DJI occupies nearly 85% of the global consumer drone market share, and has almost become synonymous with drones. Before DJI, drones were only used in professional or military fields, with complex operations and a price of tens of thousands of yuan, which was difficult for ordinary consumers to reach. Starting with an autonomous flight control system, DJI has lowered the price of professional drones to a price similar to that of mobile phones. Later, it successively launched flight control systems, gimbal systems, multi-rotor aircraft, small multi-rotor all-in-one aircraft and other product series, creating a number of new markets. DJI is also a leading manufacturer of small cameras, and has invested in Hasselblad as its largest shareholder, making a significant contribution to the field of video shooting.
In January 2013, DJI released the Phantom1, the industry's first ready-to-fly compact quadcopter with a built-in GPS module, named "Genie". Quadcopter drones eliminate fixed wings and moving parts, making them more portable and more reliable. Subsequently, DJI successively launched the "Xiao", "Yu", "Wu", and "Tello" series of aircraft.
Spark and Mavic Mini
The "Akatsuki" Spark is lightweight, easy to use and easy to carry, and folds down to the size of a palm, which used to be one of DJI's first choices. At the end of October 2019, DJI launched the "Mavic Mini", which inherited the one-click short film function of the "Xiao" signboard, and the battery life and image quality have been significantly improved, while the weight and volume have decreased, and the price of a single machine has also dropped to 2699 yuan, quickly replacing "Xiao" to become DJI's new sales champion.
The previous "Mavic" series came standard with 4K image quality, while the Mavic Mini only reached 2.7K, and all functional indicators are aimed at novice users, which is closer to the "Xiao" Spark in concept, which is worth commenting on separately. 250g is the dividing line for whether drones need real-name registration in China, the United States, Canada and other countries, and the weight of 249g means that the Mavic Mini is DJI's first drone that does not require registration, and the threshold for use is lower. In order to reduce weight and control the price, the Mavic Mini only retains the downward obstacle awareness function, and adds a set of omnidirectional propeller protection covers, which can also ensure the safety of novice flights.
The Mavic Mini is positioned for entertainment selfies just like the "Akatsuki", with a "one-click movie" function for the circle of friends, built-in one-click shooting effects for fading, surrounding, spiraling, and skyrocketing, which can generate 10-second small videos, and a three-axis mechanical gimbal that can cancel out most of the shaking, which is enough for daily use. DJI has also redesigned the DJI Fly app specifically for the Mavic Mini, which can be used with a remote controller for flight guidance and a variety of templates for editing. By controlling the maximum rotational angular velocity, the Mavic Mini's endurance and hovering accuracy have reached the average line of the "Mavic" series, which can be called the king within 3,000 yuan.
Mavic series
The Mavic series is DJI's first drone series with a folding arm design, which was born to replace the "Genie" series, which is not inferior to the "Genie" in all performance, but only half the size. Equipped with a 4K high-performance aerial camera and a three-axis integrated mechanical gimbal, the body is both portable and professional, reflecting DJI's extremely high design level, and is currently DJI's main model.
After some streamlining, there are now only two production lines of the Mavic 2 and Mavic Air for 4K drones in the Mavic series. The Mavic 2 is the most powerful drone in terms of image performance, positioned as the "flagship of portable aerial photography", with 2x optical zoom in the zoom version, and a one-inch Hasselblad camera in the Pro version, which can record up to 4K 10-bit HDR video, and the image quality and post-production space are the best among the consumer drones on the market. In addition, the Mavic 2 is equipped with front, rear, left, right, and up and down omnidirectional obstacle avoidance perception, which can shoot and generate mobile time-lapse videos with one click, which is safe and worry-free to operate, and is priced between 7,800 yuan and 10,000 yuan.
The obstacle avoidance performance of the Mavic Air 2 is not as good as that of the Mavic 2, but as a new generation of drones, many parameters are more eye-catching than the Mavic 2, and the price is 4999 yuan, which is more cost-effective. Equipped with a 1/2-inch sensor, the Mavic Air 2 is the first drone in the Mavic Air 2 series to be capable of shooting in 4K60p, and its battery life has been extended to 34 minutes. Recognition tracking performance has been upgraded to shoot around a moving subject, while the Mavic 2 can only shoot around at a fixed point. The Mavic Air 2 is a significant upgrade over the first generation, but the price remains the same, making it another popular model after the Mavic mini."Enlightenment" Inspire series
In 2014, DJI released the world's first professional-grade drone, the Inspire1, which combines a 360-degree unobstructed 4K camera, a visual positioning system, and high-definition image transmission, which can be called an epoch-making flagship product. "Inspire" was created for "professional aerial photography masters". As a productivity tool, "Wu" is not only outstanding in functionality, but also its core advantage is extremely reliable, and most of the important modules on the fuselage body adopt a dual-redundant design, which will be switched immediately in case of failure.
The only Inspire2 is available for sale, and the Inspire2 itself does not come with a camera, so you need to purchase a Zenmuse series gimbal camera separately. Inspire2 is equipped with a six-way stereo vision sensor, which can sense obstacles up to 30 meters away, and the ultrasonic perception system supports accurate hovering without GPS, which can reduce collision accidents caused by operation errors.
After the Inspire 2 lifts off, the rotor mount automatically rises in a sci-fi feel, which is to allow the camera to be unobstructed in a 360-degree direction. Its flight performance is also top-notch, with a 0-80 km/h acceleration time of 5 seconds and a maximum flight speed of 94 km/h, which is enough to cope with car chases in film and television aerial photography. Inspire 2 is a magnesium alloy body, carbon fiber skeleton, strong and lightweight, with a battery life of up to 27 minutes, and the price of a single machine is about 20,000 yuan. The performance of "Wu" greatly exceeds the needs of ordinary players, and is suitable for professional purposes such as film and television production and commercial shooting.
"Troll" Tello series
Tello is a fun drone that is more of a toy than a professional one, developed by DJI's Raybla Technologies. Tello is somewhat similar to "Xiao" in appearance, small in size, hovering accuracy and safety indoors, but the outdoor image transmission is not stable enough, it is best to ensure that the drone is within the field of vision.
The Tello drone is aimed at the children's market, and the biggest feature is to perform stunts, such as 3 special skills such as throwing, eight-way flipping, and bouncing. In addition to stunts, supportScratchVisual programming is another highlight of Tello, which allows children to set their own take-off method, trajectory or landing location without the need for programming knowledge. The Troo can shoot simple videos and photos that can't be compared to professional drones in terms of shooting performance. The price of the Tello drone is 699 yuan, which is a good model aircraft enlightenment product.
Buyer's Guide
DJI's drone products cover the needs of almost all types of pilots, and beginners can use the Mavic Mini and Tello series as a starting point for beginners. The Mavic Mini is more suitable for adults, and although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs. "Troll" is designed to learn and educate, suitable for children's entertainment. After mastering the basic skills of the drone, it is recommended to upgrade to the "Mavic" series with 4K image quality, and among the three products, the Mavic Pro has the most cost-effective performance, the Mavic Air is the most compact and portable, and the Mavic 2 has more professional functions. As for the higher-end film and television aerial photography needs, the "Enlightenment" series can be called the most professional model.
*How do I purchase the two models of the Mavic 2 series?
The Mavic 2 is available in Pro and Zoom versions, with the only difference between the two versions being the camera. The Mavic 2 Zoom uses a 1/2.3-inch CMOS with a 2x optical zoom lens and autofocus, but autofocus is sometimes unreliable. Compared with a single wide-angle focal length, the mid-focal length compresses the front and rear depth of field, which can highlight the subject and present a sense of speed when chasing cars. The zoom version's unique one-button slide zoom shooting is somewhat difficult to control compared to ordinary models that do not require focus.
The new 1-inch 20-million-pixel CMOS sensor has an effective photosensitive area of about four times that of the Mavic Pro, with better low-light performance, dynamic range and color reproduction, higher camera resolution, and 30 frames per second 4K HD video recording, which means better image quality.
※What are DJI's value-added services?
The probability of drones blowing up is very high, and DJI has launched corresponding insurance services to minimize accidental losses. There are two types of insurance services: DJI Care Refresh and DJI Care Renewable.
DJI Care Refresh provides a twice-a-year replacement service, where you can pay a replacement fee to get a new or equivalent product that meets the factory standards. DJI Care Refresh not only protects the safety of DJI aircraft itself, but also provides additional third-party liability insurance, as well as the personal and property safety of third parties, with an insurance amount of up to 400,000 RMB. DJI Care can be renewed for 1 more replacement and at least 12 months of official warranty.
These two services are calculated by time, not by the number of damages, so it is more suitable for high-frequency use of pilots, if you can't fly a few times a year, then there is little point in buying the service, and careful inspection is the greatest guarantee of safety.
