Industry News: DJI Mavic Air 2 drone specs leak ahead of the official announcement

Canon Rumors Guy

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Drone News & Reviews have published the specifications for the upcoming DJI Mavic Air 2, which is a very compact drone.
The specs look pretty impressive and I may pick one up.
DJI Mavic Air 2 Specifications

DJI Fly app will be used for Mavic Air 2
1080p image transmission to a smartphone
OcuSync 2.0
8km range
ActiveTrack 3.0
Point of Interest 3.0
QuickShots
Advanced Pilot Assistance 2.0 (APAS)
Top speed 68.4 km/h
Maximum flight time 34 minutes
4K video (although framerate has yet to be confirmed)
1/2″ CMOS sensor with 12MP camera capable of stitched 48MP stills

The DJI Mavic Air 2 will be announced on April 27, 2020.


mavicair2-01-768x655-1-168x168.jpg
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Mar 25, 2011
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I'm not very knowledgeable about drones or their capabilities to provide high resolution images and videos, or how often they crash or malfunction. I can see that they could be a way to do some interesting photography while staying away from crowds. I live in a very rural area, but as I get older, I have very limited mobility to get into difficult spots to get a photograph of a remote place like a waterfall, and its possible that a drone could get otherwise impossible images.

I guess I need to get educated.
 
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gbc

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These are pretty impressive spec. I have the Mavic Air and would think about upgrading to this... IF it weren't for all the completely onerous drone laws. I can't fly this thing ANYWHERE. I live in a city, so I basically have to drive 20 miles to be able to fly my drone anywhere. Not only because of the city, but because you can't fly within 5 miles of airports without getting permission. It's just not the care-free past time I thought it would be. I've gotten some great footage flying over the ocean, but it's a nerve-wracking endeavor leaving $1000 worth of hardware half a mile out over open water. I'd highly recommend checking out your local laws/no-fly zones before purchasing.
 
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DBounce

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no one is using cars for photography. a lot of people are drone photographers, it's relevant.

though i've been waiting for a mavic 3 announcement for a while.
I’ve seen plenty of camera cars used for movie production. They make car camera mounts for safaris. And I’m pretty certain google uses cars to capture all those street view images.
 
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cayenne

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I would be concerned about buying ANY drone right now....if those proposed FAA rules are passed that they are proposing....
If you're drone doesn't comply to those new more draconian ones that basically insist your drone is at all times connected to the internet to report in to FAA central, you are in non-compliance.

If that passes as proposed, pretty much all drones made till that date are not legal to fly.....it's been a few months since I last read up on that, but wow....

C
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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I would be concerned about buying ANY drone right now....if those proposed FAA rules are passed that they are proposing....
If you're drone doesn't comply to those new more draconian ones that basically insist your drone is at all times connected to the internet to report in to FAA central, you are in non-compliance.

If that passes as proposed, pretty much all drones made till that date are not legal to fly.....it's been a few months since I last read up on that, but wow....

C
I haven't seen anything draconian in the new regulations, just relatively common sense regulations to ensure general health and safety and considerate working practices for everybody not just the drone operator given that UAV operations are going to balloon over the foreseeable future.

What is onerous about having to know where you are flying with any restrictive safety rules that location requires (airports, prisons, DoD, etc) and having that flying object actually traceable to an individual? Many drones won't be upgradable (Canon FD anyone?) but many will have software/firmware or even hardware fixes that make them compliant and all new drones will be compliant. If people are flying over me or my family I don't care, but if they hurt me or my family I want them to be able to be held liable and if the new rules ensure adequate insurance as well I am all for it.
 
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cayenne

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I haven't seen anything draconian in the new regulations, just relatively common sense regulations to ensure general health and safety and considerate working practices for everybody not just the drone operator given that UAV operations are going to balloon over the foreseeable future.

What is onerous about having to know where you are flying with any restrictive safety rules that location requires (airports, prisons, DoD, etc) and having that flying object actually traceable to an individual? Many drones won't be upgradable (Canon FD anyone?) but many will have software/firmware or even hardware fixes that make them compliant and all new drones will be compliant. If people are flying over me or my family I don't care, but if they hurt me or my family I want them to be able to be held liable and if the new rules ensure adequate insurance as well I am all for it.

Here's a pretty balance analysis of what the FAA is proposing.

You might want to skip to about 2:30-2:40 into it to get to the meat of the presentation.



The proposed rules go way beyond the current registration and marking of the units by putting the reg. # on them externally.

And the drones I've flown, already have electronic "fencing" on them by default the that keep them from flying in restricted airspace....

What's being proposed is having to have new hardware on each drone that allows it to be tracked with a Remote ID in real time, not only the drone but you the controller too.

One problem with this is, that anyone...John Q public that may just plan not like drones, or law enforcement with nothing better to do that day....can harass you even while you are doing something legal.

There is also the extra costs for this since you will likely have to subscribe to a commercial service that your drone will have to connect to in order to ship all info on you to the FAA....even paying when you are not flying likely.

If you have an old drone without this new specialized equipment, well, it will be about 99% useless....you can fly only in an approved small field...think the open bare fields that model airplanes fly.....that's no good for a drone which is more of a flying camera than a flying hobby unit, you know?

The parts about taking away the privacy of the operator who is operating legally is troublesome to me.....I mean, someone that is a terrorist or up to no good in general, isn't going to comply with this and hack and disable all this....so, in general it only targets the good guys and makes life tough for them.

This seems, IMHO, to be largely targeted at the hobbiest.....and in favor of the commercial operators like Amazon that are wanting to clear the airspace for themselves.

As far as I know...the rules in place now and the ones in the future do not in any way address requiring insurance....
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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Yes and I don’t see the issue with any of that. If my flight can be traced, and it is already recorded, I can prove I wasn’t doing anything wrong. The more times that happens the more law enforcement will actually learn the law and end up telling the person accusing you or me of behaving illegally that we weren’t.

Being allowed to safely operate anything that can hurt other people should come with traceability and costs to it.

It isn’t aimed at killing drone hobbyists, it is aimed at creating a standard for all UAS’s to operate in, Amazon and the like will have all kinds of additional hurdles to jump through with their needs to work out of line of sight, to be autonomous and semi autonomous, to have one ‘pilot’ in control of multiple vehicles etc etc. It is aimed at having knowledge of all UAS’s in a given airspace at a given time so they can all be aware of each other, there aren’t many vehicles in the zero to five hundred foot air space at the moment so mid air collisions are rare, but as commercial usage grows in the coming years it will become much more crowded.

The FAA are not going to reclassify the current airspace, they just want users to obey the rules already in place for that airspace. I am a drone pilot, I don’t feel sorry for me even if my drone ends up becoming unusable in a couple of years, I do feel sorry for RC enthusiasts who are getting caught up in the same regulations when their use is entirely different. RC users are normally at designated RC fields or extensive properties and the point for them is the line of sight flight, them seeing their aircraft fly is the reason they do it, drone use is mostly about what you can see through the eyes of that drone and the fun is in flying over areas RC users aren’t interested in.

To me it is much more like the 254lb rule, sure you can make your ultralight and fly it without a license if you want but you still have to obey the airspace rules.

Besides, for the true hobbies there are plenty of workarounds, sub .55lb still gives great performance and the loophole for ‘home built’ is crying out for DJI to sell part built ‘kits’ that skirt around that rule for heavier drones.

I just don’t see the reason for the hyperbole.
 
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Mar 25, 2011
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The problem for a lot of us is the "being connected to the internet" issue. I am a real estate photographer and take aerial photos of homes in rural areas that have acreage. A lot of these areas have no cell coverage whatsoever.
I'm very rural, we don't have cell phone reception out here, and a lot of remote sites where there are good subjects for photography don't either.

The other concern is that as far as national security and aircraft safety, there is no reason to believe that the drones will comply. There are a huge number out there and they cost a bundle, so they are not going away, its likely that they will increase in value as buyers rush to get them.

So, terrorists are not going to worry about the law, and neither are idiots who purposely intrude on others privacy, or want to photograph things like fires where drones are prohibited. I really would expect little additional safety at a big cost.

If they could overcome the issues with lack of internet connection for many of us, it might at least be practical. Right now, one of them would refuse to take off at my house.
 
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unfocused

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Interesting discussion. I was in Glacier National Park a couple of years ago and some idiot was flying a drone there, despite the fact that it's not legal. That's the problem, there will always be irresponsible idiots. The last thing we need is a bunch of fools buzzing their drones over the Grand Canyon and other sites, littering the landscape with their mistakes and harassing wildlife. Unfortunately, it only takes a few fools to prompt laws that restrict everyone.
 
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Traveler

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How is this a “Canon” rumor? Or even “Industry” news? Cars have cameras too... is the new Tesla “Industry “ news?

I really welcome this industry news here. I’ve been waiting for Mavic Air 2 for a long time and this seems to be great.
I use a drone to help me scouting places. To find the best spot at a huge lavender field without needing to be walking through it for days.
Or taking pics from unusual angles, of course.
 
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