ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
- The new DJI Air 2S (store.dji.com/product/dji-air...) claims to have an 8x zoom, but is it DIGITAL or a SENSOR CROP? In this comprehensive test, we'll find out!
Thanks to our channel sponsor www.SWEDRON.se
FEATURED PRODUCTS:
|-- DJI Air 2S: store.dji.com/product/dji-air...
VIDEO CONTENTS:
00:00 - DJI Air 2S Introduction
00:34 - Digital Zoom vs Sensor Crop Zoom
01:13 - DJI Air 2S Zoom Test
01:51 - DJI Air 2S Photo Zoom
02:33 - 1080p 4x Zoom Medium Range
04:28 - 4K 8x Zoom Long Range Test
06:05 - 4K 4x Zoom Medium Range Test
07:20 - 4K 4x Zoom Short Range Test
08:01 - DJI Air 2S Zoom Conclusion/Summary
---------------------------------------------
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This video is very well made. Simple and to the point. Thank you
What a great video! I have been trying to find zoom functions are on my drone for a while, but was unable to find them easily. I am happy to find a useful Zoom video
Nice looking video with the footage from the DJI Air 2S drone, cool views from above. Keep up the flying, its looking good. Thank you for sharing and have a good day
Great job!
Making the most out of that amazing zoom performance on the Air 2S. I’ll definitely record in the zoom state when I want to or when needed. Thanks for doing the comparison!
My pleasure! Thanks for the comment!
GREAT VIDEO MAN!
THANK YOU
That explains a lot! Well done, thank you!
Sounds crazy but I really didn’t know about this even after owning this drone for a while. So a game changer to watch this thank you!
Ash,
Excellent video showing exactly what I discovered doing similar testing. I’m no photo guru so I’m not familiar with the technical aspects of the difference between in drone zoom and post zoom where it relates to pixels etc. much like you, I look at the final product and determine which is the best method for the current conditions….again great job…: )
Great video. An idea for next time, you could test 5.4K (cropping in post) and 2/4 x Zoom
Thanks for this very instructive video.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the comment!
Great video, again! One thing, you mentioned implementing the zoom for stills but, on the assumption that the stills already use most of the sensor, I don’t follow how that would work 🤷♂️
Great demonstration , impressive! this is perfect to scout for sea trout!
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment!
Picked up an Air 2S a couple of days ago, only been up a couple of times (Bad weather here in Cornwall) but I am totally impressed with it and can't wait to get it in the air and have a proper play. Great video that accurately shows the true quality of this drone :)
I have a girlfriend in Cornwall maybe you could send me some videos or a link please
The Air 2S zoom quality is insane!👏
Pretty damn good isn't it! Thanks for the comment!
Thanks very helpful
Glad it helped
A Useful Explanation , Thank You
You are welcome! Thanks for the comment!
Awesome. Thanks for sharing Ash
Pleasure TJ!
Great comparison. Thank you.
Thanks for watching! Thanks for the comment!
Great video! But digital zoom is not useless for video purpose! It enables to compute a more adequate exposure for your subject when it is in a high contrast scene. Furthermore, the compression is applied AFTER the pixel stretch which leave a better quality at the end. When you zoom in post, you also throw away a lot of bytes...
Thanks bro❤
Great Review Droning on!!!!
Thanks buddy!
Great video
Thanks Bill! Thanks for the comment!
Great info. Am so happy with my air 2s
Glad to hear! Thanks for the comment!
Excellent demonstration 👏
Thanks Mark!
Thanx. Great comparison, great video. One thought: if DJI can use zoom in the 2S, they can certainly offer it for the 2Pro. All that is needed is a software(!!!) upgrade. I really wish they'd eventually offer it, although I really doubt they would.
Hi, did you upload the files anywhere for comparison? That would be a big help. Thanks!
Interesting, great video bud.
Thanks man!
Thank you for the test but I am curious about the compression of the output file from the premiere bcause you compare 2 files, one with the initial footage 4x zoomed by the drone a it is, and the second file filmed in 1x and digital zoomed by premier but this file has been recompressed to another format so the quality may be lost a little does it matter??
thx
Is that only works with smart controller? In my Dji Air 2S it simply doesn’t exist the option of zoom, in any video resolution... there is some setting to activate to use the zoom?
Hello, please tell me what the bitrate is when shooting in slow mo?
Great video. Thumbs up even though my face probably does look better zoomed out😂
Haha thanks buddy!
Great video, great page, lots of good information. One quick question, noticed you were using the smart controller, what was that experience like? Was there any lagging or choppy footage coming to the SC? When you used screen recording was there any laggy or choppy feel to the video? Thanks
Thanks buddy! It's absolutely fine and I'll have a video out about it soon! Watch this space :)
Thank you. Very helpful. How is your Smart controller performing? I hear others have had some lag issues.
Absolutely perfectly, video coming soon!
Great review Ash, it's a great drone. Im not sure if im gonna buy it or wait for the mavic 3. But that could be to expensive for me. Have a wonderful weekend my friend.
There met never be a Mavic 3 :) the age of the big drones may have passed!
Nice video, I think your video is accurate, but the zoom comparison had to be by taking the 5.4k resolution and trying to match the zoom you got on the different zooms. Also you can't get the zoom if you're recording on d-log or hlg... Only on normal colors and 30fps...
Wonderful comparism. We have same drone too and we love it.
Glad that you enjoyed it ❤️❤️
That's a test I really like.
Exactly what you want to see from the Zoom feature on a Camera.
I really would like to see you make the same test with the Mavic 2 Zoom against the Air2S because the M2Z is so different from all other under 2000€ Drones in that regard.
If only I had a M2Z! Thanks for the comment ☺️
Did similar zoom test with mine! I think is really useful if you don't want / can't fly closer. The 5.4k max res allows zoom into the video. Also i hope they will bring zoom option in photos too!
The problem in photos is that they use the full sensor already so they cannot really crop. It'll all be digital zoom for photos, unless they can squeeze a real zoom, like the Mavic 2 zoom, into the 1" sensor.
To obtain the maximum zoom lossless you need to take 5472 (max res horizontal) or 3078 (max res vertical) and divide for the resolution you want to use, for example 5472/1920=2.85 this is the maximum lossless zoom in FHD for 4K 5472/3840=1.425 (that is exactly half of FHD) so if you want lossless 4x zoom for example in FHD you need to shoot in 8K
The reason of better quality in test is the software of the drone and the manage of high quality data vs less quality data in premiere
Exactly. The pixels are the pixels. You can over sample the full width of the sensor as your 4K starting point, but if your zoom factor goes tighter than actual 4K resolution, the pixel information being recorded is being made up. It may look nicer and sharper than doing it in post, but it's still made up. The crop method only works until you use up all the oversampled pixels.
The imAge wasn’t at the same time either though as the dog in the back is missing as well ,the lighting seems brighter on the right too,so maybe that’s what is making it look better ?
Thank You. Since I do a lot of still images, I use the video and zoom all the time, I wish dji would implement the zoom on the camera, that way I would not need to pull out the frames from a video to create a still image. I use an Air 2s and smart controller. It would also be great if they would send an update for the smart controller so it works better with the Air 2s.
It actually works very well with the Smart Cobtroller which I've used ever since launch, just hard reset your SC and away you go! And yes still image zoom would be great!
That is a sweet spot
I bought the 2s for this feature, but it looks like digital zoom to me, and not sensor cropping. What am I doing wrong?
I don't know of many cameras that give you digital zoom with photos as you usually use the full resolution of the sensor and will crop in post, whereas video usually is using some scaling or pixel binning and isn't using the full sensor. Digital or sensor crop just doesn't make sense for photography like it does with video. Great test tho. Definitely informative and helps with some decisions.
Hello. Is the 4x or 8x 1080p zoom post edit recorded originally in 5.4K or even 4K? Or recorded in 1080p 1x?
in conclusion, if you really want zoom, which I do, and currently fly pro 2 exclusively, would this 2s be worth it?
thanks,
What buttons do you use to zoom with ??
Can you do this is dlog? Can u 4 k sensor crop?
Great stuff I know that’s an old video but it’s still a good drown . no remote I’d 😂😊
If you record with the 4x or 8x zoom can you zoom even closer in post?? I’m new to this so maybe it’s obvious.. I also. We’d a better pc for editing.
Interesting test, Ash. I'm having trouble understanding the difference between the two concepts.
If I have a 4k video, and I bring it into my 1080p timeline, I would think that I'm cropping the sensor, but also I think I'm in effect digitally zooming, in post.
How can I better understand this?
Basically Digital Zoom is simply expanding pixels, making them bigger but of course that only works to a point before you lose quality as we've seen in this test. A sensor crop however is taking a specific part of the sensor image being captured, therefore not needing to zoom anything
i wish there was even a tiny 2x zoom lens like nd filter where u can attach it to the drone camera and give you almost like 2x optical zoom !...
My air2s doesnt have the 1x or zoom icon pls help
Thx for a great video! Did you say "here in Sweden"? :)
Yes indeed, I live in Sweden!
Loving that zoom feature.
Brilliant isn't it! Thanks for the comment!
Yes!
Thank you for teaching me everything you presented in this video. I’ve been wondering about that since I got my air 2S
Quite frankly… I had made the choice to buy this chair to Sv, until I watched your review… You’re straightforward no BS review made me purchase
Thanks buddy, appreciate it! Hope that you used our link to buy 😘
@@Droning-ON do you have a link to benefit you, for premier pro? I’m about to purchase for editing? Also I want to purchase nd filters for air 2 s. If you have a link to those I’d buy from your link also 👍🏻👍🏻
Your info and videos are very well done. Seriously .. an asset you the drone community .... thanks
Thank you Ash 😎😎
Pleasure mate!
Can you make a video to fix the errors when replacing the gimbal of the drone mavic air 2 ???
There isn't a fix, yet. Thanks for the comment!
Can you shot in 240 frames on 8x 1080p zoom?
Bad info. its already been established that on the Mavic Zoom the optical then digital zoom is so seamless that it looks amazing. Trying to zoom in post from h264 and h265 files produced crud... so the sensor into digital zoom subsequently into the compressor produced much better results. I would asume this is also the case on Mavic2AirS
I’m sorry but the right hand shot seemed to look better unless it’s flipped in the TH-cam imaging ? Just saying the right was much clearer..
Stunning revelation on the zoom effect of the 2S. This is great news! On another note, how is your Smart Controller performing/not performing on your 2S? Thanks!
Ours is absolutely fine, just perform a hard-reset after each firmware upgrade, job done! Thanks for the comment!
@@Droning-ON Thank you for sharing your experience...I will do just that when I have firmware updates.
Great video, but didn't mention if it was available in D-log or not. And I think the 2x zoom is on sensor and the 4x is digital from the 2x image! That's why it's superior to 4x from the editing software!
Finally,,,someone answers the question about the picture mode zoom... I find it messed up that my MINI 2 has picture mode zoom,,, but the AIR 2-S doesn't,,, thats a 700 dollar difference on the fly more combo's... this isn't cool...
I think there was a bit of a missed opportunity here. Realistically speaking, if I’m thinking about zooming in post I’ll be shooting in 5.4K. So the interesting test would have been 4k with 2/4x zoom in-drone vs the equivalent post-zoom on the 5.4K footage. That could make a big difference as you’re downscaling the 5.4K footage to about 70% to get it into a 4K timeline, so the equivalent if the 4K@2x would be around 5.4K@1.4x, which could swing the balance.
Thanks for the comment, but no not a missed opportunity, the comparison was based on the native zoom capabilities in each resolution, 5.4k doesn't provide zoom natively and therefore not a direct comparison. Plus, it's fair to say that given that 5.4k doesn't provide sensor cropping zoom, and that the FOV is natively smaller in resolutions below 5.4k, that you would be best shooting zoomed via the drone at 4k.
@@Droning-ON the FOV of 4k30 and 5.4k30 is the same, it’s 4k60 that crops in.
Depends on the subject/view I'm shooting, I guess. Either way, Air 2S is topnotch. Enjoying this drone a lot.
Precisely, different use-cases etc. Thanks for the comment!
I reckon that the 4x times zoom (4k) is a 2x digital zoom on the 2x crop sensor zoom.
You might be right, although unlikely seen as the sensor is capable of native 5.4k, therefore providing an 8x sensor crop down to 1080p.
@@Droning-ON I see what you mean and I agree that a 5.4k sensor is capable of an 8x sensor crop to 1080p, My previous comment isn't totally correct but if my calculations are correct a 5.4k sensor isn't capable of 4x sensor crop at 4k but at 2.7k. Either way the drone is incredible and i can't wait to see what the mavic 3 will bring to the table! Keep up the great videos!
Any one here know how to zoom in DLog mode? I can only zoom in normal video mode.
Nice to know. I’ll use drone zoom more often instead of post editing enlargement
Cheers mate!
Do I need to turn something on to be able to zoom? I’m not seeing a 1x above AF on my screen like it was showing on your screen.
Make sure you're in 4k or lower resolution. No zoom in 5.4k.
@@BopjoWebDesign thanks David I figured it out. I have to be in normal mode. I always shoot D-log and the zoom won’t work in D-Log or HLG for some reason.
I never use the zoom feature. There would only be very few instances where it might be required. Better to get close by flying the drone to your subject rather than zooming in. Like filming the ship in this example. Thanks for the video. Interesting.
Thanks for the comment. Well actually you can get amazing creative effects by zooming instead of flying closer, as it totally changes the structure of the shot.
What is the highest resolution of the video of this drone is it 4k
5.4k
Setting Camera Color>Normal H264 or H265, the zoom does work 4X zoom.
Setting Camera Color>D-log or HLG H264 or H265, the zoom no work. Why?
In Normal, 4x zoom only works in 4K at 30fps. No zoom in 4K at 60fps, which requires H.265.
I don’t understand the difference between sensor crop and digital zoom - are they not the same? Couldn’t the difference in quality observed be due to Bit rate, compression and possibly some build in sharpening automatically applied to different zoom levels?
Basically Digital Zoom is simply expanding pixels, making them bigger but of course that only works to a point before you lose quality as we've seen in this test. A sensor crop however is taking a specific part of the sensor image being captured, therefore not needing to zoom anything
Im sorry but I think you’ve got this the wrong way round 🙂. Digital zoom takes a portion of an image and creates extra pixels. Sensor crop is effectively what you are doing by zooming in on an image shot at Full resolution. If you crop in on an area of the sensor that is an 8th of its size, that area will only have an 8th the number of Pixels. It will also only be using an 8th of the available Bit rate. Without digital Interpolation of pixels (which happens in digital zoom), the Image will have worse quality. Your video demonstrates this perfectly though 😜.
Or in other words, your example of digital zoom (on the left), looks better because it’s digital zoom rather than just cropping 🤷🏻♂️.
Nope I don't have this confused or the wrong way around, I've explained this quite clearly. Sensor crop is working with direct pixels at the sensor level, digital zoom is simply enlarging and interpolating existing pixels, therefore losing clarity.
And you're misunderstanding what sensor crop is, it's not enlarging pixels, it's capturing extra detail because the 4K image isn't being consumed by the full image and then zoomed, instead you're natively capturing the zoomed segment and therefore achieving direct pixel capture.
Read this, sensor crop Vs digital zoom is effectively the same as optical Vs digital zoom - www.tomsguide.com/us/optical-vs-digital-zoom,review-4394.html
Well, this drone sure does show that DJI are still on top of their game. I hope they do add the ability to zoom in when taking stills. Otherwise, this drone's potential is just being wasted. Such a shame you don't have a Mavic 2 Zoom to compare this with. Well, I suppose somebody will have a video comparison of that. Thanks for the video man!
Agreed, it's very capable indeed!
LOL!!! just crop if it's photos! same results but with Video... the zoom feature helps... why are people so stupid nowadays is what I want to know?
@@nickchivers1820 Well, my guess is a lot of people getting into camera drones are either not very tech savvy or they don't want the hassle of editing after the fact. Zooming does help, but not everybody wants to use it and there are situations where you'd want the widest view possible.
Now I agree with the boat in 1080 there’s a huge difference
Hello, I am French, I bought an air 2S yesterday. I don't understand how to use the zoom 😭😭😭 Does it have to be in flight to function? Thank you
See the latest video on our sister channel "DroningON LIVE".
@@Droning-ON My English is limited, so I didn't understand much in the video 😂
Thanks for another great video!…”put a thumbs down if your face looks better zoomed out” 😂
Hehe, thanks buddy!
You said there are 2 types of zooms, but don't forget about optical zoom. Maybe less relevant in the world of consumer drones, yet still the main type of zoom. But nevertheless a great test with clear results!
This drone doesn't have an optical zoom, therefore the mention of 'two types' was in the context of the possibilities for this specific sensor. Thanks for the comment, glad that you're enjoying the content!
Hi @DroningON how do you get audio while using the drone in your video or what is recording the audio?
I have a mic recording separately to an audio recorder, I then merge the two in post editing :)
@@Droning-ON so in other words the video and the audio are two separate things that you simply sync at post editing? Is the mic connected to your phone?
@@glenvillecarr3454 correct, I use an audio recorder on my phone and a lapel mic!
Ash... wish you would have done 4K 4x on the boat (ship) with 2x computer to compare against the 1080p 8x. You know it would have had multiples of detail more. Would have blown both 8x renderings out of the water.
I think 8x 1080p is really gimmicky the quality suffered isn’t really worth using that 1 inch sensor that way.
Possibly but it depends on how the sensor crop works, it may not be cropping fully to 1080p.
It would've been great to a 5.4k video magnified by 2.85x (5.4k is 1.425x 3840 which is 2x 1920) compared to 8x 1080p to see if its the same zoom.
But what about 4k 4x zoom downscaled to 1080 vs 1080 4x zoom
I wouldn't expect to see a lot of difference here, however the bitrate allowance may be greater in 4K and therefore the end result might be slightly cleaner when shooting in 4K.
I'm losing my mind, I've gone thru all settings etc and don't have any options to do any zoom - that button doesn't show up on my dji fly app.... What am I doing wrong? 😂
How did you enabled the zoom? I use dji air 2S without smart controller and I couldn’t find this feature anywhere...
See the latest video on our DroningON LIVE TH-cam channel, it'll reveal all!
@@Droning-ON thanks!
@@Droning-ON just saw your video, it was the video mode setting
I would’ve spend so much time until find this out by myself
Thank you very much!
Pleasure!
How do I zoom for still photos? Zoom is only available for me in video mode 🤷🏿♂️??
Please listen to the video, it's all explained there, in the first few minutes :)
@@Droning-ON Sorry about that. Makes absolutely no sense to not be able, especially when you can on the Mini 2
Precisely, agreed!
Wow Ash, I have one problem with your videos and that's when you abuse people of not wanting to like, other than that your videos are flawless.
Dude, calm down, it's humour! And it's not about subscribing, it's about unnecessarily giving a thumbs down. Listen carefully to the end, it's for laughs alone ..
Sorry, my sense of humour works against me.
Could you please do an Air 2S vs Mavic Air 2 speed test?
There are actually 3 types of zoom, optical, digital and sensor cropping.
I use zoom just for scounting what is arround. Its easy thanks to switch back to photo :)
Thanks for the comment, that's true!
Can you shoot in DLog while in zoom ? :)
Yes I believe so. Thanks for the comment!
But no zoom in dlog :(
Anyone knows why I can’t zoom in? In none of the resolutions I can’t find an option to enable or disable zoom option
Are you definitely in video mode? Also check your Settings and video options perhaps zoom isn't available in D-Cinelike or HLG mods?
@@Droning-ON haven’t tried that, about the HLG and Dlog since I almost record on those settings for maximum performance. I’ll try that in a few minutes.
But I’ve heard that the zoom option is only available for smart controller, and you indeed use it. But for me it’s a ridiculous reason since I had no problems with the Air 2 and haven’t found anything about it.
@@Droning-ON i just checked, yes it’s the HLG and Dlog modes. Bummer :( thanks anyway
@@Visethelegend no worries dude, that's frustrating but it's to do with the way that it captures in those modes sadly
It's also not available if shooting in 4K at 60fps. Must shoot in 4K at 30fps. If you shoot in H.265, you can shoot in 4K at 60fps, but won't have any zoom capability. If video is set to H.264, zoom will always be available.
How to enabke zoom?
Switch to lower than 5.4k, ensure that you're not shooting in HLG or D-Cinelike.
Must lower 4K frame rate to 30fps or less! He is using 24fps.
*In the post 4x digital zoom, did you crop it or digitally zoom it to get the 4k zoom?*
No cropping, all footage was unedited and full-frame as shown.
@@Droning-ON I'm talking about the post version. How did you digital zoom it? Did you crop it in to get the 4x zoom?
@@bushgreen260 I magnified it digitally to match the magnification of the native footage, that of course that involves cropping.
@@Droning-ON so why does it look worse than the native zoom when you cropped it? Shouldn't it be the same quality? Because 4x zoom when done on the drone is a crop and when you digitally zoomed in post it was a crop aswell.
You're misunderstanding the difference between a digital zoom and a sensor crop. I can't explain it all here but do a Google and it'll all become clear.
For my purposes, 'snapping' to a closer view is just about useless. "Zoom" to me means zooming in or out in a smooth progression to different sizes.
My face does look better zoomed out but I hit the thumbs up anyway. To bad the zoom doesn't work with photos, but having the sensor crop while filming is better than doing a post crop, especially when tracking. So much harder to track a subject with an edited crop.
That's true Mike, thanks for the comment buddy!
@@Droning-ON for 4k how close can you zoom without quality loss? 2x?
Did you watch this video Jack?
@@Droning-ON yes? Did I miss it?
it’s a great drone! but i’m definitely waiting for the Mavic 3 this year!
You may be waiting a while, there may never be a Mavic 3!
@@Droning-ON i would like the 2S! but i’m still enjoying the Mavic 2 Pro. Great contents by the way!
@@stilmotionpicture thanks dude!
Wish DJI would just fix the focus on the Air 2S!
How to zoom?
Watch the video......
@@Droning-ON my problem is I don't see how to zoom just saw it zoom which button or control to zoom?
Where it says "x1", just press there when in video mode!
@@Droning-ON my does not show it on top of AF like your