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EXCLUSIVE: DJI Air 2S vs Air 2 side-by-side comparison for 360 photos

DJI Air 2S vs Air 2 comparison for 360 photos
DJI Air 2S vs Air 2 comparison for 360 photos

Which is better for aerial 360 photos: the Mavic Air 2 or the new Air 2S?  Here is the first side by side comparison of aerial 360 photos each drone, shot by Jeff Aasdrone.

One of the best ways to use a drone is to capture an aerial 360 photo, which can be shot automatically by some drones including the Mavic Air 2 and the new Air 2S.   But which is better?  The Air 2 can take 48 megapixel photos but its native resolution is 12 megapixels.  Meanwhile, the Air 2S has a larger 1-inch sensor with a native resolution of 20 megapixels.

Jeff used each drone to shoot 360 photos of the same location, which we can compare side by side with Teliportme.

First, here are side by side 360 photos shot with the Air 2 on the left and the Air 2S on the right.  Both were shot using the automatic 360 photo capture modes of each drone.

Here is a second set of 360 photos

Here are 200% cropped photos from each drone.  The shots on the left are from the Mavic Air 2, while those on the right are from the Air 2S.

Left: Mavic Air 2. Right: Air 2S
Left: Mavic Air 2. Right: Air 2S.  Copyright: Jeff Aasdrone.  Used with permission.
Left: Mavic Air 2. Right: Air 2S.  Copyright: Jeff Aasdrone.  Used with permission.
Left: Mavic Air 2. Right: Air 2S.  Copyright: Jeff Aasdrone.  Used with permission.

Based on this comparison, the answer is pretty clear.  Even though the Mavic Air 2 takes non-360 photos with a higher nominal resolution of 48mp, the Air 2S 360 photos are much more detailed.

Mavic Air 2 Fly More Combo is currently $988.
The Air 2S Fly More Combo is $1299.

About the author

Mic Ty

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  • My favourite feature of the Air 2 being a 360 photographer is the 360 panorama mode. It’s good to see the Air 2S has improved this feature and I’ll probably end up purchasing the Air 2S for this reason along with the 10 bit color and Occusync 3.0.

  • Hi Mic,

    What is the megapixel count of a stitched photo from Air 2S? I’m going to buy one at some point but I’m trying to figure out if I should use the Air 2S’ camera to create aerial 360’s or if I should attach an Xphase X2 to it.

    Thanks for any insight you have and thank you for being one of the biggest sources of information on everything 360 related. You and Hugh are incredible.

    Thanks,
    Ethan

  • I really wanted a Air 2S. I had an Air 2 then sold it a while back. Then Black Friday deals got me…. Air 2 fly more combo £649, Air 2S fly more combo £1060. The Air 2S is good but the camera isn’t £400 better in my view. Maybe next year there will be a deal on the 2S and I can make a swap.

  • Just a small tweak to your article. The first pair of photos shows the 2s on the left and the s on the right, and the rest of the photo pairs show the s on the left and the 2s on the right.

    In regards to quality, at full crop the photos are pretty much the same. Yes, at 200% there is a difference. It reminds me of the difference between full frame and crop sensors. It is there, but unless you work for a museum, it doesn’t really matter. If you want better photos, spend $2000 on your camera drone. Thank you for the article.