AIR 3 PICTURE QUALITY PROBLEM

[Occams Razor]

My apologies but this is just untrue. Although a slightly smaller physical sensor (1” vs 0.77”), the Air 3 uses a state-of-the-art stacked and backside illuminated sensor, which can gather a ton more light than standard sensors of the past, which stacks the individual components in separate wafers to dramatically increase sensor read speed, and which has 48 physical megapixels that are pixel-binned (4 pixels become 1 huge pixel) to 12MP using a QuadBayer design when recording video and when in 12MP photo mode. In every measurable way, the Air 3 sensor performs better than the Air 2S, especially with regards to noise and the speed of the sensor due to the stacked design. One only has to shoot video at night to see the clear difference in the quality. Sensor size is only one variable when it comes to overall picture quality, there are many, many other variables.

View attachment 173235
Example of stacked sensor, showing separation of components into individual wafers that are then stacked together.

View attachment 173236
Differences between a regular (FSI) sensor and a BSI sensor, which the Air 3 uses. The main difference is all the electrical wiring is now underneath the photodiodes as opposed to above them, so they are no longer blocking any light from reaching the photodiodes, allowing the sensor to receive dramatically more light than it could before. BSI sensors can receive a similar amount of total light as much bigger sized FSI sensors, which the Air 2S uses.

These two huge physical upgrades to the sensor combine to make the Air 3 sensor an incredible piece of technology and a huge upgrade to the Air 2

Can you let us know where you saw that the Air 3 has a BSI sensor? The Air 3 may have a stacked sensor but I believe it is the same sensor generation as those found in the Mini 3P/4P and MP3 (medium telephoto) because there is nothing in the specs that indicate that the Air 3 has a greater readout speed than any of those other sensors. Also DJI does not state anything about BSI or stacked sensors in the Air 3 specs which I would think they would want to promote given that these technologies are typically found in the high-end MILC's.

I do agree that the Air 3 potentially has better low light performance as compared to the Air 2S but this is primarily due to the Air 3's f/1.7 lens while the Air 2S has a slower f/2.8 lens - this is 1-1/2 stops of increased light which will make a visible difference in image quality.

 

[Wreckhunter]

My apologies but this is just untrue. Although a slightly smaller physical sensor (1” vs 0.77”), the Air 3 uses a state-of-the-art stacked and backside illuminated sensor, which can gather a ton more light than standard sensors of the past, which stacks the individual components in separate wafers to dramatically increase sensor read speed, and which has 48 physical megapixels that are pixel-binned (4 pixels become 1 huge pixel) to 12MP using a QuadBayer design when recording video and when in 12MP photo mode. In every measurable way, the Air 3 sensor performs better than the Air 2S, especially with regards to noise and the speed of the sensor due to the stacked design. One only has to shoot video at night to see the clear difference in the quality. Sensor size is only one variable when it comes to overall picture quality, there are many, many other variables.

View attachment 173235
Example of stacked sensor, showing separation of components into individual wafers that are then stacked together.

View attachment 173236
Differences between a regular (FSI) sensor and a BSI sensor, which the Air 3 uses. The main difference is all the electrical wiring is now underneath the photodiodes as opposed to above them, so they are no longer blocking any light from reaching the photodiodes, allowing the sensor to receive dramatically more light than it could before. BSI sensors can receive a similar amount of total light as much bigger sized FSI sensors, which the Air 2S uses.

These two huge physical upgrades to the sensor combine to make the Air 3 sensor an incredible piece of technology and a huge upgrade to the Air 2S.

The Air 3 has 12 physical megapixels on each camera,you have your two figures backwards

 

[GadgetGuy]

The Air 3 has 12 physical megapixels on each camera, you have your two figures backwards

Which two figures?

 

[Wreckhunter]

Which two figures?

His 12 and 48 figures are backwards

 

[davidarmenb]

The Air 3 has 12 physical megapixels on each camera,you have your two figures backwards

That is completely incorrect. It has 48 physical megapixels (~48,000,000 photodiodes), it uses a QuadBayer Filter design. And uses 4-to-1 pixel-binning to create 4K video and 12MP photos. Very common in high end spart phones. Please do some proper research, or better yet, contact DJI.

The QuadBayer color filter design is, in my opinion, why so many people think it’s a 12MP sensor.

 

[davidarmenb]

Can you let us know where you saw that the Air 3 has a BSI sensor? The Air 3 may have a stacked sensor but I believe it is the same sensor generation as those found in the Mini 3P/4P and MP3 (medium telephoto) because there is nothing in the specs that indicate that the Air 3 has a greater readout speed than any of those other sensors. Also DJI does not state anything about BSI or stacked sensors in the Air 3 specs which I would think they would want to promote given that these technologies are typically found in the high-end MILC's.

I do agree that the Air 3 potentially has better low light performance as compared to the Air 2S but this is primarily due to the Air 3's f/1.7 lens while the Air 2S has a slower f/2.8 lens - this is 1-1/2 stops of increased light which will make a visible difference in image quality.

My sources are the many reviews officially sponsored by DJI about the Air 3 upon release.
In my view, it is highly unlikely they would just lie about important specs or make things up, considering these people pretty much got scripts from DJI, or at the very least, talking points, and had to be approved by DJI before publishing said content.

Also, the aperture difference is taken into account as this applies to both sensors inside the Air 3, not just the wide angle sensor. The 70mm equivalent lens on the Air 3 is also F2.8.

Also also, the Mini 4 Pro has the same sensor as the two sensors in the Air 3. Therefore, the Mini 3 Pro and Mini 4 Pro Sensors are not identical.

 

[davidarmenb]

Visual example of a Quad Bayer, how it shoots in 12MP, and how it uses Array Conversion to create a Traditional Bayer for 48MP.

 

[Occams Razor]

My sources are the many reviews officially sponsored by DJI about the Air 3 upon release.
In my view, it is highly unlikely they would just lie about important specs or make things up, considering these people pretty much got scripts from DJI, or at the very least, talking points, and had to be approved by DJI before publishing said content.

Also, the aperture difference is taken into account as this applies to both sensors inside the Air 3, not just the wide angle sensor. The 70mm equivalent lens on the Air 3 is also F2.8.

Also also, the Mini 4 Pro has the same sensor as the two sensors in the Air 3. Therefore, the Mini 3 Pro and Mini 4 Pro Sensors are not identical.

If you have faith in reviews, I believe there were reviews that stated the sensors in the Mini 3 Pro and Mini 4 Pro have identical sensors. However reviews aside, let's assume that the Mini 4 Pro has a new generation stacked sensor that the Mini 3 pro doesn't have. For simplicity sakes we won't even consider BSI changes. Stacked sensors are primarily about readout speeds. I would expect the specs of the Mini 4 Pro would reflect some kind of performance enhancement over the Mini 3 Pro in terms of burst rate, video frame rate, bit depth, etc. These would be the types of improvements you would see with a stacked sensor. However, outside of some enhancements that DJI was able to implement with the H.265 compression standard, all of the specs are exactly the same between the 2 drones. Without any published information on a new sensor from DJI or any tangible performance improvements highlighted in the specs, it is hard to believe that DJI would invest in a more expensive sensor. Reviews are nice but hard data/documented specs are better.

 

[Marco Luz]

DJI also announced the Mini series 3 and 3 Pro have HDR, when in fact it hasn´t. There are multiple complains about it, including myself. I don´t see any minor diference between shots.
After watching tons of footage of the air 3, raw files (not those fancy comparisons on YT spreading fomo) comparing to my mini 3, and the air2s I can clearly state that regards video quality, it´s a small step ahead but I believe due to image processing. Although regards photo stills, it´s a real bummer... my air2s is 3x times better than the air3. On the air 3, they look cheap, almost always out of focus and lack of detail. Even my phone takes better photos and it´s an Iphone SE 2020. So I think it´s a disappointment!
And regards all this phony baloney around the sensor, on paper it might look great and really promising but in real life those cameras on the Air 3 are not even close to great quality of the air2s, unfortunately.
That´s why you see people talking about this issues and questioning the quality of the image on the Air 3, like OP did!
He´s not the first one, and won´t be the last one! Just accept that there is lack of quality on the cameras on the Air 3.
P.S. I am not a native english speaker, so please forgive me for some lack of quality in my english.

 

[davidarmenb]

DJI also announced the Mini series 3 and 3 Pro have HDR, when in fact it hasn´t. There are multiple complains about it, including myself. I don´t see any minor diference between shots.
After watching tons of footage of the air 3, raw files (not those fancy comparisons on YT spreading fomo) comparing to my mini 3, and the air2s I can clearly state that regards video quality, it´s a small step ahead but I believe due to image processing. Although regards photo stills, it´s a real bummer... my air2s is 3x times better than the air3. On the air 3, they look cheap, almost always out of focus and lack of detail. Even my phone takes better photos and it´s an Iphone SE 2020. So I think it´s a disappointment!
And regards all this phony baloney around the sensor, on paper it might look great and really promising but in real life those cameras on the Air 3 are not even close to great quality of the air2s, unfortunately.
That´s why you see people talking about this issues and questioning the quality of the image on the Air 3, like OP did!
He´s not the first one, and won´t be the last one! Just accept that there is lack of quality on the cameras on the Air 3.
P.S. I am not a native english speaker, so please forgive me for some lack of quality in my english.

You’re totally entitled to your opinion.

Also, if you had read the posts, you’d know that OP’s problem is due to DJI FLY’s internal pano stitcher. If panos are stitched using dedicated software, OP’s issue wouldn’t be an issue.