Zoom Functionality is a sliding scale!

itsneedtokno · Aug 10, 2020

If you hold the 1x icon it allows you to dial in anywhere between one and 2x.

On the 1080p it works the same way. 1x to 4x sliding scale!

iaincaradoc · Aug 10, 2020

In theory, this would allow a "dolly zoom" on the MA2 like the M2Z can do.

I'll have to play with it a bit and see what I can do.

brett8883 · Aug 10, 2020

iaincaradoc said:
In theory, this would allow a "dolly zoom" on the MA2 like the M2Z can do.

I'll have to play with it a bit and see what I can do.

Dolly zoom relies on the fact that an optical zoom changes the actual focal length of the the lens and compresses or contracts the background. Digital zoom doesn’t change the focal length it just increases the size of the pixels. You need an optical zoom lens to do a dolly zoom

itsneedtokno · Aug 10, 2020

iaincaradoc said:
In theory, this would allow a "dolly zoom" on the MA2 like the M2Z can do.

I'll have to play with it a bit and see what I can do.

i know of a way you CAN achieve a dolly zoom effect... even with a mavic mini

fly forward, record.
go to editing software.
zoom in at first frame, by say 250% (the better quality camera, the more you can zoom)
zoom out over the duration of the rest of the frames.

the same can be done in reverse.
?

itsneedtokno · Aug 10, 2020

brett8883 said:
Dolly zoom relies on the fact that an optical zoom changes the actual focal length of the the lens and compresses or contracts the background. Digital zoom doesn’t change the focal length it just increases the size of the pixels. You need an optical zoom lens to do a dolly zoom

yeah, legit dolly zoom requires compression.

you can get "close" with my above method, but i see where the digital zoom would be an issue.

iaincaradoc · Aug 10, 2020

brett8883 said:
Dolly zoom relies on the fact that an optical zoom changes the actual focal length of the the lens and compresses or contracts the background. Digital zoom doesn’t change the focal length it just increases the size of the pixels. You need an optical zoom lens to do a dolly zoom

Yes, I'm aware of that. But at 1080P with a fixed aperture, I don't expect that much compression anyway. Just messing around to see what can be faked up a bit.

Scott · Aug 10, 2020

Tried it at 4K @ 2X. In short, I will never be using it again.

G Randy Brown · Aug 10, 2020

itsneedtokno said:
If you hold the 1x icon it allows you to dial in anywhere between one and 2x.

On the 1080p it works the same way. 1x to 4x sliding scale!

nice catch, thanks

G Randy Brown · Aug 10, 2020

Scott said:
Tried it at 4K @ 2X. In short, I will never be using it again.

Thanks for letting us know that

GadgetGuy · Aug 11, 2020

Scott said:
Tried it at 4K @ 2X. In short, I will never be using it again.

Even DJI uses 1080p at 4x on the M2Z to create their 1080p dolly zoom. Try it in 1080p as you zoom slowly on the linear scale on the screen from 1x to 4x while pulling away at the same rate.

InvisibleName · Aug 11, 2020

Scott said:
Tried it at 4K @ 2X. In short, I will never be using it again.

And in long..... why??

Dave Maine · Aug 11, 2020

At 4K you do not have the pixels to make any zoom in without loosing quality. At 1080, you can do a 4x linear zoom without loosing pixels.

InvisibleName · Aug 11, 2020

Dave Maine said:
At 4K you do not have the pixels to make any zoom in without loosing quality. At 1080, you can do a 4x linear zoom without loosing pixels.

Sorry, you've lost me! Surely at 4K you're recording more pixels? Please explain more

anon67 · Aug 11, 2020

4K zoom looks like zero quality is lost imo from my personal experience testing out and comparing in premier pro. Also wtf DJI coming out swinging, just found out you can hold function button and use gimbal wheel to zoom in and out on the controller w00t!!

Adgej123 · Aug 11, 2020

Check out the other thread guys, it's been discovered that if you hold down the function button you can use the gimbal wheel to zoom. Works fantastically ?

Dave Maine · Aug 11, 2020

Sorry if that was not clear. If you are shooting 4k, and delivering 4k, The sensor is effectively feeding all the pixels it has to the video. If you try a digital zoom, you are cropping away some of these pixels, and enlarging the remaining pixels to fill the 4k frame. These created new pixels have only the information contained in the original crop, spread out. This results in a lower resolution final image. DJI tries to minimize the damage by adding contrast to the edges of the new image in an attempt to make it look sharper, and it helps some, but not enough for the image to really look good. Detail has been lost.

Hope that this helps.

Adgej123 · Aug 11, 2020

This may well reduce quality but as a free update, full credit to DJI. This machine is becoming more and more of a bargain when these features are taken into consideration. I do a lot of flying just to explore things from another angle or explore places that can't normally be reached, will come in very handy indeed.

Larry1108 · Aug 11, 2020

I just updated and tried flying with 1080P and the zoom wasn't bad to me. 2X was real good, 3X and 4X was getting distorted some but not bad. Very viewable. Batteries weren't charged much so short flight.

z28lt1 · Aug 11, 2020

Dave Maine said:
Sorry if that was not clear. If you are shooting 4k, and delivering 4k, The sensor is effectively feeding all the pixels it has to the video. If you try a digital zoom, you are cropping away some of these pixels, and enlarging the remaining pixels to fill the 4k frame. These created new pixels have only the information contained in the original crop, spread out. This results in a lower resolution final image. DJI tries to minimize the damage by adding contrast to the edges of the new image in an attempt to make it look sharper, and it helps some, but not enough for the image to really look good. Detail has been lost.

Hope that this helps.

Have you confirmed this is the approach DJI is using? The Air 2 is capable of 8k, which means, if implemented (and I don't know what DJI did), you could 2x Zoom 4K and not lose anything, and not need to create any pixels. Its clear DJI has some concerns with processing 8k on-drone as it is only available in Hyperlapse, but perhaps a cropped 8k, works. The Evo II with the same sensor supports 8K video, but only up to 25FPS, so it is doable, but seems to be pushing the edge. With only half the image though, it can alleviate any processing (or write speed) concerns.