Convince me which drone to upgrade to

Ian_1424 · Mar 6, 2023

Hi there everyone,
Currently I have a Mavic Air 2 and am looking to upgrade. I mostly use the drone for business purposes so I am ready to invest a decent amount. I'm deciding between a Mavic 3 Classic for $1550 or Air 2s FMC for $1150. Both of these would include the DJI RC controller. I'd probably end up spending another $250ish for an extra battery, filters, bag for the Mavic 3. The main difference in these options for me though is if I got the air 2s, I would also be upgrading two of my fpv drones to DJI's digital system. This would put me at around the same all in cost as the mavic 3 with accessories. Not sure if anyone here is too familiar or interested in digital fpv but I've been on analog since I started fpv about 2.5 years ago.
Again these drones are mainly for my drone business. I've mostly done work with mavics in the past but would like to incorporate fpv starting soon and DJI digital would make me more confident to fly for clients.
Thanks for any suggestion in advance!

AnzacJack · Mar 6, 2023

if you are planning on using FPV for business, then definitely I would be looking at the digital systems. The mav3 has a better camera than the A2s

Only you know where you want to prioritise your $ for business.

Ian_1424 · Mar 7, 2023

AnzacJack said:
if you are planning on using FPV for business, then definitely I would be looking at the digital systems. The mav3 has a better camera than the A2s

Only you know where you want to prioritise your $ for business.

Yeah I think I definitely will be investing into digital FPV.
Do you own both the air 2s and M3? And if so can you tell a significant difference in image quality?

mobilehomer · Mar 7, 2023

One feature to consider, the Mavic 3 has native waypoints. The 2S supports Litchi. Plus. being the newer drone, the Mavic 3 will probably be supported longer into the future.

Ian_1424 · Mar 7, 2023

mobilehomer said:
One feature to consider, the Mavic 3 has native waypoints. The 2S supports Litchi. Plus. being the newer drone, the Mavic 3 will probably be supported longer into the future.

Good point, I would be a little worried that the Air 2s would get fazed out a little sooner than the Mavic 3. Waypoints aren't that big of a deal to me but could be nice to use.

AnzacJack · Mar 7, 2023

Ian_1424 said:
Yeah I think I definitely will be investing into digital FPV.
Do you own both the air 2s and M3? And if so can you tell a significant difference in image quality?

It depends on what you want. Generally for non professional and “happy snaps, I wouldn’t say it was significant. BUT. If you want to get the best and be using professionally then yes it is definitely better quality

maggior · Mar 7, 2023

Flight time is significantly longer on the Mavic 3. Something else to consider.

AnzacJack · Mar 8, 2023

Camera Performance

Mavic 3 | 5.1K video - 20 MP photo - 28X Hybrid Zoom

As DJI’s latest flagship camera drone, the Mavic 3 features an innovative new dual camera design for the first time on a Mavic series drone! What’s powering the Mavic 3’s advanced new camera performance? A massive 4/3” Hasselblad CMOS sensor that’s capable of capturing incredible 5.1K footage and stunningly detailed 20MP stills.

Thought that was it? Think again! The Mavic 3 also features a secondary 1/2" CMOS telephoto camera to help you capture shots from far away with up to 7X optical zoom. If that wasn’t enough, you can pair the digital and optical zoom for up to 28X hybrid zoom.

Air 2S | 5.4K video - 20 MP photo

With its 1” CMOS sensor, the Air 2S delivers the best camera performance yet on an Air series drone. Capable of delivering 20MP stills filled with rich details, the Air 2S is perfect for capturing awesome aerial images. More interested in video? The Air 2S delivers the highest maximum video resolution of any DJI camera drone with support for insane 5.4K video capture.

Similarities and Differences

The Mavic 3 and Air 2S share a number of similar features under the hood, including 10-bit D-log recording and HDR image capture. Whilst on paper it may seem that the higher 5.4K resolution of the Air 2S would outperform the Mavic 3, it's important to note the frame rates of each recording resolution.

For high frame rate recording, your best option is the Mavic 3 with support for 120fps recording at 4K and up to 50fps recording at 5.1K. The Air 2S on the other hand supports 120fps at just 1080p and up to 60fps at 4K.

One feature exclusive to the Mavic 3 is variable aperture control which can make a huge difference when composing the perfect shot up in the air. With variable aperture control, you’ll have full control over all three elements of the exposure triangle, allowing you to make fine tune adjustments and manipulate settings to your liking. On the Air 2S users are limited to ISO and shutter speed control.

AnzacJack · Mar 8, 2023

	DJI Mavic 3	DJI Air 2S
Weight	900 g	595 g
Max Flight Time	46 minutes	31 minutes
Max Speed	68 KM/h	68 KM/h
Primary Camera	4/3" Hasselblad	1" CMOS
Photo Performance	20 MP	20 MP
Video Performance	5.1K/50fps 4K/120fps 1080p/200fps	5.4K/30fps 4K/60fps 1080p/120fps

WanderLost · Mar 8, 2023

Ian_1424 said:
Hi there everyone,
Currently I have a Mavic Air 2 and am looking to upgrade. I mostly use the drone for business purposes so I am ready to invest a decent amount. I'm deciding between a Mavic 3 Classic for $1550 or Air 2s FMC for $1150. Both of these would include the DJI RC controller. I'd probably end up spending another $250ish for an extra battery, filters, bag for the Mavic 3. The main difference in these options for me though is if I got the air 2s, I would also be upgrading two of my fpv drones to DJI's digital system. This would put me at around the same all in cost as the mavic 3 with accessories. Not sure if anyone here is too familiar or interested in digital fpv but I've been on analog since I started fpv about 2.5 years ago.
Again these drones are mainly for my drone business. I've mostly done work with mavics in the past but would like to incorporate fpv starting soon and DJI digital would make me more confident to fly for clients.
Thanks for any suggestion in advance!

Found this online.
"DJI Mavic 3 camera has a brisk 16-millisecond sensor readout speed, no wonder it is capable of 4k120p video capture. For photogrammetry applications, this is good news. 3D scan flights can be reasonably fast without the fear of rolling shutter artifacts. This means no need for post-processing compensation and better quality results overall."

Ian_1424 · Mar 8, 2023

WanderLost said:
Found this online.
"DJI Mavic 3 camera has a brisk 16-millisecond sensor readout speed, no wonder it is capable of 4k120p video capture. For photogrammetry applications, this is good news. 3D scan flights can be reasonably fast without the fear of rolling shutter artifacts. This means no need for post-processing compensation and better quality results overall."

Oh this is good to know. I'm not into mapping yet but I've definitely thought about trying that out.

Cafguy · Mar 8, 2023

I absolutely LOVE my air2s Its my workhorse, but I am looking very hard at the mavic 3. if I was to choose now I would have too choose the Mavic 3

Mavikhan · Mar 9, 2023

Cafguy said:
I absolutely LOVE my air2s Its my workhorse, but I am looking very hard at the mavic 3. if I was to choose now I would have too choose the Mavic 3

May I ask why?

Cafguy · Mar 9, 2023

Hello sure The air 2s has a great camera for when I'm shooting video its really compact even compared to my Mavic Pros and I must confess THE MAJOR REASON It has the cheapest camera drone battery prices I have found
I go thru ALOT of batteries I fly daily some times 5 hrs a day and battery price is a factor I can get 12 air2s batteries for 500 bucks here in L.A. from a guy that buys O.E.M. drone batteries by the pallet full to sell on eBay
My main interest in the Mavic 3 is honestly a thermal enterprise class drone The Matrice is just a little pricey.....for me lol
I would like to do drone search and rescue and the mavic 3 enterprise series looks like it might be my ticket in.
The Mavic 3 consumer model has that nice camera and the new added improvements that makes it a better choice than the Air2s for the price I.M.O.

shawgod · Mar 9, 2023

I am a fan of the Air2s. I chose this drone over the Mavic 3 classic recently because it was more affordable and gave great performance for the price. It is an all over great drone with many features. When I compared the features to my Phantom 4 Pro it is very comparable to it in a lot of ways. I tend to find myself running back to my Phantom 4 Pro for my jobs. Nothing bad on the Air2s I just am a fan of the mechanical shutter and the camera on the P4P.

Bob Jones · Mar 9, 2023

Ian_1424 said:
Hi there everyone,
Currently I have a Mavic Air 2 and am looking to upgrade. I mostly use the drone for business purposes so I am ready to invest a decent amount. I'm deciding between a Mavic 3 Classic for $1550 or Air 2s FMC for $1150. Both of these would include the DJI RC controller. I'd probably end up spending another $250ish for an extra battery, filters, bag for the Mavic 3. The main difference in these options for me though is if I got the air 2s, I would also be upgrading two of my fpv drones to DJI's digital system. This would put me at around the same all in cost as the mavic 3 with accessories. Not sure if anyone here is too familiar or interested in digital fpv but I've been on analog since I started fpv about 2.5 years ago.
Again these drones are mainly for my drone business. I've mostly done work with mavics in the past but would like to incorporate fpv starting soon and DJI digital would make me more confident to fly for clients.
Thanks for any suggestion in advance!

Mavic 3 is a great drone. However DJI is not releasing the skd for the mavic 3 as we were told before investing in the drone. That distracts from the drone bigtime as it can't, and won't be able to use, mission planning software like dronelink or litchi. It does have waypoints but no good for mapping. Quite a disappointment for a lot of mavic 3 users. I believe the s2 mavic 2, mavic mini, well all the other drones have skd flies released, but not the mavic 3 . . the flagship, huh.

Ian_1424 · Mar 9, 2023

Bob Jones said:
Mavic 3 is a great drone. However DJI is not releasing the skd for the mavic 3 as we were told before investing in the drone. That distracts from the drone bigtime as it can't, and won't be able to use, mission planning software like dronelink or litchi. It does have waypoints but no good for mapping. Quite a disappointment for a lot of mavic 3 users. I believe the s2 mavic 2, mavic mini, well all the other drones have skd flies released, but not the mavic 3 . . the flagship, huh.

Yeah I just found that out a couple days ago. Like you said, not really sure why DJI doesn't want to release the sdk files for their flagship product. Anyway that's definitely steering my towards the Air 2s. Do you know by chance if dronelink or litchi run on the DJI RC controller?

Tufargon · Mar 9, 2023

Ian_1424 said:
Yeah I just found that out a couple days ago. Like you said, not really sure why DJI doesn't want to release the sdk files for their flagship product. Anyway that's definitely steering my towards the Air 2s. Do you know by chance if dronelink or litchi run on the DJI RC controller?

It should but just remember if you are doing professional work you won't like virtual sticks vs completely automated if you use missions created by those apps to do your work. Completely automatated missions used by drones that use the Go 4 app are loaded to the drone instead of taking commands from the controller you use. The time it takes to send the commands from controller to drone makes it very choppy. Anything that uses the Fly app is virtual sticks so if want to use those apps the best newest drone that does completely automated flights not using virtual sticks is the Mavic 2 Pro. Also if you lose connection with virtual sticks it will not continue the mission. It will either RTH or whatever you have RTH set at. Night and day in the smoothness sense too.

Alexander Ditz · Mar 11, 2023

Another thing to consider if you got time to buy a new drone, would be to wait for the eventual release of a Air3/S.

Posted here:

Air 2 no longer on sale - Air 3 release date leak!!

Hello, today I noticed that the Mavic Air 2 has been removed from sale on DJI's website, at least in Spain. It says “not available in your country/region”. A couple of weeks ago I still was able to access the page! This probably means we're going to get an Air 3 soon, more precisely in May of...

mavicpilots.com

I myself are currently torn between the Mav3 C and the Air2 S for commercial use.
But since the Mav3 C doesn't have an SDK release and I'm not yet willing to pay big bucks for the Mav E or T for my side business, I will most likely wait and see if a release will happen this year and if an SDK release will be in the plans or not.

Kleem · Mar 12, 2023

AnzacJack said:
Camera Performance

Mavic 3 | 5.1K video - 20 MP photo - 28X Hybrid Zoom

As DJI’s latest flagship camera drone, the Mavic 3 features an innovative new dual camera design for the first time on a Mavic series drone! What’s powering the Mavic 3’s advanced new camera performance? A massive 4/3” Hasselblad CMOS sensor that’s capable of capturing incredible 5.1K footage and stunningly detailed 20MP stills.

Thought that was it? Think again! The Mavic 3 also features a secondary 1/2" CMOS telephoto camera to help you capture shots from far away with up to 7X optical zoom. If that wasn’t enough, you can pair the digital and optical zoom for up to 28X hybrid zoom.

Air 2S | 5.4K video - 20 MP photo

With its 1” CMOS sensor, the Air 2S delivers the best camera performance yet on an Air series drone. Capable of delivering 20MP stills filled with rich details, the Air 2S is perfect for capturing awesome aerial images. More interested in video? The Air 2S delivers the highest maximum video resolution of any DJI camera drone with support for insane 5.4K video capture.

Similarities and Differences

The Mavic 3 and Air 2S share a number of similar features under the hood, including 10-bit D-log recording and HDR image capture. Whilst on paper it may seem that the higher 5.4K resolution of the Air 2S would outperform the Mavic 3, it's important to note the frame rates of each recording resolution.

For high frame rate recording, your best option is the Mavic 3 with support for 120fps recording at 4K and up to 50fps recording at 5.1K. The Air 2S on the other hand supports 120fps at just 1080p and up to 60fps at 4K.

One feature exclusive to the Mavic 3 is variable aperture control which can make a huge difference when composing the perfect shot up in the air. With variable aperture control, you’ll have full control over all three elements of the exposure triangle, allowing you to make fine tune adjustments and manipulate settings to your liking. On the Air 2S users are limited to ISO and shutter speed control.