Mavic3 Pro 3x lens - 12MP or 48MP?

[AlanL]

It's a 12mp sensor. Exactly the same one as shoehorned into the mini 3 pro.

It is the same chip as the Mini 3 Pro but the manufacturer of the chip (Omnivision) does not agree with you that it is a 12MP sensor.

 

[Wreckhunter]

It's a 12mp sensor. Exactly the same one as shoehorned into the mini 3 pro.

Omnivision maybe does make the sensor for the mini 3 pro and the 3x camera on the mavic 3 pro.
But I think he is still looking at this all backwards.I do not know of a current drone in the consumer
lineup that has a true 48mp camera sensor.In fact not sure if there is one currently.So 12 mp it is.

 

[BobaFut]

This argument could go on forever,but in the end why would a secondary camera (3x) in the mavic 3 pro
have higher and better resolution than the main 4/3rds 20mp sensor camera.The 48mp SETTING may produce
only slightly better photos in the brightest of outdoor conditions.I have a mavic air 2 with the same 48 setting.
and Quad Bayer array.Never usually use the 48mp SETTING as it makes little difference to me.One more time
here we go.I keep it on its true native mode12mp.But in the end before closing everyone has their own opinion
on this what can become a heated subject,and is not even really worth it.All done

Because MPs are only part of the equation and a practically meaningless metric in this day and age. The Air2s has a 20MP sensor and the photos are noticeably inferior to those taken by the Mavic 3 Pro, just like the APS-C sensor in my Fuji X-T3 has half the MPs of the latest iPhone but the image quality difference is night and day in favor of the Fuji. The size of the sensor, the optics, and the image processing all play a huge role in quality.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Because MPs are only part of the equation and a practically meaningless metric in this day and age. The Air2s has a 20MP sensor and the photos are noticeably inferior to those taken by the Mavic 3 Pro, just like the APS-C sensor in my Fuji X-T3 has half the MPs of the latest iPhone but the image quality difference is night and day in favor of the Fuji. The size of the sensor, the optics, and the image processing all play a huge role in quality.

Sensor size is a bigger part of it ,my last drone has a half inch sensor,air 2,But my latest and newest drone
( a non dji product) has a full one inch sensor 20mp,and the difference is very apparent .The air 2 is not even
close in quality.So I think sensor size and quality of the glass or optics is more important.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I think these conversations get a little skewed because we are after all - a drone forum, and not a camera forum. The technology to 'supersize' a 12 MP sensor has made leaps and bounds for things like cell phones and consumer drones as is evidenced by Omnivision's own description of their sensor. (Notice they never mentioned an actual stand alone camera as the purpose for this sensor)

But only in a description such as that; could one claim they've produced a 48 MP sensor which can also be output in 12 MP, and then on a drone forum, there are actual debates in which a comparison between a 12mp and 48mp image is made.

In my opinion, when that tech (pixel binning), gets so advanced that modern high end DSLR's are using it, perhaps these types of threads will have some merit. But as of now. I think it is simply a method to keep consumer drone costs low, while providing specs on said consumer drone, that will entice new customers. Much like OA was, and still is, more of a gimmick, than what it proposes it can actually do.

I am not saying that this tech is not awesome or that it cannot produce incredible results, I am simply saying it is in it's infancy and true comparisons need to include what the true state of the art is for perspective. If you want to compare an M3P 3x 48 MP image - do so to something like Sony's A7R, or Hasselblad's X1D, or Nikon's Z8 for real perspective.

 

[waynorth]

It is the same chip as the Mini 3 Pro but the manufacturer of the chip (Omnivision) does not agree with you that it is a 12MP sensor.

The manufacturer is right - it is in fact a sensor with 48 million pixels, but because the way the quad bayer filter works (4 pixels behind each colour cell) it doesn't give the same quality as a 48MP sensor with a separate colour cell in front of each pixel. But it is a 48MP sensor.

 

[BobaFut]

Sensor size is a bigger part of it ,my last drone has a half inch sensor,air 2,But my latest and newest drone
( a non dji product) has a full one inch sensor 20mp,and the difference is very apparent .The air 2 is not even
close in quality.So I think sensor size and quality of the glass or optics is more important.

Right, but your question was why DJI would put a higher MP sensor as a secondary sensor...and the size of the 3x lens' 48mp sensor is 1/1.3," which is roughly 1/3 the size of the main 4/3 sensor. So while it has double the MPs, it's 3x smaller.

 

[AlanL]

I think these conversations get a little skewed because we are after all - a drone forum, and not a camera forum. The technology to 'supersize' a 12 MP sensor has made leaps and bounds for things like cell phones and consumer drones as is evidenced by Omnivision's own description of their sensor. (Notice they never mentioned an actual stand alone camera as the purpose for this sensor)

But only in a description such as that; could one claim they've produced a 48 MP sensor which can also be output in 12 MP, and then on a drone forum, there are actual debates in which a comparison between a 12mp and 48mp image is made.

In my opinion, when that tech (pixel binning), gets so advanced that modern high end DSLR's are using it, perhaps these types of threads will have some merit. But as of now. I think it is simply a method to keep consumer drone costs low, while providing specs on said consumer drone, that will entice new customers. Much like OA was, and still is, more of a gimmick, than what it proposes it can actually do.

I am not saying that this tech is not awesome or that it cannot produce incredible results, I am simply saying it is in it's infancy and true comparisons need to include what the true state of the art is for perspective. If you want to compare an M3P 3x 48 MP image - do so to something like Sony's A7R, or Hasselblad's X1D, or Nikon's Z8 for real perspective.

Yup - and there's a good reason why I still pack along my DSLR with lenses that cost more than my Mavic 3 Pro. Nothing in our end of the drone camera spectrum even comes close. For the right price Phase One will sell you a drone camera with a medium format camera but we are talking about large 5 figure drones at that point.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Right, but your question was why DJI would put a higher MP sensor as a secondary sensor...and the size of the 3x lens' 48mp sensor is 1/1.3," which is roughly 1/3 the size of the main 4/3 sensor. So while it has double the MPs, it's 3x smaller.

Then they need to not put in the misleading 48mp sensor number on the 3x camera and advertize it as such when it is not.
It makes it look like the 3x camera has a higher resolution than the main camera.Not good.

 

[Filmarik]

Then they need to not put in the misleading 48mp sensor number on the 3x camera and advertize it as such when it is not.
It makes it look like the 3x camera has a higher resolution than the main camera.Not good.

These days there are mobile phones with 120MP sensor cameras. There are benefits from having such sensors which can be utilized for variety of image quality enhancements. It does not necessarily mean that these high MP sensors will give you IQ comparable to your FF DSLR even if it has less MP sensor. It is a complex topic sometimes hard to explain and even harder to understand. Enjoy your 48/12 MP 3x camera on your drone, use whichever setting gives you the results you are happy with, take amazing photos and videos and do not get bogged down in technicalities. That would be my 2 cent worth of a friendly advice to you

 

[mobilehomer]

If you do any kind of deep dive into the sensor tech you will find that the sensor does have 48MP of resolution and the question is which software output you extract. If you need the tech specs for the sensor it is an Omnivision OV48C. 12MP is a calculated result that combines the pixels and calculates a more accurate rendering of each pixel it sends you in the DNG file. That said the 48MP mode is also a calculated output as well as is almost every digital file you get out of just about any camera you can buy. If you ever play around with building your own camera profiles (Adobe DNG Profile Editor for example) you will quickly find that no one is really giving you truly RAW sensor outputs. This is true for high end DSLRs as well where the camera manufacturer is tweaking the color and light profiles to fit their desired results. There is a very wide audience for people who want to fiddle with just about everything in sight and just as wide an audience for those who don't want to fiddle with anything at all.

If you run these images through a good Denoise filter (eg. Lightroom Denoise, DxO PureRAW, or Topaz Denoise AI) you will find that all of them clean up quite nicely (do note that DxO can't process the 70mm sensor yet). I run everything I shoot through Denoise filters whether it's from a drone or my DSLR just because I get better image quality when I do and for me image quality is everything. I did exactly the same testing you did with my old Air 2 and discovered that the additional pixel coverage with the 48MP mode was well worth the additional processing steps. With the Air 2 both modes truly sucked when it came to really low light anyway. The Mavic Pro 3 is far better with the 48MP images with a larger and better sensor than the Air 2 but the Quad Bayer software techniques are borrowed from phone cameras and are basically the same.

If your use case is using the captures with a minimum of processing if any processing then you might well be better off with the 12MP mode. I never use my images that way and have lots of techniques for reducing noise and enhancing detail so for my use case 48MP wins out hands down. I personally don't see any reason why anyone's approach is either right or wrong and it all boils down to what YOU want out of YOUR equipment and how you want to use it.

Keep playing with the two modes and include some real world imaging with your own favored processing techniques and chances are you will settle on one vs. the other as it works for how you wish to use your 70mm lens/sensor system. You may even find use cases for both modes. The best part about digital imaging vs. film is that taking extra images with digital is free and you can always delete what you don't want or didn't work.

Where did you find that DJI uses this sensor?

 

[AlanL]

Where did you find that DJI uses this sensor?

There are quite a few references to this being the sensor in the Mini 3 Pro forum on here as well as tech reviews of the Mini 3 Pro like this one in Digital Tech Review.

 

[mobilehomer]

There are quite a few references to this being the sensor in the Mini 3 Pro forum on here as well as tech reviews of the Mini 3 Pro like this one in Digital Tech Review.

I guess you didn't read this part.

 

[AlanL]

I guess you didn't read this part.

Actually I did and then I did a search on the OV48C and read the description that Omnivision has on their website for this chip and posted that info above which apparently you didn't read. I trust the people who made the sensor.

 

[mobilehomer]

Actually I did and then I did a search on the OV48C and read the description that Omnivision has on their website for this chip and posted that info above which apparently you didn't read. I trust the people who made the sensor.

The OV48C also integrates an on-chip, 4-cell color filter array and hardware remosaic, which provides high quality, 48MP Bayer output,

 

[BobaFut]

Then they need to not put in the misleading 48mp sensor number on the 3x camera and advertize it as such when it is not.
It makes it look like the 3x camera has a higher resolution than the main camera.Not good.

In terms of raw MPs, it IS a higher resolution sensor, but the in-your-face Hasselblad branding is a pretty clear indicator of which camera is the “best” one on the drone and is what DJI focuses on in their marketing materials, along with the 4/3 branding (not the MPs). The actual sensor specs behind the 3x lens are basically a footnote.

 

[Filmarik]

In terms of raw MPs, it IS a higher resolution sensor, but the in-your-face Hasselblad branding is a pretty clear indicator of which camera is the “best” one on the drone and is what DJI focuses on in their marketing materials, along with the 4/3 branding (not the MPs). The actual sensor specs behind the 3x lens are basically a footnote.

And for a good reason. For prosumer drone in a small form factor having arrey of 3 cameras including one with M43 size sensor at our disposal is pretty amazing, IMHO. The Hassy camera is capable of producing very decent photos and videos (if you get a good unit not suffering from documented issues such as decentering and other optical flaws) which, the photos can be enlarged and framed making for a beautiful wall pictures etc.

 

[GadgetGuy]

DJI says the SmartPhoto 48MP and the 12MP have the same resolution.
For the difference between megapixels and resolution, see below.

Megapixels vs. Resolution: What's More Important In Photography?

Megapixels refer to how many pixels are displayed on your camera's sensor, while resolution refers to how many pixels per linear inch or cm

www.getphotokits.com

See also:

DJI's marketing for Mavic Air 2 exaggerates specs that may be misleading

Does DJI overexaggerate specs about their drones? Are the 48MP photos on Mavic Air 2 truly 48MP or are they really shot on a 12MP sensor?

dronedj.com

 

[Wreckhunter]

The OV48C also integrates an on-chip, 4-cell color filter array and hardware remosaic, which provides high quality, 48MP Bayer output,

48MP Bayer output,it is the companies version of a 48mp sensor.
You had it typed in red and that does say it all.Not a TRUE 48mp sensor.It is a gimmick
and trying to be a selling point.There is no consumer drone currently made with an honest
to goodness true 48 sensor.Putting any kind of a filter on a camera sensor does not make it the real deal,lol.
Not rocket science.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Actually I did and then I did a search on the OV48C and read the description that Omnivision has on their website for this chip and posted that info above which apparently you didn't read. I trust the people who made the sensor.

I am not trying to get nasty about this but,you said you trust the company that makes the sensor.However
being a company to make money do you trust them enough to be 100% sure they are telling the truth.Do you also trust DJI as an example to be 100% truthful.I think not