For the launch of the DJI Mavic Air 2, we gave the new product to drone photographer Kaupo Kalda to test, who also did a quick written review.
Since the Droon.ee team always has their foot in the door first, I was probably one of the first in Estonia to get to test the Dji Mavic Air 2 drone. Below is a quick encounter with the “on-again-off-again” light.
Flight and app
I went to Kakumäe Haven harbour, which is my home port. Quite windy, 6-7m/s, definitely more at sea. The Air 2, which is noticeably smaller and lighter in the hand than the Mavic 2 Pro model, flew very cleanly and the image was silky smooth, no shakes or wobbles. Gone is the filmy sound of the previous Air and more like the M2Pro. Everything was immediately intuitive and clear, easy to fly and use. The video transfer is 1080p and the picture is perfectly smooth and clean, the distribution technology is now Ocusync 2 (the previous one was Wifi) which is one of the better ones and spreads for miles.
Desk and app
An important wider innovation is the new console. The phone attaches to the top of the remote, which makes good visual sense. Admittedly, my Samsung S20 Ultra is so big and quite heavy that a bit of the weight of the case dragged up. The phone holder, which includes the antennae, is retractable and the phone is much more comfortable to hold than before.
There are fewer buttons than on my own Mavic 2 Pro drone, but you get used to it quickly, the only thing I found lacking was the focus compensation disc. The stick itself is a good solid piece in the hand, rubbery at the base of the fingers and grips well. By the way, it also charges your phone because the remote has a big battery.
The app is different – the Dji Fly – which is the same one used by the Dji Mavic Mini drone. Simplified and I believe very good to use for most, doesn’t get bogged down in settings.
Camera
The camera is similar in appearance to the Mavic 2 Pro, being slightly smaller and black. The camera shutter is a little more comfortable once you get the hang of it. The sensor is half an inch, slightly larger than before. The aperture is fixed at f2.8, no need to sharpen as the image is max sharp all the way around automatically.
The picture is somewhere between the Pro and the Mini, which is also the placement of this drone in the drone row. Raw/DNG is supported, plus there’s a quite interesting SmartPhoto that does something like phones do nowadays, processing the image slightly over a wider dynamic range.
The glass on my Mavic 2 Pro is definitely sharper, but it’s not too bad. I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high on 48 Mpx – the glass is below the pixels here – I’d rather expect a good image from the camera to be 12 Mpx anyway.
The video is beautifully smooth, with sample clips in the reference below and recorded in HDR mode. HDR works at 4K 30fps, but otherwise the Air 2 allows you to film at 4K 60fps, which is very cool and particularly smooth.
I also did a quick test at night. It was quite dull and windy, but the Air 2 did just fine. I ran it on auto-zoom, where it bumped up to ISO 1070. Noise is OK and removable at this level, dynamics at such a high ISO of course suffer. On manual, setting ISO to 200, the shutter went to 3 sec and the wind already blew that away.
Summary
Who is it for? From this brief encounter, I’d say that while the Mavic Mini is a pretty beginner drone with a decent camera, the Mavic 2 Pro can really be a pro tool (I use it for work), the Mavic Air 2 sits nicely in between. Excellent in terms of flight performance and battery, full auto flight modes, shock sensors on three sides, nice and compact, RAW support available, 4K 60fps, HDR video, built-in 8GB memory in case you forget your memory card at home.
For Youtubers, social media, capturing travel memories and hikes – perfect.
The price is also somewhere in between. I’d definitely recommend getting the Dji Mavic Air 2 Fly More combo kit, which also includes a charging hub, 3 batteries, a bag and filters for the smoothest possible video in bright light.
Sample files
RAW images https://www.dropbox.com/s/h33tl8artj6eump/DJI_0010.DNG?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fbax9wl4xvz4bbp/DJI_0026.DNG?dl=0 Self-composed panorama https://www.dropbox.com/s/4yqdrwz4cm8gex3/DJI_0010-Pano.dng?dl=0 Night, auto exposure (ISO 1070) https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwff4mb0fu7sygk/DJI_0034.DNG?dl=0
Videos from https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2fmrr6tfq692zv/DJI_0005.MP4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/z25c1f5hkstw4jv/DJI_0006.MP4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9gg7iknu7n7i67/DJI_0032.MP4?dl=0
