Air 3S packaging image leaked

[Occams Razor]

The difference isn't minor, a M43 is 93.6% bigger. It's a very very big difference and especially in the dynamic range department. The difference will most likely be several stops.

The difference in DR between those 2 sensors is closer to 1 stop and not several stops. Below is a graph comparing the photographic dynamic range between a RX100 (1” sensor) and a GH7 ( M43) at various ISO’s. The M43 sensor gets a boost at ISO3200 but this is not due to sensor size but that specific sensor has dual gain amplification. While the M43 will have better IQ due to the larger sensor surface area, the DR difference is much smaller than you think.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Differences in size isn't really subjective, it's very quantifiable and the same goes for stops of dynamic range. If the substantially larger and better sensor is need or not is another question ofc, but there's no question whatsoever about the fact that there's a very very large difference in size and quality between them.

When looking at a 320x240 decimated? 1920x1080?

Quality as seen by the human eye is subjective. As I said, whether 4/3, 1", or ½" makes any difference is relative to the application.

Buying a Mavic 3 for YT videos is overkill, regardless of the amazing stills it can take.

 

[droniedrone]

When looking at a 320x240 decimated? 1920x1080?

Quality as seen by the human eye is subjective. As I said, whether 4/3, 1", or ½" makes any difference is relative to the application.

Buying a Mavic 3 for YT videos is overkill, regardless of the amazing stills it can take.

The difference is still not subjective no matter if it's overkill or not. It's very quantifiable and MFT is simply better when it comes to dynamic range no matter the application.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The difference is still not subjective no matter if it's overkill or not. It's very quantifiable and MFT is simply better when it comes to dynamic range no matter the application.

Try and have that argument with a blind man. Could you sell him a Mavic 3 because of the objectively superior imagery?

Or more realistically, the kid's birthday party business... they shoot some drone video and incorporate it into an overall production of the party using 4k cell phone footage.

Convince them they need to buy a Mavic 3 instead of a mini 4 pro. Good luck.

"Subjective" necessarily includes human judgement. It has little to do with objective measurement under controlled conditions.

Objective: A bright orange drone is more visible than a sky blue drone at 500ft distance.

Subjective: Not for someone with uncorrectable 20/400 vision, but for them the distinction becomes useful at 20ft.

That's the point you just simply can't seem to grasp. Image quality one can't see is simply a "who cares" situation for the vast majority of people.

Or put more succinctly, it's application dependent.

 

[Steelgtr]

Guys, I'm thinking of getting the Air 3 with the RC-N2 (not pro) controller so I can use my ipad mini 5 like I have on my previous drones. Will this work wit this newer controller and is the mini 5 still capable? TY

 

[davidarmenb]

Guys, I'm thinking of getting the Air 3 with the RC-N2 (not pro) controller so I can use my ipad mini 5 like I have on my previous drones. Will this work wit this newer controller and is the mini 5 still capable? TY

Check if you can install the latest version of DJI Fly on the AppStore. Other than app support, I don’t see why not.

 

[Steelgtr]

Check if you can install the latest version of DJI Fly on the AppStore. Other than app support, I don’t see why not.

Thanks, Yes, I have it. Is the transmission quality better on the RC 2 because of the (extra?) antenna?

 

[droniedrone]

Try and have that argument with a blind man. Could you sell him a Mavic 3 because of the objectively superior imagery?

Or more realistically, the kid's birthday party business... they shoot some drone video and incorporate it into an overall production of the party using 4k cell phone footage.

Convince them they need to buy a Mavic 3 instead of a mini 4 pro. Good luck.

"Subjective" necessarily includes human judgement. It has little to do with objective measurement under controlled conditions.

Objective: A bright orange drone is more visible than a sky blue drone at 500ft distance.

Subjective: Not for someone with uncorrectable 20/400 vision, but for them the distinction becomes useful at 20ft.

That's the point you just simply can't seem to grasp. Image quality one can't see is simply a "who cares" situation for the vast majority of people.

Or put more succinctly, it's application dependent.

The difference is still not subjective no matter if it's overkill or not. It's very quantifiable and MFT is simply better when it comes to dynamic range no matter the application. These MFT sensors will still no matter if you're blind or not provide you with higher dynamic range.

 

[wco81]

Maybe in 70-80% of the cases, the larger sensor or the variable aperture doesn't make a noticeable difference, unless you're pixel-peeping.

But it's a spec that many people like to check off, especially those of us still with older drones who've been holding off on upgrading until now.

 

[droniedrone]

Well, that's not entirely true. I can say with confidence that 100% of the cases i want as much dynamic range as i can and especially full D-Log and not D-Log M. I fly professionally so there will never ever be a time where a worse image will be better. Variable aperture isn't that important for me personally in most cases but sometimes it's absolutely needed. Also, it's literally impossible to get the same shallow dof using the drones with small sensors unless you wanna use something like depth from defocus in DaVinci and do a lot of masking.

With all that said, that's not really what i was talking about. All i'm saying is higher dynamic range and larger sensors are always going to be higher dynamic range and larger sensor. If there's a use case for a drone with a worse image because of the size of that drone? Sure. But it will still have lower dynamic range and a smaller sensor no matter how useful it is or not.

 

[wco81]

I should have added also that if you're mostly flying during the day in good light, not flying at twilight or night.

 

[TinajaEco]

Y’all need to go outside and touch some grass. Maybe even fly your drone.

 

[droniedrone]

I should have added also that if you're mostly flying during the day in good light, not flying at twilight or night.

Dynamic range is especially important when you're flying during the day and especially on clear summer days (winter as well ofc) as there's a much much larger gap between your shadows and highlights. This means if you got one of the Mini drones for example (as well as the Air 3) you will likely have to lose some information in either your shadows or highlights. With larger sensor drones, especially on the Inspire series, you don't have to sacrifice as much information which is why we use those types of drone on most jobs and would absolutely not use something with less dynamic range. If it's pretty overcast so you can get away with drones that has overall worse DR as there's less of a gap between your highlights and shadows. But even then personally i wouldn't choose something that's worse unless i was forced to for whatever reason.

Again, all i'm saying is higher dynamic range is higher dynamic range. Physically larger sensors are physically larger sensors. Have a great a day

 

[Droning on and on...]

Again, all i'm saying is higher dynamic range is higher dynamic range. Physically larger sensors are physically larger sensors. Have a great a day

You are also saying context is not important. Final example: Two cars, one capable of 150mph, the other 120mph. The speed limit on Interstate 5 is 75.

Is the car with faster top speed "better" at 70 just because it is capable of a higher top speed, if you always obey the law on public highways?

You're a professional YT influencer. Which drone do you buy to capture video for your channel? A Mavic 3 classic, or a Mini 3?

 

[droniedrone]

You are also saying context is not important. Final example: Two cars, one capable of 150mph, the other 120mph. The speed limit on I5 is 70.

Does the car with faster top speed drive "better" at 70 just because it is capable of a higher top speed?

You're a professional YT influencer. Which drone do you buy to capture video for your channel? A Mavic 3 classic, or a Mini 3?

That comparison doesn't work. Higher dynamic range is higher no matter how slow you fly or if you film for youtube or if you're doing commercials. Doesn't matter at what level you are, dynamic range is still much higher. And sure, the car with a higher top speed will most likely handle better at 70 as it built to handle much much higher speeds so again, that comparison didn't really land.

 

[Droning on and on...]

That comparison doesn't work. Higher dynamic range is higher

Not after it's been run through YT processing, heavily recompressed, and the subtle brightness variations in the dark shadows disappear, those dark areas becoming uniform.

You insist that the only meaningful measure of relative quality is tech specs and the result that produces under ideal use conditions. It's just one way to compare quality.

Another way is, for my use case, does the larger sensor produce a higher quality end result? As I've illustrated with the YT situation, it doesn't matter. Every application has some breakpoint of diminishing returns.

Even with the direct, unaltered output, there still is a limitation due to quantization. At some size, the sensor will be able to discriminate light variations on a pixel that produce a discernable range of accurate analog values that all get converted by the ADC to 0 or 1. The image data the sensor is capable of gets lost because unlike analog, digital is not continuous. The entire system needs to be redesigned to use 32 app instead of 24, to allow finer quantization.

Image quality is much more than just sensor size. A larger sensor will not always produce higher quality imagery, when all aspects of the project are considered.

 

[droniedrone]

Not after it's been run through YT processing, heavily recompressed, and the subtle brightness variations in the dark shadows disappear, those dark areas becoming uniform.

You insist that the only meaningful measure of relative quality is tech specs and the result that produces under ideal use conditions. It's just one way to compare quality.

Another way is, for my use case, does the larger sensor produce a higher quality end result? As I've illustrated with the YT situation, it doesn't matter. Every application has some breakpoint of diminishing returns.

Even with the direct, unaltered output, there still is a limitation due to quantization. At some size, the sensor will be able to discriminate light variations on a pixel that are produce a discernable range of analog values that get converted by the ADC to 0 or 1. The image data the sensor is capable of gets lost because unlike analog, digital is not continuous.

Image quality is much more than just sensor size. A larger sensor will not always produce higher quality imagery, when all aspects of the project are considered.

Yeah you're obviously not really reading what i'm saying so there's no need to argue this anymore so i'll just say it one last time. Higher dynamic range is higher dynamic range, doesn't matter what you use it for it's still higher dynamic range. There's ofc times where certain drones are better than others no matter if it's technically a drone with much worse DR or not but it's still technically a drone with much worse DR. I'm not saying you shouldn't use something or not, all i'm saying is this is easily quantifiable and some drones are technically better. That's a fact and no one can change that, haha. Have a great day

 

[wco81]

There was a rumor that this new drone would be announced on Sept. 25.

Now it's suppose to happen on Oct. 15.

Seems like every product they release have been hard to get at first so probably the same story for this one.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The Neo will be O4 just like the current line up and it comes with the RC-N3. I am almost certain the transmission protocol of the Air 3S will be O4. Though I’m curious why they are releasing yet another RC-N controller, especially if this third iteration is still O4.

Redesigned to be cheaper. Removed half the batteries, probably some other design changes to take out some cost.

This wa first introduced with the Neo as a low cost alternative to the N2. aim guessing they've decided the capacity of the N1/N2 was overkill, and they could keep prices under control with this cheaper N3 going forward. Expect it to replace the N2 in all new O4 aircraft bundles.