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DJI announces to new Mavic Air drone. Its like the Spark & Mavic Pro had a kid...
- Thread starter Parisi
- Start date
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Welp, just pulled the trigger on the Mavic Air Onyx Black Fly More Combo package. It was $999, and I had around $440 in amazon credit (christmas gifts and what not) and then I applied for their CC so I could get 12mo no interest financing to pay off the balance. Can't wait to get it and try it out.
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Received my Mavic Air today and its super nice. I've only messed around with it for a bit, as its pretty cold tonight here in NYC, but here are some pics....
Shot of me standing on my deck:
Shot of my neighborhood (thats Jersey way in the distance)
From above selfie:
Size of the drone next to a standard tv remote:
And next to a eyeglass case:
Shot of me standing on my deck:
Shot of my neighborhood (thats Jersey way in the distance)
From above selfie:
Size of the drone next to a standard tv remote:
And next to a eyeglass case:
I caved and bought one in black. Gets here next week!
I initially bought a Spark to go with my Typhoon H, but after watching a lot of reviews, it looks like the Mavic Air can replace both for what I need it to do. If anyone is interested, I can PM the link to the Spark or Typhoon H eBay listing.
DJI's refresh program is a pretty good investment. Joining the AMA also gets you protection from some situations like vandalism (like if someone shoots down your drone or breaks it, etc)
I initially bought a Spark to go with my Typhoon H, but after watching a lot of reviews, it looks like the Mavic Air can replace both for what I need it to do. If anyone is interested, I can PM the link to the Spark or Typhoon H eBay listing.
DJI's refresh program is a pretty good investment. Joining the AMA also gets you protection from some situations like vandalism (like if someone shoots down your drone or breaks it, etc)
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Just finished purchasing the DJI Refresh... for $89 on a $1000 investment, it was a no brainer.
If you are lucky there is a company in some US cities called Enjoy, they do hand delivery and help you get going with DJI Drones. The service and delivery is free with the purchase of a drone from DJI.com
They also do this for AT&T and Sonos.
Pretty solid experience.
http://store.dji.com/enjoy
They also do this for AT&T and Sonos.
Pretty solid experience.
http://store.dji.com/enjoy
This thing is getting really fantastic reviews so far. I just wish DJI had more competition in this area. Yuneec is moving more towards the commercial market, and Autel Robotics' new drone is more of a Mavic Pro competitor. Nobody even tries to compete with DJI when it comes to small drones like the Spark and Mavic Air.
A new firmware updated is out, which seems to have some pretty significant fixes and addresses the shaking problem caused by cold motors in very cold weather.
https://forum.dji.com/thread-134268-1-1.html
https://forum.dji.com/thread-134268-1-1.html
Considering it can do this, I think only being able to take 12 mp still shots is a good compromise for a drone that can fit in your pocket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slTxM9eCDq4
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https://flic.kr/p/24deFWi
https://flic.kr/p/G5kpaJ
These are a couple of videos I took during my lunch break in my company's parking lot.
Just got mine yesterday, though I probably won't be able to fly it properly until the weekend since it's almost dark by the time I get home from work. First impression though is that everything about it, including the carrying case and bag, is higher quality and better thought out than the Spark I briefly had. I calibrated it and got it in the air for a few minutes this morning and I'm extremely impressed with how stable it is. It's also not much louder than the Spark. My only disappointment so far is that apparently you can't transfer video higher than 1080p directly to a phone for editing, which is a little annoying if you're traveling and don't want to lug around a laptop just to edit videos. There are some great mobile apps for quickly editing drone footage, so being able to easily transfer full 4K video would be nice.
One word of caution: make sure you have plenty of light, and if you don't, then at least have plenty of space. I could take off in my living room with the Spark and it would hover perfectly in place. I tried that last night with the Air, and apparently there wasn't enough light for the bottom cameras to see a pattern on the floor, so it drifted right into a wall and broke a prop. The bottom cameras need quite a bit of light in order to keep the drone locked in one place.
One word of caution: make sure you have plenty of light, and if you don't, then at least have plenty of space. I could take off in my living room with the Spark and it would hover perfectly in place. I tried that last night with the Air, and apparently there wasn't enough light for the bottom cameras to see a pattern on the floor, so it drifted right into a wall and broke a prop. The bottom cameras need quite a bit of light in order to keep the drone locked in one place.
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I really want to get an Inductrix FPV+ at some point. It seems like the perfect starter quad for flying FPV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xicPj_X0d4
My buddy let me fly his around the apartment, thing was difficult to control! But it does seem like a good, durable starting point before dropping major cash.
I've been looking into drones recently, the footage from this looks great but when do you think we'll have similar drones to this capable of shooting 4K at 60fps?
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I am pretty sure the rumored Mavic Pro II will be able to shoot at 4k, but its probably going to be pretty expensive drone when it releases... If this is going to be your first drone, you may want to look into the Air, as its a really good drone for the price
The Autel Robotics Evo is coming out fairly soon and shoots 4K 60 FPS. It will be around $1000 I think, so in that price range you're best off waiting for the Mavic II imo. DJI is just too far ahead of the rest.
I'm really interested in seeing if the camera on this is accurate enough to do photogrammetry from video stills.
How is the distortion on the edges? Hard to tell from some of the stills posted here.
How is the distortion on the edges? Hard to tell from some of the stills posted here.
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I haven't really noticed any distortion along the edges. I have noticed that there is no IS on the camera, and so if you are at a decent altitude and try to take a pic even the slightest wind will cause some blurr in your photos... Its not bad at all, but its there.
Nice!
I'm extremely impressed with this drone so far. Editing 4K footage is kind of a bitch and my Adobe Premiere skills are rusty as hell, but there's an iOS app called LumaFusion that seems to be perfect for editing on the go and deals with AVI files better than Premiere. It's packed with features and outputs video at up to 100mbps with many resolution and framerate options (same as what the Mavic Air shoots), so there's no loss in quality. Just waiting on my Apple card reader to get here and some better weather so I can really dig into it.
Here's a screengrab from a trip to the park last weekend:
I'm extremely impressed with this drone so far. Editing 4K footage is kind of a bitch and my Adobe Premiere skills are rusty as hell, but there's an iOS app called LumaFusion that seems to be perfect for editing on the go and deals with AVI files better than Premiere. It's packed with features and outputs video at up to 100mbps with many resolution and framerate options (same as what the Mavic Air shoots), so there's no loss in quality. Just waiting on my Apple card reader to get here and some better weather so I can really dig into it.
Here's a screengrab from a trip to the park last weekend:
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Been looking at the spark and the pro for a while, this announcement could spell doom for my wallet. Looks fantastic!
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The Air really is a great drone for the price... I highly recommend it.
I've always been curious in a drone, but I'm worried about the difficulty of finding a safe space to fly it; especially since I'll be using it mostly when traveling.
Assume I fly to a new city I've never been to for the weekend with my wife. How can I be certain there are no rules/laws/regulations to not fly? I know in, say, Arizona's red rocks it's likely fine... and in NYC they have postings on the fences and in parks not to fly. But, pick a random in between. Say New Hampshire. Am I always good to just lift off so long as I'm not near an airport?
Secondly, I see people fly these things high into the sky above busy parks and/or above highways with passing cars. How can you be so certain this thing isn't going to just randomly fall from the sky? Surely if it hit a person it could kill them? Surely if it smashed into a car it could cause a monumental wreck? Online, you'll see some people say to NEVER fly above people or vehicles. But on Youtube, that kind of footage is in like 90% of videos. And even if it's NOT intentional... it could still happen, right?
I dunno. Maybe I'm just a worry wort.
Assume I fly to a new city I've never been to for the weekend with my wife. How can I be certain there are no rules/laws/regulations to not fly? I know in, say, Arizona's red rocks it's likely fine... and in NYC they have postings on the fences and in parks not to fly. But, pick a random in between. Say New Hampshire. Am I always good to just lift off so long as I'm not near an airport?
Secondly, I see people fly these things high into the sky above busy parks and/or above highways with passing cars. How can you be so certain this thing isn't going to just randomly fall from the sky? Surely if it hit a person it could kill them? Surely if it smashed into a car it could cause a monumental wreck? Online, you'll see some people say to NEVER fly above people or vehicles. But on Youtube, that kind of footage is in like 90% of videos. And even if it's NOT intentional... it could still happen, right?
I dunno. Maybe I'm just a worry wort.
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There are sites dedicated to where you can and can not legally fly a drone. For instance all US National Parks are no fly zones, but yet if you search youtube for that park and drone tons of videos pop up. Why? Well from what I have heard is if you speak with a park ranger at one of these sites and are polite and respectful and clearly state what you want to film, they usually say OK.
New York City itself is a no fly zone, which is understandable but the 5 boroughs all have legal spots to fly a drone, but again, there are gray areas in which you're technically not allowed to fly, but if you do you probably will not get fined.
I plan on going to Vegas this summer and I am going to take my drone to Red Rock Canyon (perfectly acceptable to fly a drone there) and video some stuff, and I may try to get to the Valley of Fire (drone use is prohibited there) and see if I can get the OK to video some of the amazing scenery.
Just do some research and see what you find and if you think you still want one, then get one... they're a lot of fun.
I just placed my order. Wanted to get a drone for a while now.
I did some research and most restrictions (5km no fly zones around airports etc.) don't apply that strongly for drones that are less than 500g (this is in switzerland). There are some bird nature reserves near me where it is still not allowed.
Now the wait begins (it said 5-7 days).
I did some research and most restrictions (5km no fly zones around airports etc.) don't apply that strongly for drones that are less than 500g (this is in switzerland). There are some bird nature reserves near me where it is still not allowed.
Now the wait begins (it said 5-7 days).
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When I ordered mine direct from DJI, I got it in 3 days, and that was from China... hopefully you'll get it a bit sooner....
There are numerous safety features on higher end drones designed to keep it from falling out of the sky. But like any aircraft, accidents do happen and that's why you're not supposed to fly over large crowds. As for airspace restrictions, download an app called AirMap, which will show you if you're in a restricted zone. The general rule is you can't fly within five miles of an airport without contacting the airport control tower and notifying them of your flight, such as when and where it will take place, for how long, and the maximum altitude you'll be flying at.
I've found that the only annoying thing about flying a drone is half the population seems to think they're cool pieces of technology and the other half thinks they're a tool for spying on people in their back yard. So I've had both come up to me, and the ones that don't like drones REALLY don't like them and will let you know about it.
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I havent had an issue yet with the anti-drone people, but I have had issues with the guys who fly model airplanes. When I was at the model airplane field near my house the other day no one was there when I got there, so it was nice and quiet... then about 1/2 way through my flight some guys showed up with their airplanes and so they saw me and were like "You got a drone up? Where is it? You should really keep right in front of or above you! " and so I told them that it was on its way back to me and I had it at like 200ft up. When I got it back, I just packed up and left cause those guys were the pitts. And it is going to be even worse in the summer when they're all out flying their planes...
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Nice.
I had issues with test flights indoors because of the strong wifi signals in my house, so if you do try, make sure you use the prop guards.
I live in NYC and I've flown my drone in cold weather (like 30-35 degrees) and it handled itself just fine, so I would suggest you take it outside during the day and fly it.
One other thing is if this is your first drone, you should definitely use the simulator that comes in the DJI Go4 app. I used it for a few hours and it helped me get accustomed to how the drone would fly in the real world.
Thank you for those tips. Did not know there's a simulator in that app.
At the moment we have -10C / 14F, so I'm a bit cautious. Should be warmer (around 0C / 30F) on the weekend.
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I thought the same thing.... when I got notification that it had been delivered I took a ride to my house during my lunch to get it, and when I saw the box I was like "Is this all of it" and when I opened it, sure enough, everything was in there....
Have fun with it...
Oh and you might want to join this forum, as there are a lot of helpful tips from other mavic owners...
https://forum.dji.com/forum-104-1.html
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Awesome! You're going to love it! My flights so far have been limited because of it being so cold here in NYC right now, so I can't wait until it warms up and I can take it out to other places and get some video of other places around my area...
I got a set of PolarPro ND filters (initially ordered the 3-pack of standard filters, but they sent the 6-pack that comes with polarizing filters too). It's too dark when I get off work to test them, so I should be able to try them out this weekend if the weather doesn't suck. I'll post a test video as soon as I can. If you're not familiar with what ND filters are for, basically they allow you to significantly reduce the shutter speed (ideally shutter speed should be double your framerate) to get better motion blur and less harsh, "framey" footage.
My Apple SD card reader arrived, and it combined with LumaFusion is a fantastic way of editing on the go. So if you have a newer iPhone or iPad that can play 4K video, it's a great option. Adobe Premiere just doesn't handle the raw footage very well for some reason.
My Apple SD card reader arrived, and it combined with LumaFusion is a fantastic way of editing on the go. So if you have a newer iPhone or iPad that can play 4K video, it's a great option. Adobe Premiere just doesn't handle the raw footage very well for some reason.
