Hello,
I recently purchased a DJI Air 3, my first new drone since the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced that I bought about 5 years ago and have flown for about 500 flights.
I purchased the Air 3 with the RC-N2 remote as part of a Flymore combo.
I mostly use my drone for shooting photos of moving subjects (vehicles at speed), and so for me a relatively fast single-frame rate "cycle time" (how quickly I can click the shutter and capture another photo), as well as accuracy of knowing where a subject is located when pressing the shutter button is important.
In testing I have been disappointed to experience some significant lag in the photo capture with the Air 3, and I wanted to see if my experience is just me, or if this is a common issue with not only the Air 3 but perhaps other Air series and Mavic series too?
With my Phantom 4 Advanced, shooting full size RAW+JPEG, and using the standard remote it came with I am able to capture photos what seems like almost instantaneous time compared to what I am seeing on the app video screen. I can snap off multiple individual frames with presses of the shutter button without experiencing any "buffering" issues - even if the photo is still saving it will capture another frame.
With the Air3 and RC-N2 remote, when I press the shutter on a 48MP photo or even a 12 MP single shot photo, it takes what seems like almost a full second for a "cycle" before I can capture another photo. I have been recording directly to the drone internal storage in these tests so it would seem that the SD card save rate would not be effecting these results? The 3-5-7 "burst" frame option is very "rigid" in the time and is almost too quick - I don't need photos that rapid, but I want to capture maybe 3 frames in 2 seconds most time, then another 2-3 frames a few seconds later, and at moments I choose. The long "cycle time" seems to occur no matter what mode I'm in - whether capturing a 12 MP JPEG or a 48 MP RAW+JPEG (though it's slightly less with just the JPEG of course). What's interesting is that the pre-programmed "burst mode" can capture a series of frames very quickly, it would seem I should be able to individually choose when to capture shots on a similar rapid rate as that must mean the "buffer" can keep up?
I also noticed that when I click the shutter button, there is enough of a delay that the image I am seeing on the controller when it freezes like it's taking a photo (which since I use the RC-N2 is on my phone screen) is different from what I get when I actually look at the photo file later - a moving subject was clearly captured somewhere around 0.5-1 seconds later than I was seeing. I've tried all different settings to try to minimize this; switching to manual focus to try to avoid the delay there, trying the lowest 12 mp resolution only, only saving to internal storage, etc.
My questions I am hoping someone can help with:
- Can anyone with the RC2 controller (with screen) confirm if these issues with delay in "viewed image vs captured image" and "cycle time" for the ability to capture a second image also exist with the RC2? If the problem is the lesser RC-N2 remote and these do not exist or are far better with the RC2, I would consider upgrading, though that would still be disappointing.
- For the photo "cycle time" - should I be able to individually capture multiple single shots without having to wait for the first to save, or is there anything I'm doing wrong that keeps me from capturing multiple frames outside of "burst mode"? Any hope of this improving with a Firmware update?
- Do higher-level drones like the Mavic 3 or M3P also have these delay issues? Would I get this same experience even with the Mavic series? I'm just a hobbyist so the Mavic Cine is out of my price range, and even the Mavic 3 is hard to justify. I found a thread on another forum from 2021 describing similar issues, and I wondered if that's still the case or not: Mavic 3 shutter lag
Overall these issues are a big disappointment coming from an older model drone in the Phantom 4 Advanced that appears to be far superior in these features (though obviously there are some other good feature upgrades). I know the Phantoms had a mechanical shutter as opposed to the digital shutter, but it's still disappointing.
I am strongly considering returning the Air3 if these issues are really just a reality of this series, but if it's the same with the Mavic 3 series well then it probably just is what it is for what I can afford. I like the added Zoom Lens of the Air3, but have been disappointed with these other issues.
Thanks,
Noah Hofrichter
I recently purchased a DJI Air 3, my first new drone since the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced that I bought about 5 years ago and have flown for about 500 flights.
I purchased the Air 3 with the RC-N2 remote as part of a Flymore combo.
I mostly use my drone for shooting photos of moving subjects (vehicles at speed), and so for me a relatively fast single-frame rate "cycle time" (how quickly I can click the shutter and capture another photo), as well as accuracy of knowing where a subject is located when pressing the shutter button is important.
In testing I have been disappointed to experience some significant lag in the photo capture with the Air 3, and I wanted to see if my experience is just me, or if this is a common issue with not only the Air 3 but perhaps other Air series and Mavic series too?
With my Phantom 4 Advanced, shooting full size RAW+JPEG, and using the standard remote it came with I am able to capture photos what seems like almost instantaneous time compared to what I am seeing on the app video screen. I can snap off multiple individual frames with presses of the shutter button without experiencing any "buffering" issues - even if the photo is still saving it will capture another frame.
With the Air3 and RC-N2 remote, when I press the shutter on a 48MP photo or even a 12 MP single shot photo, it takes what seems like almost a full second for a "cycle" before I can capture another photo. I have been recording directly to the drone internal storage in these tests so it would seem that the SD card save rate would not be effecting these results? The 3-5-7 "burst" frame option is very "rigid" in the time and is almost too quick - I don't need photos that rapid, but I want to capture maybe 3 frames in 2 seconds most time, then another 2-3 frames a few seconds later, and at moments I choose. The long "cycle time" seems to occur no matter what mode I'm in - whether capturing a 12 MP JPEG or a 48 MP RAW+JPEG (though it's slightly less with just the JPEG of course). What's interesting is that the pre-programmed "burst mode" can capture a series of frames very quickly, it would seem I should be able to individually choose when to capture shots on a similar rapid rate as that must mean the "buffer" can keep up?
I also noticed that when I click the shutter button, there is enough of a delay that the image I am seeing on the controller when it freezes like it's taking a photo (which since I use the RC-N2 is on my phone screen) is different from what I get when I actually look at the photo file later - a moving subject was clearly captured somewhere around 0.5-1 seconds later than I was seeing. I've tried all different settings to try to minimize this; switching to manual focus to try to avoid the delay there, trying the lowest 12 mp resolution only, only saving to internal storage, etc.
My questions I am hoping someone can help with:
- Can anyone with the RC2 controller (with screen) confirm if these issues with delay in "viewed image vs captured image" and "cycle time" for the ability to capture a second image also exist with the RC2? If the problem is the lesser RC-N2 remote and these do not exist or are far better with the RC2, I would consider upgrading, though that would still be disappointing.
- For the photo "cycle time" - should I be able to individually capture multiple single shots without having to wait for the first to save, or is there anything I'm doing wrong that keeps me from capturing multiple frames outside of "burst mode"? Any hope of this improving with a Firmware update?
- Do higher-level drones like the Mavic 3 or M3P also have these delay issues? Would I get this same experience even with the Mavic series? I'm just a hobbyist so the Mavic Cine is out of my price range, and even the Mavic 3 is hard to justify. I found a thread on another forum from 2021 describing similar issues, and I wondered if that's still the case or not: Mavic 3 shutter lag
Overall these issues are a big disappointment coming from an older model drone in the Phantom 4 Advanced that appears to be far superior in these features (though obviously there are some other good feature upgrades). I know the Phantoms had a mechanical shutter as opposed to the digital shutter, but it's still disappointing.
I am strongly considering returning the Air3 if these issues are really just a reality of this series, but if it's the same with the Mavic 3 series well then it probably just is what it is for what I can afford. I like the added Zoom Lens of the Air3, but have been disappointed with these other issues.
Thanks,
Noah Hofrichter
