I've now received my drone, updated the firmware, and done a first flight to assess whether the zoom camera meets Autel's advertisements.
Autel advertises that the Max 4T has an 8k camera producing 8k resolution and that clear details (reading a license plate) is possible at 1.21 miles (6,388 ft). Right now, NONE OF THAT appears to be true.
The zoom camera's files are 4000 x 3000, which is barely 4k. Using both the 10x optical zoom and the 16x digital (crop and magnify) will produce 160x hybrid zoom. That actually happens. However, because the zoom is working on a 4k file, clear details are not available even as close as 1500 ft.
I had heard the file sizes did not look like 8k. I was concerned, but assumed that there was some initial digital cropping at 1x of 8k images to reduce file size. If that had been true, the 160x hybrid zoom could still work as advertised to provide clear images at over a mile. That would have been not just acceptable, but brilliant, because it would reduce file sizes so that almost any micro sd card and computer would be able to handle them. But apparently that is not the case, as there doesn't appear to be an 8k image to start with.
I can't find any setting that would change between 4k and 8k, so unless a firmware update makes the 8k available, the zoom camera does not meet the promises that Autel has made regarding the 8k image and clarity at distance. Do NOT buy this drone if those are important to you.
I really want to be wrong on this, and will gladly delete my post or the entire thread if someone tells me how to get the results that Autel has advertised.
