DJI’s brand-new Mavic Air 2 folding-style drone is a huge improvement over the previous model– a lot so that for many people, this is the ideal drone.
The Mavic Air 2 is the middle kid in DJI’s customer drone lineup, sitting in between the smaller sized, lighter, however less capable Mavic Mini, and the more effective, more capable, but also more pricey, Mavic 2.
If you’re simply starting with drones, the less expensive Mavic Mini ( 8/10 WIRED Recommends)– my previous top pick for most people– might be a better buy. That stated, the Air 2 offers much better collision-avoidance systems, higher-quality photos and video, and a large assortment of automated flight features that newbies and skilled veterinarians alike can appreciate.
Big Star
The Mavic Air 2 is somewhat bigger than its predecessor, a minimum of on paper. In practice, I didn’t see the distinction. The folding style stays compact, and at 1.3 pounds, the drone is plenty portable. Totally folded, it uses up about as much room as a medium-size telephoto lens. It fits well in numerous electronic camera bags I took place to be evaluating.
The video camera sensor is bigger this time around too. The lens on the Air 2 is still 24- mm-equivalent, with an f/2.8 aperture. However DJI has actually moved to a larger half-inch sensing unit on this drone, which makes for much sharper images. The electronic camera captures 12 megapixels per frame, but there’s also an alternative to create 48- megapixel images that are sewn together automatically from multiple shots. Offered conditions are ideal for a composite image– indicating the drone has the ability to catch multiple pictures of the very same scene easily, without the wind throwing it around excessive– the 48- megapixel images are excellent.
While the image enhancements are