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I don’t like how it doesn’t have rear obstacle avoidance. I wish it went just a little faster/more power for better air control. I also wish it had an adjustable aperture. Wish the EXP’s for yaw were lower and more yaw range in the gimbal. Wish it had slightly more dynamic range too.
Okay now what I do like!
Coming from an Inspire 2 with X5s, the size is the biggest advantage overall. The fact it folds down so small is amazing. No longer needing to carry around a 50lb pelican case for my drone is quite convenient lol. The Air 2S is much more low key and quiet for “sketchy” quick flights or through tight obstacles. Plus, the Air 2S shoots higher resolution than the Inspire. Yes, given it’s not Cinema DNG RAW, but the D-Log and 10-Bit H.265 files from the Air 2S are very workable (Especially with the new Mac M1 processors). It has maybe 12.5-13 stops dynamic range from my eye and color grading tests in Resolve. As for color grading the footage, the shadow recovery is much better than highlight recovery so try and always expose your image for the highlights as they cannot be recovered nearly as much in post. The files are a good bitrate 5.4K 24fps 10-Bit, meaning you have the resolution to zoom in without loss and they have better color tonality. The colors can be a little strange especially blue midtone shadows. Fixable in post though.
You just have to understand how amazing it is to have a camera that you can put virtually anywhere in the air with a detailed 5.4K video. With three batteries charging you can get a lot of flights in one day with this guy, maximizing your opportunities for creative shots in many different locations. The size of the drone is amazing. Like legit the size of a large camera lens. The controller also fits nicely as the thumb sticks come off and store in it making it more flat. Also, the controllers battery life is just simply amazing. It lasts forever. The bag the drone comes with is extremely nice and great if you are just doing a trip with it. Everything fits in there. The included ND filters are very nice and honestly required for most flights. No noticeable color shift on the filters and they balance on the gimbal perfectly. I did order myself some additional CPL filters that helped quite a bit when shooting water and such. You may need something darker than ND32 for mid day shooting FYI.
Battery life is roughly 20 mins of spirited flying while still leaving plenty reserve and not letting them go below 20% to extend their life. Plenty for some fun hyperlapses, which is an awesome included feature. The master shots feature (will the drone will fly itself and get some base level shots) is good to just do as a base level and completes in a couple mins. Results are good for zero effort.
Finally, the range on it is superb. 9/10 situations it will have no problems. Staying within line of sight keeps signal the best (and legal). Flying behind objects will sometimes lose the connection. Also in cities (areas with lots of wifi signals) it has less range. But I would say it has better signal than the Inspire 2. The Inspire 2 was more “nimble” and “smooth” given the better power envelope of the motors, 360 spin of the gimbal, and second operator all adding to smoother footage of hard to track items, but could not go nearly as far. With the Air 2S line of sight becomes a TINY speck on the horizon.
For a single man band this drone is only beaten by the Mavic 3, which is several times the price ($5k for the good “cinema” version). In my 10+ years of videography I haven’t been this stoked on a new tool in a while and it will be used a lot when the bigger cinema drones cannot fly or are not practical.
Okay let’s compare the drones I have flown/used: Mavic Air 2S ($1000) vs Mavic Air ($500) vs Phantom 4 Pro ($1600) vs Inspire 2 X5S ($10,000) vs Freefly Alta 8 RED Monstro Zeiss CP3 ($175,000)
When I compared the top dogs like an Inspire and a flying cinema camera (Alta 8), the Air 2S surprisingly holds its strengths pretty well. They are different tools for different jobs and are not apples to apples AT ALL but the fact the Air 2S and everything in the bag is about the same size as the MoVI (Alta 8’s Gimbal) Controller is kind of funny.
The image quality on the Air 2S is much better than the Mavic Air and the P4P both in resolution and dynamic range. The resolution is comparable to the X5S camera but the dynamic range of the Air 2S is noticeably worse than the X5S. Obviously, if you are shooting something with budget and need 8K with good lenses, the Alta is your best bet. But that is 2 huge 80lb boxes, has a 10 min flight time at 45lbs with massive batteries. Minimum of 2 operators. Whole different beast. Can’t really compare the Alta to the Air 2S.
If you’re into travel vlogging, weddings, real estate, landscape this is the perfect drone if you can’t quite stretch to get the Mavic 3.
Also to compare this to the “48mp” Mavic Air 2, the pictures are actually much sharper because of the 1 inch sensor and better lens. Plus the Air 2 is a 12MP camera with pixel shift it’s marketing talk. Megapixels are not everything and the true 20 MP of the Air 2S will be enough for most uses I think.
Also note 4K 60 has a crop where 5.4K does not. Can be pretty useful actually IMO.
Amazing where technology is going and excited to see when the Mavic line comes out with interchangeable lenses someday! Great product DJI!
Included is a video I made along the California Coast with exclusively the Mavic Air 2S and the included ND filters. Enjoy!
