Exactly. That's the whole point. You choose, you decide. Nobody tells you what you should like.
Just got MA, very disappointed in range and noise.
- Thread starter Marc Hufnagel
- Start date
But back to the original topic.
If the OP would have said that he was pleasantly surprised by his new Air in comparison with his Pro, I would have been very interested in his findings as well. In fact I might even consider an Air as backup or specifically for the camera. Yes, I know the camera is probably better. But I hate a fixed focus coming from a very long history with SLR and DSLR and what became a fortune of glass over the years.
That said. I have seen some results from professional photographers using the Pro, that got my jaw dropping to the floor. In the end it all comes down to know how to overcome limitations by being creative and smart.
If the OP would have said that he was pleasantly surprised by his new Air in comparison with his Pro, I would have been very interested in his findings as well. In fact I might even consider an Air as backup or specifically for the camera. Yes, I know the camera is probably better. But I hate a fixed focus coming from a very long history with SLR and DSLR and what became a fortune of glass over the years.
That said. I have seen some results from professional photographers using the Pro, that got my jaw dropping to the floor. In the end it all comes down to know how to overcome limitations by being creative and smart.
Well said...let's move on...67 yrs old got my PPL in 1978No we're not. In fact, when I did my PPL exam in '93 you were still crawling over the floor with your action figures (there's no shame in that, I did too at that age).
Why getting so personal? You really don't know anything about me. You have no idea. You wouldn't even comprehend so it seems, even if I showed you in slo motion with subtitles.
Please let's stop the personal attacks and take it to a higher level of mutual understanding. There are people with different backgrounds, religions, genders, eduction, age, nationality, colour, and I respect all of them as well as their respective view on the world.
But one thing remains. Flying any craft is serious. It can cause trouble on the ground and in the air. People should understand that, even if it's meant to be a toy for them, they still have the responsibility to know what to do when the auto functions stop working in mid air.
The Air with its price point is a class in its own without competitors. That's a fact.
As is the Pro. The only competitor is the Air, but not just for everybody (me). If I had to choose now, I could have fallen for the lower price of the Air. Not sure, I'm biassed of course.
Point is, I am extremely happy with the Mavic. It has way more autonomous stuff then I want or need already. No regrets. The flight time is a pure blessing.
And the camera, well, in a matter of months there will be an even better one on the mavic 2. And few months later a better one again on the MP2 Silver and even a better one on the Gold version. DJI needs to keep the wheels spinning. They probably hold back stuff and only release what they need for the best moment to crush yet another potential competitor.
I don't care. I have great results, nobody ever complained about the image quality.
MrRobville
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I'm surprised that every time a MA vs MP discussion arises, it becomes quite personal to some people.
The Mavic Pro is awesome, the Mavic Air is awesome, pretty much every quad out there is. And why? Because each quad has its own purpose. We should all be glad that we live in a day and age where we can own technology like this without requiring a second mortgage. Not every quad is fit for every person. Can't we just appreciate it for what it is?
A few years back I couldn't dream of having a pocket sized camera that could fly, capable of delivering the footage that it does. I almost bought a MP, had the Air not been announced on the day I put it in my shopping cart. I care about size and image quality, other people care about range, noise and signal strength. No need for me to be hauling at MP owners, and no need for MP owners to go after MA owners. Like it has been mentioned before, a lot of hate tends to come from what we simply do not own in order to justify what we do own, which I find rather silly.
One thing I do wonder. Some people solely fly around their neighborhood. Why get a MA for that when various cheaper non-foldable drones or even the MP are available that in general have better reception in WIFI congested areas? The primary purpose of the Air is being a compact travel drone, to be used in areas where there most likely wouldn't be any WIFI interference anyway. To me this feels like buying an offroad vehicle for a daily drive to the office, and then complain about the terrible road noise and awful fuel consumption that it has.
The Mavic Pro is awesome, the Mavic Air is awesome, pretty much every quad out there is. And why? Because each quad has its own purpose. We should all be glad that we live in a day and age where we can own technology like this without requiring a second mortgage. Not every quad is fit for every person. Can't we just appreciate it for what it is?
A few years back I couldn't dream of having a pocket sized camera that could fly, capable of delivering the footage that it does. I almost bought a MP, had the Air not been announced on the day I put it in my shopping cart. I care about size and image quality, other people care about range, noise and signal strength. No need for me to be hauling at MP owners, and no need for MP owners to go after MA owners. Like it has been mentioned before, a lot of hate tends to come from what we simply do not own in order to justify what we do own, which I find rather silly.
One thing I do wonder. Some people solely fly around their neighborhood. Why get a MA for that when various cheaper non-foldable drones or even the MP are available that in general have better reception in WIFI congested areas? The primary purpose of the Air is being a compact travel drone, to be used in areas where there most likely wouldn't be any WIFI interference anyway. To me this feels like buying an offroad vehicle for a daily drive to the office, and then complain about the terrible road noise and awful fuel consumption that it has.
stberlin
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No we're not. In fact, when I did my PPL exam in '93 you were still crawling over the floor with your action figures (there's no shame in that, I did too at that age).
Why getting so personal?...... even if I showed you in slo motion with subtitles.
yeah.. I can read between the lines. people who bought the mavic air made a very poor choice and they know it.... lol
Speaking of getting personal: people can scroll up and see your previous post, fyi
"Flying any craft is serious...." now you're changing the subject. lol Anyways, have fun with your pro and the upcoming pro II.
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stberlin
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I actually think Pro is awesome and so are the Phantoms. but you have those pro zealots who can't stand mavic air owners posting about how much they enjoy their little drone. their replies are full of resentment. Pro is a workhorse and still is. Air just have some nice features that will eventually show up on Pro II. They just need to get over it.
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Gotta be doing something wrong, this bird is sensational. The Mavic Air camera did me proud today with windy conditions and variable light conditions all using manual settings. 100 ISO 1080 60fps
I think that video definitely goes on the positive side for the MA! What a fantastic landscape you’ve got to film in! I’m desperately trying to find some desent subject areas to film in the UK, but I live in Lincolnshire on the edge of the flattest part of England!
yep, feeling a bit lucky about the landscape, fairly easy to find new areas only 30 minutes out of Vienna. Even better as you move into the alps. Gotta be something interesting in the flat part of England mate?
Absolutely, their power in elevation and pitch moving around for fun is an awesome combo together with photography :+)
Grumpy D
Well-Known Member
If you’re not happy with your purchase simply RETURN IT. some like it some don’t, you need to get what’s right for you.
No regrets with this little hot rod, amazed at the capacity to still film so well while in sport mode.
Awesome freestyle day in the paddock!
Awesome freestyle day in the paddock!
I can add my experience here and hopefully some people find it useful. I did many, many hours of research before buying the Mavic Air as my first drone. I also watched every YouTube review out there, but I realize many of them are paid by DJI so I mostly just used them for information purposes. Part of my decision was influenced by the fact that the Mavic Pro was at the end of it's product life cycle (Pro II was rumored for April, and now it looks like June or later), and the Mavic Air improved upon the aging Pro in some important areas (gimbal protection, design, video quality/bitrate, quick shots, panoramas, and obstacle avoidance) all while being considerably smaller. It can't fly as long but I find I have yet to be in a situation where I need more than 20 minutes of flight time (that may change, and more is always better). Range is 4km instead of 7km, but I have also yet to be in a situation where I needed/wanted to fly more than 1-1.5km away and to be honest I would probably be too nervous to max out the range on any drone anyway in case it got caught in some wind or something. I have never seen anything other than max signal bars while flying, and I have never seen choppy or noticeably laggy video transmission - rock solid so far, even when testing in urban areas. I recently also watched a video where someone was chasing oil tankers with their Mavic Air, and the signal had no problem around those giant metal ships which seemed impressive to me.
I have flown right next to people with the Mavic Pro, and the Pro is definitely quieter but it's not night & day. The pitch is lower which also helps with perception. Once I am out 50 feet or so, if there is any ambient noise at all (traffic, water, etc.) you can't even hear the Air. People who came up to me had no clue where my drone was until I pointed it out. I was all nervous about attracting attention when launching next to people (I brought it to Hawaii with me and launched it at lots of viewpoint areas, occasionally with people around), but in practice it has been a complete non issue. Both the Air and the Pro make enough noise such that they are very obvious when taking off/landing near people that they both get the same attention as far as I have seen so far. Fly them away a bit, and you can't hear either of them, so it quickly becomes a non-issue. This has been my experience around crowds at viewpoints, but YMMV. If you're shooting weddings or something, hovering above people for extended periods, I can totally see how you might want a Pro Platinum for the absolute minimum noise.
I can carry my drone (in it's protective hard case), controller, filters, and 3 batteries in a Peak Design Every Day Sling 5L which is a very compact bag. It's so easy to take with you, and you can be in the air 2 minutes after you arrive anywhere. It's just as easy to put away and carry on with your day - this goes such a long way to me actually using and enjoying the drone when the hassle factor is so low. I'm sure it isn't much different with the Pro, but the Air is lighter and unquestionably more portable, and I love that the Air controller has removable sticks so you can tuck it in a much smaller compartment. It's size is also such that I think it is less threatening to people, and anyone not familiar with drones would be more likely to think it's just a toy and dismiss it's presence.
My first impressions were basically that I was stunned by how good the Air was. It has tons of range (for me anyway), in general I had zero issues with anything, and the 4K 100Mbps video quality is very good (as good or better than the best smartphones like a Google Pixel 2 or Samsung S9 who use the same sensor size but probably a lower bitrate). Sometimes I had to wait 2 minutes to get a GPS lock before taking off but I don't think that is specific to the Air. The lens has some distortion if you look close (slightly wavy horizons) but it isn't a big deal - I've had $3,000 DSLR lenses with more distortion. The flying precision is incredible, build quality is very high, and it is very responsive. Hand launching and hand landings are incredibly easy, so you don't have to worry about the terrain - so easy that I returned my Polar Pro landing gear as there is no reason to use it. Nothing about the air is like a toy in my opinion. It handles wind pretty well but I was a little paranoid about wind and never sent it up in anything too crazy. I also bought a little wind gauge to double check things. I am a professional photographer so I would have liked a larger sensor, a variable aperture, and more manual controls, but you can't have it all in something this portable. It is such a good mix of size and "high end" features that it makes the perfect take-everywhere drone or travel companion. If the Mavic Pro II blows my mind, I might trade up to that, but size is a huge factor for me. When the 1" sensor rumors on the Pro II got quashed, I lost a lot of interest in it and bought the Air since the gap between what it is rumored to be and the Air got a lot smaller (for my purposes anyway). I really can't see anything that is going to hold me back with this drone, at least not for a very long time. Here in Canada, the Air Fly More combo is $1350 and the Pro Platinum Fly More combo is still around $1900 so there is quite a significant price difference despite the similarities between the two. For that money I would be tempted to just get a Phantom 4 Pro for that 1" Sony sensor (huge upgrade), but obviously far less portable.
I made my first ever video after spending 2 weeks in Hawaii, and I think it came out pretty good. Shot in D-Cine 0,0,0 and did all my editing in LumaFusion on the iPad Pro which is fine until the export, which is painfully slow on weak iPad Pro hardware. I will have to decide on some desktop software later (PC) as I do not want to pay another $20 USD/mo for Adobe Premiere (already subscribe to Photoshop CC).
Anyways, I absolutely love this drone. If the Pro II was going to have a 1" sensor (I guess it still could, but the leaks seem pretty credible and the camera would have to be physically quite large for the lens to accommodate that image circle) I would have probably waited to see the size/price, but I have zero regrets about going with the Air and I feel like it has already paid for itself with how much enjoyment myself (and others) have got from it, which is really the point at the end of the day.
I have flown right next to people with the Mavic Pro, and the Pro is definitely quieter but it's not night & day. The pitch is lower which also helps with perception. Once I am out 50 feet or so, if there is any ambient noise at all (traffic, water, etc.) you can't even hear the Air. People who came up to me had no clue where my drone was until I pointed it out. I was all nervous about attracting attention when launching next to people (I brought it to Hawaii with me and launched it at lots of viewpoint areas, occasionally with people around), but in practice it has been a complete non issue. Both the Air and the Pro make enough noise such that they are very obvious when taking off/landing near people that they both get the same attention as far as I have seen so far. Fly them away a bit, and you can't hear either of them, so it quickly becomes a non-issue. This has been my experience around crowds at viewpoints, but YMMV. If you're shooting weddings or something, hovering above people for extended periods, I can totally see how you might want a Pro Platinum for the absolute minimum noise.
I can carry my drone (in it's protective hard case), controller, filters, and 3 batteries in a Peak Design Every Day Sling 5L which is a very compact bag. It's so easy to take with you, and you can be in the air 2 minutes after you arrive anywhere. It's just as easy to put away and carry on with your day - this goes such a long way to me actually using and enjoying the drone when the hassle factor is so low. I'm sure it isn't much different with the Pro, but the Air is lighter and unquestionably more portable, and I love that the Air controller has removable sticks so you can tuck it in a much smaller compartment. It's size is also such that I think it is less threatening to people, and anyone not familiar with drones would be more likely to think it's just a toy and dismiss it's presence.
My first impressions were basically that I was stunned by how good the Air was. It has tons of range (for me anyway), in general I had zero issues with anything, and the 4K 100Mbps video quality is very good (as good or better than the best smartphones like a Google Pixel 2 or Samsung S9 who use the same sensor size but probably a lower bitrate). Sometimes I had to wait 2 minutes to get a GPS lock before taking off but I don't think that is specific to the Air. The lens has some distortion if you look close (slightly wavy horizons) but it isn't a big deal - I've had $3,000 DSLR lenses with more distortion. The flying precision is incredible, build quality is very high, and it is very responsive. Hand launching and hand landings are incredibly easy, so you don't have to worry about the terrain - so easy that I returned my Polar Pro landing gear as there is no reason to use it. Nothing about the air is like a toy in my opinion. It handles wind pretty well but I was a little paranoid about wind and never sent it up in anything too crazy. I also bought a little wind gauge to double check things. I am a professional photographer so I would have liked a larger sensor, a variable aperture, and more manual controls, but you can't have it all in something this portable. It is such a good mix of size and "high end" features that it makes the perfect take-everywhere drone or travel companion. If the Mavic Pro II blows my mind, I might trade up to that, but size is a huge factor for me. When the 1" sensor rumors on the Pro II got quashed, I lost a lot of interest in it and bought the Air since the gap between what it is rumored to be and the Air got a lot smaller (for my purposes anyway). I really can't see anything that is going to hold me back with this drone, at least not for a very long time. Here in Canada, the Air Fly More combo is $1350 and the Pro Platinum Fly More combo is still around $1900 so there is quite a significant price difference despite the similarities between the two. For that money I would be tempted to just get a Phantom 4 Pro for that 1" Sony sensor (huge upgrade), but obviously far less portable.
I made my first ever video after spending 2 weeks in Hawaii, and I think it came out pretty good. Shot in D-Cine 0,0,0 and did all my editing in LumaFusion on the iPad Pro which is fine until the export, which is painfully slow on weak iPad Pro hardware. I will have to decide on some desktop software later (PC) as I do not want to pay another $20 USD/mo for Adobe Premiere (already subscribe to Photoshop CC).
Anyways, I absolutely love this drone. If the Pro II was going to have a 1" sensor (I guess it still could, but the leaks seem pretty credible and the camera would have to be physically quite large for the lens to accommodate that image circle) I would have probably waited to see the size/price, but I have zero regrets about going with the Air and I feel like it has already paid for itself with how much enjoyment myself (and others) have got from it, which is really the point at the end of the day.
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Mini 4 Pro - latest firmware. Don't bother with it if you want to fly your drone.
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