Does the DJI Spark Have What It Takes?

DJI recently launched the DJI Spark drone. It's their smallest drone yet, and is aimed at the beginner drone flyer. But, at $499, it can certainly be used to capture b-roll footage or for behind the scenes shots that can add to your brand and showcase your working style for potential clients to see. The Verge has put together an overall analysis of the drone which is quite informative and showcases what they see as its uses in everyday life. 

At 1080px it's not a professional piece of gear. But it has gesture control, and it can be controlled via your smartphone too. It has flight styles built in, so you can pan around your subject, you can quickly get the drone in the air to take a group shot, and it's got the tracking feature just like the Mavic and Phantom has. 

The video shows that you can get the Phantom 3 Professional at the same price. With that you'll get 4K footage and some pro features like better stability and range. But, you'll need an extra bag, a little more time to set up and screw on the props, and a large space to fly it in, preferably outside. 

In my opinion, the Spark is perfect for drone newbies, and for people who want some BTS footage of their day. But, if you're going to be using a drone for your work to add production value and get a different perspective, I recommend the Mavic or Phantom. 

Wouter du Toit's picture

Wouter is a portrait and street photographer based in Paris, France. He's originally from Cape Town, South Africa. He does image retouching for clients in the beauty and fashion industry and enjoys how technology makes new ways of photography possible.

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4 Comments

I'm about to buy a Mavic. I would buy a Spark instead (maybe 2!) if it simply had RAW/DNG still photos! Such a disappointing and certainly artificial restriction.

I'd go for the mavic then! You get Better range 2km vs 6km), 4K and RAW/DNG files. The Mavic is also slighly heavier, so it'll handle a breeze better too, and you'll have longer battery life.

The lack of raw still pictures seems related to the way it does digital stabilization. (Its more limited 2-axis gimbal doesn't fully stabilize the image, so it has to do some digital stabilization as well. In the end, all it has to store is the processed image, not raw sensor data as you could get from a fully-gimbal-stabilized camera.)

While I agree it is quite likely they are doing digital IS for the video, I think it is extremely unlikely they are using it for stills.