DJI Mavic Air 2 vs DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 Camera Drone Comparison

Spec Comparison of the DJI Mavic Air 2 and the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2

In this comparison we look at two very different consumer camera drones for aerial photography and drone film making.

The DJI Mavic Air 2 is a folding arm camera drone and the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 is a non-folding arm camera drone, known as a quadcopter.

Sometimes quadcopters can have separate cameras added to their gimbal underneath, whilst the Phantom 4 Pro V2 uses it's own inbuilt camera, as does the Mavic Air 2.

There is a significant difference in price, $999 for the DJI Mavic Air 2 fly more combo and $1999 for the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2. 

There is a 2 year difference in release dates, does that mean the DJI Mavic Air 2 will be 2 years better?

Let's see what the feature differences are.

Physical Comparison

Without even looking at the dimensions and sizes on a spec sheet of these two camera drones, you can guess that one is going to be considerably larger than the other, and that is true.

The DJI Mavic Air 2 has a diagonal length when folded up of 20cm and the Phantom 4 Pro V2 has one of 35cm, so much larger from corner to corner when looking at from above.

The dimensions are also much larger on all three sides giving the Phantom 4 Pro V2 a total volume of 28L in size, this is the size of a small backpack. This is mainly due to it's square and cubed shape and that it's arms or legs do not fold in.

The Mavic Air 2 benefits from folding arms and a small body which has the camera attached to the front, which gives it a total volume of 1.4L in it's smallest form when folded up.

In terms of weight, the Mavic Air 2 is under half the weight of the Phantom 4 Pro V2 at 570grams, but considering it's size, the Phantom 4 Pro V2 isn't actually that heavy, weighing a total of 1375grams ready to fly with battery in.

Performance Comparison

These both look like high performance camera drones, the first feature we'll look at is the max speed.

With the Phantom 4 Pro V2 offering a slightly faster top end, of 72kmh, than the 68kmh offering of the Mavic Air 2, which means there isn't much in it.

The Phantom 4 Pro V2 also offers a slightly faster ascent speed of 6m/s, compared to 4m/s for the Mavic Air 2.

They have a very similar max wind speed tolerance of 38kmh for the Mavic Air 2, which just beats out the Phantom 4 Pro V2 by 2kmh, which is capable of tolerating wind gusts and speeds of 36kmh.

The transmission distance is a big plus for the Mavic Air 2, with a range of 10km. This means you can see a video transmission from your phone to your camera gimbal and what it relays back, over a range of 10km, amazing.

The Phantom 4 Pro V2 isn't quite as long and offers a 7km transmission distance.

Flight time is also a small improvement on the Mavic Air 2, compared to the Phantom 4 Pro V2. The Mavic Air 2 has a great flight time of 34 minutes.

The Phantom 4 Pro V2 has a 30 minute flight time, which is great for it's age and size, being released 2 years ago in 2018.

You also get backward, downward and forward obstacle avoidance with the Mavic Air 2.

Photo and Video Comparison

Even though they have quite different looking gimbals and camera setups on both of the camera drones, they have the same field of view of 80 degrees.

The bitrate is slightly higher on the Mavic Air 2, at 120 mbps. Which means larger file sizes because of this, you should see this bitrate when it is recording 4k at 60fps.

The image sensor on the Phantom 4 Pro V2 is double the size, at 1" inch. The Mavic Air 2 uses a Sony IMX 586 which is a 1/2" inch image sensor.

The Phantom 4 Pro V2 offers some of the largest photo resolution sizes of 20MP and it does so in RAW DNG format.

The Mavic Air 2 does offer 48mp photos, which are larger, but they are not RAW photos, they are JPEG.

If slow motion video is your thing, then the Mavic Air 2 does a little better in this department, offering 1080p video with 240fps slow motion frame rates.

The Phantom 4 Pro V2 doesn't do a bad job and has the standard 120fps at this video resolution.

Both camera drones can record video in H.264 and H.265 with MOV or MP4 video files, but the Mavic Air 2 has one more feature. That is flat profile recording using d-cinelike video format, which is great for post and colour grading.

You also get HDR video on the Mavic Air 2.

Both camera gimbals are 3-axis gimbals to help with smooth video footage when making drone films and aerial photography.

Summary

The Mavic Air 2 is a lighter and much smaller drone, aimed at those looking to get to harder locations, mountains and places it can be carried in a bag.

You get longer flight times and pay a smaller price for the camera setup, compared to the Phantom 4 Pro V2.

There are also many photo and video auto shooting modes, like timelapse that the Mavic Air 2 has and the Phantom 4 Pro V2 does not.

If you're looking for a larger sensor camera drone and portability is not an issue, the Phantom 4 Pro V2 is still a fantastic option.

It does cost more, but you will get better low light video recording and photographs because of the larger sensor at 1" inch.