DJI Mini 3 Pro Review: A Gigantic Refresh for a Mini Drone
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Autel EVO Lite+ Review: This Drone Deserves Some Respect
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DJI Mavic 3 Review: The Hype is Justified
Drones are fun. It doesn’t matter if we’re flying them or looking at drone photos and videos, there’s still that sense of wonder and awe as earthbound humans. That excitement carries over to watching not only any new drone, but in this case a high-end one that promises so much. There’s always inherent hype when a company like DJI announces a drone, and in the case of the Mavic 3, it may be justified.
Build Quality and Design
When I unboxed the Mavic 3, the first thing that came out of my mouth was “that’s a big boy.” The new drone weighs 1.97 pounds (895 grams) and measures in at 8.3 by 3.8 by 3.5 inches (212 by 96.3 by 90.3 millimeters) while conveniently folded into itself. It can still be stored in your typical photo backpack, but like a telephoto zoom lens, it will probably need to lay flat and therefore consume a lot more space rather than if it were able to stand up between the pack’s dividers.
It uses the same hard plastic material that I’ve seen on any other recent DJI drone. From experience, the material can take a bit of a beating if you happen to need to shake a drone loose from a tree and have it fall a couple of stories onto the forest floor. It’s certainly stronger than it looks.
The updated 5,000 mAh battery used by the Mavic 3 steps up maximum flight time to 46 minutes according to DJI, which is 15 more minutes than the Mavic 2 Pro. Certainly flight times are going to vary greatly depending on environmental conditions, the course and speed of the flight, and the stills or video recording, so there is no one set answer on what to expect in the air. I will say that in any other drone I’ve flown, owning more than one battery is mandatory. Yet with the Mavic 3, I really do think a lot of pilots will have no problem with a single battery where they may have once needed a few.
In the air, the Mavic 3 is protected by a number of safety features if you are not flying in Sport mode which disables them. There are obstacle sensors on the front, back, both sides, top, and bottom to create a 3D map of its positioning. With APAS 5.0, the Mavic 3 was able to seamlessly move around objects without direct manual control. Don’t tell anyone, but I think this is my first drone where I didn’t end up crashing it under any circumstance.
The controller that ships with the standard Mavic 3 is the same controller that is seen paired with the Air 2S and Mini 2. It’s a great controller design that in my opinion was not in need of any kind of design overhaul. It fits great in the hand and uses the same material as the drone exterior. It's compact thanks to the nifty way it stores away the thumbsticks and smartphone cable. I wouldn’t have minded more physical buttons to lessen the need for menu diving in the DJI Fly app, but it’s not something worth fussing over.
Image Quality
The standout feature of the Mavic 3 is its camera system. The first Mavic Pro used a 1/2.3-inch sensor, the Mavic 2 Pro used a 1-inch sensor, and now, the Mavic 3 introduces a 4/3-inch sensor with 20 megapixels of resolution. This new sensor is employed as the Mavic 3’s main camera and is behind a 24mm f/2.8 lens, but in addition there is now a secondary “Explore” camera with a 1/2-inch sensor and 162mm f/4.4 lens.
Shot with the Mavic 3’s 4/3-inch camera. 100% crop of the above photo.
In this case, “Explore” is synonymous with a waste of resources as it’s severely limited in capability and quality. With the telephoto lens active in Explore mode, the camera only shoots JPEG with no RAW or 4K 30p with no option for D-log. Any extra photo and video modes and functions other than that are made inactive. To summarize, it’s a major disappointment.
Fortunately, the 4/3-inch sensor of the main camera on the Mavic 3 gives a giant leap in noise performance. Examining the ISO range of 100 through 6,400, I found that images hold together really well for much of it. Even at its highest sensitivity of 6,400, finer details remain even though some color loss and shifting occur. It’s a noisier image to be sure, but normally I would expect the top ISO to be unusable whereas here I’m not so sure I would count it out in all situations.
Shot at ISO 100. Full image. ISO 800 through 6,400. 100% crops of the above framing.
DJI claims that the Mavic 3 has 12.8 stops of dynamic range. This can be compared to the Mavic Air 2S’s 12.6 stops and the Mavic 2 Pro’s alleged 14 stops. Testing its shadow and highlight recovery from a RAW file, I found that it is still able to pull a lot of information out of these areas despite these numbers.
Before shadow and highlight recovery. After shadow and highlight recovery.
Video Quality
Using the main 4/3-inch camera of the Mavic 3 for video is an absolute treat. It can record up to 5.1K at 60 frames per second. In 4K and 4K DCI, the camera will go up to 120 frames per second in Slow Motion mode or 60 frames per second standard. Using D-log, this flat color profile offers 10-bit 4:2:2 with bitrates of up to 200 Mbps in H.264 or 140 Mbps in H.265.
The video clip below was recorded in 5K at 24p (be sure to click the gear icon and choose 5K to see the best quality). The amount of fine detail and depth in the image is wonderful, but adding in the fact that this was a moderately windy day and recorded in real-time makes it stunning. I could visually see the drone attempting to cope with the wind by making vertical wave patterns, yet none of that shows up in the video.
Below are more clips shot in 5K 60p and 4K 60p and then finished in 4K 24p with the higher resolution clips downsampled. The higher frame rates look just as compelling and I enjoyed being able to shoot high-quality slow motion 5K footage to later downsample or crop into a 4K project.
Finally, the last video below is a sample of using Slow Motion mode to record 4K DCI 120p footage. Unlike 4K 60p which outputs a video file with a 60p frame rate, in Slow Motion mode, these frame rates such as 120p are automatically conformed to a 30p file. I see a drop in image quality using this mode compared to regular shooting, but it’s not enough for me to stop using it. It seems like Slow Motion with the Mavic 3 is akin to the regular video quality of my Mavic Air 2.
A Spectacle in the Sky
Overall, the DJI Mavic 3’s image and video quality surpass anything I’ve seen before in a fixed-lens consumer drone. Its leap into a 4/3-inch sensor for its main camera is a success and those that can pay the expense should be quite happy with the results. While the telephoto lens is effectively an insignificant and disappointing addition, the rest of the hype behind this new drone is warranted and fully redeemed by the main camera.
Are There Alternatives?
Before the release of the Mavic 3, it’s been the DJI Air 2S that was the drone to buy for most people who were balancing price with image quality. In PetaPixel 's review of the Air 2S, I mentioned that the 1-inch sensor gave great detail in photos so long as the ISO wasn’t pushed, and its 5K video and the ability to record 10-bit in D-log were both excellent.
While the Mavic 3 is more than double the price of the Air 2S, I think it does earn it through vastly improved high ISO performance and image clarity thanks to the 4/3-inch sensor along with better battery life and safety features. The Air 2S may have blurred the lines between whether the Mavic 2 Pro was worth it anymore, but the Mavic 3 has firmly shown it is a step above.
Should You Buy It?
Yes. The Mavic 3 proves that although DJI is already the premier brand in drones, the company shows no signs of slowing down.
#equipment #reviews #10bitvideo #4kvideo #5kvideo #aerialphotography #aerialvideo #dji #djimavic3 #drone #dronereview #fourthirds #mavic3
PowerVision PowerEgg X Drone Review: What In Tarnation Is This?
Picture an egg. Now picture an egg with a camera on it. Now picture an egg with a camera on it that can fly. Now picture an egg with a camera on it that can fly in the rain. Now picture an egg with a camera on it that can fly in the rain and land on water. You are now picturing the PowerEgg X.
In this review, I’ll be taking a look at the $1,250 PowerVision PowerEgg X Wizard kit which is the version that comes with the most accessories like a spare battery and three sets of propellers, plus the waterproof housing and water-landing floats. There is an $800 kit with just the basics called the PowerEgg X Explorer, however you should know that the water-landing floats are not sold separately to add ion later: if you plan to use the drone for watersports, you have to make that decision at the initial point of purchase.
Design and Build Quality
The PowerEgg X is quite literally in the shape of an egg when its two removable covers are attached. The top cover gets opened up to access the battery, micro SD card slot, and connections for the drone’s rotor arms or other accessories. All of these parts get put on before use. The bottom cover is for protecting the camera and stays off when the PowerEgg X is in use. Additionally, there is a removable collar for the camera’s gimbal so that it cannot move when not in use.
Attaching the drone arms is not difficult, but it does take a little time to pop off the cover and slide on. Unfortunately, while each side’s rotor arms do collapse into themselves, it’s not very compact and the two collapsed arms do not fold into the drone in some neat fashion like seen with DJI’s products. This means that for most people transporting their drone around in a backpack, it’s going to be optimal for space savings if it’s disassembled and reassembled each and every time which I find somewhat tedious.
There are a few more aspects of the design that are annoying such as the fact the bottom camera cover can’t be installed when the arms are attached. Also, in order to take off the top cover of the PowerEgg X to get to the battery or memory card, I need to take off the bottom cover first. Lastly, if and when the propellers need to be changed, it requires a tool to do so as they are held in by two screws.
As mentioned, the PowerEgg X takes micro SD cards and requires a Video Class 10 rating (V10) in order to support its data rates while recording. The maximum storage capacity that it accepts from a micro SD card is 128 GB. There is also six gigabytes of internal storage onboard. In the PowerEgg X’s required iOS and Android app called Vision+ 2, users can select which storage to use and also format the micro SD cards.
Controller
The controller is a smooth glossy white plastic that covers all of the areas that my hands touch. I find it to be conducive to hand sweat and would have liked there to be some more thought put into the handling. Another issue I have is with the smartphone mount. The stiff, double-hinged design makes it extremely awkward to pull out from the controller body and the bottom jaw of the phone holder has no rubber whatsoever to softly come into contact with my phone.
On the plus side, there are ample physical buttons for quick access. On the frontside bottom, there’s the stop button, return to home button, a customizable button, the power button, and a three-stage switch for choosing the flying mode. At the top, there are independent video recording and photo taking buttons which can work regardless of if the Vision+ 2 app is in video or photo mode. There’s also a dial for controlling the tilt angle of the camera.
I found it useful to have important controls like the stop button at my fingertips because there are times when I’m diving in the menus mid-flight to change some settings around. Being able to switch from recording video to snapping photos by using the appropriate button is also preferable to switching in the app.
Waterproofing
The clear plastic waterproof housing slides on after the propeller arms are installed on the PowerEgg X. It secures down with three latches and is easiest to install before putting the water-landing floats on. There are two waterproof baffles on the underside that lets hot air flow out without letting water in, and there is also a large heatsink to deal with the buildup of hot air as it cannot ventilate at near the same capacity.
At the front of the housing where the camera peers out, there is a different, less cloudy plastic used here and it does seem like there was some sort of attempt at making the plastic as optically pure as possible in this critical area. From what I can tell from testing, it’s not any more or less hydrophobic or anti-fog than the rest of the plastic housing, just clearer.
The water-landing floats are about 15.5 inches (39.4 centimeters) long and feel quite dense despite being lightweight foam. The attachment is quite easy as the rotor arm’s landing gear slots perfectly into the float. After that, a hook and loop fastener attached to the float is wrapped around the arm to secure it in place.
Between the housing and the floats, the whole process takes a couple of minutes to get on. That said, the benefits of that time spent can either be deliberate -- like flying in the rain -- or preventative -- like emergency landings over water. One downside to the PowerEgg X when it comes to water landings is that if the drone comes down wrong, say it catches a wave and flips, it will be unable to right itself to fly away. So while the drone will probably be ok, it still requires that you physically retrieve it somehow. You don’t necessarily want to land it far off into a lake just because you can, as you may just end up having to swim out there to pick it up.
Batteries
Flight times are inherently going to be all over the place depending on the weather conditions and how the aircraft is being flown. PowerVision claims the PowerEgg X is capable of up to 30 minutes of flight time, so we can take that as being true only with the most optimal of all conditions. For me, I would come to expect around 15 minutes of flight with the full water kit installed or 25 minutes without before I felt that I should land it.
I had a disappointing experience with the PowerEgg X batteries because it seemed like they drained when left stored in the drone between flights. Turned out, it’s even worse because they will drain regardless if they are left in the drone or left alone in the bag. One of the batteries I let sit for a week on its own and during that time it drained more than 50% of its capacity. This puts more burden on me to remember to “top off” before heading out to shoot.
In-Flight Stability
The stability of the PowerEgg X falls somewhere between being a challenging flyer and being downright dangerous. Nearly every time I went out to fly, I’d run into trouble from the drone. It will constantly drift and change altitude while idling, it almost never flies straight and steady, and at its worst, it will straight up try to launch itself into something like the nearest tree branch.
Even when it’s acting relatively safe, it is very difficult to have any sort of finesse with its movements. It seems like the controller is either not responsive enough to the thumbsticks or it’s pushed too far and the movements are too exaggerated. I found it hard to hit the middle ground for a clean “cinematic” shot.
Image Quality
The camera uses a 12-megapixel 1/2.8-inch CMOS sensor that outputs a 4,000 by 3,000 pixel 4:3-ratio image rather than the 2:3 typically seen with digital stills cameras. It’s capable of shooting shutter speeds as low as 8 seconds to as fast as 1/8,000 seconds in JPEG and RAW formats, depending on the shooting mode used. The lens is a fixed 27mm f/1.8 (full-frame equivalent).
Overall, the photo-taking experience is subpar. Many times I found that after pressing the shutter button with the controller it could take as long as five seconds or more for the photo to actually be taken from the drone. In flight, the drone is prone to drifting quite easily which compounds the problem by its propensity to lose framing while I waited for a photo to be taken.
The photos themselves are also not good. It genuinely feels like I’m looking at photos I shot with my Blackberry Pearl phone back in 2007. Using the JPEGs is out of the question when shot with the PowerEgg X and is problematic since picture modes like HDR only output as JPEG. Adjustments to contrast and saturation can be made in the app, but I had no luck in getting pleasant results.
Shooting stills in the RAW DNG format improves the quality slightly only by doing away with the wild processing straight out of the camera. It gives a softer image which to me is preferable to the attempts of over-sharpening fuzzy pictures, but nothing is really looking great here considering the money it took to take the photos.
HDR JPEG HDR JPEG - 100% Crop Processed RAW Processed RAW - 100% Crop
Video Quality
The PowerEgg X can record 4K video up to 60 frames per second and 1080p video up to 120 frames per second. PowerVision claims the maximum bitrate is 75 Mbps, yet the highest I was able to achieve was through 4K 60p pushing data at 62 Mbps. Files can be saved as H.265 or H.264. Unlike the photo side of things, there are no picture settings here to fine tune the look.
Much like the photo side, video quality generally does not look very good. Once in a while, things can look passable depending on the circumstances, but it’s largely not going to be worth the price. The small sensor is not forgiving with ISO or dynamic range, and there are deeper problems with stuttering video and slowdowns.
Further, the drone’s gimbal seems to have trouble with keeping a level horizon. It can lean too far one way and then before I know it it's leaning the other way. More gimbal woes come from trying to track subjects where it will often use a stepping pattern that jumps up and over to catch up rather than smooth diagonal maneuvers.
Even though I was able to set the drone to record 120 frames per second in 1080p, there’s no good reason anyone should ever do that. The video quality here makes it not worth the time to shoot it. After recording the clip, the PowerEgg X throws the 120 frames per second video onto a 29.97 frames per second timeline so the resulting file is already in super slow motion. In the end, this is a 4 Mbps bitrate file, and it shows.
Waterproof Shooting
Shooting with the waterproof housing installed means shooting through an additional piece of plastic, and that’s exactly what it looks like. Using the housing blurs the image, lowers the contrast, adds a haze, and clearly shows the drone’s reflection. Hovering shots with the camera pointed straight down are off the table as the casing is seen and the sharpness hits an all-time low.
Not the Drone You’re Looking For
I did not even touch on how the PowerEgg X can be used as a handheld camcorder, but really at this point it hardly makes a difference. The camera was honestly no fun at all to use because I’d go out knowing that anything I captured would essentially be used in this review and have no value to me thereafter. It’s tough to fly, and the waterproofing is essentially a gimmick for anyone capturing photos or videos.
Ultimately, I respect that the people at PowerVision made a lot of effort in many different facets of the PowerEgg X Wizard and brought a new fully featured challenger to the market. Having competition will always benefit the buyers, but in this case, it just doesn’t stack up in any category.
100% Crop
Are There Alternatives?
As of publication, there’s really no reason to look further than the DJI Air 2S. It’s the gold standard for anyone looking for the highest image and video quality at an enthusiast price. Comparing the price of the Air 2S Fly More Combo to the PowerEgg X Wizard package, it’s a $50 difference. No, the Air 2S isn’t also a handheld camera or a water-lander like the PowerEgg X, but after what I’ve seen, does that even matter?
If you still insist on using PowerEgg X and you expect to almost always do so with the waterproof housing and water-landing floats, I’d take a hard look at the $1,000 Swellpro Spry since it’s built from the ground up to be water friendly. The Spry is specced to take off from water, even do little dives into the water, and its camera is functional pointing down into the water, unlike the PowerEgg X.
Should You Buy It?
No. For most people interested in taking drone photos and videos, I would not recommend the PowerEgg X due to its unrefined handling and poor image quality.
#equipment #reviews #aerialphotography #aerialvideo #drone #dronephotography #dronereview #dronevideo #gearreview #powereggx #powervision #review #waterlanding #waterproof #waterproofdrone
DJI Air 2S Review: Solid Performance Where It Counts Most
DJI is labeling the newly announced Air 2S its “all in one” drone. When something is claimed to do it all, I always wonder where the sacrifices are being made.
One year ago, DJI released the Mavic Air 2 to favorable reviews. Now, the company has discarded the “Mavic” and added an “S,” yet the Air 2S is just as much of a retooling as it is a revision. The camera switches from having a smaller sensor with a lot of megapixels to a larger sensor with not a lot of megapixels. This is a big leap that splits apart what some may have valued in the Mavic Air 2. However, the Air 2S holds onto the same design elements and adds various improvements to sensors and flight technology.
It’s an Air, but it’s now a different kind of Air.
Design and Ease of Use
At 1.31 pounds (595 grams), the larger 1-inch sensor of the Air 2S adds a touch more weight over the 1.26 pounds (570 grams) of the Mavic Air 2. Clearly, the difference with that is going to be imperceptible as far as carrying it around goes. The new drone also has the same size and look as the Mavic Air 2. The gray plastic housing and moveable parts in the form of propeller arms and the three-axis camera gimbal do make the drone seem fragile, but that feeling dissipated the more I used it and witnessed its abilities in flight.
With the propeller arms folded in, the Air 2S can slide into most spots of a photo bag given there are the 7 inches of length or depth needed to fit. In all, it’s not asking for a lot. Likewise, the included remote controller has removable joysticks (and slots to store them) that make it even more compact for storing in any tight spaces. During the review period, I did not have to modify my decently full camera backpack at all to add the new drone and controller to the mix.
Talking more about the controller, it features a straightforward layout that was simple to learn on my own. It’s constructed with the same feeling material as the Air 2S with the addition of rubber grips on the backside for hand comfort. It comes with a few different plug-in adapters to fit different models of smartphones, and everything tucks in neatly when not in use. One part I found confusing was where the over-the-top loud operational beeps and fake shutter noises were coming from on the controller and how to disable them. Turns out most of them come from the plugged-in smartphone even though the controller has its own speaker, and I’d prefer if things were consolidated for simple muting of non-critical warnings.
The controller has an internal battery that can be charged via a USB-C port. Throughout testing, I never saw the battery level dip after a day’s shooting. I’d top it almost off every night simply as part of a system charging of all the drone’s batteries, but if I forgot there was no problem either the next day.
Getting up in the air for the first time was dead simple. The most time-consuming part for me was probably just attaching the propellers. Not that it’s difficult, but as you can imagine the propellers are kind of a major point in the flying process and I was cautious not to somehow mess it up. Even here, though, DJI makes it so easy by color-coding what propeller goes where and stamping on each individual blade which way to turn to lock it in place so there’s never anything to actually remember (a theme that seems to cut through everything while using the Air 2S).
Once up in the air, the Air 2S does have a new advantage in that it now features a topside obstacle sensor in addition to the three other sensors found on the front, back, and bottom. Besides sensing objects while elevating, the topside sensor also benefits the drone as it is flying at higher speed with the nose pitched downward where in effect the topside becomes a frontside sensor. Testing the sensors by flying toward opaque objects without being too reckless, I never saw any hesitation for the drone to reduce speed with enough distance to come to a stop. This can become a little bit of an annoyance when attempting to land the drone near an object as it won’t move as expected by the controls you are inputting, until realizing what’s happening.
Now up to four sensors, 3D mapping of objects for avoidance, APAS 4.0 to intelligently navigate around obstructions, and binocular zoom technology to sense obstacles further away, can you still crash the Air 2S into something? As me and an innocent tree can attest to: yes, you can still find your way into something by doing an automated sideways-flying hyperlapse shot and not creating enough waypoints to avoid obstacles. Line of sight still matters, and as I learned, the perspective from which you are observing matters in ensuring safe flights.
Image Quality
The DJI Air 2S has a 22mm lens (full-frame equivalent) with a f/2.8 fixed aperture that fronts the 1-inch, 20-megapixel imaging sensor. Small sensors shine in good light, and at ISO 100 the fine details and resolving power were impressive. These images are able to step beyond the mobile screens that smartphone photography seems to live and die on, and can withstand scrutiny on larger monitors.
ISO 100 100% crop, ISO 100 100% crop, ISO 200
Stepping up from the 1/2-inch sensor of the Mavic Air 2, the Air 2S and its 1-inch sensor has even larger pixel photosites of 2.4µm. This should give the Air 2S a little more breathing room in image quality above its most optimal settings. As we see above in a 100 percent crop of ISO 200, one stop up from base ISO and the image still look good.
100% crop, ISO 400 100% crop, ISO 800 100% crop, ISO 1600 100% crop, ISO 3200
Stepping into the higher ISOs, finer details quickly deteriorate into puddles of pixels. Even by ISO 800, the resolution just isn’t on the same level as ISO 100 or ISO 200 and begins looking like low-grade phone photography. For some shooting, it might be passable, but moving beyond that is not something I see myself repeating after these tests.
One other area of weakness is the corner sharpness. Usually, strong corner sharpness is not necessarily something I hold in high regard if compromises must be made in a lens, but the nature of drone photography does lead to it being more important.
Showing corner sharpness of bottom left. 100% crop.
Many people love shooting aerials in the “lay flat” top-down style where everything can look so orderly and interesting from the new perspective, and it’s something where poor corner sharpness can negatively affect the flow of attention toward the center when it’s the relation of all the pieces that matter. Likewise, if you’re incorporating a drone into commercial photography work like real estate or architecture, smudging the edges is not a good look. With 20 megapixels to work with, there is some leeway to shoot further back and crop in past the extremes edges, but not much.
With 12.6 stops of dynamic range when shooting RAW, the Air 2S does play nicely in post-processing. It’s nothing magical when compared to dedicated full-frame cameras that we may also be shooting with of course, but there’s definitely room for pushing and pulling when you need to capture a high contrast scene in one image.
Unedited photo. Full highlight recovery and shadow recovery with Capture One.
Video Quality
What’s true for stills in the Air 2S can be expanded upon for recording video as the stakes are higher when it’s not just one split second that needs things to come together, but many seconds and beyond. For that, stability is key and the Air 2S delivers. I’m blown away that this small drone can perform such smooth maneuvers where it looks like a camera on rails, even in moderately strong winds. Better yet, it’s nearly effortless to accomplish on the controller once the sensitivity settings are customized in the menu. The “Cine” mode settings out the box are still too jarring, but luckily everything can be fine-tuned in the app to anyone’s liking.
DJI utilizes the 20-megapixel sensor inside the Air 2S to expand its recording resolution up to 5.4K. To my eye, 5.4K on a 4K timeline fits right in with the 4K footage. The advantage with 5.4K, however, is being able to add zoom effects for a more dynamic clip or simply cropping down into a 4K picture to effectively enlarge a subject in the frame without any loss in quality. If slow motion is not necessary, shooting in 5.4K offers a lot of leverage for post work and is my go-to for 24 fps.
Still frame from 5.4K clip. D-log picture profile. 100% crop. Still frame from 4K clip. D-log picture profile. 100% crop.
For shooting faster frame rates, 4K at 60 fps is clearly the winner in image quality over 1080p at 120 fps. Obviously, there’s a great difference in the amount of slow motion capability between them, but it’s also a difference between one being good looking and one not so much.
Still frame from 1080p clip. D-log picture profile. 100% crop. Still frame from 1080p clip. D-log picture profile. 100% crop. Moire effect seen near center.
Using the slow-motion mode which records Full HD is noisy regardless of settings, and I’ve seen heavy moire artifacts over rippling water and grass fields. In the second Full HD frame above, this is happening near the center. The flashing effect is extremely noticeable in playback. Neither appears to plague 5.4K or 4K footage.
One of the firmware updates that came to the Mavic Air 2 after release was the ability to digitally zoom, and here with the Air 2S we see it at launch. You may scoff, but digital zoom in moderation has the potential to be indistinguishable and I use Sony’s Clear Image Zoom quite a bit on their cameras. In testing the Air 2S digital zoom capabilities, however, it’s not looking great. Any level of zoom unfortunately does not hold up on a computer screen. That said, if you’re recording to post to Instagram, then it may be of use. As you can see from the comparison below, scaling any of them to a small size hides the monster that is the 100 percent crop under that.
Stills from 4K 1x, 2x, 3x, and 4x digital zoom. Still from 4K with 4x digital zoom. 100% crop.
As for video editing, the Air 2S can record 10-bit H.265 files when the color profile is set to D-log or HLG. D-log is the same profile used to get a flatter, low contrast image that would require color correction anyway, and is what I shot with. It honestly surprised me how well the footage held up to grading without getting crunchy. In situations where the dynamic range was too much for the sensor, such as shooting backlit with the sun reflecting off the water (watch the video above), it never got to the point where it was so blotchy that figures moving through it lacked definition. The Air 2S is a very strong performer when it comes to consumer drone videography.
A Drone That Knows Its Priorities
Looking at the most sought-after specs of the Air 2S also reveals its strengths. Thanks in part to the 1-inch sensor, the image quality looks good even when viewed on bigger screens. The 5.4K footage matches quality with 4K, both of which look great and can be pushed and pulled in post-production with help from the 10-bit D-log picture profile.
Its main weaknesses I found are in high ISOs and Full HD footage. For the Full HD 1080p video, it’s fine. They can keep that as it’s not exactly high on my list when 5.4K and 4K are there. While being able to use higher ISOs is never a bad thing, I’d wager most people will be getting away with ISO 100 to 400 no problem for everything they do. Between the added distance a drone requires and the 22mm lens, if freezing motion is the issue it can do so with less shutter speed. Otherwise, I’ve seen no problem in dropping the ISO down and letting the shutter fall where it may. If anything, it’s been a constant fight for me with the Air 2S to knock out more light with neutral density filters.
Are There Alternatives?
The DJI Mavic Air 2 released last year is probably the best to compare to because of how alike and different they are, and there are tradeoffs where the older model might be a better fit. While the Air 2S gets a larger 1-inch sensor with 20 megapixels to work with, the Mavic Air 2 has a smaller 1/2-inch sensor but a big bump of 48 megapixels. More megapixels on the Mavic Air 2 also means it can record 8K hyperlapse videos, but as for standard video recording the new Air 2S beats it with up to 5.4K resolution.
If it’s purely a megapixel war for capturing stills in good light, the Mavic Air 2 has merit to win. But again, the Air 2S also brings the latest safety improvements such as the added topside sensor and APAS 4.0 obstacle avoidance, plus the third-generation OcuSync — now called O3 — for better remote transmission.
Should You Buy It?
Yes. The DJI Air 2S impressed me in all the ways I would actually put the drone to use in my own shooting. Getting up in the air has been made so simple, and the joy of floating around with a new perspective never ceased to amaze me. Seemingly complex filming maneuvers can either be automated with the DJI Fly app or done on my own without much learning curve. Better yet, getting home with what I captured lived up to be worthwhile for the time spent out getting it.
#equipment #reviews #1inchsensor #20mp #5k #aerialphotography #aerialvideography #air2s #djiair2s #djidrone #drone #dronereview #review
SiyaMchunu
Unofficial PetaPixel Bot
petapixel (unofficial)
