DJI Air 2S
The fantastic Air 2S is our new favorite drone.
Hot on the heels of the DJI FPV, the drone giant shows no signs of slowing with the announcement of the DJI Air 2S. And while the name suggests only an incremental upgrade on the Mavic Air 2, there’s a lot in this new model to whet the appetite of consumer and professional drone pilots alike – most importantly, a 1-inch sensor packed inside a compact drone.
The headline feature of the DJI Air 2S is the 20MP 1-inch sensor, which improves image quality and provides an improved high ISO respone compared to the Mavic Air 2. Then there’s the ability to capture 5.4K video at 30fps, alongside 4K at up to 60fps, as well as 1080p at up to 120fps, which opens up significant creative potential for capturing video. Even better, this larger sensor camera has increased the weight of the drone compared to the Mavic
Air 2 by just 25g.
Design and controller
On the outside, the Air 2S looks extremely similar to the Mavic Air 2, with just a few subtle differences. As you’d expect, it features the folding design that Mavic drones are known for (even if DJI has now dropped the Mavic name). The front arms swing out, while the rear arms rotate down and out for flight and help keep the drone highly transportable.
The Air 2S is small at just 180 × 97 × 80mm when folded, and 183 × 253 × 77mm when unfolded. It’s barely any different to its predecessor, but that puts the folded length at 4mm shorter than the Mavic Air 2. And at just 595g, the Air 2S is just over half the weight of the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and just 25g heavier than the Air 2, which is very impressive considering its larger camera.
The controller is the same as the one you get with the Mavic Air 2. Unlike the Mavic 2 Pro’s controller, though, it isn’t foldable and is larger, with a weight of 393g. While it connects to the aircraft faster than the Mavic 2 controller it, unfortunately, doesn’t offer a simple screen showing basic flight and camera information.
Without the folding arms to support a phone, the phone attaches to the top of the controller using a telescopic grip, and the control sticks are stored in rubberised sections at the bottom of the controller. It’s a comfortable controller to use, but it’s a shame it’s larger and heavier than the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom’s controller.
Features and flight
Flying the DJI Air 2S is extremely easy, and indeed safe, thanks to the flight features that the Mavic series have become well-known for. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a seasoned expert, the flight modes, automated video modes, collision
avoidance and manual flight control provide as little or as much assistance as you need.
The Air 2S features all of the camera functions you’d expect including Single Shot, Timed Photo, AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing), HDR, Panoramas and Hyperlapses. Plus, there’s a new SmartPhoto mode that records full-resolution photos using scene analysis and deep learning to automatically choose the best of three options – HDR, Hyperlight and Scene Recognition – for your photo.
This is great for photography beginners who want to capture a high-quality image with minimum effort, but not so much for more advanced users. Still, if you’re capturing stills in raw+JPEG mode, the
JPEG will be processed as a SmartPhoto while the Raw file will be unprocessed, so you can edit it yourself if you wish.
Video users also get the usual QuickShots, which are DJI’s automated camera moves – for example, choose ‘Boomerang’ and the drone will automatically circle around you. These have apparently been upgraded on the Air 2S, although we didn’t notice much
Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a seasoned expert, the flight modes, automated video modes, collision avoidance and manual flight control provide as little or as much assistance as you need.
difference in testing – everything just worked. These modes include Rocket, Circle, Dronie, Helix and Asteroid, and they’re another big bonus for beginners looking to quickly shoot a pro-looking video.
Video and image quality
It doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles you put on a drone, it’s the image quality that’s often the most important feature.
And the Air 2S undoubtedly delivers here.
It features a 20MP 1-inch sensor, with the camera providing an 88-degree field of view or a full-frame equivalent focal length of 22mm. Like the Mavic Air 2, the Air 2S also unfortunately has a fixed f/2.8 aperture with a focus range of 60cm to infinity.
The most significant improvement in image quality over the Mavic 2 Pro has to be the high ISO noise handling of the Air 2S. Images shot at ISO 3200 are surprisingly clean for a drone, even one with a 1-inch sensor. It’s only at ISO 6400 where noise becomes more noticeable.
In a nutshell, ISO handling is significantly better than the Mavic 2 Pro, which will make it possible to shoot at higher ISO settings, when necessary in low-light conditions, without having to deal with prominent chroma and luminance noise. In fact, the Air 2S blows the Mavic 2 Pro out of the water in this respect.
In terms of video, it’s possible to shoot 5.4K at up to 30fps, 4K at up to 60fps and Full HD at up to 120fps, so slow-motion video is available. There’s also the 8x digital zoom, which starts at 4x with 4K at 30fps video and goes up to 8x with 1080p at 30fps. Zoom recording isn’t available while shooting 10-bit videos or 120fps videos though, sadly.
By combining the DJI Mavic
Air 2’s compact design and the Mavic 2 Pro’s image quality, the Air 2S is now the best all-round drone you can buy. It delivers several new features over the Mavic Air 2, including a large 20MP 1-inch sensor and digital zoom, and squeezes all of this into a folding design that weighs just 595g. While it’s slightly pricier than its predecessor, it’s well worth the extra cost.
James Abbott