DJI Air 2S drone announced: Now, that’s a camera!

Are you a fan of taking a camera to heaven? The new DJI Air 2S might just be the best drone out there for you. Equipped with a 1-inch camera sensor, this 20-megapixel shooter also offers new features in a well-known DJI Mavic drone package.

OcuSync 3.0, APAS 4.0, Master Shots and more make the Air 2S one of the best Mavic drones on the market.

DJI Air 2S overview

The DJI Air 2S is the newest quadcopter in the Mavic Air series. Don’t let the shorter names fool you, the Mavic series is not dead, and the latest Air is another example of the smaller series that offers a better camera than the larger, more expensive Mavic drones. The main feature of the Air 2S is a 1-inch camera sensor, which was previously only found on the Mavic 2 Pro and Phantom series drones.

5.4K video recording from a 1 inch camera, log in!

The Air 2S focuses on aerial photography. When quantifying the image improvements compared to the Mavic Air 2, the camera in the older drone rocked 0.8 μm pixels, the Air 2S has a full 2.4 μm pixels. The newer drone also records 5.4K videos.

As expected from a DJI drone, the image stabilization is top notch. Between the 3-axis gimbal and digital stabilization, your normal flights should turn out to be silky smooth on fair weather days.

The Air 2S introduces O3 (Ocusync 3.0), which offers a range of up to 12 km. That’s nearly 7.5 miles.

The remote control for the Air 2S is almost identical to the remote control for the older Mavic Air 2, and the overall flight experience is pretty similar to most other Mavic drones.

Related reading: The best drones to buy in 2021

DJI Air 2S features and performance

The DJI Air 2S runs at approx. 33 MPH in normal mode without any problems. Slide into sport mode to go over 40 mph. Just do this in an open field as sport mode disables obstacle avoidance.

The prices for the Air 2S are ready to use immediately. The drone doesn’t feel too fast or too nervous to steer safely and the acceleration is steady. For our taste, we think the standard tilt rate of the camera gimbal is a bit slow. Maybe that’s because the last drone we flew was the DJI FPV, which has high rates for everything. It’s an exciting drone to fly.

The DJI Air 2S offers obstacle avoidance forwards, downwards, backwards and upwards.

Flight features include familiar Quickshot tools, as well as some updated AI tools. Point of Interest has been updated to version 3.0, Active Track is also version 3.0 and Spotlight is now version 2.0. DJI has borrowed some camera modes from the Osmo range – MasterShots offers proximity, portrait and landscape modes for gaming.

All in all, the Air 2S feels smoother and safer than the Mavic Air 2, smaller and more agile than the Mavic 2 series drones, and takes far better pictures than the Mini series.

DJI Air 2S camera

The DJI Air 2S isn’t the first drone to rock a 20-megapixel camera with a 1-inch sensor, but it’s now the smallest, most affordable drone we know for doing it. We are excited to see future drones – and future DJI pocket devices – that may also use this sensor size, especially when we look at the pictures and videos captured by the Air 2S.

The securing of the 1-inch sensor enables the recording of up to 5.4K videos at 30 frames per second, 4K videos at 60 frames per second and a fantastic video data rate of 150 Mbit / s -x zoom. At 4K it is 4x zoom, 6x zoom at 2.7K and 1080P 60fps and 8x zoom at 1080P with 30fps.

For more information, as well as sample photos and videos, visit our DJI Air 2S page.

The competition

Which drones should I check out if the Air 2S isn’t quite right for me?

The Mavic 2 Pro is the only other Mavic with a 1-inch, 20-megapixel camera. It’s a bigger and safer drone, but more expensive. The Mavic Air 2 remains a top contender for under $ 1,000 drones. It offers the best flight time of any retail drone, but it has fewer features than the Air 2S. The DJI FPV is fun to fly, but it’s not your typical camera drone. The DJI Mini 2 should be a great way to set your goals when you only need to spend $ 500. The Mini 2 is an easy-to-fly drone that records decent 4K video from the sky. Let’s just say the Air 2S is worth the added price if you can afford it.

Should I buy the DJI Air 2S?

There are still better cameras in the sky for higher prices and cheaper drones if camera performance isn’t that important to you, but the latest version from DJI is once again one of the best deals in the consumer class. For the average pilot, the Air 2S’s fun flight features are better than other Mavic drones, but their iterative update pales in comparison to jumping into the camera. This new camera is exciting to see on a drone.

The bottom line is that the DJI Air 2S should prove to be the best under $ 1,400 camera drone on the market. Given the Air 2S starts at $ 999, we hope the point clears up: it’s worth it!