Parrot Anafi

amazon Parrot Anafi reviews

Parrot is no stranger to small drones. Its Bebop line is one of our top picks for casual flyers who don’t need a powerful model with professional features. Its latest attempt, the Anafi ($699.99), is smaller than the Bebop 2 and much more capable. It features real gimbal stabilization, 4K video, and creative additions like HDR video recording, the camera can tilt upwards, and Hyperlapse. We love it, especially for travelers who don’t want to have to pack an extra battery charger; put it right up there with the DJI Mavic Air in a world of compact, 4K-capable Drones.

The most portable drone?

Parrot Anafi seems to have been designed from the ground up with world travel in mind. It’s one of the smallest Drones we’ve seen with a real 4K camera and gimbal stabilization. It measures 2.5 x 2.6 x 9.6 inches (HWD) when folded and 2.5 x 6.9 x 9.4 inches with arms outstretched and ready to fly.

It is not only a small Drone but also quite light. It weighs just 11.3 ounces – heavy enough to require FAA registration, but not to the point of adding extra weight to your bag. The materials used in its construction play a large part in its size. Parrot used a mixture of lightweight plastic and carbon fiber. Even the propellers are considerably smaller and of lighter material than other Drones in this class.

I think the Anafi feels a bit flimsy, despite the use of carbon fiber in its design. The hinges that hold the arms in place don’t feel as sturdy as I’d like. That said, I don’t think the Anafi is in danger of breaking – you want to make sure to put it in the included zippered carrying case when it’s not in use.

Basic safety features are included. Anafi has GPS and will automatically return to the take-off point if it loses connection with the remote. There are downward sensors to help keep it steady on the move, but it doesn’t have any obstacle detection system, so you have to be careful when you test drive it.

The case is very nice. It’s slim and egg-shaped, matching Anafi’s elongated design folded. It holds the drone perfectly and is sturdy enough that you can toss it in your backpack or camera bag without worry. In addition to the standard set, Parrot also sells the Anafi Extended. It costs $799 and includes:

• Two additional batteries.
• A couple of additional propeller sets.
• A dedicated carrying case.
• A two-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud’s Photoshop/Lightroom plan or its Premiere Pro plan.

The Extended Case is a small shoulder bag, upholstered in gray fabric with a hint of heather. It reminds me of the material Peak Design uses for its backpacks and bags.

The Extended Case also has room for the remote control. If you buy the standard version, you will need to find space for it. The remote is gray plastic, about the same size as a Nintendo Switch or Xbox controller, and like an airplane battery, charging via USB-C. Parrot calls it the Skycontroller 3, and it’s certainly a lot smaller and more affordable than the first generation Skycontroller that shipped with the first Bebop Drone.

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The remote is comfortable to hold, and the design is quite minimalistic. It has the expected joysticks — left to adjust height and yaw, right to move in the direction along the x-axis. There’s no power switch — instead, the remote turns on when you flip the built-in smartphone clip up. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone 8 Plus, although I had to take the phone out of the case to get it in place. The remote has a USB-A port for plugging in your smartphone and a USB-C port for charging.

The Return-to-Home and Take Off/Landing buttons are exposed in the middle when the phone grip is stretched. Besides, the only controls for the musical note are the shoulder and control buttons. They adjust the tilt and zoom of the camera.

The microSD card slot is located below the battery. A 16GB card is included, which is good enough for about 20 minutes of 4K video storage. This style requires you to place the card carefully into the bare metal contacts and secure the card with a small metal clip. During testing, I ran into an issue where a card formatted in a drone wouldn’t mount as a drive on my iMac. I was able to transfer the video to my phone using the Parrot FreeFlight app. The problem only happened once—after applying the firmware update and reformatting the card, it worked fine. Make sure you update your Anafi’s firmware before you start using it.

Battery life is very good. Parrot advertises 25 minutes of flight time per charge. Usually, those numbers are a bit overblown — based on hovering in place rather than the more typical actions you would perform with a Drone. But my test flights obtained flight times very close to Parrot’s claims.

The battery charges via the USB-C port. It takes about 2.5 hours to charge with the standard AC adapter, but you can reduce it by an hour using the high-speed model. Parrot includes a cable with the Anafi, but you’ll need to bring your own AC adapter—if you have a modern flagship smartphone, it will most likely come with an adapter that supports high-speed charging.

where can you get a Parrot Anafi online

(Renewed) Parrot Anafi Drone Extended with 2 Additional Batteries, Carrying Bag, Additional Propeller Blades and 4K HDR Camera with 180° Swivel- Compact and Foldable: Buy it now

Parrot – Drone Anafi Extended – Pack with 2 Additional Batteries, Carrying Bag, Additional Propeller Blades and Others – 4K HDR Camera with 180° swivelling Platform – Compact and Foldable, Dark Grey: Buy it now

4K and HDR

Essentially, the Anafi is a camera — just one with a propeller instead of a tripod socket. A mechanical gimbal stabilizes the front-mounted camera. The result is aerial footage that’s as smooth, even when turning heads or changing altitude. It can tilt its entire face down, but it can also face up. That is a rarity for Drones and allows you to capture some angles that others cannot manage.

You will need to download a smartphone app to take full advantage of the Anafi camera’s features. Parrot FreeFlight 6 is a free download for Android and iOS. The app gives you a view from the Anafi’s lens, lets you change your frame rate and resolution settings, and shows a map of where you’re flying — useful if you’re trying. Try to get a video or photo of a specific place.

The video feed is smooth and of high quality. I had no problem seeing what the Drone camera was seeing from my comfortable position on the ground. I had no problems with communication — the Anafi transmits a solid signal to the remote when the drone is within visual range, even in suburban areas rife with home Wi-Fi networks.

For actual video quality, you can shoot in 4K UHD, 2.7K, or 1080p. I opted for 4K at 24fps, but you can push the frame rate to 30fps if you want or up to 60fps at 1080p. For stills, Anafi shoots in JPG or Raw format at 21MP resolution. While packing in more pixels than phones or other Drones in this price range, the Anafi’s camera sensor is the same 1/2.3-inch size you’ll find in other machines. Image quality is smartphone-level, though that’s no longer a stigma.

Anafi sets itself apart from other devices by offering HDR capture for both video and still images. It comes in very handy on days when you want to shoot with a bit less contrast. Shadow detail opens up, and highlights aren’t quite as bright. You don’t want to have it on all the time, but it’s a useful tool for videographers who want videos ready to be shared without the need for extensive color grading.

Of course, if you’re a pro and want to take the time to sort through the footage yourself, that’s an option. You’ll need to turn off the HDR function and dive into the video settings. Still, beyond the Natural standard profile, the Anafi captures video with a flat, low-contrast look in the P-Log profile settings, ideal for analysis type. Suppose you don’t want the hassle of color correction or don’t have the right video editing software to do so. In that case, you can adjust the Natural profile to adjust sharpness, contrast, and color saturation.

In addition to standard video, Anafi also shoots in Hyperlapse — time-lapse travel — with 15, 30, 60, 120, and 240x speeds available. Of course, you’ll need a long flight to get an impressive Hyperlapse at top settings. You can also shoot half-speed slow motion at 1080p — the Anafi app lets you shoot with slowed-down video or shoot at standard 60fps, so you can slow it down as needed set when editing. Regardless of the video mode, the drone does not record audio. I added some royalty-free music to our sample roll, but aside from that, the only edits were simple cuts from scene to scene.

Anafi offers zoom but doesn’t offer a wide range of optics. Its lens supports digital zoom, the first drone to do so. It has 3x the power, covering a viewing angle of 26-78mm for video and 23-69mm for stills. Parrot bills that as lossless quality, but that’s only true for 1080p recording, where it has 2.8x the power before the loss in quality. At 4K, the video starts to lose quality as you zoom in, but it still looks pretty good through the 2x setting. At 3x, you can notice cropping — reduced detail.

For 1080p shooters, the FreeFlight app lets you limit the zoom to a lossless range. But there is no way to set zoom limit with 4K. You can be careful to limit your zoom to 2x manually, but I like the zoom limit to be something you can set in the app, so I’ll have one thing distract me to a safe flight.

The dolly zoom effect — zooming in while pulling away from your subject or vice versa — can be removed with Anafi. Hitchcock made the famous scene in Vertigo. The drone has an automatic dolly zoom effect — along with a few others, including a perfectly circular orbit — but it’s also pretty easy to do manually.

You can also check out the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom when you shop — it offers similar image and video quality. Still, it has an optical zoom lens rather than a digital one, so you can zoom in on 4K footage without losing anything. However, price is a concern. At $1,249, the Mavic 2 Zoom isn’t exactly twice the cost of the Anafi, but it’s not far off.

Image quality is as good as you would expect from a flagship smartphone. To get better images from a compact Drone, you need to switch to an aircraft with a larger sensor, which is a more expensive proposition. The DJI Mavic 2 Pro has a sensor four times larger but has the same pixel-level as the Anafi. It will produce sharper photos and get good results at dusk, but it is a lot more expensive – $1,500.

You can shoot in the Raw DNG format for the most versatile shots. However, as with P-Log video, raw images need some work before they’re ready to share. If you like easy sharing, JPG photography is an option. Anafi supports HDR photography but is a bit lacking for other fancy shooting modes. However, the panoramic stitch will be available later this month via a free software update.

Drone Take-Anywhere

We’ve seen small Drones before, but there were some caveats. The DJI Spark is tiny and can be charged via USB, but its videos are 1080p. The DJI Mavic Air is even easier to transport than the Spark, thanks to its folding design that makes it easier to store but requires you to carry an external battery charger and power cord to charge it.

Anafi gets all the travel considerations. It’s small, includes a very practical and protective carrying case, and doesn’t require its proprietary charger. You can grab your drone and remote control, USB-C cable, and AC adapter, and you’re ready to take the flight to an unfamiliar locale to capture some aerial footage of your own.

Things are missing from Anafi. The obstacle avoidance system is one. No, they’re not perfect, but they can certainly prevent accidents. If that’s a concern, think about spending an extra $100 on the Mavic Air, which is Anafi’s closest counterpart in terms of price and design.

There are some things the Mavic does better than the Anafi, but the opposite is also true. The Anafi is an excellent performer in its own right and includes features you don’t get from the Mavic — digital zoom, HDR video, and Hyperlapse. Both the Anafi and the Air are examples of what a compact 4K Drone can do. It’s up to you whether you appreciate the digital zoom, extended gimbal tilt, and USB charging offered by Anafi, or the Mavic Air’s automatic obstacle avoidance and other exclusive features.