How do you choose which drone fits your needs? If you’re just starting out flying drones, you want something that is easy-to-fly and comes with plenty of features that enhance the safety of your flight. If you’re an experienced drone-flyer, you want something with the latest technology to help you fly faster, farther, and take high-quality photos and videos. Luckily for everyone, DJI’s latest drone is perfect for beginners and experts alike.
Every time DJI comes out with their newest drone, it always features the latest drone technology that help you take sharper photos and create more dynamic videos. The new DJI Mavic Air 2 is no different, with better flight capabilities and intelligent flight modes that allow even the most novice drone-flyers to take movie-quality videos. Both beginners and experts can appreciate the extended flight time and redesigned Remote Controller that make the DJI Mavic Air one of the best drones DJI has to offer.
DJI just announced their newest consumer drone in the Mavic Series, the Mavic Air 2. This drone is right in the middle of the Mavic Mini and the Mavic 2 in terms of size, price, and features. Priced at CAD $1139 for the single unit and CAD $1409 for the Fly More Combo, the Mavic Air 2 earns every penny with its advanced technology and superior design. We’ll go over the design, camera, performance, and intelligent flight modes of this drone to prove why it stands out from the crowd as the pinnacle of drone technology.
Lugging around a hefty drone is nobody’s idea of a good time. The best drones are designed to be lightweight and foldable in order to make them easier to transport. The DJI Mavic Air 2 drone features the same compact foldable design as the other Mavic variants.
With an ergonomic design focused on portability, this drone folds down into a smaller size for easy transportation. When unfolded, the Mavic Air 2 measures 183x253x77mm. When unfolded, it measures only 180x97x84mm.
While not quite as small as the Mavic Mini, the Mavic Air 2 is still small and portable enough to fit easily into a bag or backpack when traveling. It also weighs only 570g, which makes it lightweight enough to carry without any strain.
The Mavic Air 2 comes with a brand new remote controller that is ergonomic as well as features a long battery life of upto 240 minutes. This remote controller moves the display device above the control sticks instead of below like the previous generation making it easier for the operator to view the screen. The redesigned device holder conveniently retracts back into the remote controller and the interface cable can be hidden underneath the device holder to make it easier to carry. The control sticks are removable just like all the other current generation Mavic remote controllers and it has convenient slots on the bottom to store the sticks when not in use. The remote controller also features inbuilt antennae for added user friendliness.
Mavic Air 2 is its HDR capable camera. Its camera captures 48 MP photos with a brand new ½” Sony IMX586 image sensor, providing sharp images that you can enlarge without losing quality.
The camera records 4K/60fps video, which gives your videos next-level quality. It can also record HDR video, giving you more natural color transitions and sharper details within your video recordings.
Thanks to the 3-Axis Gimbal that stabilizes the camera, you don’t have to worry about blurry images or videos.
The camera isn’t the only thing that’s impressive about DJI’s latest drone. The DJI Mavic Air 2 provides superior performance with faster speed, longer range and battery life, and improved wind resistance. The Mavic Air 2 features a maximum speed of 68km/h in sport mode and a wind resistance of 29-38km/h winds. This can help you reach greater distances to search for that perfect shot in more extreme climates.
The Mavic Air 2 has the longest maximum video transmission distance of any of the DJI drones with a maximum range of 10km. The redesigned Remote Controller comes with OcuSync 2.0 technology, providing you a more stable transmission over long distances. Thanks to the 2.4/5.8GHz Dual Frequency Auto-Switching, you can get crystal clear videos without fear of interference or loss of signal.
The extended battery life is also one of the most impressive features of the Mavic Air 2, as it currently has the longest flight time of 34 minutes of any of the DJI drones. You can also activate RTH to make the drone use less battery power when returning to the home point, extending its flight time and ensuring the safety of the drone.
This allows you to carry on with your photo shoot and make sure you capture the best shots you can without having to constantly recharge your drone.
When flying drones, accidents can happen. Obstacles get in the way that can damage the drone if you’re not careful. Like all DJI drones, the Mavic Air 2 comes with special obstacle avoidance technology to help protect the aircraft.
The Mavic Air 2 can sense and avoid obstacles located in front of, behind, and underneath the drone. It also contains a downward pointing auxiliary light for better visibility and a more accurate vision sensor.
The Mavic Air 2 also comes with the Advanced Pilot Assist System 3.0, which is powered by advanced mapping technologies. This system gives you smoother and more reliable obstacle avoidance in the most complex of environments.
The safety of the flight depends a lot on the person navigating the drone. Thanks to the DJI Fly App, the Mavic Air 2 is a breeze to navigate. The DJI Fly App makes flying the Mavic Air 2 safer and easier for both beginner and experienced flyers alike.
With easy-to-use and intuitive controls, this user-friendly app can help you maneuver your drone through complex environments with ease.
If you’ve never flown a drone before, have no fear. The DJI Fly App comes with built-in tutorials to teach you how to use the drone and enhance the safety of your flight. It also comes with premade templates, special effects, and music options to help you make your drone your own. Using these unique features, anyone can create, edit, and share their creativity with just a few taps of their device.
The DJI Mavic Air 2 comes with several features that enhance your flight and allow you to take better photos.
SmartPhoto
SmartPhoto is one of the best features of the Mavic Air 2, integrating scene recognition, HyperLight, and HDR into one powerful mode. Thanks to scene recognition, you can optimize different camera parameters for various scenes. The camera will intelligently recognize different categories such as sunsets, skies, grass, snow, and trees. This effect, combined with the light enhancement of HyperLight and HDR, gives you incredibly high-quality photos with optimal results.
HyperLight
The key to excellent photography is all in the lighting. HyperLight is a feature that optimizes photos taken in low-light conditions. Thanks to this feature, even photos taken at dusk or early dawn will be produced with less noise and enhanced clarity.
8K Hyperlapse
Hyperlapse technology allows you to use time-lapse photography to creating excellent motion shots. The DJI Mavic Air 2 supports 8K Hyperlapse, allowing you to do more with your drone’s camera and capture life in motion.
DJI drones are notorious for their Quick Shot features, which let you move the drone in six distinct preset movements to help you capture some pretty incredible shots. These shots are difficult to obtain manually, so these features help improve the creativity of your photo shoot.
The Mavic Air 2 also features several intelligent flight modes that help you create even more unique shots that track subjects even while flying the drone.
Spotlight 2.0
The Spotlight 2.0 flight mode allows you to lock the camera on the subject while the drone flies freely. All you have to do is select the subject and let your drone fly!
This can help you capture some pretty dynamic and cinematic shots without losing focus on the subject.
ActiveTrack 3.0
ActiveTrack 3.0 gives you better path-finding and faster prediction. You won’t have to worry about losing subjects behind obstacles such as trees or buildings thanks to this intelligent flight mode.
ActiveTrack 3.0 will make tracking subjects smoother and faster, keeping them in the middle of the frame even when they’re obscured.
Point Of Interest 3.0
Point of Interest 3.0 makes some improvements on Point of Interest 2.0, mainly by adding a better ability to recognize flat surfaces. POI 2.0 had some trouble with losing the target while tracking, but the new and improved POI 3.0 can dynamically track objects like people, cars, and boats without losing them.
Standard Kit
The Mavic Air 2 kit contents for the single unit include the aircraft, one intelligent flight battery, the Remote Controller, and Remote Controller Sticks.
It also includes three propeller pairs (1CW and 1CCW) as well as a gimbal cover to protect the gimbal and camera from collisions, dust, and water when you’re transporting or flying the drone.
Lastly, the kit contains USB cables to connect your drone to your computer and a power adapter with AC cable for charging the drone.
Fly More Combo
The Mavic Air 2 Fly More Combo contains the same contents as the single unit with a few added features. It includes six propeller pairs and three intelligent flight batteries, as well as an intelligent battery charging hub for more convenient charging. The Fly More Combo also comes with a battery to power bank adapter, which allows you to turn your intelligent flight battery into a power pack for your mobile devices.
The most impressive addition to the Fly More Combo is the ND Filter set, which helps control exposure and gives you more creativity with your camera. The ND 16/64/256 set provides assistance when adjusting shutter speed or when shooting in extreme light conditions.
Drones have many different uses from recreation to firefighting to photography. Professional photographers and filmmakers can take advantage of the Mavic Air 2’s camera, using its image sensor to shoot powerful and high-resolution photos with ease. It’s also perfect for recreational use, as anyone can enjoy flying the Mavic Air 2 around the neighborhood and taking impressive “Dronies” with the Quick Shot modes.
The DJI Mavic Air 2 is also an excellent choice for public safety, as the obstacle avoidance technology makes it useful for flying in extreme environments. The Point of Interest 3.0 helps track moving objects, making it useful for surveillance or reconnaissance. Whether you’re using a drone for fun or for work, the DJI Mavic Air 2 can help provide you with a smooth flight and images you wouldn’t ever be able to capture manually.
Dr Drone
Author
DrDrone is Canada's leading provider of drone technical services, with over a decade of experience and the distinction of being the first company in the country to offer drone servicing and repairs. As the largest drone vendor in Canada, we are also the primary supplier of Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) to the Canadian government. Our team members possess extensive knowledge of each drone's technical specifications and have a wealth of hands-on experience. For more than ten years, we have been dismantling and reconstructing drones, ensuring a deep understanding of these systems.