The very first DJI Mavic Pro was announced in September of 2016 and was released in the latter half of 2016. The compact size and design that folds made me amused. I had Mavic Pro for two years. Mavic Pro for 2 years and was satisfied with its capabilities. I also was awarded the architectural photography competition in Hungary using an image I created with the drone.

In the time that it was announced that the Mavic 2 Pro was released it was such an impressive upgrade that I could not resist. I purchased it immediately! More sensors, a longer flight time and 1″ CMOS sensor was the perfect fit to my bag of gear. I flew with it for more than 100 hours and took some of my most favorite aerial photos. I have never received a complaint from my customers. If the light is strong, you can produce stunning photos and video footage using this tool, just like many of you are doing.

Mavic 3, specs, and initial impressions

There are three major upgrades that have me interested in DJI’s latest drone for photography: it’s called the Mavic 3:
1. larger sensor
2. Secondary, telephoto lens
3. bigger battery, with greater time to fly

1. A bigger sensor will provide more ISO capabilities. If you use Mavic 2 Pro for photography, Mavic 2 Pro for photos I’d recommend using ISO100 nearly all the time. I would use ISO400 only in the blue hour.

The Mavic 3, I am capable of increasing the ISO to ISO800 with extremely useful results.

There’s a downside that I observed during my initial shoot at twilight with the Mavic 3: the larger sensor creates blurry images earlier when exposed for longer durations. Mavic 2 Pro Mavic 2 Pro had no difficulties with exposures lasting 2 seconds but Mavic 3 Mavic 3 has to stay within a single second for sharp images. However, I was at ease with Mavic 3. Mavic 3 about 10-15 minutes later into the night than using my Mavic 2 Pro.

2. The telephoto lens I used in the initial couple of flights that it was not usable. It simply wasn’t sharp enough. With the DJI software update that came out earlier in the calendar year (FIRMWARE v01.00.0500) The Mavic 3’s telephoto lens got significantly sharper. This lens was among the primary reasons I was ecstatic about the Mavic 3’s new model. The perspective that 162mm lenses can provide when flying is something that could have been had only with larger and larger and more expensive equipment prior to. I absolutely love the photos when I see them on a tiny screen. And in my opinion , if you add three images to your collection of a structure. Unfortunately, if you view them in a single row on a huge screen , they appear like smartphone images. Why? It’s because the Mavic 3 only shoots images created using the telephoto lens JPEG. This is something I would like to see DJI will modify in the near future.

3. It’s battery replacement is massive! I’m thinking of buying the drone in order to upgrade mine Mavic 2 for the battery by itself. The time to fly has increased, however it allows you to enjoy plenty of freedom to fly than you thought initially. If you have three minutes to get to the ideal position for taking the first photos and return the drone to the final. It’s possible that the Mavic 2 can spend about 20 minutes in the air. I generally fly with the battery for about 18 minutes, so you can calculate using that figure, and then subtracting when we subtract 6 minutes of positioning time and return time, we’ll have 12 minutes for the actual task. When using the Mavic 3, I’ve spent between 27-30 minutes flying without an uncharged battery to date (it can hold more but I’ve had the Mavic 2’s batteries empty, and they get bigger after about 70-80 cycles and I’ll be trying to avoid this when I get the Mavic 3). So, even though we’re only getting 1.5 times the time to fly, we can get nearly two times more time to do creativity and this is evident. In terms of recreational use, I like taking top-down panoramic photos (Mavic 2 images below) In this case, it usually takes about five minutes to find a good place and that’s time before I can bring the drone back home. This cuts down the time spent shooting to between 8 and 10 minutes. By allowing for a flight time of 30 minutes you get 20 minutes of time for creativity that I haven’t yet had the chance to test yet but I’m looking ahead to the experience.

In addition to the battery upgrade, we also have more sensors along with the sensor on the sides. They are operational in the normal flight mode, and not just when in tripod mode, as they did with Mavic 2. Mavic 2. The drone is more steady in the air. It handles wind better and is able to ascend quicker.

Mavic 3 video

Our team has been making numerous short films recently which is why videos on the Mavic 3 are just as important to me as its photography capabilities. I’m convinced that it’s no surprise that the Mavic 2 Pro made amazing quality videos, with the exception of the late blue hour footage that is available in most instances. However, with Mavic 3, this is no longer an issue. It can be used for as long as it’s actually needed, and if it becomes dark, it’s not a problem to create video.

One of the biggest changes to the video specs is framerates. While I could fly at a slower speed prior to it, I was too fast for an even outcome. Now , I can shoot at 50fps. In post, we can reduce it by 50% and still get the 25fps that we require. It’s not a game changer however it is a helpful tool to use. It’s also possible to capture slow-motion footage, but I don’t think it’s as important to us.

The only thing I noticed to be it was the Mavic 3 only has digital zoom. Mavic 2 Pro has a digital zoom. Mavic 2 Pro had an option that was called “HQ” which enabled us to capture 4K video simply by taking the middle of the sensor in 1:1. This gave us a 38-40mm equivalent focal length. We have used it numerous times. This way we could get even better and more high-quality images over the wide-angle images. The Mavic 3, if we require a more narrow viewing angle we can only use digital zoom, until we switch cameras. Telephoto lenses are equivalent to a 7x zoom, and allows us to make use of the parallel effect in a stunning way. The video on this camera is only utilized in 4k at 30fps and in a fully automated mode, which limits its capabilities, but the view angle is exceptional that even this sacrifice is worth it in the right lighting and for the appropriate “task”.

Conclusion

Through this test, I’m not looking to convince anyone to rush out and purchase a brand Mavic 3. Mavic 3. My aim was to provide a amount of information to aid you in deciding if you’re in need of this or don’t. There are a lot of unique advantages we enjoy with this brand new drone, however there are problems. I’m hoping this Mavic 3’s problems will be fixed with updates to the software in the future like they have so to date.

As the Mavic 2 Pro had been up in the air for more than 120 hours, I decided it was the right time to replace it. For me I felt that it was the DJI Mavic 3 was a simple purchase. After I been able to add it into my kit my Mavic 2 Pro has retired from my cabinet. However you must know your personal preferences. If you own an Mavic 2 Pro or the new DJI Air 2S and you make use of it for general overviews then you don’t need to upgrade. However, for me I think I think the Mavic 3 was worth the cost!