Parrot Anafi is this brand’s first folding drone, and it is said to be a competitor to the Mavic air. This drone comes with many outstanding features, compact and foldable design, long flight time, and highly appreciated camera quality. If you are thinking of investing in this drone, then this is exactly where you need to come. Here, Staaker will show you all details in this Parrot Anafi Drone Review.
Parrot Anafi Drone Review
Specifications
- 1/2.4-inch 21-megapixel sensor
- f2.4 23mm lens (26mm for video)
- ISO 100 to 3200
- 1 to 1/10,000 shutter speed (electronic)
- 4K Cinema (4,096×2,160) at 24fps; 4K UHD (3,840×2,160) at 24/25/30fps; FHD (1,920×1,080) at 24/25/30/48/50/60fps 100Mbps Max bit rate
- Raw (DNG) and P-Log post-production formats
Pros:
- Great video and stills quality
- Easy to set up, simple to fly
- Excellent battery life
Cons:
- No object avoidance
- The app lacks proactive no-fly zone warnings
Design and Features
In terms of size, the Parrot Anafi is somewhere between the DJI Mavic Air (in terms of its dimensions) and the Mavic Pro (in terms of it). The Parrot could have made it smaller by having the front rotor arms fold backward, and the rear arms fold forwards. Instead, the entire thing folds in the opposite direction.
The result is that the Anafi ends up being longer and thinner than it was before. It’s roughly half the size of an Anafi baguette. This is a strange coincidence given its continental origins.
It’s still very easy to store in the bag provided, and it weighs only 320g. However, the Anafi is a bit smaller than the Mavic Air and feels a lot lighter.
The MicroSD card slot is my only concern. This is located underneath the battery and uses one of those thin hinging metal latches that lock it in place. If you forget to close it, it can be easily broken or damaged.
The Anafi drones lack a few features. The remote control and battery can both be charged using a standard USB Type-C charger. However, the Mavic Air batteries use a proprietary connector.
This means that you don’t need to carry the charger everywhere you go. You can top up your batteries using any USB socket or adapter.
The second feature is that the camera and gimbal can be mounted so you can shoot video straight up and forwards. This is a unique feature. Mavic Air can only shoot upwards from an angle of 17 degrees and downwards from 90 degrees.
The Mavic Air’s user-friendliness is also superior. Although I like the DJI Go 4 app, Parrot’s Free Flight App is easier to use, quicker to set up, and has more features than DJI’s. Parrot Anafi is an easier drone to use for beginners, and its lighter weight makes it much more comfortable to fly.
However, there are some areas where Anafi is behind the Mavic. Although it is comfortable and well-made, the Remote Controller is heavier and bulkier than the Mavic Airs.
The Anafi does not have any object avoidance cameras. This is the second major flaw. There is no safety net if you make a mistake when flying by the Anafi. This drone will crash and then burn.
In contrast, the Mavic Air has twin sensors at the front and back of the drone that helps it map its surroundings. This helps prevent the drone from flying into trees, shrubs, buildings, or other obstructions.
The automated camera shots are especially helpful in avoiding obstacles. Without it, I would be anxious about letting the drone do its thing.
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Camera
If you manage to avoid disaster, however, you will return from your flights with high-quality footage as well as photos. This is where the Anafi wins, at least on paper.
The 4K resolution, frame rate, bit rate, and bit rate can all be achieved by the Mavic Air. This allows you to shoot 24fps in cinema-style, on top of the 25fps or 30fps modes that the Mavic Air can handle.
The Air cannot capture HDR video. It can also snap 21-megapixel photos. Whereas the DJI can only shoot 12 megapixels, it can.
The Anafi has more features than the Mavic Air. Digital lossless video zoom at 1.4x at 4K and 2.8x 1080p are extremely useful features that the Anafi can’t duplicate.
The drones are comparable in quality. Although HDR mode on the Anafi is its most intriguing feature, it doesn’t perform particularly well.
The camera can pick up a rich color palette when it turns on, but the footage, in my opinion, looks too saturated. Also, there is a lot of noise in some parts of the image.
The footage will look stunning if HDR is disabled. It is crisp and clear and can handle bright sunlight, twilight, and sunsets. The Anafi’s footage is slightly better than the Mavic Air’s, but there aren’t many differences.
The Anafi’s mechanical stability is limited to pitch and yaw. However, this does not affect flight stability. The only way to pan the Anafi is digital. The footage was smooth and steady, even in moderate wind and the Anafi moving around in the Air to try and stay still,
There are many camera modes available. Pro mode allows you to manually adjust shutter speed, ISO, and white balance for stills and videos.
The drone can track your position as it flies around or the position of an element in your scene. There are also many interesting automated camera shots.
SmartDronies’ tools also include a dolly zoom option. This allows the Anafi to fly backward and away while zooming in or towards you, creating a change of perspective.
The subject is the same size. This effect was created by Irmin Roberts, a cinematographer in Hitchcock’s movie Vertigo. It’s great fun to play with.
Unfortunately, the tracking option (where the drone follows you around) is available as an in-app purchase and costs additional cash to unlock. This is disappointing considering the standard features of the competition.
Performance of Flight
The Sky Controller 3 makes flying the Anafi easy, especially if it’s your first drone flight. There are also a variety of tutorials available to help you get started before you take off.
There are four modes available: Sport, Cinematic, Cinematic, and Racing. Each mode offers a different performance depending upon the subject.
You can restrict the drone’s speed and range. An Anafi can be controlled at a distance and height limit to prevent it from flying too far, even with an errant control.
You can limit the speed at which the camera can move forwards and backward when filming. This allows you to capture smoother footage without needing to control the sticks as well.
The large Return To Home button at the center of the Controller gives you more confidence. However, flying can be a bit stressful if there is no obstacle to avoid. The Settings menu allows you to adjust the drone’s altitude during RTH, but you must do this before activation.
Mavic Air’s front and rear cameras detect obstacles, making it safer to fly.
The Wi-Fi video stream was broken at 100ft (30m), but the Sky Controller 3 fixed the problem. The video stream is also high quality with a lot of detail. This translates into great performance when you use the optional FPV headset.
Smartphone-powered FPV headsets have a customized UI that displays important information (telemetry and GPS) and a minimalist UI for those who want to fly.
A button will allow you to access the Settings menu from your headset. You can also toggle pass-through video mode with your smartphone’s camera. An AR overlay highlights the drone and helps you to get your bearings.
It is certainly more immersive than other methods of capturing your footage, especially when you are in bright outdoor areas where it can be difficult to see smartphones.
Although it doesn’t provide instantaneous video playback with a delay of approximately 300ms, it provides full-quality video playback. This is a significant improvement over other video streaming services that sacrifice detail for faster response times.
Sport and Racing modes are primarily for having fun. It is not as fast as the Mavic Air, nor as easy to stop, but it does have some speed.
Arcade mode provides a similar experience to first-person shooters. The left stick controls the angle of your camera and the right the direction of the drone.
This mode is great for those who are as skilled at playing games as we are and allows you to do more complex maneuvers (and it’s a lot of fun).
The Parrot Anafi 4K HDR camera drone was remarkably stable even in strong winds at 50m. It didn’t drift. However, the Anafi was not as stable as we would have liked when flying low in tight spaces.
The camera and ultrasonic sensor are located underneath. However, there is very little ground clearance, so grass may interfere with the fan at the bottom, preventing take-off.
Parrot has solved this problem by adding a hand launch mode to the drone. This allows you to launch it from your hand after the rotors spin for a few seconds. Although it can be daunting to throw a PS629 piece of kit into the Air, the Anafi manages to stabilize itself.
The Parrot should add warnings about no-fly zones to its app. Currently, Parrot recommends using a third-party app to determine if you are allowed to fly in your current location.
Video Quality
A good camera is the main attraction of any drone designed for aerial photography. The Anafi comes with a good camera.
The 21Mp sensor provides excellent detail and a 4K video. This is nothing new. However, the fact that it can shoot HDR video is not supported by Mavic Air, nor any other product at this price.
Parrot wants to emphasize that the drone can be pointed both up and down, which allows you to capture perspectives that aren’t possible with any other consumer drone.
It’s not easy to find these perspectives, but it is a useful feature. It is an important feature that can make your footage look different than the top-down shots we are used to seeing from drones.
The 4K video is comparable to the Mavic Air. It is crisp, clear, and stable. You can only go 30fps with this mode. However, you can reduce that to 25fps or 24fps.
You can drop to 1080p to increase the frame rate to 60fps to get some slow-motion action. However, that’s only half the 120fps Mavic Air can handle.
HDR is a welcomed feature. It noticeably improves dynamic range, especially when you want to include ground and sky in your shot.
The Anafi also features fully stabilized footage and a dynamic horizontal mode that tracks the drone’s movement. This is similar to what a bird would see as it flies through different environments.
The drone should give you a unique view of fast-moving subjects such as off-road mountain bikers. However, we are not able to test it in London.
Although Anafi’s footage seemed a bit overcooked at launch, Parrot has rectified this and now captures natural tones by default. However, if you prefer that look, you can turn up the saturation in Parrot’s Settings menu.
The main problem with the video is its noise in bright sunlight. However, this is unlikely to be seen by most viewers even on large TVs.
The high-resolution sensor allows you to losslessly zoom up on to 1.4x at 4K resolution and up to 2.5x at 1080p. There’s also an option in the app that lets you choose to limit lossless zoom or allow you to continue with digital zoom. However, zooming digitally can reduce quality.
You have two options: JPEG (RAW) or DNG (RAW). The 21Mp photos look great. You can also save the native photo with barrel distortion, small earth feeling, or the corrected, cropped one. This is likely what you want, where straight lines should be.
Parrot ANAFI Drone Price
The Parrot Anafi was launched July 1st for $699/PS649. It sent a message out to DJI drone owners that we will match or surpass the specifications you are used to for a lower price.
Anafi’s nearest foldable competitor, Mavic Air, sells for $799 / PS769 / AU$1,299.
You get the drone, Skycontroller 3RC, one Skycontroller 4 RC, a Skycontroller 3M RC, one Skycontroller 4 RC battery, a Skycontroller 3RC carrying case, one microSD card (16GB) and microSD adapter, eight spare propellers, a USB to USB-C charging cable and a mounting tool.
Parrot also offers spare batteries for as low as $99/PS89 per piece and eight additional backup propellers for $20/PS18 per box. We believe that both are necessary, and Parrot does not offer a discounted bundle with additional accessories.
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Other Features
This drone integrates seamlessly with iOS and Android devices. Parrot FreeFlight 6 is a very user-friendly app that is well-designed. Although it does not allow for as many camera and flight tweaks as the DJI Go 4 App, it is perfectly usable for beginners.
Although the HD image quality streaming from drones to phones is excellent, we experienced some visual glitches and a very poor lag.
It feels heavier than the drone it controls and is constructed like a brick house. It is too heavy to carry around in a pocket, and the buttons are very sparse. It has the usual take-off and returns home buttons.
There are also two index fingers buttons at the rear. One for taking pictures and the other to reset the gimbal. The rocker arms allow for zoom and tilt. The phone cradle can hold any iPhone Plus.
Given that everyone has a power bank, it’s a huge plus to be able to charge your drone using USB-C. The charging times are too long, and it is a major problem in this case. It takes 105 minutes to charge a powered USB device.
But if you plug it into a wall socket adaptor, the charging time will increase to more than three hours. If you use a computer port, it will take even longer.
The battery can be switched on and off very easily with a simple tap. The battery can provide up to 25 minutes of flying time, five more than the Mavic Air.
Conclusion
The Parrot Anafi drone camera is quieter than many others on the market. It also flies longer, is lighter, and is easier to charge. The 4K video quality is slightly better, and the camera can also take higher resolution photos. We hope our review can help you learn more about this drone. And don’t forget to see our new Parrot Anafi vs Mavic Air 2 compare to be coming soon.
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