the DJI Spark is small and light enough that taking it on a cycling trip on
Prince Edward Island or hike out onto the craggy cliffs of Newfoundland isn't
an issue. That makes this a flexible and useful airborne camera for just about
everything. Combine the fun of flying with its ability to take photos and
video. This gets shots that surprise and amaze. My review unit came with
propeller guards, the remote controller, an extra battery and battery charging
station as well as a carry bag. That's the FlyMore kit which I would highly
recommend. The aircraft and controller come already paired. The controller's
arms extend to hold the cell phone, all I had to do was connect the phone to the
controller's ad-hoc Wi-Fi to get up and flying. Then launch the DJI app and
tap on Start flight. Although it works fine without it, there are a number of
calibrations that can be performed to align the compass and other components,
Wait for GPS confirmation and the announcement that the home point has
been recorded. Even if you've not flown a drone before it's
easy to get started. DJI has a helpful set of video tutorials.
The Spark hovers in place when you release the
controls. A few months ago Lightake sent me a drone landing pad which proved
to be very useful as the Spark has very little underside clearance. We didn't fly
without it and I also think it helps the visual coordination system. The app
screen includes the camera view, heads-up display with height distance and speed
across the bottom and distance warnings.
Compass direction circle bottom left across the top the remaining flight time
Camera settings are an optional display
top right and there are multiple touch controls to access features and adjust
settings. There buttons to take off and land in the top left. Confirm and the
Spark takes off and hovers about a meter off the ground. There's a similar
confirmation when landing. Press the red button to start recording. Length of the
recording displays below the record button. There's a camera flip toggle
between video and stills mode. The shutter button is white. The Spark stays
pretty level in flight and the dual axis gimbal keeps the shot smooth and steady.
there are two gimbal modes level and first-person in first-person view the
camera banks left and right as the aircraft turns once up in the air the
images from the 12 megapixel camera and the 1080 HD video will delight you with
new views of familiar scenes and locations the remote control makes
slight operations easy to master forwards backwards left and right on the
right stick up down and around on the left and the spark moves smoothly in
response to most of these commands spinning the spark around isn't as
smooth as the others and the tilt feature accessed using a dial on the
back of the controller is also less smooth press the screen until a blue
circle appears this can be used to turn and tilt it moves fairly slowly about 10
km/h particularly forwards and backwards maximum vertical speed is 3 meters per
second according to the manual that's also about 10 km/h there's a switch on
the controller to activate the speedier sport mode up to 50 kilometers in
addition to faster speed the joysticks rack more quickly and flight is slightly
less smooth the gimbal can't maintain a level orientation the rotors may appear
in the shot faster speed also requires a longer braking distance maximum
transmission distance between the controller and the aircraft is two
kilometers but that's considerably more than transport Canada's height and
distance limits I set the height limit at 90
meters as required and as the spark is small it disappears from view quickly
the limits require me to be able to see the unit so I set the distance at 500
meters and it is a fair-weather device in Newfoundland there were days where
either wind or precipitation kept the spark on the ground it just didn't seem
smart to fly if the winds were higher than its rated maximum speed and
although it does occasionally warn of high winds it didn't seem to have
trouble when it did it's rated for 0 to 40 degrees Celsius Transport Canada
limits non-commercial craft to daylight operation but that did not prevent me
from using the spark for the things it does best
a drone group selfie and a large overhead vista did I mention the
recordings are silent it makes sense after all you'd record is propeller
noise but it is a limitation to consider tripod mode is the opposite of sport if
limit speed for a very smooth pan or tracking shot and the controls are less
responsive I tried it indoors but it's going to take some practice to master
smooth shots while avoiding walls I found the Android app flaky on one
phone it wouldn't go past the connection screen on the other it frequently quit
to the home screen and had to be restarted it also frequently lost
connection usually only for a short period these screen recordings are from
an iPad which seems considerably more reliable the cameras field of view is
similar to a 25 millimeter lens on a 35-millimeter camera and the lens opens
to F 2.6 the sensor is similar to those found in inexpensive point shoots camera
controls are limited switch out of auto mode to set ISO and shutter speed and in
the absence of an ND filter the shutter speed is fairly high in sunny weather
most of these shots were taken in auto mode but I did use evey adjustments as
required video is recorded at 30 frames in mp4
files with h.264 compression data rate about 25 megabits per second
there are several still modes single multiple which takes a three image burst
exposure bracket a timer panorama with three settings and shallow focus
panorama has three versions horizontal vertical and 180 in 180 the spark takes
21 images watch the progress under the shutter button when it's done and to
review mode to let the app stitch the images together for a higher res version
you can create the composit yourself from the individual images saved on the
microSD card for shallow focus images enter review mode tap to select the
subject and use the slider to select the amount of background defocus there are a
variety of auto pilot modes and I suggest you get familiar and comfortable
with manual flight before you use the auto pilot and practice switching back
to manual control from the auto mode you may spot obstacles or problems in time
to prevent an auto pilot accident the most powerful and useful auto flight is
return to home and it can be invoked using a key on the remote or a button on
the app the spark returns an altitude set in the app and then slowly descends
the camera returns to level and the orientation reverts to its takeoff
position in return to home the camera tilt can't be adjusted so footage is
rarely usable return-to-home is also automatically activated when the battery
reaches a predetermined level or when the signal from the remote control is
lost pressing the key on the remote will cancel return to home if you see
obstacles or the unit appears to be disoriented always best to start a
flight where the sky above and around is clear for that return to home mode
return to home mode works but accuracy is less than I expected
Kim was frequently moving the pad to catch the spark
although it lands within a few meters that could be disastrous near water
other auto modes fall into several groups of automated behaviors DJI calls
them intelligent flight modes the spark can be set to follow set it at eye
height select trace for front and back profile for side it can follow from
behind which works well but your subject can't be too small or too close and the
camera can't be too low profile mode follows from the side when backward
flying is enabled the spark can also follow from the front
backing up but in every attempt after a few seconds it swivels around to follow
from behind instead if you see trouble the flight pause button can be used to
exit all of the automated flight modes there are four preset shot patterns
quick shots there's the classic drone selfie where it backs up in a way or
rocket which goes straight up while facing down circle flies around the
subject helix flies a circle with an expanding radius for each of these
presets the spark takes the shot and then returns although in multiple
attempts the droney mode did not actually return I'm sure you've already
seen others demonstrate the hand gestures with varying degrees of success
I enlisted Kim to assist as I read through the manual it did take us some
time to learn that but we found they do work as advertised first enable advanced
gesture controls using the app hold the spark and turn it on while it's facing
you wait until the tail lights flash yellow then tap the power button twice
for a couple of beeps and it will take off the manual does recommend the
propeller guards while using hand gestures even with them on we both
managed to get stung hold up your hand to activate palm
container which can be used to send the aircraft back and forth as well as up
and down taking a selfie proved to be a little more difficult finding the right
hand gesture to make the front LEDs blink red took a few tries but we did
get better at it and when we checked there were more images than we thought
had taken when you're done the spark will land on your hand approach it from
the underside and it comes softly down the app maintains a flight record that
shows the flight path and includes a low res video and image store on the device
and there's an auto edit feature which creates a compilation of your day's
shots DTI has reduced not only the size and weight but also other features and
I've resisted the temptation to continually remind you of that during
this review but in comparison to the Mavic or phantom this is a substantially
lesser device battery life sensor size video
resolution camera controls all are better on the larger models those could
potentially be used for a professional photography I would not put the spark in
the same class but with lower expectations it can be useful and fun
for personal projects although there is value to be had with the spark the
limited flying time about 10 minutes can be a challenge I found that by the time
I had it up in the air and established the shot and the move about 2 shots was
all I could manage before the low battery warning started the fly more kit
includes a charger which can charge three batteries simultaneously takes
less than 2 hours it also charges the remote controller its charge lasts
longer the spark comes in a Styrofoam container which is great for storage but
has no carrying handle the fly more kit includes a case but it's not really big
enough to hold the aircraft particularly when the propeller guards are mounted
there's no under estimating the thrill of flying or taking photos and videos
from the air but it can be nerve-racking particularly when you consider all of
the things that could go wrong and Canada like other jurisdictions has
rules and regulations to keep you safe which limit the times and locations
where you can fly even for non-commercial use comments and
questions below thanks for watching
since you've decided to stick around see what happens here's what happens I'd
originally planned to review both the spark and the GoPro karma but the karma
was DOA when it arrived the controller complained that it couldn't find the
stabilizer so I reset and reseeded it several times I tried it in the grip
where it worked fine and I did try to get through to GoPro support which is
only offered in real time via phone or online chat and the chat is only
available for 12 hours like the phone support and every time I attempted it I
was not able to connect it says that agents are helping other customers and
to try again later no email option well there is a toll-free phone line from
Canada and after 10 minutes and ads for the GoPro and hence support option GoPro
revealed that wait time was three hours I took the callback option I got a call
back within an hour 40 minutes later after trying all of the agents
suggestions we concluded that the unit was DOA and should be returned to the
retailer I did check both the GoPro web site and Google but this is not an issue
that's being discussed online however there's one interesting thing that
happened early on I got confused and ended up emailing DJI support and know
what they sent me a link for the GoPro software update site along with
screenshots of the update process so thumbs up for DJ I support thumbs down
for GoPro