Mavic Air Takes Flight! Hot New Specs!
The all new DJI Mavic Air is now live for pre-order at store.DJI.com. Priced at $799 for the basic kit including drone, remote and propeller guards or $999 for the fully loaded Mavic Air Fly More Combo.
I got it! Just take me to the Mavic Air page!
So here are the quick facts from today’s DJI Live Event “Adventure Unfolds”:
The new Mavic Air is the smallest drone DJI has ever made, and it’s also the fastest Mavic with speed up to 42.5 mph. With that power and advanced flight controls the Mavic Air is also able to fly comfortably in winds up to 22 mph.
We’re surprised the Mavic Air keeps a 12 megapixel capture for still photography. If you are a Spark or Mavic pilot, it’s likely that you’ve wanted something with higher quality. The new camera sensor is a 1/2.3″ CMOS with an f/2.8 lens and a 35-mm equivalent focal length of 24mm.
The advancements in the image quality come from the brain of the Mavic Air drone, which can take your still photos and process them on-board into a 32megapixel spherical panorama.
With support for HDR, the Mavic Air adjusts exposure settings intelligently, to optimize transitions and shadows.
For Spark owners, the 1080p upward limit on video quality always meant that a drone upgrade was eventually inevitable once you got comfortable with aerial imaging. But with the Mavic Airs familiar form factor, the leap to 4K is more comfortable than jumping to a Mavic or Phantom 4 Series. The Mavic Air’s ability to fill 4K at 30 frames per second allows every second of video to be captured in UHD quality.
The video improvements are just as impressive down-scale though, as the Mavic Air can capture 1080p video at a mindblowing 120fps for amazingly cinematic slow motion shots.
An unlike the Spark, the Mavic Air has a true 3-axis mechanical gimbal for optimal camera smoothness.
The Mavic Air folds like it was designed by the creators of Transformers. Intelligent sensors placed on the outside of the forward arms are purposely held away from the body for more effective flight management. Once folded the Mavic Air fits in a coat pocket, with a form factor roughly the size of a large smartphone.
The new Mavic Air RC now has removable joysticks to make it even more compact when folded. The Fly More Combo comes with an extra pair of sticks…for obvious reasons.
New Flight Modes
The DJI Spark brought us Dronie, Circle, Helix and Rocket flight modes. The Mavic Air now brings us Asteroid and Boomerang.
With Asteroid the Mavic Air captures as sperical panorama and then zooms into the shot to focus on the subject.
With Boomerang the drone films a wide arc behind the subject capturing those moments where you’re gazing into a sunset or staring into a canyon abyss. And the DJI GO 4 app lets you share your creations instantly to social media.
SmartCapture is the new Gesture
The DJI Spark was groundbreaking on so many levels, especially with it’s Gesture control. Now the Mavic Air has fine tuned that feature and added more intelligent, more intuitive flight control using just your hands. Movement is faster, smoother, and easier than ever before.
TapFly lets you adjust your flight path (forward, backward, free or by coordinate) to wherever you tap on the screen.
We’re incredibly impressed with the new Mavic Air. And we ordered ours just minutes into the presentation because we think it will sell out faster than any drone in DJI history. In fact, we think a lot of Spark pilots are going to be upgrading today in a huge way.
For an extra $200, we think the Fly More Combo is DEFINITELY the way to go. Here’s what’s “in the box” the Fly More Combo:
- Mavic Air drone
- Remote controller
- 3 – Intelligent Flight Batteries
- Charger
- Power cable
- 6 Pairs of Propellers
- Propeller guards
- RC Cable (lighning connector)
- RC Cable (Micro USB)
- RC Cable (USB Type-C)
- Gimbal Protector
- Communication Cable (USB3.0 Type-C)
- USB Adapter
- RC Cable Slider (large)
- RC Cable Slider (small)
- Carrying case
- Spare controller sticks (pair)
- Battery Charging Hub
- Battery to Power Bank Adapter
- Travel bag
The ‘regular’ Mavic Air kit has one less pair of propellers, 2 less batteries, and does not include the Charging Hub, Power Bank Adapter or the Travel Bag.
Like the Spark, the 2nd most important piece of gear is batteries. Order lots!
Pre-order started today, and your Mavic Air will start shipping on January 28th….just a few days away!
