Mavic Air Camera Protection

john2k · Apr 9, 2018

I am a complete newbie to the DJI family so please excuse any questions that might sound silly. I am also a newbie to the Drone world. I started of by buying a Parrot Bebop 2 about a month ago and had some good flights with it. However, one of the biggest things I was annoyed with was how the camera is constructed in it. The entire camera is a single unit which has the fisheye lens directly glued to the camera. This unfortunately meant that even with the smallest crash I ended up with a nasty scratch on the lens. This resulted in bad hazing in my videos.

Only option to fix it was to replace the entire camera for a £150 brand new camera. So anyway to cut the long story short, I decided to ditch the Parrot and go for the Mavic Air. I've ordered my Mavic Air in Arctic White and delivery is expected in 1-2days. I was really torn between the Flame Red and the Arctic white. Would be nice to hear what others think of these two colours and what colours everyone else went for and why?

Back to my original question: So my experience with the Parrot camera has left me slightly worried as crashes on these kind of devices are surely inevitable at some point. So question is does the lens on the Mavic Air directly stick out like the Parrot meaning if it was to touch the ground will it scratch? or is it more recessed so if it was to touch the ground it wont touch or scratch the lens?

djiboi · Apr 9, 2018

It has a protector of sorts but without any glass in. You should maybe buy something such as this https://www.amazon.co.uk/DJI-Mavic-Air-UV-Filter/dp/B079BV7VLJ

Mossiback · Apr 9, 2018

There are many images on the Web showing how the camera is positioned. If it (the Air) "touches" the ground it will not scratch the lens. If it crashes into the ground then the gimbal would most likely be damaged, depending on the speed and ground conditions.

As djiboi suggests, a filter would protect the lens from scratches. ND filters are needed for smooth video so I am always flying with one on my MP.

swooshdave · Apr 9, 2018

I just ordered the Red one purely for the extra viability. Perhaps I'll be able to see it better when flying, but I suspect I'll really be able to find it easier if it lands somewhere that I'm not (note I'm not using the "crash" term). Red stands out against most backgrounds. Unless I hit a firetruck. Sure the white looks cool and so does the black but I'm going for practicality. And by practicality I mean an expensive toy.

john2k · Apr 10, 2018

Mossiback said:
ND filters are needed for smooth video so I am always flying with one on my MP.

I'm slightly confused about the ND filters, new to this stuff. From what i've seen the ND filters all have different numbers. So how does one know which number to put? so for every video you have to determine what ND filter number you need? how do you calculate that?

swooshdave said:
I just ordered the Red one purely for the extra viability. Perhaps I'll be able to see it better when flying, but I suspect I'll really be able to find it easier if it lands somewhere that I'm not (note I'm not using the "crash" term). Red stands out against most backgrounds. Unless I hit a firetruck. Sure the white looks cool and so does the black but I'm going for practicality. And by practicality I mean an expensive toy.

Man i was soo tempted to get the Red, still in two minds as to if I made the right decision with the white. I really like the Red but main reason going with the White was it was the safer option. I thought the red might look outdated or it might be a colour to get bored of. Wondering if I should exchange it for the Red lol

swooshdave · Apr 10, 2018

john2k said:
Man i was soo tempted to get the Red, still in two minds as to if I made the right decision with the white. I really like the Red but main reason going with the White was it was the safer option. I thought the red might look outdated or it might be a colour to get bored of. Wondering if I should exchange it for the Red lol

I was going to get the white because you can always add skins to change the design.

But I don’t need to decorate my bird much. I will be adding some custom decals. Look for a forum posting on that in the future.

Don’t overthink the color choice. Just concentrate on safe flying.

john2k · Apr 10, 2018

swooshdave said:
Don’t overthink the color choice. Just concentrate on safe flying.

Thanks buddy, skins and vinyl wraps sound like a good idea for the future.

msinger · Apr 10, 2018

john2k said:
does the lens on the Mavic Air directly stick out like the Parrot meaning if it was to touch the ground will it scratch? or is it more recessed so if it was to touch the ground it wont touch or scratch the lens?

Here's a close up shot:

A UV filter is the easiest way to add an extra layer of protection. Here are a few commonly used Mavic Air UV filters:

Freewell
PGYTECH
PolarPro

msinger · Apr 10, 2018

john2k said:
From what i've seen the ND filters all have different numbers. So how does one know which number to put? so for every video you have to determine what ND filter number you need? how do you calculate that?

Here's a general filter usage guide:

Check out this video for more details on how to use ND filters:

UneBoleeDAir.fr · Apr 11, 2018

john2k said:
Back to my original question: So my experience with the Parrot camera has left me slightly worried as crashes on these kind of devices are surely inevitable at some point. So question is does the lens on the Mavic Air directly stick out like the Parrot meaning if it was to touch the ground will it scratch? or is it more recessed so if it was to touch the ground it wont touch or scratch the lens?

As mentionned by others, the Mavic Air is actyally very well designed in my opinion as the gimbal is well protected by the "body" of the Air itself with plastic on both sides. I already crashed once my Air (only at taking off at around 1m high) and no problem at all. You can see the construction and the protection when not in flight at 12:40 here :

thebigbaddan · Apr 11, 2018

john2k said:
Thanks buddy, skins and vinyl wraps sound like a good idea for the future.

But red *is* the best mavic air color.

john2k · Apr 12, 2018

thebigbaddan said:
But red *is* the best mavic air color.

don't rub it in lol. Was a hard choice between red and white.

john2k · Apr 20, 2018

@msinger if I add a UV filter for extra layer of protection, that means I have to remove the stock filter to put the UV one on right? So question is, what is the stock filter? is it just a clear lens? So if the stock one actually just comes off then is it really worth protecting it because if it comes off then means if it gets damaged you can just replace it with a UV one etc. right?

InvisibleName · Apr 20, 2018

john2k said:
@msinger if I add a UV filter for extra layer of protection, that means I have to remove the stock filter to put the UV one on right? So question is, what is the stock filter? is it just a clear lens? So if the stock one actually just comes off then is it really worth protecting it because if it comes off then means if it gets damaged you can just replace it with a UV one etc. right?

It's just an empty ring - no "filter"