DJI Air 3

JT26 · Jul 26, 2023

Would you prefer a 1 inch sensor if it was 20mp only? I assume it would be more… but I don’t know of many 1 inch sensors that are more. Certainly none in cameras currently.

I would wait. And I never wait for anything.

Camrarat · Jul 26, 2023

Interpol said:
Dilemma for me is: buy the Air 3 now or wait for the Air 3S with 1” sensor? If the Air 2 and 2S are any indication…

I’d get an Air 2S now.

Or, see if you can find a Mavic 3 (not a M3 Cine or Classic, but Mavic 3, which IMO was the perfect drone with a 4/3 Hasselblad main sensor and a telephoto and similar flight time to the Air 3

Cant they just put the M3 cameras into the Air 3 body, price it somewhere between the two and and call it a day?

nhr5005 · Jul 27, 2023

Yah, kind of considering this approach as I think someone up above also mentioned. Already going above 250g, so maybe the Mavic 3 is the right choice for best photo quality--and it also has a tele option. Air 3 and Mavic 3 are basically the same size (although the Air 3 has a pretty good weight advantage). I've been trying to avoid having 2 drones, but maybe a Mavic 3 workhorse + Mini 3 pro for travel make sense, if funds allowed...

I did like the 3:2 image ratio though...DJI seems to be going to 4:3 for larger drones.

JT26 · Jul 27, 2023

I looked at a load of mavic 3 samples today, lots of raw files. Really unimpressed. I don’t think it’s very good at all. The main camera seems soft. 20mp is just not enough especially with that lens.

Saying that, I’m going to look at some samples from other sites tomorrow. Also I see you can actually save the raw images from panoramas with the mavic 3

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Interpol · Jul 27, 2023

JT26 said:
I looked at a load of mavic 3 samples today, lots of raw files. Really unimpressed. I don’t think it’s very good at all. The main camera seems soft. 20mp is just not enough especially with that lens.

Saying that, I’m going to look at some samples from other sites tomorrow. Also I see you can actually save the raw images from panoramas with the mavic 3

Just to be clear, you're talking about the Mavic 3 and not the Air 3, correct?

JT26 · Jul 28, 2023

The that’s right the mavic 3 with the 4/3 sensor. I’m not sure if they just need some work or it’s just 20mp I’m disappointed with. The lens on it seems a tad soft

Interpol · Jul 28, 2023

JT26 said:
The that’s right the mavic 3 with the 4/3 sensor. I’m not sure if they just need some work or it’s just 20mp I’m disappointed with. The lens on it seems a tad soft

Something to think about. Thanks.

nhr5005 · Jul 28, 2023

Do you think the Mavic 3 looks softer than the M2P?

To be fair, I've never been "blown away" by the M2P images. But I think they're pretty good, and I'll take 20MP from a larger sensor over 12MP.

JT26 · Jul 28, 2023

Do you mean '12mp' of the Mini 3 Pro?

As mentioned, its a genuine 48mp sensor. Quad bayer isn't false advertising its just a different colour array on top of 48mp that does looks slightly worse than a traditional bayer array, due to the colour interpolation needed to 'interpret' / guess the colour information of the pixel... So in 12mp mode, its easy to interpret the informational as its a bayer array, in 48mp mode its not as easy, hence the slightly worse look of the images.

Some Youtube 'tech' reviewers know absolutely nothing about sensors... Just to be clear. They just hear something and regurgitate it.

Richandhiscat · Jul 28, 2023

nhr5005 said:
I did like the 3:2 image ratio though...DJI seems to be going to 4:3 for larger drones.

That's because it's a 4/3 ratio sensor - you can crop it yourself.

nhr5005 · Jul 28, 2023

Yes, understood, thanks.

My point was just, I'll take a "sharper" 20 MP (or 12 MP) image, over a soft 48MP one. (I think? I don't have experience to directly compare).

Barbarus · Jul 28, 2023

Perceived sharpness isn't the reason to love the M43 sensors over the 48mp cellphone cameras, it's the incrementally better noise and lower light performance. In-"camera" (drone) sharpening sucks and can always be done better in post. Don't let DJI fool you that one of these crappy little cellphone cameras is significantly better than older ones just because they've tweaked their already over-aggressive image processing algorithms.

JT26 · Jul 28, 2023

I agree yeah. It’s hard to say what is best though… the new 4/3 sensor at 20mp seems soft at 100%. The 48mp image from the 1/1.3 inch sensor isn’t soft at 100% it’s sharp ish… but it just has janky artifacts I don’t like which comes from the interpolation

Occams Razor · Jul 29, 2023

nhr5005 said:
I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Still using my Mavic 2 Pro, but on the lookout for a replacement given it is not looking likely to be made Remote-ID compliant in the USA.

I'd really hoped the wide camera would have the 1" sensor from the previous model.

Mini 3 Pro has also been on my list, but hearing mixed things about the image quality. It sounds like the 12MP / pseudo-48MP images are just OK, vs those 20MP sensors!

I do take some video, which I think looks great from most of these drones, but really looking for good photo quality.

Lastly--why does DJI refuse to add that little joystick back from the M2P controller? I always use that thing for aperture and EV adjustments!

I sold my M2P a few weeks ago because it is not RID compliant In hindsight I may have reacted too abruptly because there are relatively affordable RID modules that you can attach to a drone. I believe that the IQ of the M2P still images is better than the Air or Mini series. My recommendation is to hold onto your drone and shop for a third party RID module unless you want to spend dollars on a Mavic 3.

Randy

JT26 · Jul 29, 2023

Interesting. Just googled as didn’t know what RID was, looks set for the UK sometime but maybe not until 2026. I’d have bought at least three more drones by then

nhr5005 · Jul 30, 2023

Not bad advice, thanks! I'll look into what's available.

Still might pick up a Mini for traveling outside of the US, although I bet I wouldn't have to wait too long for a Mini 4...

Sagittarius · Jul 30, 2023

nhr5005 said:
Not bad advice, thanks! I'll look into what's available.

Still might pick up a Mini for traveling outside of the US, although I bet I wouldn't have to wait too long for a Mini 4...

Before you travel with a drone outside US, check the rules for flying drones in the country you traveling to.

nhr5005 · Jul 30, 2023

Yes of course!

I've found most places are less stringent on <250g drones. Still may require registration, testing, and/or insurance. Always check where you're going!

Sagittarius · Jul 30, 2023

nhr5005 said:
Yes of course!

I've found most places are less stringent on <250g drones. Still may require registration, testing, and/or insurance. Always check where you're going!

Some countries do not allow to fly a drone if you are not a citizen.

vitalisvitalis · Aug 4, 2023

We have tested the new DJI Air 3.

The 12 MP JPG images (captured at ISO 140/160 during sunset) appear a bit cleaner compared to the 48 MP JPG images (taken at ISO 150/160 during sunset) for both the 24 mm and 70 mm cameras. The results below have been produced with HRD merge by merging three exposure-bracketed images each time with Lightroom (without noise reduction).

HRD (AEB, 3 frames, 12 MP JPG, 24 mm)

View attachment 6891dfeb959e42448a2e5c6c89735193.jpg
HDR (AEB, 3 shots, 48 MP JPG, 24 mm)

HRD (AEB, 3 frames, 12 MP JPG, 70 mm)

HDR (AEB, 3 shots, 48 MP JPG, 70 mm)

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