4K Test Footage from the DJI Mavic Pro is Gorgeous, NOT Blurry

Photographer and videographer Michael Shainblum just released some 100% unedited 4K test footage and first thoughts from/about the DJI Mavic Pro, and it’s (to use the technical term) freaking gorgeous. So why does half the Internet think the Mavic Pro has a low quality camera?

A small mistake by some big names has people confused is why. Yesterday, popular filmmaker Casey Neistat released some side-by-side footage comparing the DJI Phantom 4 with the new DJI Mavic Pro, and the Internet was shocked. It looked really bad…

Here’s that original side-by-side:

So what gives? Did DJI really put a low quality camera into the Mavic Pro? It turns out, as Neistat himself corrected later on Twitter, that user error was the problem. Neistat didn’t properly focus the Mavic, making it look very soft.

Mavic Drone Update; apparently the focus works differently on the Mavic. I played with it and I was able to get much much sharper images. http://pic.twitter.com/ThlPejiPx2

— Casey Neistat (@CaseyNeistat) September 29, 2016

And if you’re thinking this is just some trick to calm the masses, the 4K test footage by Shainblum should put that thought to rest. The Mavic captures gorgeous footage… in the right hands, of course.

The big reveal is the difference between the camera in focus and out of focus. DJI introduced tap-to-focus (similar to your smartphone) on the Mavic Pro, and that’s what has thrown some people off online. The difference between unfocused and focused footage, as pointed out by shainblum, is massive.

Here’s a screenshot from the video before focusing:

unfocused

And here’s one after:

focused

Even in these resized screenshots, the difference is immediately obvious. The Mavic Pro’s footage is definitely not soft.

Check out Shainblum’s full test video/first impressions in the video at the top of this post, and if you want to learn more about the Mavic Pro, head over to our announcement or check out this side-by-side spec comparison with the GoPro Karma.