The Quadcopter DJI Phantom 4 Pro Review

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7 km Control Range

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1 hour Recharge

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30 min Flight Time

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4K 60P Camera

This quadcopter caught my attention a few days ago, and is deserving of a proper DJI Phantom 4 Pro review. I will focus on still video features and will comment on the photography features.

Introduction

The Phantom 4 Pro is an upgraded version of the Phantom 4 in practically every way. It has the best camera (20 versus 12 megapixels; fixed aperture versus controllable), longer flight time (30 versus 28 mins), better obstacle detection, improved burst mode (14 versus 7 fps), supports up to 128 GB SD cards, and considerably more. In most cases, I’m astonished DJI did not choose to give it a name Phantom 5 as various new features and developments are a genuine improvement. What is more important is that these updates are not just a few “features” developed by the advertising department.

Simple to Fly

It’s simple. However not as simple as you may think. Mostly, you control a drone utilizing two sticks (this makes it somewhat like playing XBox consoles or PlayStation). The left one controls rotation and altitude, while the one on the right is used to move back and forth, and sideways. You control the camera pitch with an extra wheel on controller. There is additionally a lot of supportive features

Safety features

Phantom 4 Pro has many helpful features that make smashing a drone a touch more difficult like:

Auto landing/take off – where you only press one button and the drone will perform landing/take off autonomously

Return to home feature – where the drone will autonomously come back to its take-off area. You can enact RTH at any time you wish. It will execute automatically as a security measure if the battery level is low, or the connection between the remote controller and drone is lost.

Fantastic obstacle recognition and avoidance. The drone will stay away from potential impacts.

Other than this, the drone will caution you at whatever point it experiences a few problems like weak GPS signal, radio obstruction, and high wind.

There is additionally a simulator system that will help you in understanding the essentials of flying the drone. However, since the simulator system is very simple, and not all features on the drone are supported by it, using it won’t show you everything. Additionally, in the simulator, you do not have the view from a virtual camera, so it is much the same as watching the drone.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro Review

Pros and Cons

Improved Camera

1-inch 20 Megapixel sensor capable of shooting 4K/60 fps video.

Sturdy Drone Design

Titanium and magnesium alloy for a tougher and stronger frame.

Obstacle Avoidance

Flight Autonomy system adds dual rear vision and infrared sensors.

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Extra batttery

Extra batteries for this drone are pricey, but needed for more flying.

Lacks portability

Does not transport as easily as the DJI Spark or DJI Mavic.

Pricey

Though it has a lot of features, this is not an inexpensive drone.

DJI Go App

You register this drone, and control it, utilizing the DJI Go App that is accessible for iOS and Android devices. Even though the application looks somewhat complicated at the first time, it’s straightforward to utilize and is natural. It took me few minutes to figure it out.
The entire display is a camera view with some icons and text overlaying it. Everything is gathered in an incredibly clever manner with flying settings (landing, take off, flying mode) on the left and camera settings (photograph/video, exposure settings) on the right. Over the display screen, there are a few signs (like whether it’s safe to fly, battery level, GPS connection status) and on the base, a few “instruments” (horizontal, altitude, distance, and vertical speed and map).

Drone Speed and Range

Some of the refinements with the new DJI Phantom 4 is that the enhanced motors enable you to fly faster. This gives this drone a top speed of 45 mph, which is quite fast.

Another benefit is that they raised the motors with the goal that you don’t see them when you’re filming while looking straight ahead. Though this is a tremendous improvement over the previous models, if you’re flying very fast you’ll see them a bit.

Photograph Quality

The DJI Phantom 4 Pro is shipped with a 20 MP camera which is a significant jump from 12 megapixels accessible on Phantom 4. The camera is excellent. Additionally, the sensor size has been expanded which should bring about better quality at upper ISOs.

ISO range of the picture is from 100 to 12800. However, I would probably abstain from utilizing much than 800 given its small sensor size.
The photos are fresh, loaded with detail and. Likewise, dynamic range is very good. It does not match Nikon or Sony cameras however if you are shooting a scene with great dynamic range, you can section on account of the automatic bracketing characteristics (which gives you a chance to take 4 or 5 photographs which you can then overlay in post processing).

You can shoot both in DNG or JPEG mode. I find the JPEG quality to be a bit better.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro Review Video

Video quality

While I’m not a specialist in this area, I would say that recording from the Phantom 4 Pro is spectacular and has an exceptionally professional and true to life feel. There are numerous video settings. The highest video capture resolution is 4K at 60 fps. You can also record at 120 fps with HD resolution.

Battery Performance

Under ideal conditions, DJI says the Phantom 4 Pro can remain airborne for up to 30 minutes.

To put this to the test, I ran the P4 Pro through a series of stress tests. The first was a hover test, where I let the drone hover until the battery signaled “critically low,” and the drone naturally landed. The hover test went on for 28 minutes and 8 seconds, which isn’t far from DJI’s specified 30-minute flight time.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro Review Summary

DJI Phantom 4 Pro is a magnificent tool both for videographers and photographers. With each flight, I discover something new to try on this advanced drone. Also, the videos and photos look exceptionally professional.

The P4 Pro has the same design and build quality as its predecessor. It is every bit as sturdy as the P4, with its sleek looking hull shape design. Its impressive that DJI was able to modify the P4 to include several new sensors, but still maintain the same form factor.

The DJI Phantom 4 is one of the best drones on the market today, if not the actual best. You will have a lot of fun flying this drone, and will be highly impressed with its video and photo quality.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro

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DJI Phantom 4 Pro Review

3.8

Summary

The Phantom 4 Pro is an upgraded version of the Phantom 4 in practically every way. It has the best camera (20 versus 12 megapixels; fixed aperture versus controllable), longer flight time (30 versus 28 mins), better obstacle detection, improved burst mode (14 versus 7 fps), supports up to 128 GB SD cards, and considerably more. In most cases, I’m astonished DJI did not choose to give it a name Phantom 5 as various new features and developments are a genuine improvement. What is more important is that these updates are not just a few “features” developed by the advertising department.