilities to the Phantom 4. However, it comes in a smaller package that folds to become one of the most portable drones around.
Whether you’re shooting in JPG or Raw format, the 20MP resolution and extra surface area deliver results that are palpably better, especially at higher ISO sensitivities. If you want to take advantage of obstacle recognition on all four sides, you need to fly in dji drones either Beginner or Tripod mode. Both slow down the maximum operating speed, and Tripod mode makes it possible for very, very fine adjustments to position using the control sticks. For example, the gimbal is an actual part of the body instead of an attachment.
The Phantom 4 Pro has a titanium and magnesium alloy construction increasing the strength of its frame and reducing it’s weight. This gives the Phantom 4 Pro a longer flight time of up to approximately 30 minutes. Even at the lowest ISO setting of 100, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed with the image quality. In the future, I’d love to see DJI collaborating with other camera companies to get the most out of the APS-C sensor size. The camera sends a live video feed to the controller, allowing the user to see a first person perspective of what the drone is seeing on your monitor.
The battery on the DJI Pro V. 2.0 is rated for up to 30 minutes of flight time. It managed a respectable 28 minutes and 50 seconds in our outdoor real-world hover test. We rarely see drones hit their full advertised time in outdoor scenarios, and mileage varies significantly from user to user, but this is definitely within an acceptable range. One of the more humorous aspects of the Phantom 4 Pro is that the remote controller has a larger battery than the drone itself .
Is it a lot of money for a semi-professional product, assuming you use the Phantom 4 Pro to making you money in some capacity? The default control schema assigns altitude/hover and yaw to the left stick (up/down, left/right respectively), and pitch and roll to the right stick. We found control with the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V. 2.0 to be very responsive, and once we adjusted the length control sticks to suit us better as we found it even easier still to control the craft accurately. When it comes to build quality, DJI really knocks it out of the park.
Obstacle avoidance is disabled in this mode, and you will certainly see the rotors in the shot when flying at full speed ahead. DJI rates Sport mode at up to 45mph, and with some help from the wind I saw speeds of around 48mph in my flight logs. Both are in line with the standard dji fly, which uses the same flight hardware, and put up similar top speeds in our field testing. For your first real flight, you’ll want to make sure you’ve picked a location in which it’s legal to fly. In the case of flights near airports, that involves contacting the control tower and making them aware of your flight plan.
The dji drones might truly be the drone anyone can fly and it is certainly worth the money if you’ve got it. Still, for however polished the experience is, it might be too much of a good thing for absolute beginners. DJI’s top consumer drone is smart enough to practically fly itself while you concentrate on getting awesome aerial shots.