Mavic Air 2 things I learned the hard way

[broadview]

I love my Air 2. It was easy to just start flying and record what I saw. I learned a few lessons the hard way, and I hope my experience will help a new drone pilot.

First, I thought there was no manual. There is: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic_Air_2/Mavic_Air_2_User_Manual_v1.6_enIII.pdf

Ken Heron suggested setting White Balance to 4000K for fireworks. That stays set until you return it to Auto, so I shot some video the next day that I need to process back to health.

I tried SLO-MO for the first time and didn't realize that it stays in that mode, too. Tapping SLO-MO again does not turn it off--it's not a toggle. You have to tap Normal. It's hard to tell you're in SLO-MO mode unless you know where to look.

In the DJI Fly app, lower right, the camera setting is 'Auto'. Tap it and it changes to 'Pro', which I thought only changed the display of camera settings like shutter speed and aperture. Wrong. 'Pro' should be called 'Manual.' In Pro, your camera settings don't change with your lighting. Pro is a convenient way to adjust to an unusual situation, but otherwise keep it in 'Auto'.

Fly and learn.

As the manual says, in Sport mode it flies faster and takes much longer to stop. It also turns off obstacle avoidance, but I knew that.

 

[Marcass Carcass]

I love my Air 2. It was easy to just start flying and record what I saw. I learned a few lessons the hard way, and I hope my experience will help a new drone pilot.

First, I thought there was no manual. There is: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic_Air_2/Mavic_Air_2_User_Manual_v1.6_enIII.pdf

Ken Heron suggested setting White Balance to 4000K for fireworks. That stays set until you return it to Auto, so I shot some video the next day that I need to process back to health.

I tried SLO-MO for the first time and didn't realize that it stays in that mode, too. Tapping SLO-MO again does not turn it off--it's not a toggle. You have to tap Normal. It's hard to tell you're in SLO-MO mode unless you know where to look.

In the DJI Fly app, lower right, the camera setting is 'Auto'. Tap it and it changes to 'Pro', which I thought only changed the display of camera settings like shutter speed and aperture. Wrong. 'Pro' should be called 'Manual.' In Pro, your camera settings don't change with your lighting. Pro is a convenient way to adjust to an unusual situation, but otherwise keep it in 'Auto'.

Fly and learn.

As the manual says, in Sport mode it flies faster and takes much longer to stop. It also turns off obstacle avoidance, but I knew that.

Well said, I would add keeping overexposure warning on (always) and histogram on as needed.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I think your best bet is to read the whole manual so that you get an overall idea about things, then go through it again one section at a time and experiment after reading that section to see if the behaviours match your expectations.
I would suggest that this particularily important with the RTH behaviours and the disconnection/failsafe behaviours
E.g what would happen is you had the failsafe set to hover and you lose signal and can not bring the controller into range?
Similarily what would happen if you have the failsafe set to land and the drone rejects the landing site?

Also look at the CSC thing regarding stopping the motor in mid flight see Crashed - but why?

 

[Marcass Carcass]

I read everything waiting on my fly more batts to charge, 2X..... BTW, I only use hover (failsafe), if I am flying through stuff and can get back in range within a few minutes.....

 

[millbah]

I favour my MA2 as well. Try with Maven & it opens a whole new dimension. It makes flying too easy.

 

[Pallidin]

I favour my MA2 as well. Try with Maven & it opens a whole new dimension. It makes flying too easy.

Huh. Maven, I need to look into that.
Thanks.

 

[CraigVMN]

I favour my MA2 as well. Try with Maven & it opens a whole new dimension. It makes flying too easy.

...except for those of us using Android phones...

 

[Mike T.]

I love my Air 2. It was easy to just start flying and record what I saw. I learned a few lessons the hard way, and I hope my experience will help a new drone pilot.

First, I thought there was no manual. There is: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic_Air_2/Mavic_Air_2_User_Manual_v1.6_enIII.pdf

Ken Heron suggested setting White Balance to 4000K for fireworks. That stays set until you return it to Auto, so I shot some video the next day that I need to process back to health.

I tried SLO-MO for the first time and didn't realize that it stays in that mode, too. Tapping SLO-MO again does not turn it off--it's not a toggle. You have to tap Normal. It's hard to tell you're in SLO-MO mode unless you know where to look.

In the DJI Fly app, lower right, the camera setting is 'Auto'. Tap it and it changes to 'Pro', which I thought only changed the display of camera settings like shutter speed and aperture. Wrong. 'Pro' should be called 'Manual.' In Pro, your camera settings don't change with your lighting. Pro is a convenient way to adjust to an unusual situation, but otherwise keep it in 'Auto'.

Fly and learn.

As the manual says, in Sport mode it flies faster and takes much longer to stop. It also turns off obstacle avoidance, but I knew that.

Good info. Thanks Broadview.