DJI Air3's Lowest-Resolution Video Format?

[Conservative Nihilist]

Xmas season greetings fellow Air3 drone meisters. Having waded through the thicket of camera video resolution data quoted in the DJI A3 user manual appendix, and emerged none the wiser, I decided to ask other Air3 owners in this forum whether the Air 3's video resolution can be "dumbed down" from 4K to 1080p BECAUSE virtually all SD memory cards that I buy trigger that "Slow SD card" warning UNLESS I select the lowly1080p as the resolution. That lower resolution also saves on SD card memory space compared to filming in 4K.

My below-par eyesight means I'd be hard-pressed to distinguish whether video footage shown to me had been filmed in 4K, 2.7K, or 1080p, so I've set the video resolution on my Mavic 1 Pro and Mavic 2 Pros to 1080p to eliminate the "slow sd card" warning and produce the buttery smooth footage I learned to love when a Phantom 3 Standard was my only DJI drone.

The upshot of all this preamble is to ask how one can set the video resolution for the DJI Air3 to 1080p, which never triggers SD card cautions. Thanks in advance for any thoughts that can be offered on this subject.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Having just glanced through the Air 3 user manual appendix on the lower third of page 104, where the camera resolution data clearly states 1080p, I will rephrase my question to ask how in DJI Fly's settings page I can select the 1080p video resolution for my Air 3's video filming. I have not found that video resolution setting thus far in DJI Fly.

 

[Meta4]

how in DJI Fly's settings page I can select the 1080p video resolution for my Air 3's video filming. I have not found that video resolution setting thus far in DJI Fly.

1. Tap the icon at bottom right to put the camera into Pro mode
2. Tap the top line of camera data to bring up the setting panel

Select the resolution here

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Meta4 is da man. I'd never have guessed that was where the video resolution setting was hidden if not for the above post. I thank you kindly sir.

 

[GregS]

I have several cards and never had a problem recording in 4k on my Mavic Pro or Phantom 4 Pro v1.
It's probably just me, but I never record in 1080; always 4k. One of the reasons I record video is for the absolute best quality. Of course one must have the proper screen that allows viewing in either 1440 or 4k. I find that on my PC monitor; which is 1080, when I select 1440, it really does make a difference in quality. I always say in 1080 I can see the trees, but in 1440 or 4k I can see the leaves on the trees.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

I do most of my drone-related shopping on eBay, Greg, and over the years have tried several different SD card brands, yet my Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom issued slow SD card alerts on every single SD card I tried in turn. I eventually resorted to flying My Mavic 1 Pro almost exclusively, which filmed in 4K flawlessly on any brand-name SD card I used without any error messages popping up.

Exasperated about the extreme pickiness of the Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom which rejected every single SD card I tried when set to film at 4K, I set the M2P and M2Z aside for a year until I got the idea of dropping the resolution down to 1080p. With that change made, the M2P and M2Z have filmed buttery smooth footage ever since, with no further SD car complaints seen.

When I started flying the Air 3 and once again saw the SD card warning, I knew I'd need to lower its resolution down to 1080p so that I'd be able to get usable footage out of it. My eyesight even with glasses worn is not keen enough to discern the difference between 4K and 1080p, and since my drone flying is purely a hobby from which the footage never sees the light of day online, I have become resigned to living with the lower resolution footage recorded by my newer drones, while my older Mavic 1 Pro ironically films in crisp 4K flawlessly.

Despite the finicky SD card preference of my Air 3, I love the drone's extra signal reach, longer battery duration, and blistering ascent and descent airspeeds in comparison to all other drones I've ever owned.

 

[Meta4]

Despite the finicky SD card preference of my Air 3,

I would suspect you are getting dodgy cards rather than there being a problem with the drone.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

I finally concluded, after trying about 5 different brands of SD cards, that the only SD cards I'll ever find to buy will be substandard counterfeit cards, but that said, I have no idea where to buy genuine SD cards, and thus wound up with my work-around solution of lowering the resolution of the footage filmed by all drones I own that are of more recent design than the Mavic 1 Pro. It does look as though eBay is the wrong place for SD card shopping since there aren't any genuine SD cards on sale there at all.

 

[Xitor]

I had a similar issue with an older SD card. It was V30 U3, but no A rating which meant it was A1. A 128GB U3 V30 A2 card is around $15 on Amazon. Get an A2 card and you'll be all set.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

I had a similar issue with an older SD card. It was V30 U3, but no A rating which meant it was A1. A 128GB U3 V30 A2 card is around $15 on Amazon. Get an A2 card and you'll be all set.

The nomenclature used to describe SD cards baffles this layman, so this positive review of SD cards whose brand name includes the A2 designation will narrow my search when I buy SD cards soon. Thank you kindly for taking a moment to demystify SD card ordering. Maybe now at long last, my Mavic 2 Pros and Air 3 will for the first time film in 4K using a fully compatible SD card brand.

 

[EricJT]

The nomenclature used to describe SD cards baffles this layman, so this positive review of SD cards whose brand name includes the A2 designation will narrow my search when I buy SD cards soon. Thank you kindly for taking a moment to demystify SD card ordering. Maybe now at long last, my Mavic 2 Pros and Air 3 will for the first time film in 4K using a fully compatible SD card brand.

Search "micro sd card terminology" in your web browser and the topic should be demystified.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I would suspect you are getting dodgy cards rather than there being a problem with the drone.

Yes, and par for the course buying SD cards on eBay. Would never do it.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I do most of my drone-related shopping on eBay, Greg, and over the years have tried several different SD card brands, yet my Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom issued slow SD card alerts on every single SD card I tried in turn. I eventually resorted to flying My Mavic 1 Pro almost exclusively, which filmed in 4K flawlessly on any brand-name SD card I used without any error messages popping up.

Exasperated about the extreme pickiness of the Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom which rejected every single SD card I tried when set to film at 4K, I set the M2P and M2Z aside for a year until I got the idea of dropping the resolution down to 1080p. With that change made, the M2P and M2Z have filmed buttery smooth footage ever since, with no further SD car complaints seen.

When I started flying the Air 3 and once again saw the SD card warning, I knew I'd need to lower its resolution down to 1080p so that I'd be able to get usable footage out of it. My eyesight even with glasses worn is not keen enough to discern the difference between 4K and 1080p, and since my drone flying is purely a hobby from which the footage never sees the light of day online, I have become resigned to living with the lower resolution footage recorded by my newer drones, while my older Mavic 1 Pro ironically films in crisp 4K flawlessly.

Despite the finicky SD card preference of my Air 3, I love the drone's extra signal reach, longer battery duration, and blistering ascent and descent airspeeds in comparison to all other drones I've ever owned.

The original Mavic pro only has a write bitrate of 60mbps, which is why slower cards work reasonably well. The newer drones write rate (to microSD) are between 100 and 130mbps, look for microSD's with a V60 or V90 classification - these have a much higher write rate and will cope better with the high speed data transfer from the camera.

 

[Droning on and on...]

1. Tap the icon at bottom right to put the camera into Pro mode
2. Tap the top line of camera data to bring up the setting panel

Select the resolution here

Note that PRO mode is not necessary... Resolution and frame rate settings are available in both AUTO and PRO.

@Meta4, are those images from an Air 3? I don't have C4K as a resolution (what is that?), and I don’t have D-LOG available (but would like to).

Are those from the Mavic 4?

 

[Meta4]

Are those from the Mavic 4?

The Mavic 4 isn't available yet ... the screenshots are from a Mavic 3 pro.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The Mavic 4 isn't available yet ... the screenshots are from a Mavic 3 pro.

Correct of course!

So, reset... that's what I meant. What's C4K?

 

[Meta4]

What's C4K?

4096x2160.
It stands for Cinema 4k and it's 17:9 aspect ratio which is the standardized aspect ratio required for delivery to cinemas.

 

[Xitor]

Thank you kindly for taking a moment to demystify SD card ordering. Maybe now at long last, my Mavic 2 Pros and Air 3 will for the first time film in 4K using a fully compatible SD card brand.

Just curious, did you ever get the a new, good card and it is working for you now?

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Just curious, did you ever get the a new, good card and it is working for you now?

Over the years I have purchased numerous SD cards from eBay only to find that ALL of them triggered "slow SD card" error messages on my Mavic 2 Pros and now my Air 3. Based on my informal survey of eBay-sourced SD cards, the odds of winding up with a sub-standard counterfeit SD card are 100% haha.

I thought I'd done my due diligence in researching the best brand and specs for an SD card, but my limitation to eBay as my primary outlet for all things drone means I haven't yet seen a genuine SD card. All the same, my below-par corrected vision means that I am content to film in 1080p resolution on any drone I buy going forward.

 

[Xitor]

Over the years I have purchased numerous SD cards from eBay only to find that ALL of them triggered "slow SD card" error messages on my Mavic 2 Pros and now my Air 3. Based on my informal survey of eBay-sourced SD cards, the odds of winding up with a sub-standard counterfeit SD card are 100% haha.

I thought I'd done my due diligence in researching the best brand and specs for an SD card, but my limitation to eBay as my primary outlet for all things drone means I haven't yet seen a genuine SD card. All the same, my below-par corrected vision means that I am content to film in 1080p resolution on any drone I buy going forward.

Since a good 128GB card would only cost about $14 on Amazon I would have to imagine with the free shipping it would be a wash on the cost. While I usually share anything I get at 1080p, I like recording at 4K so I can crop or pan and still keep final resolution at a clean 1080p.