Welcome DJI Spark Pilot!
Jump in and join our free Spark community today!
Sign up

Moving down from a Mavic Pro

Thanks for sharing your findings.

So the MA and M2 seem to be a bit more elaborate in the sense that for 3x3 panos they can deal with 45 degrees below the horizon tilts while the MP can only handle straight down angles. I'll try that the next time I fly it. You have to wonder what the limitation is as the gimbal is much more capable than the Sparks. I do notice that when it jumps to the next shot it needs some "settling", i.e. it overshoots a bit then comes back. The Spark doesn't do that. Maybe that's got something to do with it if the MA and M2 don't "overshoot".

Ah and it takes 34 shots for the Spheres.
 
Thanks for sharing your findings.

So the MA and M2 seem to be a bit more elaborate in the sense that for 3x3 panos they can deal with 45 degrees below the horizon tilts while the MP can only handle straight down angles. I'll try that the next time I fly it. You have to wonder what the limitation is as the gimbal is much more capable than the Sparks. I do notice that when it jumps to the next shot it needs some "settling", i.e. it overshoots a bit then comes back. The Spark doesn't do that. Maybe that's got something to do with it if the MA and M2 don't "overshoot".

Ah and it takes 34 shots for the Spheres.
MP has very different gimbal than MA and MP2. It may be more fragile with its construction but very progressive in its own way. Personally I haven't seen any other drone (maybe except Inspire and other pro-grade drones) to be able to turn the gimbal 90° from horizontal to vertical alignment for taking portrait shots. The biggest downside (and the main reason why I didn't keep the Pro when I had it) is the spontaneous horizon tilt during sideways movement or yawing. I just couldn't stand it or get used to it since it ruined me every single shot I took.
 
Thanks for bringing up that "horizon tilt" problem as I also have it in my videos and that I was just about to look up. I take it they were able to fix that in the MA and M2 ?
 
Thanks for bringing up that "horizon tilt" problem as I also have it in my videos and that I was just about to look up. I take it they were able to fix that in the MA and M2 ?
I don't know about M2 but with Air there's no such issue (maybe a little in very heavy winds where the tilt range of gimbal isn't enough to cope with aircraft movement). But in comparison with M1 the Air and M2 has more sturdy gimbal assembly (on M1P I was always in worry of breaking it apart).
 
Yes I've seen that with the Spark too where heavy winds "tilt" the horizon a bit, but on the MP Alpine I had it's very much like in the video with a "ship at sea" feeling. Once you've noticed it, it's really hard to live with it !
I think that like the Spark, the Air does not have roll stabilization in Sports mode, but then it probably flies a lot faster than the Spark in P Mode !
 
Yes I've seen that with the Spark too where heavy winds "tilt" the horizon a bit, but on the MP Alpine I had it's very much like in the video with a "ship at sea" feeling. Once you've noticed it, it's really hard to live with it !
I think that like the Spark, the Air does not have roll stabilization in Sports mode, but then it probably flies a lot faster than the Spark in P Mode !
Exactly. I do side movement and yaw shots pretty frequently and this horizon tilt would ruin pretty much all of my shots. It made me sad since I really really liked everything else about the Pro but I couldn't get used to this issue as everybody told me. If I put it this way, it's like buying an expensive car which pulls to the right pretty bad, nobody knows how to fix it and everybody tells that I should live with it and hold the steering wheel a little bit to the left. So I didn't and swapped the car for newer one. It can't go so far and for so long time but suits my needs :)

Same like Spark, Air has very limited roll axis compared to Mavic pro. It can be very agile in sport mode. Didn't really use it much yet but as far as I've been testing, it can reach advertised speeds (68-69 kph) pretty easily.
 
And what's the top speed in P-Mode with the Air (to keep roll stabilization) ? The problem with the Spark is that it's really sluggish in P-Mode, like 20kph with sensors disabled so you really have to fly in Sports mode to cover any kind of distance.

EDIT - ok so the specs say 28.8 kph in P-Mode, not sure whether it's with the sensors on/off though.
 
Last edited:
And what's the top speed in P-Mode with the Air (to keep roll stabilization) ? The problem with the Spark is that it's really sluggish in P-Mode, like 20kph with sensors disabled so you really have to fly in Sports mode to cover any kind of distance.

EDIT - ok so the specs say 28.8 kph in P-Mode, not sure whether it's with the sensors on/off though.
Like you say - with Air it's around 30kph in P-mode with sensors on or off according to my flight records. Switching sensors off doesn't make any speed difference like it does on Spark so if I don't plan flying through some tight gap it's definitely no problem leaving them on all the time.
 
Thanks, that's interesting. I'm not sure now but I think that like the Spark the MP is also faster with the sensors off.
 
I believe it depends on limitations of sensors. Maybe MA has new version of obstacle avoidance capable of working in higher speed and reacting in shorter time (up to 8m/s effective detecting speed according to DJI specs).
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
14,593
Messages
118,799
Members
17,988
Latest member
KguaooNex