Received my AIR last night and did some setup and quick test flight.  Upon messing with the RC setting I've realized that AIR RC button can't be customized to flip the gimbal quickly down/forward (PRO RC have this feature)

This is VERY disappointing.  Before you can quickly flip the camera directly down, take a shot/record, flip it back, then move.  NOW you have to slowly wait for the gimbal to rotate downward to get it into position.

DJI, why did you remove this feature???  Directly overhead shots are so key to aerial photography/cinematography and waiting for gimbal to rotate downward to get the shot you want is consuming precious battery life.

It seems they have eliminated many of the popular features from this drone so as not to cannibalize Mavic Pro/Platinum and future Mavic Pro 2 sales.

Zatx Posted at 2018-2-2 12:09
It seems they have eliminated many of the popular features from this drone so as not to cannibalize Mavic Pro/Platinum and future Mavic Pro 2 sales.

I really doubt this is the reason they removed these features. I don't think anyone will make a buying decision based on small things that saves you 2 seconds.

I haven't really looked at the MA's gimbal but does it moves around quickly to calibrate when you turn ON the quad?

Maybe the airs software is not finished yet? Otherwise it only is to make the higher price of the Pro with it.

If this is true, I too will be severely bummed out. Coming from a Spark, but having the ability to rapidly toggle full fwd & full down is HUGE. Besides the totally legit reasons you list (100% agree), I often depend on it to get a quick look down to make sure I'm over & landing in a suitable location before I start my landing! Since near end of flight every second and % of battery is uber-precious almost by definition, that's all the more reason that being able to _quickly_ toggle views can be a life-saver! If it's no longer there, I seriously hope a future FW update can reinstate the capability.

Curious, I haven't yet received my MA (delivery expected 6 Feb), but in anticipation of my Spark iPad Mini MavMount not working due to the changes in the RC's arms / holder slots (since confirmed by Mavmount, but it'll only take a new baseplate to solve) I got the latest DJI Go 4 app installed on a fresh and clean install iPhone 7 to use for my initial flights. Playing around with it, if I select Mavic Air and enter my device (without being connected to the AC of course) I can go into the remote controller config screen and it appears to let me assign either of the 2 customizeable buttons to a number of functions, camera forward/down being one of them.

So are you saying that with the MA & its RC connected, and the latest DJI Go 4 app running, the RC config screen does not have those options displayed based on your experience with it so far? Are you on iOS or Android?

There are two programmable buttons on the RC. Did you try setting them to do what you want?

MiniPalourde Posted at 2018-2-2 12:22
I don't think anyone will make a buying decision based on small things that saves you 2 seconds.

There are many other features missing other than the one mentioned in this thread. Follow me, Waypoints, Reveal Quickshots, and many others.

I too confirm that its not a toggle feature. It just bring the gimbal back up, looking horizontal. I feel this is an oversight and they will fix it! But please DJI, fix it soon!!!

I agree with what is here.  I received my Mavic Air on Friday.  The programmable buttons can only do "gimble up".  The settings menus are very different from the Spark.  I can understand the being different for the new features but things like looking for the Sensor Menu to calibrate is noticeably different area.

Also, I like putting a limit on the control sticks and there was/is a slider on the RC settings area that let you "dampen" down the max limits on the speed.

I would love to see the kind of "reduce speed" setting they do for the gimble up/down for the turn left/right (yaw) control stick.  That is one movement that could be slowed way down for move videos.

I just am surprised by how different all the settings are.  I must admit I love the simplicity of the Spark.  I love the Mavic Air too but I assumed it would be just as simple.  The sensors are great but taking this thing off near anything makes it look like you cornered a scared cat.  Alarms are going off everywhere and sometimes it seems like it is cornered and looking for an escape.

Overall, a great drone but with lots of new features the Spark did not have... it just feels like a whole new animal.

You should at least be able to set the gimbal to a faster speed. I know I saw a setting for that, but it would sacrifice smooth gimbal movements when you wanted that instead.

I spent part of an evening updating and looking through the features. You can calibrate the crash avoidance sensors using DJI Assistant. When I was trying out the calibration, I noticed that the sensors camera feeds show up in the lower left of the screen as you perform the calibration. Wouldn't it be great if a feed from one of the bottom cameras or one of the rear cameras could be displayed PiP, especially if using the goggles. You'd have a switch to toggle between PiP modes including off and the drone could even turn display a rear camera only when backing up.

I just found the exact same issue I normally fly out to my target in video mode  and then flip the cam down for an overhead pic and some video but also for safety to check for people fore I descend for closer shots,  compared to the Pro it lacks some basics  and the spark which is what I traded up from as a more complete travel drone

Esperamos que a DJI  resolva isso no próximo firmware

Just a heads up the latest .500 firmware update released 30/09/18 still  does not have this feature in it!

MiniPalourde Posted at 2018-2-2 12:22
I really doubt this is the reason they removed these features. I don't think anyone will make a buying decision based on small things that saves you 2 seconds.

I haven't really looked at the MA's gimbal but does it moves around quickly to calibrate when you turn ON the quad?

It is not only a 2 second annoyance.
It is the sum of many basic things the Air can have but DJI chooses not add for marketing purposes so that you buy pricier units from them.
Examples of that are non silent propellers and no Way points.

I can live without the silent props I suspect these might come soon or maybe after market ones to quieten down a bit , but the camera forward/down function in my opinion is just a basic function that should be on all models, yes we can  rotate the cam downward slowly and then use the C1 one button to be programmed to recentre but it just seems to take an age to view downwards  this is not just for the pros, my spark had it and the controller is pretty much the same and the spark was not considered a pro drone! I really do not understand why DJI cant add this in with a quick patch, its not really advertised as a "feature" on any of the other models and anyone  looking to buy  would unlikely to trade up to the next more expensive model for this one feature alone , waypoints and some other features  I do understand being left out as this is a specialist style feature.

If its a pro feature also (so Im told from DJI) then why is this on the Mavic and Spark and Phantom which by all accounts appear in the consumer drones section on their own website!

The gimbal down shortcut missing is VERY annoying