Hi GroovyGeek,
I own Air3s for some time, and back when I bought it and started testing I was about to return or sell it such was my disappointment.
Bought it mostly to support my photography and was quite excited about 50 mp 1 inch sensor with additional 70 mm lens all the other technical advancements. Thought going to sell my
air2s or put it in the cabinet to collect dust. Then I saw the images … Noise and artifacts even on midday shots, debatable details etc. Man, I was shocked and felt I wasted all the money.
Yet, after more testing and playing with it I decided to keep it and I am quite happy actually.
Thing is, do not touch 50 mp ever. Hope these are software issues that Dji will work on/correct in some future updates.
But still found air3s to be ultimate photography machine (with some limitations tho).
While 12 mp photos are generally acceptable they hardly match old good
air2s.
However there is a way to get really stunning images with unbelievable level of detail challenging full frame cameras
Its not as simple as single shot (or brackets for HDR) and requires you to completely ignore its 1 inch sensor (which is a bit counter intuitive I guess).
You need to combine 70mm (in 12 mp mode) with the new Free Panorama tool.
Then, as your “panorama” shot you just replicate the 24 mm frame (more or less – a bit more is probably better as it will give more cropping freedom). So this will produce some 6-12 shots id say 9 shots is probably closest to 24 mm.
It takes the drone few seconds to execute the shots the rest of the time it takes (not to long tho another 10 + seconds depend on number of frames taken) is internal processing of the images.
If you chosen so it will save nicely numbered dng’s in its own folder. However the stitching it does “inhouse” for the jpg produces is very well executed and balanced, I'd say commercially viable straight from the drone add some post on top of it and quite often is perfect.
Unbelievable detail and north of 30MP. But if you have tools and time to stitch the dng’s yourself this is yet another level.
And the freepano process is relatively quick, very easy and convenient.
Ofc it really depends on the type of photography you do and the conditions. Lots of dynamic movement in the scene makes it a bit harder I guess and might requite a lot post work or ruin the shot. You also need to keep an eye on WB and expo maybe (although I am not big fan of exposure lock, big chance to kill highlights and any decent pano software including this built in air3s will handle exposure banalcing nicely)
Some would say you can take such shots with
air3 or
mavic3 pro manually as well as they both have 70mm on same sensor.
However the game changer imo is the freepano tool, it is so quick and easy to setup the shot (especially with some practice) and you have complete control on aspect ratio and size of the final frame. It takes three button pushes and then you have you jpeg ready In seconds(well up to half a minute maybe) so probably before the guy with
mavic3 figures out the shots, overlaps and then they might find trying to stitch in post hours later that they made a mistake here and there
So as long as you scene is not to dynamic in large parts of the frame, you ok with the time it takes to process and until Dji releases Freepano to other capable drones (
air3,
mavic3 pro) there is not better flying camera on the market, even with its so crappy 50mp shots on its main sensor.
For all the other situations the 12 mp should be OK even if it feels like step down from
air2s not to mention mavic series (But this is different segment so comparing it to the latter might be a bit unfair).
Seems it’s individual matter of answering the question can you photography utilise the freenpano and if 24mm, 12 mp is good enough for when its not.
For me it’s a keeper for time being even if this is this sort of love/hate relationship.
