The DJI Mavic Air 2 is here, and it brings with it a bevy of improvements and new features over its predecessor. This great video review takes a look at the new drone and what you can expect from it in practice.
Coming to you from cinema5D, this excellent video takes a look at the new DJI Mavic Air 2. The Mavic Air 2 comes with a 3-axis gimbal, 1/2" sensor, 8K hyperlapse capabilities, 4K60p video, 240 fps slow-motion 1080p video, 8 GB of internal memory (along with up to 256 GB capacity on a card), and 48-megapixel stitched panoramic stills. Along with those features, both photos and videos can be captured in HDR, there is obstacle avoidance, FocusTrack technology, Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems 3.0, 34 minutes of flight time, 43 mph maximum speed, and OcuSync 2.0 technology. And of course, the Mavic Air 2 still folds down remarkably small, easily slotting into the space taken by a 70-200mm lens in your camera bag and weighing in at just 570 g (20.1 oz).
Altogether, the Mavic Air 2 looks like a worthy upgrade to its predecessor that packs a lot of power in a small package. Check out the video above to see what you can expect from it.
You can preorder the DJI Mavic 2 Air here.
Now you can record the demise of civilization from a safe distance.
Why do they always make you use your phone to monitor these things? Why not just have a self-sustaining control panel?
You can buy the "DJI Smart Controller." It's just a controller with a built-in Android smartphone... but I didn't like it. It performed worse than my iPhone, requires separate updates, makes the controller much bigger, requires an extra step for me to transfer stuff to my iPhone, etc.
A controller with a built-in smartphone is essentially no different than this. That's just stupid.
So what would be clever? How would you implement a display into a controller which runs their software without it being "a controller with a built in smartphone"?
What's the point of needing your cellphone to run this in the first place? It's a controller, right? Why not have a self-sustained control unit that has zero need for a phone?
The only reason I can think of is that DJI can then data mine you via your phone, similar to how Bose was caught data mining users of their wireless Bluetooth headsets via the interfacing app.
There's absolutely no reason whatsoever that you should need to plug your cellphone into a controller.
Ok, I think you're misunderstanding what the smart controller is. I assumed you had an issue with the form factor, the smart controller isn't an actual smartphone, it's a controller with a built in screen.
I was replying to Northrup's comment where he specifically stated that "It's just a controller with a built-in Android smartphone...".
Yea the Smart Controller is your best option. I like it better than using my phone as a screen. I haven't had any performance issues with the controller... yet.
It costs 650 euros here in Europe. That's half the price of the drone itself! Quite crazy...
Yes, definitely a cost. You could also get a cheap iPad mini as well.
It looks very interesting. I have a 1st gen. Mavic Pro. The Air 2 is smaller and lighter, but still it has larger sensor, more wideangle (I like that), higher video bitrate, h.265, longer flight time, more obstacle sensors. Like the Mavic Pro it also has raw/dng support, and in general most specs looks just as good as the Mavic Pro.
Hmm, except I think it is a fixed focus camera on Air 2? Probably fine for video, but is it good enough for photography? I don't think it has as many camera control options as the Mavic Pro has either? Looks like it has bracketing, but I don't think it has a simple +/- EV bias adjustment or complete manual controls? Gimbal is motorized instead of Pro's mechanical. I don't know if that is good or bad? Would probably miss the extra screen on Pro's controller too. Anyone knows what the difference is between Pro's DJI Go 4 app and the DJI Fly app for the Air 2?
B&H has it for pre-order in two different versions; one standard, one with extra props and batteries and a few other items.