(For the Mavic 3 Pro) Photo quality of the x3 and x7 camera in real life

[RonanCork]

Hi All,

Thinking of upgrading from my Air2S to the Mavic 3 Pro. I've watched online reviews has and it does seems good.

Of the 3 cameras, the specs are:
- Hasselblad Camera: 4/3 CMOS, Effective Pixels: 20 MP- Medium Tele Camera (x3): 1/1.3″ CMOS, Effective Pixels: 48 MP- Tele Camera (x7): 1/2″ CMOS, Effective Pixels: 12 MP

The reviews seems to focus more on the video quality of each camera rather the the quality of the photos that each camera can take.

I'm confident the 4/3 camera will take great photos but wondering about the other two - the "x3" camera and the "x7" camera for this drone - how good is the quality in real life?

Wondering if any of you upgraded to the Mavic 3 Pro and could answer this for me.

Thanks Ro

 

[AlanL]

I take nothing but still photos with my Mavic 3 Pro and am very happy with the results. I like having 3 focal lengths to choose from and the added reach allows me to get better imagery from a distance. It isn't always practical/safe to fly close enough with the 24mm lens for every shot.

Here is an example I posted of using a 166mm (7x) lens to shoot a distant mountain (Mt. St. Helens) from over my driveway during a nice sunrise. The mountain is actually 45 miles away as a crow flies.



Another use case is when there are no fly zones. In this case at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge which is an extremely popular place to visit and always has a crowd. The US Forest Service set up no fly boundaries to keep drones away from the crowds. I flew out over the Columbia River and took this shot using the 70mm (3x) camera from a legal distance.



And yes the 24mm micro 4/3 camera takes very nice images.

For the record I have been shooting landscape photography for 60 years and use a Canon 5D MkIV with good glass for ground based imagery. I am quite picky about image quality.

 

[RonanCork]

I take nothing but still photos with my Mavic 3 Pro and am very happy with the results. I like having 3 focal lengths to choose from and the added reach allows me to get better imagery from a distance. It isn't always practical/safe to fly close enough with the 24mm lens for every shot.

Here is an example I posted of using a 166mm (7x) lens to shoot a distant mountain (Mt. St. Helens) from over my driveway during a nice sunrise. The mountain is actually 45 miles away as a crow flies.

View attachment 170085

Another use case is when there are no fly zones. In this case at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge which is an extremely popular place to visit and always has a crowd. The US Forest Service set up no fly boundaries to keep drones away from the crowds. I flew out over the Columbia River and took this shot using the 70mm (3x) camera from a legal distance.

View attachment 170086

And yes the 24mm micro 4/3 camera takes very nice images.

For the record I have been shooting landscape photography for 60 years and use a Canon 5D MkIV for good glass for ground based imagery. I am quite picky about image quality.

Hi, Much appreciated all the detail - really love those images. The Mount St Helens looks incredible in the sunlight - looks like lava rivers. Were you there when it erupted in 1980?. I recall reading about it and seeing footage was frightening. Thanks for the detail and background.

 

[AlanL]

Hi, Much appreciated all the detail - really love those images. The Mount St Helens looks incredible in the sunlight - looks like lava rivers. Were you there when it erupted in 1980?. I recall reading about it and seeing footage was frightening. Thanks for the detail and background.

I was not in this area in 1980 and like you have only seen other people's images of that event. Mt. St. Helens was one of the first places I visited when I moved here in 1998 and the blast zone was a jaw dropping sight even 18 years after the eruption. The vegetation has since filled in a lot of the blast zone and it isn't quite as barren these days.

 

[a man with perspective]

I like the 3x and 7x a lot, both for photo and video. For social media you will hardly notice the quality difference. For print, both the 3x and 7x are still just fine for things such as calendars and postcards.

3x:



7x:



It all depends on what you want to use it for. For me it's worth it for the reach and the compression, the 7x is definitely not as good as the 1x and 3x, but it can be great in the right circumstances.

1x:



3x:



The 1x might technically be better, but I prefer the result of the 3x in this case.

And here is a comparison between the 1x and the 7x:





For me the creative possibilities are much more important than the quality of the pixels etc. And any limitations of the hardware can force you to become more creative as well.

Hope this helps!

 

[Meta4]

I'm confident the 4/3 camera will take great photos but wondering about the other two - the "x3" camera and the "x7" camera for this drone - how good is the quality in real life?

I'm getting a lot of good shots with both and for some work, the short tele camera is my tool of choice when I don't want that wideangle look.
Some examples from my last few shoots...
Short tele:

A 2x2 pano with the long tele:

Both tele cameras are great for bringing in background elements like this with the long tele camera where the tow cable is 300 metres (1000 ft) long:

 

[Filmarik]

I'm getting a lot of good shots with both and for some work, the short tele camera is my tool of choice when I don't want that wideangle look.
Some examples from my last few shoots...
Short tele:

A 2x2 pano with the long tele:

Both tele cameras are great for bringing in background elements like this with the long tele camera where the tow cable is 300 metres (1000 ft) long:

Such a beautiful and colourful subjects to shoot.

 

[Filmarik]

Such a beautiful and colourful subjects to shoot.

Do you still shoot JPEGs and are these sample shots OOC JPEGs? Or edited JPEGs? Or converts from processed DNGs ?

 

[Meta4]

Do you still shoot JPEGs and are these sample shots OOC JPEGs? Or edited JPEGs? Or converts from processed DNGs ?

Yes ... I swim against the tide and shoot jpg.
Those are lightly edited jpg images.

 

[Filmarik]

Yes ... I swim against the tide and shoot jpg.
Those are lightly edited jpg images.

I assume these are for a client, right?. As long as your client is happy, that is all what counts. Drone, baloon, helicopter, jetpack, DNG or JPEG, it does not matter how you get the result as long as you do

 

[SkywalkerFeng]

If you are upgrading from Air2S to Mavic 3 Pro, the biggest upgrade is NOT about image quality. Creative freedom is where you should put focus on. The freedom that you can shoot with 24mm, 70mm, and 166mm lens at the same time, in a single flight.

Regarding the image quality of the 3X & 7X cameras in real life, both are good enough to deliver high quality images to my clients, as long as there are decent light. For 3X camera, the 48mp mode is particularly impressive, delivering tons of details, especially useful if you like to crop and re-compose.


Mavic 3 Pro, 24mm lens, ISO 100


Mavic 3 Pro, 70mm lens, ISO 200


Mavic 3 Pro, 166mm lens, ISO 100

 

[Filmarik]

If you are upgrading from Air2S to Mavic 3 Pro, the biggest upgrade is NOT about image quality. Creative freedom is where you should put focus on. The freedom that you can shoot with 24mm, 70mm, and 166mm lens at the same time, in a single flight.

Regarding the image quality of the 3X & 7X cameras in real life, both are good enough to deliver high quality images to my clients, as long as there are decent light. For 3X camera, the 48mp mode is particularly impressive, delivering tons of details, especially useful if you like to crop and re-compose.


Mavic 3 Pro, 24mm lens, ISO 100


Mavic 3 Pro, 70mm lens, ISO 200


Mavic 3 Pro, 166mm lens, ISO 100

Agree. I am also impressed with the 48MB mode on 3x. This camera is truly amazing and the photos show impressive amount of detail.
As for the 166mm, I shoot DNG, apply denoising and sharpening in LR, export as 16 bit TIFF and then finish off in PS. The IQ from 166mm camera I am able to achieve is actually pretty decent. Good light is required though when shooting. Just to have this long tele focal length camera on a small drone is astonishing, IMHO.

 

[RonanCork]

If you are upgrading from Air2S to Mavic 3 Pro, the biggest upgrade is NOT about image quality. Creative freedom is where you should put focus on. The freedom that you can shoot with 24mm, 70mm, and 166mm lens at the same time, in a single flight.

Regarding the image quality of the 3X & 7X cameras in real life, both are good enough to deliver high quality images to my clients, as long as there are decent light. For 3X camera, the 48mp mode is particularly impressive, delivering tons of details, especially useful if you like to crop and re-compose.


Mavic 3 Pro, 24mm lens, ISO 100


Mavic 3 Pro, 70mm lens, ISO 200


Mavic 3 Pro, 166mm lens, ISO 100

Wow great images. Thanks for your reply. I've had the mavic 3 pro for 1 week now and what you've bolded above it SO true. I was shooting a lighthouse today and a cruise liner passed nearby. The x3 and x7 really saved me and I got great shots. Not needed to fly in to get that shot, and changing on the fly with the click of a button, great points you made, thanks!

 

[AlanL]

If you are upgrading from Air2S to Mavic 3 Pro, the biggest upgrade is NOT about image quality. Creative freedom is where you should put focus on. The freedom that you can shoot with 24mm, 70mm, and 166mm lens at the same time, in a single flight.

Regarding the image quality of the 3X & 7X cameras in real life, both are good enough to deliver high quality images to my clients, as long as there are decent light. For 3X camera, the 48mp mode is particularly impressive, delivering tons of details, especially useful if you like to crop and re-compose.


Mavic 3 Pro, 24mm lens, ISO 100


Mavic 3 Pro, 70mm lens, ISO 200


Mavic 3 Pro, 166mm lens, ISO 100

Also fully agree - when I am out hiking with my DSLR gear I always have a 17-40mm wide angle, 24-105mm zoom and a 100-400mm zoom for flexibility with compositions. The Mavic 3 Pro gives me a selection of focal lengths that work quite well for replicating this in the sky. I shoot everything with DNG outputs and run everything worth keeping through DxO PureRAW to clean up any noise.

 

[AppalachianDroneWorks]

If you are upgrading from Air2S to Mavic 3 Pro, the biggest upgrade is NOT about image quality. Creative freedom is where you should put focus on. The freedom that you can shoot with 24mm, 70mm, and 166mm lens at the same time, in a single flight.

Regarding the image quality of the 3X & 7X cameras in real life, both are good enough to deliver high quality images to my clients, as long as there are decent light. For 3X camera, the 48mp mode is particularly impressive, delivering tons of details, especially useful if you like to crop and re-compose.


Mavic 3 Pro, 24mm lens, ISO 100


Mavic 3 Pro, 70mm lens, ISO 200


Mavic 3 Pro, 166mm lens, ISO 100

Incredible images

 

[AppalachianDroneWorks]

If you are upgrading from Air2S to Mavic 3 Pro, the biggest upgrade is NOT about image quality. Creative freedom is where you should put focus on. The freedom that you can shoot with 24mm, 70mm, and 166mm lens at the same time, in a single flight.

Regarding the image quality of the 3X & 7X cameras in real life, both are good enough to deliver high quality images to my clients, as long as there are decent light. For 3X camera, the 48mp mode is particularly impressive, delivering tons of details, especially useful if you like to crop and re-compose.


Mavic 3 Pro, 24mm lens, ISO 100


Mavic 3 Pro, 70mm lens, ISO 200


Mavic 3 Pro, 166mm lens, ISO 100

Incredible Images!

 

[MotoSavy]

I take nothing but still photos with my Mavic 3 Pro and am very happy with the results. I like having 3 focal lengths to choose from and the added reach allows me to get better imagery from a distance. It isn't always practical/safe to fly close enough with the 24mm lens for every shot.

Here is an example I posted of using a 166mm (7x) lens to shoot a distant mountain (Mt. St. Helens) from over my driveway during a nice sunrise. The mountain is actually 45 miles away as a crow flies.

View attachment 170085

Another use case is when there are no fly zones. In this case at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge which is an extremely popular place to visit and always has a crowd. The US Forest Service set up no fly boundaries to keep drones away from the crowds. I flew out over the Columbia River and took this shot using the 70mm (3x) camera from a legal distance.

View attachment 170086

And yes the 24mm micro 4/3 camera takes very nice images.

For the record I have been shooting landscape photography for 60 years and use a Canon 5D MkIV with good glass for ground based imagery. I am quite picky about image quality.

Great photos. I have an Air 3 and really like the 3x lens as well.

 

[AlanL]

Great photos. I have an Air 3 and really like the 3x lens as well.

I thought it was pretty neat DJI elected to put that camera/lens in the Air 3 - that focal length hits kind of a sweet spot for drone based still photography. I have used it more often than I use the 24mm primary camera on my Mavic 3 Pro.

 

[Filmarik]

I thought it was pretty neat DJI elected to put that camera/lens in the Air 3 - that focal length hits kind of a sweet spot for drone based still photography. I have used it more often than I use the 24mm primary camera on my Mavic 3 Pro.

Both 3x and 7x and in fact the 1x as well do need fair bit of USM but the files take the sharpening well and the photos look crisp and sharp when skilfully processed in software such LR (DNG). I am very impressed how good the pics from the 3x and 7x actually look. The 1x is capable of producing great photos with good DR but we kind of got used to that by now. This is a crop from the 7x camera shot. Pretty decent detail, if you ask me

 

[AlanL]

Both 3x and 7x and in fact the 1x as well do need fair bit of USM but the files take the sharpening well and the photos look crisp and sharp when skilfully processed in software such LR (DNG). I am very impressed how good the pics from the 3x and 7x actually look. The 1x is capable of producing great photos with good DR but we kind of got used to that by now. This is a crop from the 7x camera shot. Pretty decent detail, if you ask me

You picked one of the best applications out there for cleanup and sharpening with DxO PureRAW 3. Nice example.