DJI Mini 5 Pro 50MP Photo Quality – Should You Use It?

The 48 MP photo mode has been a work in progress since its introduction in the DJI line with the Mavic Air 2. There has often been controversy about this mode, considered by many as a marketing gimmick

In the Mini 5 Pro, it has been rebranded as 50MP to reflect a slight increase in resolution due to the larger sensor

In this article, I will examine how it performs on DJI’s latest lightweight drone and when it actually makes sense to use it

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II It Really 50MP Resolution?

The 1” CMOS sensor of the Mini 5 Pro has a true photo resolution of 4096×3072, just above 12.5MP, slightly higher compared to the 12MP of previous DJI lightweight models

It is a Quad Bayer sensor, capable of splitting each pixel into four smaller ones, resulting in 12.5 pixels multiplied by 4, hence the new name of this mode: 50MP

Like other drone and mobile phone manufacturers, in the official specs, DJI announces an effective photo resolution of 50MP for the Mini 5 Pro. This is misleading, as casual users could believe that this model has a higher resolution than full-frame cameras, which is obviously not true

A 1” sensor could produce a true 20MP photo resolution, as was the case for the Ais 2s; however, DJI has chosen a different direction by implementing a Quad Bayer sensor

This type of sensor is widely used in lightweight drones and smartphones, where larger sensors cannot be fitted due to weight or space constraints

The idea is to improve the weak points of small sensors, including detail and sharpness, in easy lighting conditions. However, the smaller pixel can only collect a limited amount of light, and previous models struggled in low-light and high-dynamic-range situations

The larger sensor in the Mini 5 Pro delivers bigger pixels than those found in earlier lightweight models, so better performance in low and challenging light conditions is to be expected

The Quad Bayer sensor has a major advantage for footage, as it can increase the dynamic range up to 14 stops by employing a dual native ISO algorithm when using auto exposure.
But what about photography?

Settings

In the Camera tab of Settings or in the White Balance window, we can select 12 or 50MP for photo resolution

The 50MP mode can now be used with Automatic Exposure Bracketing, useful in high dynamic range situations. It can also be applied to vertical photos and panoramas taken in Free mode

The 50MP mode is available with both RAW and JPEG formats. However, this mode is meant for advanced users who rely on serious post-processing with RAW files. For beginners and casual users posting on social media, it is preferable to use the 12MP JPEG format, which delivers excellent quality right out of the camera

If we select 50 MP for photos taken with the 48mm Med Tele mode, the 2x zoom will be applied only to images in JPEG format, while the RAW files retain the original image size

The 50MP files are larger and more demanding in terms of computer resources

Image Quality

50MP vs 12MP

Right after its release, the Mini 5 Pro showed excellent results for video; however, several users complained about the quality of the 50MP photo mode

In new models, DJI often optimizes video performance first and then improves the algorithm for still images via firmware update. Let’s see how the 50MP mode performs for still images after several firmware updates

For editing the images, I use Luminar Neo, my favorite photo editing program. Here you find more information about this excellent program in the video description, along with a 10% discount coupon (code: Vicvideopic)

After spending a considerable amount of time editing 50MP photos, I noticed a significant improvement in the rendition of shadows. In high dynamic range and night images, there is hardly any chromatic noise

You can see 50MP images face to face with 12MP ones. They are all in RAW format, taken one immediately after the other. The differences are very subtle, but on several occasions, I obtain slightly better results with the 50MP ones

The higher resolution ones respond better to color grading, as they appear to contain more information and richer colors

50MP vs Med Tele Mode

The 48mm Med Tele Mode of the Mini 5 Pro produces images with a 2x zoom with a quality close to that of a real optical lens

Here you can see them compared to photos taken with the 50MP at the same crop level

I often prefer the 50MP, which are the ones to use for large prints or when deep crops are needed