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Despite its diminutive size, the Mavic Air can float around for up to 21 minutes on a single charge — DJI claims that’s the longest flight time you’ll find in a drone this small. As expected, though, the big draw here is the addition of 4K video recording with 3-axis stabilization — a feature conspicuously absent from the company’s recent Spark. That’s all thanks to a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor with a 24mm f/2.8 lens, which you’ll be able to use for capturing 12-megapixel stills and stabilized 4K video at 30fps (not the 60fps we were hoping for).
New to the Air are a few Quickshot modes, including “Asteroid” — which stitches together 32-megapixel spherical panoramas — and “Boomerang.” The name basically says it all: the Air follows the same flight path a thrown boomerang would, which should offer some neat perspectives of the space around the pilot. Meanwhile, a new flight mode called ActiveTrack helps (what else?) track objects automatically while keeping them locked in the center of the frame. The Air can detect multiple subjects simultaneously, too, so you’ll need to manually select which one you want to track.
So yes, the Air is shaping up to be a remarkable flying camera. Almost more impressive is how DJI tweaked the Mavic formula to squeeze such impressive performance into a tiny package. A new ventilation system means the Air should be more resistant to overheating a new housing for the gimbal makes for more precise camera control. A new omnidirectional antenna design also means the Air can fly up to 2.5 miles away, as long as you’re using it with one of DJI’s smartphone-docking controllers.
And just in case you were worried, the Mavic Air just seems like a fun machine to fly — it’ll hit speeds as high as 42.5 miles per hour in sports mode, and can withstand winds of up to 22 miles per hour. Granted, not everyone will want to push the Air to its limits. Less adventurous users will probably appreciate the Air’s improved object avoidance more. The drone uses seven cameras to build a 3D map of its position around the aircraft, and if you manually steer it near an obstacle, it’ll just juke out of the way. On top of that, DJI is playing up what it calls its GEO system: a real-time map that shows off where drone flying is prohibited as a result of federal regulation or potential safety issues.
This is a developing story.
