DJI Mavic Air 2 First Impression

[@salvatoremezzatesta218]

I would like to see you test the obstacle avoidance parameters. Thanks

[@MrFittyTucker]

First! Sorry I missed you last week but hey we all get busy sometimes. I wanted to order one of these birds but I'm just not able to swing it right now with everything that is going on! You Must know somebody to have one of these in your hands already! Great Job!

[@PilotInstitute]

Welcome back, Mike. These last few weeks have been bananas for us so I understand! And yes, I do know someone :P

[@jimnorth9902]

Thank you for waiting until you actually have the drone in hand before doing a “first impressions” video. I am looking forward to hearing about the ADS-B functionality.

[@PilotInstitute]

I'll be digging a little deeper into that and see if it works in this pre-prod model. I have a very active flight school nearby but unfortunately they are grounded until May 15.

[@woodycarr]

Thanks for the review! Do you think there is any risk that the FAA will mandate remote ID technology that will make these new drones functionally obsolete anytime soon? Does the AirSense technology (ADS-B) in the Mavic Air 2 help mitigate that risk?

[@PilotInstitute]

Hi Woodycarr, I wouldn't worry about Remote ID at this point. We are still probably a year away before we get final ruling and after that, based on the NPRM, we will have 3 years to comply. My guess is that these two drones will be obsolete by then for most people, that's even if it doesn't comply with Remote ID.

[@woodycarr]

@@PilotInstitute Thanks! That's kinda what I was thinking too. I appreciate your response.

[@Danjon1235]

@@woodycarr Airsense is recieve only so it wont work for the new rules of transmitting where your drone is flying.

[@t-eighthundredtwo-thousand2711]

Hi, can you find out if the mavic air 2 has the find my drone feature like the Mavic mini ?, great video, thank you 😎👍

[@PilotInstitute]

H E, yes it does have that feature.

[@t-eighthundredtwo-thousand2711]

Pilot Institute great that’s a very important feature, thank you for your reply 👍

[@kinankhan2804]

Review Yuneec Typhoon H Plus because it's a more professional drone & costs the same as Mavic Air 2

[@VivaElMole]

Amazing video tank you, does it do 360 panoramas? Thank You

[@PilotInstitute]

Unfortunately, no.

[@heiser_bill]

The Smart Controller has USB-C too 👍. Too bad they came out with a new drone that doesn’t even support the SC :(.

[@PilotInstitute]

I never noticed the SC had USB-C too. It's about time companies move that that standard, so much easier. I've got a SC on order that should be here soon but no use for the MA2.

[@1by1productions]

DJI has said they’ll have firmware update for SC support

[@CTNJD]

How about tilted horizon issue on MA2? Has that been fixed?

[@PilotInstitute]

I have not had this issue.

[@Danjon1235]

What issue, see´n no reports on this from like 40 reviews.

[@CTNJD]

@@Danjon1235 Watch this at 6:19 with strong winds kzbin.info/www/bejne/paGlo5umaLmcY5o

[@PilotInstitute]

@@CTNJD Way too much wind, exceeding the drone limits. This is an $800 drone, no way it's designed to fly in these conditions.

[@CTNJD]

@@PilotInstitute Totally understand. I got a mini and i still have that issue. Although I got a Zino 2 which is cheaper and flew with excessive wind starting at 2:28 on this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5DbiIerZ5Wehqs with perfect yaw. I already have contacted DJI and showed them all of these videos and was told that they will see to it that this will be resolved soon with a firmware. Maybe it's a case to case basis, not everyone will experience this. I just want to know if the firmware already exist. I truly am ready to buy the MA2, i just don't want to get the bad apple like i had with my other drones :( Thanks for you review!

[@tonyromanf39]

do you recommend this for your first drone if you have never experience flying one?

[@PilotInstitute]

Absolutely.

[@DavidMatichuk]

The 6 mile range is definitely not useless. It's always better to have a longer range than you require.

[@PilotInstitute]

Indeed it is but I think to a certain extent, it just becomes a number on the specs sheet and doesn't really bring any additional quality to the transmitted image. 99.9% of the people who buy this drone will never get a BVLOS waiver and spending so much time on advertising that number just pushes people to want to test it and take unnecessary risks.

[@relaxvideo3d]

link for the photos? thanks

[@PilotInstitute]

I updated the description, here are the links : First Batch 12MP Photo: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/MA2-12MP-Photo1.JPG 48MP Photo: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/MA2-48MP-Photo1.JPG Smart Photo: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/MA2-Smart-Photo1.JPG Second Batch 48MP Photo: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/MA2-48MP-Photo2.JPG Smart Photo: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/MA2-Smart-Photo2.JPG Comparison Photo with Mavic 2 Pro Single Shot Mode: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/M2P-Single-Shot-Mode.JPG HDR Mode: pilotinstitute.com/Mavic-Air-2/M2P-HDR-Mode.JPG

[@relaxvideo3d]

@@PilotInstitute thank you, i like the new 48mp. will be good for zoomed panoramas!

[@mbyb6817]

KZbinrs needs to learn the difference between Megabit (Mbps) and MegaByte (MBps). Lowercase b is bit, uppercase B is byte. Big difference, a byte contains 8 times more data than a bit.

[@keytiger7]

it's a little too sharp for me over sharp, and u can't turn down the sharpness or contrast most dji drones or over sharp and too saturated

[@PilotInstitute]

Yes, that's the downside of a non-pro drone. It's designed for little editing. And it feels like everything is measured based on sharpness these days, I agree that too much of it is not good.

[@youplay8671]

5:02 fight club

[@PilotInstitute]

:D

[@muzikmon2267]

You definitely have some type of glitch when it comes to having a problem with smooth video. Nobody else was complaining about that on any other mavic Air 2 video.. ;)

[@muzikmon2267]

I completely disagree that you can't use this for commercial filming.. there have been tons of videos in the mavic 2 air where you can't tell any difference between the mavic 2 pro. And even does some things better when it comes to video and pictures!! There are a lot of professional snob photographers out there. That they have to have complete control thinking this is the only way to go. Will if something does awesome in automatic mode maybe you could spend more time filming in less time wasting on editing. I think the mavic Air 2 is perfect for commercial situations even more so than the mavic 2 pro all things being considered. The quality of video and pictures is easily good enough for for commercial situations..

[@PilotInstitute]

I disagree for several reasons. The videos you see are compressed by KZbin. This is usually not the type of format delivered in the commercial world. Plus I trust about half of the KZbinrs out there when it comes to reviews lol. To me, Commercial means a lot of different things, not just filming. But even for filming, the lack of aperture control will be an issue for people who are looking to do more complex videos. If you are looking to do cinematic shots, you'll slap an ND filter on there, choose your shutter speed, and then with a fixed aperture, you will be left with only ISO to adjust your image quality. Doing video in AUTO mode is not an option. You have to control your shutter speed or else the camera will do things that don't yield good quality. Most commercial videographers out there use an I2 at the moment, especially if you are trying to match the footage with a DSLR or mirrorless camera on the ground. You can't change color profiles, that will be a limitation for sure. This drone will be good for someone who wants to do entry-level commercial photography. I've had several commercial projects where I had to do 360 photos, that's not available in the app (maybe it will be added). If you're a roof inspector, it will likely work well. You'll have time to take the 48mp pictures and have the ability to zoom in later on. For other commercial operations, such as mapping, if it is supported by the mapping apps, it will have the same issue the original Mavic has. Even the M2P is not perfect for mapping because it doesn't have a mechanical shutter. The 48MP function won't be usable for mapping since it takes a minimum of 6 sec between pictures, it would make the flight too slow. For other applications that require being outdoors in sometimes difficult windy conditions, the drone will be too small for high winds. During some of my testing, it struggled a bit with speed going upwind. It did ok with stability in cross wind as far as I can tell Is it a good starter drone for someone who wants to get their feet wet and dabble in commercial photography. Sure. Will they feel limited eventually? I think so. The bottom line, if that's the only drone you can afford to get started, this is the one to get. It's better than no drone for sure!

[@muzikmon2267]

@@PilotInstitute I've seen thousands of commercial videos. From the inspire 2 to the regular mavic pro Bottom line is a AB comparisons nobody could tell the difference!! When nobody knew what drone was recording what.. this is a proven fact.. Watching this on KZbin and social media also makes a huge difference. Like I said who is watching 4K video on a 4K screen LOL 90% of the people are not special because they using their devices. I'm saying all this effort you're talking about with these professional features really does not make a difference that people will notice.. you guys think it makes a difference but I've seen mavic pro footage that looks better than some phantom 4 pro footage because people know what they're doing. they know what matters and know what doesn't and that's the most important thing So it's great that all this matters to you but the final product will not make a difference to people if you have someone who knows what they're doing with the same set of skills. I mean it's all over the Internet you cannot tell the difference unless you bring them to your home and pointed out to them also something that's beauty to one person is different for another you may think you mess with all this colors and all these professional features and you think your film looks fantastic but to someone else a mavic pro footage of someone who has different color tastes it might look better to them.. Photography is like art.. you can make beautiful art with crappy paint or on any type of expensive canvas And I seen your footage and I've seen other people'sfootage in avid blind tests and there's no proof that someone with a mavic pro 2 can do a better job than with a mavic Air 2. OR EVEN A MAVIC PRO IN THIS DAY IN AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA COMPRESSION!! It's all right out there to prove my point with all the videos THE BOTTOM LINE IS IT'S THE PERSON DECIDING WHO'S AREN'T THEY LIKE.. I DON'T CARE WHAT DRONE YOU'RE USING!!

[@muzikmon2267]

@@PilotInstitute I'm glad you feel that way but you will find that people will take the mavic 2 air get as good footage if not better than what you can do with your mavic 2 pro I guarantee it.. It doesn't matter how you get there it matters if you get there AND HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN LOOKING AT PEOPLE WHO ARE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS DOING IT FOR YEARS WHO HAVE REVIEWED THE MAVIC AIR 2.. They've already proven you're better off with the mavic Air 2 overall.. and even made statements like this is the new drone that will be in my backpack for all of my photography.. That doesn't sound like professional photographers saying it's for beginners You will get the same results with the mavic air to you can with your mavic 2 pro.. And I can't stand people who talk about cropping cropping cropping.. Zooms in and crops on photos and videos and analyzes.. they just look at the beautiful video and pictures either like the art or not and move on You professional photographers don't get it. YOU HAVE TO REALIZE IT MATTERS TO YOU!! NOT TO ANYONE ELSE!! WHAT MATTERS IS THE ART THAT EVERYONE IS SEEING AT THE END. You may think your art is wonderful in the end. But someone might think a mavic pro, or a mavic 2 air art looks a lot better to them. When will you guys ever get this 🤣

[@muzikmon2267]

@@PilotInstitute The mavic Air 2 is just as good in the wind as the mavic 2 pro It even has the same exact recommended wind speed 23 miles an hour. they already had a video of the mavic Air 2 in 35 mile an hour gust winds. In the freaking rain.. THE GIMBAL DID NOT EVEN BUDGE COMPLETELY STEADY. the differences between having problems in the wind between those drones is so minuscule you should not even bring it up. they keep saying the people who have the mavic pro I'm going to be kind of snobby because they're going to have to justify paying all of that money for such a little difference and this is no exception. So all this effort you're taking doesn't mean anything unless the people think your results are better than even a mavic Air 2. Remember it's your opinion it's not the truth. Tons of professional commercial drone people will also disagree with you..

[@muzikmon2267]

@@PilotInstitute Great painters will never be limited.. great artists can make great art with good or bad brushes or canvases..