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First week with Mavic 3

SkySteve83

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After about a week or so with my new Mavic 3, I do have some opinions. I'm new to owning a drone but have experience using them for photo shoots.

First, the fancy case, although very well made is just not designed for a pro. There is no space for extra accessories that I need when flying; ipad mounts, tools, SD cards, and card readers, etc. It is also very bulky because of its backpack option with too many straps that few will probably ever use. A nice LowePro photo backpack would be way better with more room for more parts.

Second, having to use the touchscreen to adjust f-stops and shutter speeds is slow and difficult when trying to fly and get the job done. A few extra dials on the remote would make a huge difference.

Thirdly, I'm surprised there is no lens cap. I've never had a camera that didn't have a way to cap and protect the lens. Even though it goes behind that overall drone cover, it would still be nice to cap the lens so the drone can be left out on a job in between shots without worrying about the lens or filters getting dirty or scratched.

Fourth, the tiny slow telephoto is worthless for anything I would need it for. It's not a real zoom lens, and too soft even at its native focal length. The first thing any serious photographer does with any camera is diable digital zooming. I can see doing that with a cheap consumer product but trying to call this a zoom in a semipro product is silly.

Other than that I find it fairly fool-proof in flying it and the images both still and video from the main wide-angle camera to be of very high quality, (good enough for what I need it for). Seems to be very stable even in the wind ripping around the trees. The obstacle avoidance is fantastic so far. Having it alert me to other aircraft when nearby is also a huge safety factor that will make shooting in high traffic areas, (like beach fronts), much less stressful.

Hope this was helpful!
 
After about a week or so with my new Mavic 3, I do have some opinions. I'm new to owning a drone but have experience using them for photo shoots.

First, the fancy case, although very well made is just not designed for a pro. There is no space for extra accessories that I need when flying; ipad mounts, tools, SD cards, and card readers, etc. It is also very bulky because of its backpack option with too many straps that few will probably ever use. A nice LowePro photo backpack would be way better with more room for more parts.

Second, having to use the touchscreen to adjust f-stops and shutter speeds is slow and difficult when trying to fly and get the job done. A few extra dials on the remote would make a huge difference.

Thirdly, I'm surprised there is no lens cap. I've never had a camera that didn't have a way to cap and protect the lens. Even though it goes behind that overall drone cover, it would still be nice to cap the lens so the drone can be left out on a job in between shots without worrying about the lens or filters getting dirty or scratched.

Fourth, the tiny slow telephoto is worthless for anything I would need it for. It's not a real zoom lens, and too soft even at its native focal length. The first thing any serious photographer does with any camera is diable digital zooming. I can see doing that with a cheap consumer product but trying to call this a zoom in a semipro product is silly.

Other than that I find it fairly fool-proof in flying it and the images both still and video from the main wide-angle camera to be of very high quality, (good enough for what I need it for). Seems to be very stable even in the wind ripping around the trees. The obstacle avoidance is fantastic so far. Having it alert me to other aircraft when nearby is also a huge safety factor that will make shooting in high traffic areas, (like beach fronts), much less stressful.

Hope this was helpful!
The reality of the 3 as it currently stands is a “beta” release by DJI. There are many flight aspects missing currently, which I find untenable given the price. If ?? they all come to fruition with the now much anticipated January 2022 firmware update then I may think about updating from my MA2.
 
Thanks for sharing I have three DJI drones, i’ve been waiting so I can read these reports about the Mavic three I’m not impressed and I’m very surprised all the things I’m very surprised that that new zoom feature doesn’t work very great and yes about the lens cover all of my drones have a lens cover but they’re not like a normal Camera were they are combined right to the camera lens, and yes about the f-stop I’m very surprised that controller is not a little more detailed I have the smart controller for the Mavic two pro but it doesn’t have a optional button on the controller for f-stop but it is very simple to use and one of the main things I’m reading about why they used The fly app instead of Dji go 4 App which is a much more professional app to use they’re definitely slipping I was hoping to read great wonderful things about this new Drone I’ve been waiting for it for years and not having waypoints I think they put those out later no matter what people are saying I don’t use them much,I’ll wait a little longer and then make my decision if I’m going to get this drone
 
Other than the great obstacle avoidance the 3 has, not sure it's that big an upgrade from the 2 Pro. I've done many photoshoots with the Phantom and Inspire 2 and I guess was spoiled using dials to adjust shutter and f-stop. But photo quality is certainly excellent on the 3. My only real better option would have been an Inspire 2 but the cost is 3x the MAVIC 3. For my work at the moment, this seems like the right choice for me.
 
Other than the great obstacle avoidance the 3 has, not sure it's that big an upgrade from the 2 Pro. I've done many photoshoots with the Phantom and Inspire 2 and I guess was spoiled using dials to adjust shutter and f-stop. But photo quality is certainly excellent on the 3. My only real better option would have been an Inspire 2 but the cost is 3x the MAVIC 3. For my work at the moment, this seems like the right choice for me.
Hey, this M3 is a huge upgrade. But you won’t notice the difference till you start editing the video. I sold my I2 with x5s because this M3 is more manageable and has the exact same 4/3rds sensor. Sensor size is the most important spec of any digital camera. The bigger the sensor the more options you get in post. I can crop x5s 4K 50% and end up with pretty much the same res your getting in a M2P. I sold my I2 because you don’t need a zoom lens when using 5.1k, you do the zooming in post and get better smoother results in the turns the drone itself can’t produce. Adding zoom to a flying camera will never give better results then adding it in post. We can crop 5k and end up with 1080, that’s the equivalent to 5x optical zoom. This is why the M3 main camera has no zoom, it’s pointless.
 
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I agree if you deliver your video in 1080P, then you have quite a bit of room for zooming. I also agree the camera images so far are looking excellent. The M4/3 sensor is what sold me on this drone. That is quite a step from what was in the MP2. I think I forgot about that when I said it may not be a big upgrade. Having never used the MP2 I can't compare the cameras. The only limitation is the fixed lens compared with the Inspire, but in some cases, fixed lenses can be more optimized for the sensor. Let's hope Hasselblad, (if they really had anything to do with it), did a good job with that. So far they look great to me.
 
Hey, this M3 is a huge upgrade. But you won’t notice the difference till you start editing the video. I sold my I2 with x5s because this M3 is more manageable and has the exact same 4/3rds sensor. Sensor size is the most important spec of any digital camera. The bigger the sensor the more options you get in post. I can crop x5s 4K 50% and end up with pretty much the same res your getting in a M2P. I sold my I2 because you don’t need a zoom lens when using 5.1k, you do the zooming in post and get better smoother results in the turns the drone itself can’t produce. Adding zoom to a flying camera will never give better results then adding it in post. We can crop 5k and end up with 1080, that’s the equivalent to 5x optical zoom. This is why the M3 main camera has no zoom, it’s pointless.
(deleted in the interest of being polite, I see you joined yesterday and after 15 posts, no one has yet favorited anything you've added)

...I also had the X5S and the big deal with it was the 50mm and 90mm lenses. That was the unique look you weren't going to get by zooming or cropping. Yes, sensor size is important but the quality of the glass in front of it is equally, if not more, important.
 
(deleted in the interest of being polite, I see you joined yesterday and after 15 posts, no one has yet favorited anything you've added)

...I also had the X5S and the big deal with it was the 50mm and 90mm lenses. That was the unique look you weren't going to get by zooming or cropping. Yes, sensor size is important but the quality of the glass in front of it is equally, if not more, important.
The 45mm was only good for photos, too much rolling shutter for video during any turns. The 25mm was nice for video. Bought the 14-42 used it maybe 3 times, was only useful to around 35mm, after that too much rolling shutter. I used the DJI 15mm 80% of the time for video I did all my cropping and zooming in post because it yielded smoother results in the turns and it avoided the rolling shutter. Pretty hard to get a perfect turn with a drone while using magnification. But you would already know that.

Sounds like you didn’t use that x5s for anything but photography?
 
I agree if you deliver your video in 1080P, then you have quite a bit of room for zooming. I also agree the camera images so far are looking excellent. The M4/3 sensor is what sold me on this drone. That is quite a step from what was in the MP2. I think I forgot about that when I said it may not be a big upgrade. Having never used the MP2 I can't compare the cameras. The only limitation is the fixed lens compared with the Inspire, but in some cases, fixed lenses can be more optimized for the sensor. Let's hope Hasselblad, (if they really had anything to do with it), did a good job with that. So far they look great to me.
Ya I’ve never used the M2 either, not a fan of the Mavic remote and swore I’d never buy one lol. For comparison I have the P4P. The fixed lens doesn’t worry me at all, we get a ton of res to play with in post. Fixed (Prime) lenses are superior. The only thing I’ll miss from the x5s is the faster F1.7 lens compared to the slower F2.8 M3 lens. I photographed that commit last year with the DJI 15mm F1.7 with the northern lights in the background while 300 feet up with my x5s. Did a decent job, can’t remember how long the exposure was, 1-2 seconds? And there was a bit of wind. I bet with no wind the M3 will get a beauty shot of the Northern Lights.
 
Hello guys so is the mav-3 worth getting?I have mav-1,mav-2 pro,phantom 4 pro, the fly app instead of the Dji do 4 is the main reason I haven’t pulled the trigger, I’m still debating??? Just wanted your thoughts
 
Hello guys so is the mav-3 worth getting?I have mav-1,mav-2 pro,phantom 4 pro, the fly app instead of the Dji do 4 is the main reason I haven’t pulled the trigger, I’m still debating??? Just wanted your thoughts
Hey Maven what’s up. I can only tell you why I bought it and you can see if anything I say helps you decide. First off, I am no fan of the Mavic, of any kind, swore I’d never buy one... called them toy drones. There is only one reason I bought this M3, for the 4/3rds sensor in 5.1k. I’m heavy into video editing, typically the more advanced type. This bird is not marketed to people who just like doing basics video edits, or photography. The M2P or Air2s will yield the same results if your not doing more advanced edits.

So it all comes down to one thing, do you want the ability to do some serious digital zooming and cropping in post production? If no, do not waist your money on this drone. Any res beyond 1080 is waisted if your not going to crop it, all DJI drones put out decent 1080 even the spark, but you can’t get creative with it in post. The whole principal behind a larger sensor and 5k or even 2.7 or 4 beyond slightly better performance in low light is the ability to work it in post. If you have no plans or interest in more advanced editing you won’t see this drone as being worth the money you spent on it. Will not really give you anything more then what you already have.

Hopefully you find this helpful.
 
(deleted in the interest of being polite, I see you joined yesterday and after 15 posts, no one has yet favorited anything you've added)

...I also had the X5S and the big deal with it was the 50mm and 90mm lenses. That was the unique look you weren't going to get by zooming or cropping. Yes, sensor size is important but the quality of the glass in front of it is equally, if not more, important.
I agree having the ability to change lenses is a huge advantage but, a fixed lens can actually be optically superior to any interchangeable lens as the lens is optimized for the sensor without regard to lens mount distances, etc. Of course, this depends on you needing only a 24mm focal length. For me it's perfect. However, I don't think anyone who needs an Inspire 2 to do their work would really consider a Mavic anyway. If I find I'm really using my Mavic 3 successfully and it's making me more $$$ - I will probably move up to an Inspire with the X7, and take on more serious aerial work that we've been farming out until now. The alternative may be the new Sony drone using my Sony Alphas that I shoot with now. I don't know much about it but I know the images from my Sony A7R's are vastly superior to any M4/3 camera for still photos. I haven't compared it for video yet, but I assume it has its advantages.

Hope everyone in the states has a great Thanksgiving!
 
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