DJI Spark drone: fun above all

Presentation

On paper, the small Spark has everything of a big one: video stabilized mechanically by a 2-axis gondola, obstacle detection, numerous flight and automated capture modes, piloting thanks to a radio control, a smartphone and even to the hand, all for € 599. Is the painting so idyllic? What about image quality, autonomy and flight enjoyment? We deliver our verdict to you.

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Getting started

The Spark is a small drone that fits in a cube that is 14.3 cm wide and 5.5 cm high. It is in the recent vein of dronies and other mini-drones that have recently invaded the market. However, here we are far from an all-plastic construction where the slightest shock would break the body of the device. Compared to the Mavic, the Spark's arms do not fold, but DJI boasts of its magnesium alloy construction and guarantees high resistance in the event of a fall. If we have not thrown it against a wall, it is clear that its manufacturing quality inspires confidence and that despite its size, the Spark is well finished. In addition, and this is purely subjective, its silhouette has something touching and elegant which gives it a certain aggressiveness. Strongly that this kind of design extends to the Phantom range of the manufacturer.

At the front, there is a small camera with a 1 / 2.3 "sensor under the 3D recognition module which allows to recognize a face, hand movements or obstacles. Below the chassis, positionning vision takes place and, at the back, the Lipo 3S battery constitutes the body of the device. Just above, a small hatch contains a slot for a microSD card as well as a USB type B connector. The top cover is more classic, In plastic, but the owner can choose from five hull colors: In its bowels, the Spark contains 24 processors, a GPS / GLONASS chip, and the IMU.

The radio controller uses the silhouette of the Mavic remote control and the kinetics of the arms used to attach to smartphone, but without a screen to recall telemetry information. Instead of the latter, there is a switch for switching to sport flight mode and the classic video recording commands, a customizable function key and the gas controls. The transmission between the controller and the Spark goes through Wi-Fi and promises 720p video transmission up to 2 km in FCC standard and 500 m in Europe. Unfortunately, we could not have the radio control for our test.

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Flight

The Spark takes piloting ease to a level never reached before. Extend your arm in front of you, press the button on the battery to turn it on, double-click again on this button, the Spark scans your face via its FaceAware function, launches its motors then takes off automatically before waiting for your orders. Then the magic operates via the algorithms of detection of the movements and the PalmControl: by stretching the palm in front of the Spark, it is possible to command simple movements, like to climb, rise or go right or left. You almost feel like you have mastered The Force like a Jedi. Then, via gesture control, you can ask him to take a photo by drawing a frame with your fingers. In the same way, by making a sign to it, the Spark moves away at approximately 10 m, takes a photo then returns. A very funny function which still has a drawback: during all this manipulation, the Spark does not film and only taking photos is possible. So funny, but is it really relevant in terms of usage? After a few tries, we ended up preferring to use the Spark as a classic drone by launching the video and piloting it with our smartphone - failing once again to have been able to pilot it with the remote control.

Pairing between the smartphone and the drone is simple and the interface of the DJI Go 4 application is known. It is still as complete but relatively messy and complicated for the Boeotian. Especially since the screen is systematically cluttered with several alert messages, various pop-ups that warn that an obstacle is in the field or that we are in a restricted flight area. These latest notifications are essential for security, but become tiresome in the long run. Overall, steering remains intuitive and easy. The gas controls are shown in overprint and you just have to slide your fingers on the smartphone screen to fly the drone. The driving experience is at the same level as that carried out with Bebop2, for example. Playful, but obviously far from the pleasure that comes from gripping physical joysticks. However, the best way to use Spark may still be to use its automated flight modes like TapFly, ActiveTrack, Gestures and the new Quickshot submenu.

The latter offers four new possibilities which allow the user to make short video sequences according to predefined movements. Thus "Rocket" sends the Spark vertically, the camera pointed downwards. Dronie makes him move back and rise while keeping the camera pointed at the subject. Circle allows the Spark to rotate around the subject and Spiral makes the drone spiral around the subject while rising and moving away. These new modes are interesting because they allow you to make plans easily without worrying about complex manipulations where you have to keep the subject in the frame while managing throttle, pitch, roll and yaw. These modes are in addition to the already surprising Active Track mode which follows a subject in the frame according to its size and its speed of movement.

So piloting the Spark is easy and offers everyone the possibility of carrying out surprising plans without the slightest notion of piloting. In return, the transmission with the smartphone is limited to a distance of 100 m and a height of 50 m. It is little and in addition the video transmission becomes inoperative beyond 50 m.

A word on the performance of the Spark: capable of pointing up to 50 km / h it proves to be agile, lively and behaves like a little racer with the radio control.

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Image quality

The Spark therefore has a 1 / 2.3 "CMOS 12 Mpx sensor with af / 2.6 fixed aperture lens and a 25 mm equivalent focal length. The sensitivity is available from ISO 100 to 3200 in photos and up to at ISO 6400 video. The shutter allows you to work with an exposure time between 2 s and 1/8000 s and especially the sensor films in FHD 1080 30p. There is therefore no 4K, which is Too bad, but DJI half admits that the image is indeed captured in 4K to be cropped in 1920 in order to offer software stabilization as much latitude as possible.

A photo taken with the Spark

The result is quite remarkable because associated with the mechanical stabilization 2 axes of the nacelle, the images are indeed very stable even in the event of abrupt change of course. However, care should be taken to carry out slow travelings due to the low frame rate. Overall the image quality is good. We are quite far from the very grainy or pixelated image of a Parrot Bebop 2 or the excessive smoothing of the Breeze 4K.

Photo taken with the Spark

The image is flattering, the saturated colors make the image lively and the dynamics are acceptable. As soon as the light declines, the smoothing is too strong and the fine details disappear, but in good light condition the treatment encourages you to post your images directly online without having to go through editing or retouching software. Anyway, there is no adjustment possible from the drone unlike other productions of the brand where the camera operator is right at the F-Log or Cinelike curves, for example.

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Autonomy

The DJI Spark's battery is a Lipo 3s of 1480 mAh which weighs only 95 grams. It takes 1 hour to recharge and the manufacturer promised a 16-minute autonomy. In fact, the maximum flight time is 14 minutes. It is not so bad compared to its size, but it is a low flight time in use, especially since the many features of the Spark encourage the user to experiment with the different modes. For a delightful experience, prefer to carry at least two batteries with you. Be careful, when it is not attached to the drone, if you do not turn it off completely, the battery can discharge itself in the bag. On a positive point, the Spark is also rechargeable thanks to its USB Type-B port and can therefore be recharged on a cigarette lighter socket. Convenient !

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Conclusion

Easy to take in hand, fun, delivering an image quality widely exploitable to bring back beautiful memories of holidays or during walks, the DJI Spark does not lack advantage and is even positioned as a must-have of the summer. Be careful however, the driving experience will only be really pleasant with a radio control and an additional battery, which brings the price from € 599 to € 799. This consideration aside, the Spark is a concentrate of surprising technology that you ultimately want to have with you all the time.

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