There is one thing that plenty of us miss during this quarantine period. That thing is travelling. Specifically, we all miss flying away to faraway lands and see the beauty of this ball of dirt floating through space from high up above.
There is, of course, another way to fly. There is another way to explore the vast outside world in this ‘stay home, stay safe’ period. After all, staying indoors for about 40 days without seeing what grass or trees look like is difficult and depressing. Buy a drone, any drone.
Thing is, just any drone does not cut it sometimes. There is so much potential with a drone. If you invest in one now, you can take it to your travel destinations after the whole COVID-19 situation blows over and create some stunning videos and photos to make your friends all jealous of you.
It is true, a simple aerial shot can be more stunning than it seems. Aerial photos and videos make the plainest places in your eyes look even more stunning than you can imagine. That is why plenty go for DJI drones. They are the best in the business, so it only makes sense.
Last year they introduced a near perfect drone package in the DJI Mavic Air. The compact, lightweight Mavic remote controlled drone was half the weight and size of the larger Mavic 2. That also means that it is more travel friendly than before with its foldable propeller arms introduced into the world with the DJI Mavic Pro.
It was no larger than a 500ml drinks bottle, which was quite fascinating. Considering you still can shoot videos at 4K 30fps with such a small package was wonderful. It even has longer battery life compared to the Mavic Pro all while costing less. Even the fly more combo was still cheaper that the basic DJI Mavic 2.
There is no way they could top that within 6 months, we thought. Then earlier today they released their new DJI Mavic Air 2 and all hell broke loose. It is the successor to the DJI Mavic Air and it comes with a whole list of upgrades that they conveniently put in a single video.
Bigger, Better, Faster
The first upgrade, which will yield the most thumbs up is its sensor itself. The DJI Mavic Air 2 now features a larger ½-inch sensor that give you the power of 48 million pixels. You get to shoot at 4K resolution still, but now you can do it at 60fps instead of 30fps. 1080p Full HD videos can be shot at 240fps for a nice, smooth slow-motion videos, if you really need one in the air.
48-Megapixel sensor also means that you get incredibly detailed and sharp photos. You can choose between that or a compressed 12-Megapixel photos for your Social Media needs. Then there are more clever stuffs like HDR photos, Hyperlight low-light mode, and even scene recognition.
Beefed Up, Souped Up
It is a bigger drone than the original Mavic Air. It even looks like its bigger brother now. No more cheap white plastic you can draw on or customise on your own. It is now built with the same materials as the bigger Mavic Pro. It is built to the same quality standards too meaning. It is still lighter than the bigger Mavic Pro at 570g but put on quite a lot of weight compared to the older Mavic Air 480g body.
The added weight also means that the DJI Mavic Air 2 packs a longer battery life at 34-minutes of flight time. There is a whole slew of new sensors packed with Mavic Air 2 as well to keep it flying and not hitting anything in front of it. That might make for some remarkably interesting review video though, obstacle avoidance. They call the new system Advanced Pilot Assistance System (APAS) 3.0. Even if you are a rubbish drone operator, you can still fly it. I did not say you cannot crash it, you can if you try hard enough.
Still, the added weight also helps with in-air stability if anything. You really want that stability in windy conditions especially when you can keep it about 10km away from you with the new remote system and OcuSync 2.0. Oh yes, the remote is also now beefier and a little cleverer.
Clever Flying, Clever Shooting
The new DJI Fly app has been improving with each iteration and that is no doubt the case with the app. It should be more intuitive than ever and even better to use than ever. But shooting aerial photographs or videos is much more than that.
There are new sets of ND filters you can equip the camera with, because you really want to block out some harsh sunlight in super sunny conditions. You are shooting outdoors anyway, and ND filters are important in outdoor shoots just to compensate for the harsh lighting.
The drone itself can now shoot timelapses in 8K resolution if you really want to. With timelapse mode you have Free movement, Circle, CourseLock, and WayPoints mode to get that stunning moving timelapse. Of course there are other shooting modes that you might be used to with the DJI Mavic Air.
There is a new cleverer ActiveTrack 3.0 that should be a large improvement over the ActiveTrack 2.0 from the older Mavic Air though. With the new Point of Interest 3.0 also, tracking subjects on a shoot is much more accurate and natural. That is also true for the new Spotlight 2.0 mode that is usually only found on DJI’s professional drones. All this makes for an independent aerial photography and videography a breeze for single operators.
Pricing and Availability
The DJI Mavic Air 2 will be available 10th May 2020 onward. You can pre-order your’s today onward though via authorised DJI retailers in Malaysia. Of course, with a beefier spec, comes a beefier price tag too. A standard package will set you back MYR 3,299. The Fly More Combo that comes with an extra piece (two pieces of battery) of everything you get from a standard package (except for the drone itself, of course) a shoulder bag, ND filters, and a charging hub for MYR 4,299. For more information on DJI’s latest portable and foldable flyer, check out their website.
