DJI Avata 360 Review – Shoot First, Point Later – From the Sky

by Jakub HanMay 20^th, 2026

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The DJI Avata 360 is an interesting drone designed for maximum flexibility, utilizing the “shoot-first, point-later” workflow and adding aerial motion to it. Although the 360 mode offers 8K resolution, after reframing you usually lose detail compared to traditional filming. The Avata 360 lets you capture shots of dynamic moving subjects that would otherwise be almost impossible with any other drone.

It is the second all-in-one 360° consumer drone available worldwide (not counting the previously available custom FPV frames for 360° cameras). The Avata 360, therefore, mostly competes with the Antigravity A1 drone, which was released last year. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet flown the Antigravity A1, so I cannot directly compare these two drones in my review.

DJI Avata 360 – flat body design

While the Avata 360 body looks familiar, there are some specific changes compared to the older Avata 2. The drone body is wider, the props are larger, and the overall design keeps the drone as flat as possible. The flat design makes a lot of sense because it keeps both lenses in the 360 camera system as close together as possible. This theoretically allows for better stitching in post-production, as the “dead zone” between the two lenses is smaller. That said, there are still visible stitching artifacts if you film a subject that is too close to the drone.

The DJI Avata 360 is also slightly heavier than the Avata 2 (377g / 0.83 lb), with a take-off weight of 455g (1 lb). There is a microSD slot and a USB-C port on the side of the drone. In addition to supporting microSD cards, the Avata 360 also has 42GB of internal storage. I would have liked to see more storage (for example, the Osmo 360 offers over 100GB of internal storage).

The Avata 360 batteries offer a slightly larger capacity than those of the Avata 2, but given the increased weight of the drone, the flight time is more or less on par – DJI claims up to 23 minutes. Realistically, you’re getting somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes, depending on the wind, the way you fly, etc.

The prop guards on the Avata 360 make indoor flying easier because minor bumps into obstacles are less likely to cause a crash or damage. On the other hand, the drone is quite loud and produces a lot of thrust (compared to something like a Mini 5 Pro), so anything lightweight beneath it, such as paper, will usually get airborne. You should keep that in mind when planning a flight route through indoor locations.

Camera module with lens replacement kit

The camera module of the Avata 360 only features one axis. Before take-off, the cameras are rotated in a forward-backward position, and there are small rubber feet below the drone for support. As soon as the 360 takes off, the module rotates 90° and into the default 360° view (camera on top and at the bottom).

Thankfully, the Avata 360 comes with a cover for the camera module, which prevents the lenses from being scratched during transport.

If you do scratch either lens, DJI offers a lens replacement kit you can use at home. That is fantastic, because the lenses on the Avata 360 protrude from the body and can get scratched very easily. I expect the lens replacement kit to be compatible with the second-generation Osmo 360 as well.

Single-lens mode

In flight, you can rotate the cameras of the Avata 360 into the forward-backward position and enter a single-lens mode. I did not test this mode extensively, as I wanted to focus on the 360 mode, but it is good that the drone offers it in case you need to capture some classic FPV footage. Currently, the single-lens mode is limited to 4K 60fps or 2.7K up to 120fps. It would be really cool to see 4K 120fps added to single-lens mode in a future firmware update (the Avata 2 already supports it).

360 mode

In 360 mode, the drone can record 8K up to 60fps (4K square from the top camera and 4K square from the bottom camera). This 8K image, however, covers the whole 360° sphere, so the resolution is, in my opinion, the bare minimum for 360° footage. During post-production, you are only reframing a small portion of the 8K image, so the final image may not retain as much detail, depending on how far you zoom in. This is worth keeping in mind when filming a moving subject. Ideally, you want to keep a healthy distance of 2 to 10m (about 6.5 to 33ft) – close enough to avoid excessive zooming, but far enough to reduce the risk of stitching issues.

Remote control

There are multiple ways to control the Avata 360. You can fly the drone with the “regular” DJI RC2 controller, just like you would fly a Mini 5 Pro or an Air-series drone. You can also put on the goggles and use the motion controller, or even the DJI FPV controller. Since I had already flown the Avata 2 extensively with the goggles, I decided to use the Avata 360 with the DJI RC2 and fly it more like a regular folding drone. That allowed me to focus on capturing interesting shots.

The RC2 controller software for the Avata 360 includes a few assist features to help with navigation. One of them lets you choose between 104°, 134°, or 272° angles of view on the display. I usually stick with 104°, as it gives me a better sense of the surroundings and makes it easier to navigate the Avata 360. Alternatively, you can use the right dial to change to whatever angle of view you prefer. The left dial is used to tilt the image up or down.

360 video post-production

Keep in mind that if you film 360 footage for regular 2D use, you cannot use it straight away. You first need to choose which portion of the image you want to show. There are two ways to work with the footage:

• DJI Fly mobile app – you can connect to the drone wirelessly, work on the footage, and export whatever you need.
• DJI Studio desktop software – this gives you some extra options for working with the footage.

One interesting feature in DJI Studio is intelligent tracking. If you have a clip where you need to track a subject and reframe it, you can either use manual keyframes or rely on the built-in intelligent tracking. In my experience, this unfortunately does not always work well. It sometimes struggled to track subjects that changed slightly in size or appearance, for example, when a person turned their head or when the background changed significantly. In these situations, manual keyframes often produced better results.

Conclusion

Just like 360° cameras, 360° drones are designed to film everything around them. For the extra flexibility of the “shoot-first, point-later” workflow, you do need to sacrifice some image quality. Since the Avata 360 only really has one direct competitor, it is hard to position it in such a niche market.

Although I did not fly the Antigravity A1 myself, based on what I have read and seen, I think the Avata 360 is the better option. On paper, the Avata 360 has a better camera system with larger sensors, and both lenses are closer together. The A1’s lenses are quite far apart, so the “blind zone” is larger with that drone. I also like that the Avata 360 can be operated with the DJI RC2, so you officially do not need a second person (spotter) when flying – you can see the Avata 360 with your own eyes. The Antigravity A1 is under 250g (8.82 oz), but since it currently relies on goggles, you may still need a second person to maintain visual line of sight, depending on local regulations.

In my opinion, if you have the time and the option to frame your shots, then flying a “regular” folding drone such as the Mini 5 Pro, Air 3S, or similar models will give you better image quality. The Avata 360 is a special tool for a specific purpose. I think the drone is good at filming dynamic moving subjects that are not that far away, but not too close either. As mentioned above, the Avata 360 seems to work best when the subject is around 2 to 10m (6.5 to 33ft) away from the drone. This also depends on the subject’s size – for example, a person versus a cyclist. At that distance, stitching is less likely to be an issue, while the reframed image should still retain enough detail.

To summarize my experience with the DJI Avata 360: it is an interesting drone designed to offer maximum flexibility and to capture shots that would otherwise be impossible (or very expensive and difficult) to get with any other drone.

The Avata 360 is now available for $979 (Fly More Combo with the DJI RC2), and there are other configurations as well.

Do you use 360° cameras for your video production work? What are your thoughts on the new DJI Avata 360? Let us know in the comments section below.