Mavic Air 2 vs Mavic Pro 1 - opinions, sample footage..

swoermck · Jul 9, 2020

Hi,

as a Mavic Pro (1) owner, I guess I'm not the only one thinking about upgrading to the new Mavic Air 2.

Just from the specs comparison, and after watching first YouTube videos, all was very impressive, I was just about to press the "buy" button.

Now that more and more videos from "normal people" (people who were not given a Mavic Air 2 from DJI before the official launch) appear, at least for the 4K 30fps videos, I'm tempted to say the difference in comparison to the old Mavic Pro 1 is neglectable (although maybe YouTube video compression make a comparison a bit unfair).

So "googling" for comparison between those two birds, there is (currently) not much to discover, except for those two videos I found:

To start the discussion, let's compare specs:

- 4k 60fps: this is a "no-brainer", makes really a difference, where the old Mavic Pro cannot keep up with, point for MA2
- 4K 24fps/30fps: I have no sample to compare with, but looking at videos at YouTube, I tend to say head to head, no real winner here
- D-Log missing: a long time I was filming in D-Log, but recently discovered that all the "video noise" in my videos is the result from filming in D-Log. After the latest firmware-upgrade I switched to the Mavic Pro 1 mode "vivid" for filming (avoiding the "normal" mode) and created my ow LUTs in DaVinci - much better results. Missing D-Log: no minus point for the MA2
- 1080 240 fps: point for the MA2 (although not my typical requirements, 99% of my videos are in 4K)
- 12 MP photos: both can shoot in RAW. Who is the winner here? I don't know, maybe somebody could compare them?
- 48 MP photo: as many already explained; it's a Quad Bayer sensor, not real 48 MP, added noise, reduced dynamic range. Somebody who already compared Mavic Pro 1 with 48 MP photos?

What do other think? Anybody with both Mavic Pro 1 AND a Mavic Air 2 who could compare or share some samples?

Thanks!

lannes · Jul 9, 2020

I actually prefer the MPP, I like having the redundancy of 2 imu's and 2 compasses

lee82gx · Jul 10, 2020

I have both, while I sold the MP1 before I bought my MA2, I can tell you from my just anecdotal experience.

The camera is much better in the dark for MA2. Example is you wouldn't even use ISO400 on MP1, but on MA2, I reckon ISO800 is fine.

The "auto focus" at night of MP1 is so lame, it should just be called "unfocus" instead. With MA2, fixed focus you never have to worry.

In good light, no big difference but I prefer MA2 from the saturation point of view, the raw files are more punchy, while the MP1 is more flat. Some prefer this though. Dynamic range on MA2 in good light is slightly better as it has auto HDR, which I like to use. There are many times I use this instead of bracketing, which is a MUST on MP1. This alone saves you so much flight time.

If you want to compare, I would say the MA2 is just slightly better than MA1 in camera, and quite a margin better than the MP1.

Both of those videos above do not show what I talk about......

If you already have the MP1 like me, it should be clear to you the shortcomings of the camera. If not, and you are happy, why spend the extra money? If you don't already have either, then makes little sense to get the MP1 instead, for even the same money.

boblui · Jul 10, 2020

The MP was 4 years older than the MA2, thats a LONGGGGG time for improvment of electronics. The result is well expected.

lannes · Jul 10, 2020

The MP electronics are still pretty good, this is a still off a video file

dougdez · Jul 10, 2020

I have the pro 1 and my friend has the air 2. We have flown together to the same spots many times and compared them. The air 2 beats it in every way except battery life. It is always almost identical after I started using platinum props.

Bill Dunnuck · Jul 10, 2020

No mention of handling. I have both and prefer the MP1 with MAS props. In normal mode, the MA2 yaw rate is very slow making freestyle 180 and 360 turns while moving forwards or flying backwards very slow. Much improved in sport mode. You can do graceful freestyle turns in P mode with the MP1. Camera is another matter but I like the overall handling of the MP1 better. Could be no one cares about the handling characteristics of either.

joeke3el · Jul 10, 2020

If your main concern is about the camera, it's just a hobby to you, you don't do pro work, then I don't see a point in changing drones. To your point, YouTube and other social media platforms crush our photos and videos anyway. On the other hand, things like the MA2's 8GB of internal memory, 8K Hyperlapse, the addition of back and downward sensing, HEVC/H.265, OcuSync 2.0, and APAS 3.0 are cool features to have. I upgraded from the Spark so it was leaps and bounds. Not so much coming from the MP so I can appreciate the difficulty in deciding.

Paulf10 · Jul 10, 2020

I was exactly where you are now. I’ve had the MPP for over 2 1/2 yrs and I've been more than happy with it. The only bad thing about it was my P4 hardly ever got used after I bought it. I was afraid if I upgraded to the MA2 the same thing would happen to my beloved MPP. Well when Uncle Sam “stimulated” me with $1200 to spend, I thought I should do the right thing and spend it and buy the MA2. ( Although I’m not sure they wanted me to spend it on something from China.??) Well much as I feared the MPP has been pretty much grounded since I got the MA2.
More to the point, here are my opinions. Mind you they are just my opinions, and only my opinions, as to why I like the MA2 so much more than the MPP.
Did I mention these are just my opinions?
1. The controller. I was surprised by this! I love the way the phone connects and the way the wire is always attached to the controller. The battery life of the controller. The way the controller feels. The antenna. The simplicity of it... Overall it just seems much more convenient and portable.
2. The drone. It is noticeably quieter. The battery life. The way it handles in the air. The way the gimbal cover connects. The extra flight time. To me it just seems more fun to fly.
3. DJI FLY. Again this is just my opinion! For me sometimes less is more. The DJI FLY app is clean and simple to use. What features it lacks, such as stick sensitivity, I’ve been able to compensate for so its not that big of a deal.

Bottom line is I love the MA2. I would buy it again in a heartbeat even without the free money from Uncle Sam. I held back for a long time buying the Mavic Pro 2 because with the exception of the camera I did not see the bang for my buck in upgrading. With the MA2 I do. While I feel like the MA2 has a better camera and takes better pictures than the MPP, I’m just not that great of a photographer to fully appreciate it. Plus I’m red/green color blind.

D1Rk · Jul 10, 2020

I purchased the Mavic when they first came out, and sold it a couple of months ago to upgrade to the MA2. Yes, upgrade. There isn't one thing I miss about the Mavic. I didn't dislike it, but it was a bit more challenging to get the lighting and footage to come out the way you want vs the MA2. There was always a lot more work to be done in post than with the MA2, and overall there always seemed to be more noise than the MA2. I have flown the MA2 a lot more frequently because I enjoy it that much more. It's also considerably more quiet even with the 'quiet' props on the Mav. The size and weight are both less, which is a huge plus for me taking it backpacking and on motorcycle trips.

Someone above mentioned they preferred the handling of the Mav for 'freestyling', while it may have pivoted faster, aside from that, I prefer the handling of the MA2, it's more responsive, and there is less 'delay' with inputs to seeing it on screen. It was always really sketchy getting close to objects because the feedback on the screen was slightly delayed and in my opinion, it drifted a bit more when you let off throttle at low speeds, where the MA2 seems to be more responsive in the same situation.

The only thing I dislike about the MA2, is when you are in sport mode, and have the gimbal direction up enabled, and are to the top rotation while under full throttle pitching forward, it has an error and glitches the gimbal down. I'm hoping an updated comes out soon to fix it, but until then, you just have to be careful to not max out it's upward rotation under high forward speeds.

Flight times, honestly, I would say the MA2 are better, but I seem to be on an island with this one.

I'm just a hobbyist, and going through all of my Mavic footage vs MA2 footage, I would be able to guess which is which every time, to me it is superior.

z28lt1 · Jul 10, 2020

D1Rk said:
I purchased the Mavic when they first came out, and sold it a couple of months ago to upgrade to the MA2. Yes, upgrade. There isn't one thing I miss about the Mavic. I didn't dislike it, but it was a bit more challenging to get the lighting and footage to come out the way you want vs the MA2. There was always a lot more work to be done in post than with the MA2, and overall there always seemed to be more noise than the MA2. I have flown the MA2 a lot more frequently because I enjoy it that much more. It's also considerably more quiet even with the 'quiet' props on the Mav. The size and weight are both less, which is a huge plus for me taking it backpacking and on motorcycle trips.

Someone above mentioned they preferred the handling of the Mav for 'freestyling', while it may have pivoted faster, aside from that, I prefer the handling of the MA2, it's more responsive, and there is less 'delay' with inputs to seeing it on screen. It was always really sketchy getting close to objects because the feedback on the screen was slightly delayed and in my opinion, it drifted a bit more when you let off throttle at low speeds, where the MA2 seems to be more responsive in the same situation.

The only thing I dislike about the MA2, is when you are in sport mode, and have the gimbal direction up enabled, and are to the top rotation while under full throttle pitching forward, it has an error and glitches the gimbal down. I'm hoping an updated comes out soon to fix it, but until then, you just have to be careful to not max out it's upward rotation under high forward speeds.

Flight times, honestly, I would say the MA2 are better, but I seem to be on an island with this one.

I'm just a hobbyist, and going through all of my Mavic footage vs MA2 footage, I would be able to guess which is which every time, to me it is superior.

It's not an error that "glitches" the gimbal down. It is a design to protect it from going over its upper limit.

This video is for the Mavic 2, but similar concept:

swoermck · Jul 10, 2020

Thanks all of you for your feedback, very valuable for me!!!

Same like you all mentioned, I'm afraid my good old MP1 will sit on the shelf with a MA2 in house

But as I normally commute between two locations during the week (Mo-Thu for work abroad) I'm thinking to keep one drone at each location... but with Covid-19 commuting has stopped for the last months, so I'd have both drones in one place

Things I don't like about the MP1:

- Moire on roofs, especially on sunny days, sometime to the extreme that black roofs get white/green/red color

- "jumping clouds": Cloud shadows only moving every 8 frames

- "flickering" when flying over green grass

So I'd assume the MA2 would tick the boxes here (=problem solved or less pronounced)?

Last but not least: I was stupid enough to upgrade from 01.3.xxx to 01.4 (latest firmware): and what many of you know, with 01.4.x DJI changed normal mode for the MP1: too much contrast now, less saturation. I thought: no probs, I use "True Color": nope, even TrueColor has too much contrast, almost no color.

So only workaround for now is
- photos only in RAW
- videos in color mode "vivid", and correct it in DaVinci with my "home-made" LUTs (happy to share them with other MP1 owner)

I'm not a pro, but after my "stupid firmware upgrade" resulting in the "workaround" described above, I need considerable more time in post (especially for video grading).

Again, I expect the MA2 gives you more "out-of-the-box" with no or less post work needed?

Sharpness: some call it "over-sharpening" what the MP1 does, but I love it! Also the reason why I never jumped to the Mavic 2 series (in my opinion less sharp, especially on the M2 pro in videos). I like it crisp from front to background.

For the MA2 it seems "my love" for crisp, sharp images is also addressed?

And the 120Mbit to 60 Mbit transfer rate: is this visible in videos, also for non-professional guy like me?

From the flying experience itself, I love my MP1: never let me down, with modification of EXP and other parameters a dream to fly. And with spare IMU and compass an additional layer of confidence (althouth within more than 30 hours of logged flight time, I never saw IMU or compass failure, so that the redundant unit had to jump in).

And in fact I never missed any additional obstacle sensors, even the other way round: flying against the sun often resulted in an "emergency brake", as the sensors seem to interpret the sun as an obstacle in front of the MP1. In those cases I simply continued flying backwards against the sun.. which obviously won't work with the MA2

.. in the end.. I think I need both drones ?

Paulf10 · Jul 10, 2020

swoermck said:
Thanks all of you for your feedback, very valuable for me!!!

Same like you all mentioned, I'm afraid my good old MP1 will sit on the shelf with a MA2 in house

But as I normally commute between two locations during the week (Mo-Thu for work abroad) I'm thinking to keep one drone at each location... but with Covid-19 commuting has stopped for the last months, so I'd have both drones in one place

Things I don't like about the MP1:

- Moire on roofs, especially on sunny days, sometime to the extreme that black roofs get white/green/red color

- "jumping clouds": Cloud shadows only moving every 8 frames

- "flickering" when flying over green grass

So I'd assume the MA2 would tick the boxes here (=problem solved or less pronounced)?

Last but not least: I was stupid enough to upgrade from 01.3.xxx to 01.4 (latest firmware): and what many of you know, with 01.4.x DJI changed normal mode for the MP1: too much contrast now, less saturation. I thought: no probs, I use "True Color": nope, even TrueColor has too much contrast, almost no color.

So only workaround for now is
- photos only in RAW
- videos in color mode "vivid", and correct it in DaVinci with my "home-made" LUTs (happy to share them with other MP1 owner)

I'm not a pro, but after my "stupid firmware upgrade" resulting in the "workaround" described above, I need considerable more time in post (especially for video grading).

Again, I expect the MA2 gives you more "out-of-the-box" with no or less post work needed?

Sharpness: some call it "over-sharpening" what the MP1 does, but I love it! Also the reason why I never jumped to the Mavic 2 series (in my opinion less sharp, especially on the M2 pro in videos). I like it crisp from front to background.

For the MA2 it seems "my love" for crisp, sharp images is also addressed?

And the 120Mbit to 60 Mbit transfer rate: is this visible in videos, also for non-professional guy like me?

From the flying experience itself, I love my MP1: never let me down, with modification of EXP and other parameters a dream to fly. And with spare IMU and compass an additional layer of confidence (althouth within more than 30 hours of logged flight time, I never saw IMU or compass failure, so that the redundant unit had to jump in).

And in fact I never missed any additional obstacle sensors, even the other way round: flying against the sun often resulted in an "emergency brake", as the sensors seem to interpret the sun as an obstacle in front of the MP1. In those cases I simply continued flying backwards against the sun.. which obviously won't work with the MA2

.. in the end.. I think I need both drones ?

In my opinion you have come to a most excellent conclusion.????

lannes · Jul 10, 2020

swoermck said:
Thanks all of you for your feedback, very valuable for me!!!

Same like you all mentioned, I'm afraid my good old MP1 will sit on the shelf with a MA2 in house

But as I normally commute between two locations during the week (Mo-Thu for work abroad) I'm thinking to keep one drone at each location... but with Covid-19 commuting has stopped for the last months, so I'd have both drones in one place

Things I don't like about the MP1:

- Moire on roofs, especially on sunny days, sometime to the extreme that black roofs get white/green/red color

- "jumping clouds": Cloud shadows only moving every 8 frames

- "flickering" when flying over green grass

So I'd assume the MA2 would tick the boxes here (=problem solved or less pronounced)?

Last but not least: I was stupid enough to upgrade from 01.3.xxx to 01.4 (latest firmware): and what many of you know, with 01.4.x DJI changed normal mode for the MP1: too much contrast now, less saturation. I thought: no probs, I use "True Color": nope, even TrueColor has too much contrast, almost no color.

So only workaround for now is
- photos only in RAW
- videos in color mode "vivid", and correct it in DaVinci with my "home-made" LUTs (happy to share them with other MP1 owner)

I'm not a pro, but after my "stupid firmware upgrade" resulting in the "workaround" described above, I need considerable more time in post (especially for video grading).

Again, I expect the MA2 gives you more "out-of-the-box" with no or less post work needed?

Sharpness: some call it "over-sharpening" what the MP1 does, but I love it! Also the reason why I never jumped to the Mavic 2 series (in my opinion less sharp, especially on the M2 pro in videos). I like it crisp from front to background.

For the MA2 it seems "my love" for crisp, sharp images is also addressed?

And the 120Mbit to 60 Mbit transfer rate: is this visible in videos, also for non-professional guy like me?

From the flying experience itself, I love my MP1: never let me down, with modification of EXP and other parameters a dream to fly. And with spare IMU and compass an additional layer of confidence (althouth within more than 30 hours of logged flight time, I never saw IMU or compass failure, so that the redundant unit had to jump in).

And in fact I never missed any additional obstacle sensors, even the other way round: flying against the sun often resulted in an "emergency brake", as the sensors seem to interpret the sun as an obstacle in front of the MP1. In those cases I simply continued flying backwards against the sun.. which obviously won't work with the MA2

.. in the end.. I think I need both drones ?

Strangely out of all the drones I have , I prefer the Phantom 4 Pro which still has the best camera IMHO
Something reassuring about a bigger AC, until it comes down.

Dingo · Jul 10, 2020

I own the mavic pro 1 and always look at the transmitter LCD screen for distance and height as its away from all the other info on my iphone screen and easy to see. the other advantage of the LCD screen on the TX is you can fly home using the telemetry if your iphone app crashes. I think the air 2 does not have an LCD screen on the TX ??

Paulf10 · Jul 11, 2020

Dingo said:
I own the mavic pro 1 and always look at the transmitter LCD screen for distance and height as its away from all the other info on my iphone screen and easy to see. the other advantage of the LCD screen on the TX is you can fly home using the telemetry if your iphone app crashes. I think the air 2 does not have an LCD screen on the TX ??

You are correct. There is no LCD screen on the MA2 controller. However you always have the RTH button and I’ve found it much easier to look at my phone mounted on the top of the MA2 controller. But that’s just my opinion and to be honest I’ve never had my iPhone App crash so I guess you make a valid point to be considered.

Canuk · Jul 11, 2020

I have the old pro and the air-2 . My poor old mavic pro is getting very little air time . I seem to like everything about the air-2 . The info on the pro remote was nice but the new style controller feels good in your hands

Gastone360 · Jul 11, 2020

No contest... I had mavic pro and now air 2, difference in image quality is HUGE
Trust me, MA2 is on par with my phantom 4 pro in good light....

swoermck · Nov 6, 2020

Hi all,

back again - now I purchased the Ma 2

First impression (without doing a real one-to-one comparison):

1) MA2 seems a bit more soft in video (no real photo test so far), especially objects (e.g. houses) far, far away seems to be more blurry (or is it overall less sharp?) I have the impression that the MP1 was always sharp from front to back. ?
2) watching videos on my 4K (21") Monitor I can see that MP1 still has the "Water-color" effect, especially in trees. This problem seems to be solved on the MA2, fine details in trees ?
3) MA 2 color: so much better.. but I guess this was my own fault: the MP1 was on firmware x.3.900, and I upgraded to the latest firmware (back in March this year). From there on, color was terrible: in Normal mode, too much contrast, in True color very pale colours.. Looking at the footage from MA2, color is a welcome upgrade!

Only part where I am bit disappointed is the softer image (1). Seems less visible when watching videos on my laptop, but the 4k Monitor will reveal the truth. I tried some tweaking in DaVinci with sharpening, but still object far far away won't come out much sharper, the foreground seems to benefit from additional sharpening.

So is this the general consensus, that MA2 is a bit softer in picture/video compared to MP1? Or simply the fact, that MP1 does "over-sharpening" (as many pilots were complaining about), and DJI fixed that now in the MA2 with "mild-sharpening"?

Just want to make sure that I did not receive a "lemon" - if this is expected behaviour, DaVinci Resolve is my best friend

lannes · Nov 7, 2020

swoermck said:
So is this the general consensus, that MA2 is a bit softer in picture/video compared to MP1? Or simply the fact, that MP1 does "over-sharpening" (as many pilots were complaining about), and DJI fixed that now in the MA2 with "mild-sharpening"?

Just want to make sure that I did not receive a "lemon" - if this is expected behaviour, DaVinci Resolve is my best friend

I believe the MA2 has a fixed focus lens while the MP1 lens actually focuses, although with the large depth of field on small lenses and sensors the MA2 should be sharp.