How good is the Autel EVO 2 drone really?
Finally, the drone market seems to be coming back to life again!
For a long time, filmmakers and photographers both were waiting to see big news. It almost seemed like the iPhone-effect was rubbing off on the drone industry (saying that one powerful company holds the monopole, which also means that the innovations turn out smaller and smaller).
Market leader DJI seems to be putting their focus on small and transportable drones these days, not always to the pleasure of ambitious and professional filmmakers and photographers.
GoPros drone business got crushed and they left this aspiring but challenging market quickly.
And Yuneec seems to have gotten lost in a galaxy far, far away. They are quiet and not too ambitious these days.
Autel, an emerging company from China, takes on the battle and shakes the market awake again with its announcement of the first consumer drone with an inbuilt 8K camera.
But how good is the drone really?
And can it keep up to the promises its manufacturer made?
We put together the three main advantages and disadvantages of the Autel Evo 2 for you.
We are happy to announce that we got an early unit of the Autel Evo 2 drone for some intensive testing.
That is why our information doesn't come by hearsay but from our own experience.
Do you want to know more about the Autel Evo 2 Drone? Don't forget to watch our in-depth review:
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Advantage 1 | 8K Videos
Of course, the Evo 2's main advantage is it's up to 8K camera. Not to forget about being able to record 4K at up to 60fps.
Which such a high resolution, the drone lets the competition look almost a bit elderly.
Sure, many people ask, why 8K should interest them at all.
"What do you want me to do with 8K? I just recently bought a 4K TV."
Spoiler: this discussion already showed up when Full HD and later 4K were introduced to the mass market.
But: the main reason to nowadays pick an 8K camera is to shoot futureproof material. We don't own a single 8K screen either.
Also, the 8K material is of great help when working on standard Full HD or 4K projects, as you can seamlessly and without a great loss of quality zoom ("crop") into the footage, creating something like a digital zoom.
Which such a high resolution, the drone lets the competition look almost elderly.
8K in early 2020 is more about expanding one's creative possibilities, then being watched straight out of the camera.
And at some point, 8K is going to be the new standard, it's just a question of time. And those that invest early will have up-to-date, crisp and clean looking footage even then.
But how did the camera actually do during the test phase?
Firstly, nothing worked whatsoever. As we say in German: Tote Hose (literally "dead trousers").
We fly all the way to Iceland, fight with blizzards, unbelievable winds, hail storms and ice - and then, in one of the few calm moments the camera gives up and creates footage that looks like it was recorded with an unsharpness-filter.
The recordings were unusable - until Autel, after a few days, sent in a brand-new firmware, that then changed the game.
The 8K recordings the camera recorded then were crisp and clean and super sharp - there is a noticeable loss of quality in the corners, but the footage still looks way sharper than standard 4K, for example (even on screens that cannot display 8K, that's the funny sidenote).
Yes, the optics aren't ideal, a slight distortion is visible, but the 8K results still look very sharp due to the high resolution!
The Autel Evo 2 drone still is at an early stage - there will for sure be other firmware updates to even eliminate more of the current flaws.
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