This blog is never political—and never will be. I’ve got nothing against the POTUS, but man, this trade war is nasty! It’s impacted a lot of people, and one of the first groups to feel the ripple effects is the imaging drone users. The DJI Mavic 4 Pro, announced on May 13, won’t be coming to the U.S.—at least it will not be available for now. In addition to potentially paying more for many things in life, you will not be getting good things in life like DJI’s new imaging drone. So, yeah. That’s how trade war plays out. That sucks. Anyhoo, we are not here to dig dirt; we are here for the drone.
The DJI Mavic 4 Pro isn’t just a drone; it’s an airborne film rig. It boasts a new 100MP Hasselblad main camera, joined by two large CMOS tele cameras with 70mm and 168mm focal lengths. All three cameras support 4K/60fps HDR, with the Hasselblad going all in at 6K/60fps HDR and 4K/120fps slow-mo. If you’re keeping score, that’s a triple-lens setup with focal lengths of 28mm, 70mm, and 168mm on a 360° rotating Infinity Gimbal. Dramatic Dutch angles? Done.
The Mavic 4 Pro offers up to 51 minutes of airtime and can travel up to 30 km (18.6 miles) with the new DJI O4+ transmission system. It also features improved omnidirectional obstacle sensing that works even in low light and a fancy new ActiveTrack 360 that keeps tabs on moving subjects—yes, even cars from 200 meters away.
Other highlights include 10-bit D-Log and HLG color profiles across all lenses, RAW stacking, Subject Focusing, and a new RC Pro 2 controller with a rotatable 7-inch mini-LED display. The top-tier Creator Combo packs 512 GB of storage, a 240W power adapter, and a new Parallel Charging Hub that can also moonlight as a 100W power bank.
But again, if you’re in the U.S., all of this may as well be an elaborate dream shot on a drone you can’t buy. Sigh. That’s not the end of the world, though. Up North in Canada presents a glimmer of hope. The DJI Mavic 4 Pro is available on the DJI online store Canada starting at US$2,049. Great. Now there’s a bank account challenge to deal with.
Images: DJI.
