New to drones, have Mavic Air, but interested in Neo....

[spacewizard]

Hey folks. Registered just to ask questions even though I do not (as yet) own a neo. Hope this is an appropriate post for the forum.

I've gotten into the whole drone thing very recently -- I've only been at it for a couple months. I've been learning a ton. Right now I have a secondhand Mavic Air (1). It's awesome, I love it, and one of my favorite things is taking panoramic photospheres with it.

What I don't love is hauling it around, and the ritual of setting it up and packing it up again.

I find myself thinking about that Neo a lot, that convenient little critter, and how easy it'd be to carry it around, take it out, and fool around with it. I'm kinda obsessed with the question of whether a Neo would be good for me.

I'm wondering... could I use it to take panoramic photos like I do with my Air? I imagine that in order to do so I'd need the controller so I could use the DJI Fly app with it? Would that work?

How about the camera? I know that people hate on the Neo's camera a lot but I'm not sure whether it would be better or worse than the Mavic Air 1, being six years old.

I'm a strictly recreational pilot (so far...) and while I like to do photography it's just for myself, and private social media sharing.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Old Man Mavic]

unfortunately the Neo even with the RC and fly app does not do panos due to its camera limitations

 

[Cafguy]

The NEO's camera from what I hear is not so great BUT I'm no photographer that's for sure. If you are, Then I don't think the NEO is a good choice for you. The NEO is for all purposes a selfie cam SO as a photographer I think you would be disappointed.
If you like flying the Drone for the fun of it if you got the NEO I think you would be pleased. For a Photographer I would look at a MINI if I was you.

 

[spacewizard]

You're killing me, guys. How am I supposed to give in to my desire for something fun, new, and shiny, when you tell me it isn't perfect? Valuable info though, thanks.

Not doing panos due to camera limitations is weird, all you have to do is spin in a circle and take 25 pictures, but now that I think about it, it *does* take some technology in the drone to stitch them together into the pano. I don't think about that because I don't use those things, I just pull down the photos myself and stitch them together with Hugin, because it does a better job than the in-drone stitching. So I guess I could do it myself by spinning the drone in place myself, but the automatic feature in the drone does an awesome job of making sure you have 25 perfectly overlapping pictures.

RE: being a photographer, I'm not a Photographer with a capital P, I'm just an idiot who likes taking pretty pictures and I'm stunned at how pretty a picture can be from the air.

More camera questions. Can it do any special stuff with photos beyond just "snap a picture"? E.g. in the DJI Go app with the Mavic Air, it can do "Auto Exposure Bracketing" where you hit the button and it takes 3 pictures of the same shot in different exposures. Can the Neo do that? How about saving raw versions of photos along with the jpegs?

 

[Kilrah]

Not doing panos due to camera limitations is weird, all you have to do is spin in a circle and take 25 pictures, but now that I think about it, it *does* take some technology in the drone to stitch them together into the pano.

The neo has a single axis gimbal, which means anytime wind comes sideways the photo will be tilted. That's way more difficult to stitch especially automatically, when taking multiple photos they'll all have a different tilt.

Can it do any special stuff with photos beyond just "snap a picture"?

Only interval shooting

How about saving raw versions of photos along with the jpegs?

Nope, JPEG only

 

[spacewizard]

Ah, that makes sense. What a bummer. Sounds like the neo would be noticeably less capable than the mavic air, even for a "small-p photographer".

I probably *could* still take some good panos with it manually, but the whole process wouldn't go as smoothly as with the air, it'd be more liable to glitches, and it wouldn't have great dynamic range.

 

[ryguy80]

If you want something small and affordable that can take panos, then perhaps look at the Mini 4K.

Even the Mini 2 SE will do the job.

 

[Chrislaf]

My primary use for the drones I have is to take photos. I take lots of panos with my Mavic 3 Pro and Mini 3 Pro and now the NEO. The NEO does not have any automated panorama functions but you can shoot them manually and still get good results in good lighting conditions. The NEO, as others have mentioned does not have the ability to save in RAW (DNG) format, but you can still get good results with JPEGs.

Do some reading in the forum and check out the Pics and Videos section to get a good idea of what the NEO is capable of. Also, there are lots of YouTube videos that deal with photo quality. I found Stewart and Alina particularly informative.

I purchased a NEO to be able to take photos and videos in places that I would not use my more expensive drones with unprotected props. The NEO with its completely enclosed and protected props is perfect for low level flying without having to worry too much about crashing. It permits you to get low level shots in a low-cost durable package.

If you want to shoot panos, then I would highly recommend you choose a package with the RC-N3 remote as you will have much more control over the drone's movements.

Good luck with your decision.

Chris

 

[spacewizard]

See, that's the kind of positivity I need in order to help enable & justify a possibly foolish purchase of a cool item that I don't really need but totally want.

I will definitely check out Stewart and Alina's videos.

If I do purchase one I will absolutely get a proper controller for it.

I do like the results I get from a set of automatically taken DNGs on my Mavic Air, stitched together in Hugin.... I could start taking pictures with it by hand and using JPGs, and see what I think of the process and results. It wouldn't be quite the same because I'd still have the advantage of a 3 axis gimbal, but if I don't totally hate the process and results that'll be instructive.

Also maybe I should just admit to myself that I want it *cause it's cool* and I'd love to have a drone I could always be carrying around with me, whether or not its photography could match what I've already got.

 

[spacewizard]

For anyone following the thread.... yesterday, my mavic air met with a freak accident (it's a long story).

So I went and got that neo. It's going to be very different but I think it's going to be interesting!

 

[GFields]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

 

[Chrislaf]

For anyone following the thread.... yesterday, my mavic air met with a freak accident (it's a long story).

So I went and got that neo. It's going to be very different but I think it's going to be interesting!

Sorry to hear about your Mavic Air, but congratulations on getting a NEO.

Chris

 

[spacewizard]

Thanks all! Early sundown means I don't have much time after work to play with it, but I'm looking forward to the weekend

It's a smart little guy! Really good at following me around.

 

[itzmyobsession]

Big welcome to the Neo group, and from Sooke BC

 

[Chrislaf]

Thanks all! Early sundown means I don't have much time after work to play with it, but I'm looking forward to the weekend

It's a smart little guy! Really good at following me around.

I find the tracking from behind, whether using the phone or the controller is really good. It's way better than my more expensive camera drones and because the NEO has completely enclosed props, it is less likely to crash when it brushes against something.

Chris

 

[NEO 317]

So I went and got that neo. It's going to be very different but I think it's going to be interesting!

Hello from the Crossroads of America spacewizard.

I don't have one yet and congratulations on pulling the trigger, so to speak.

Welcome to the NEO Forum.

 

[sarahb]

Welcome!

 

[okw]

Welcome to the group!

 

[spacewizard]

Thanks!!

After a little experimentation I've learned it absolutely is possible to take good photospheres with the neo. It's easier to screw up -- one of them I had to fix with some inpainting cause I didn't quite get everything covered in my nadir shot -- and of course low light has limitations -- the other of them I did close to sunset (which is pretty early these days...) and there's a ton of noise in it from the low-lightness of it all.

But it's absolutely doable.