I've had the
Mini 2 for a couple years, and I just got an
Air 2S a couple days ago. It's quite a bit different to me, aside from seeming much more responsive.
But the biggest reason I went with the
Air 2S was for the 1" sensor and 10-bit color in shooting either HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) or DLOG, to me that's a huge jump up from the video quality I get from my
Mini 2 (Even with using the Litchi app to tweak the image settings, it's still an 8-bit color profile off of a 1/2.3" sensor). It basically puts my flying camera closer to what I shoot with my Panasonic GH5 in 10-bit HLG (150Mbps Long-GOP H264), especially with the Leeming conversion LUT for both to help normalize them close to each other.
Regarding the ND filter, one of my complaints on the
mini 2 is how you kind of have to snap on ND filters and I always worry that I'm somehow going to damage the gimble, just like a couple weeks ago kept getting gimble stuck error after putting on an ND filter (same set I had for a couple years), but it was also a week after I few at a very very windy and sandy beach with it.
On the
Air 2S I had assumed they were magnetic, as I didn't actually bother to actually look at videos showing them attached. Rather you have to push in the frame and twist counter clockwise to release it, and then do the same in reverse with the ND filter (push it onto the front of the lens, and turn clockwise to lock it into place). That's still a bit nerve wracking to me, but seems to work better.
Two big thing I noticed being different in both fly more combos is these:
1) With the
Mini 2, I could run out to the car, unbox the new drone, and hook up the battery charge to any number of my USB-C charging options. With the
Air 2S what comes with the drone is strictly AC outlet charging (though I assume you can probably charge a single battery inside of the drone via it's USB-C port) Ended up buying a small power inverter to mitigate that since I tend to charge between locations.
2) The
Mini 2 fly more combo came with a wrap to secure the props in the bag, the
Air 2S doesn't, it was weird to me having loose props having to carefully lower the drone into the bag without the props catching the side, and likewise when taking it out. (Apparently MissCrissyCo on Etsy sell prop holders that don't put any pressure on the props).
The normal mode speed is definitely faster feeling and my control over it is very responsive, I haven't tried the features like hyperlapse as I mainly fly manually and collect stuff into the computer afterwards.
However post #2 saying the
Mini 3 had better camera specs, I can't agree. The
Mini 3 is strictly 8-bit color mode using a Cinelike-D color profile on a smaller 1/1.3" (0.7") sensor, versus the
Air 2S with a 1" sensor , recording 10-bit (16 million versus 4 billion colors) in either HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) or DLOG color profile. Both the
Mini 3 and
Air 2S do 150Mbps. Both of course are better than the
Mini 2 at an even smaller 1/2.3" (0.4") sensor, 8-bit color with only a normal color profile. You might get a little bit lower light capability with the
Mini 3 at f/1.7 but given the sensor size noise-wise you probably still end up about the same if not a little worse than the 1" sensor at f/2.8 (they're roughly 1.6 stops apart in EV).
Now the
Mavic 3 with it's 4/3rd sensor... that's something else, but I couldn't justify spending over twice the price for it, especially with the small 1/2.3" sensor zoom lens on top that I would probably never use.
TLDR Version : Upgraded from a
Mini 2 to the
Air 2S and so far I'm very impressed with the jump, not just in handling but also image/video quality for the kind of stuff I do.
