Mavic 3 Classic: First impressions

[guzewski]

I really struggled with the decision to upgrade my Mavic 2 Pro to the Mavic 3 Classic. But I finally pulled the trigger and here are my impressions. Maybe this will help out anyone else with the same indecision issues.

• First off, it really is a terrific drone. I've only had it for a few days but so far it has performed flawlessly.
• Flying smoothly seems significantly easier with the M3C. No matter what settings I used, I had to be very careful with the M2P to get really smooth footage (especially the yaw).
• In spite of previous reports from others, I get GPS lock usually before or shortly after the DJI RC has booted. I think it's at least as good as the M2P.
• The M3C is a rocket, much faster than the M2P. And stable as a post, even with significant gusty winds.
• The camera is superb. Video looks seriously, absolutely terrific. Even the normal colour profile works fine for most situations. Photos look great as well.
• It makes a really big spherical pano (about 67 Mb) and they look great. I've put a test here. Feel free to pan/tilt/zoom around. It's not that interesting but it shows the capabilities. See if you can find Waldo. The M2P pano is about 1/4 the size.
• I love the spotlight feature. The M2P has it but it does not work well if you move the drone. It tracks, but not smoothly. On the M3C I can get a gorgeous fly-by of some POI in one take. Also, it works in 4K at 60 FPS. I'm afraid I'll use this too much.
• Waypoints (available in a recent update) seem improved over the M2P, but I haven't actually tried one yet. With the M2P it did straight lines from waypoint to waypoint, and pauses a bit between them. From what I've seen in the videos, the M3C does a nice spline curve between the waypoints. I'll try this soon.
• Cruise control scares me a bit. Will the drone ever decide to stop on it's own? Does OA work? It might be good once I get over my fear of it.
• I'm not crazy about the bag you get with the Fly More kit. Too big and bulky. I have a backpack that I can fit my Mavic 2 Pro, my Mini 3 Pro, and my lunch, into, but not that huge ungainly purse. Looks like I'll get some 3rd party case.
• I miss recording in 2.7K. All my output is 1080p and 2.7K gave me enough wiggle-room to crop a bit. 4K is great, but it does make big files that I don't really need.
• The DJI RC is actually really nice. I have one with my Mini 3 Pro. I wanted to buy just the Mavic 3 Classic drone and share the controller between them, but everyone was out of stock for the drone only and I just got impatient.
• There are other things to try (slo-mo, night mode, etc.) and I'll get to these in time

Well, I think I've gone on long enough, and dinner awaits. In the final analysis, I'm actually quite thrilled with the Mavic 3 Classic and for me it was a worthy upgrade.

 

[Meta4]

• In spite of previous reports from others, I get GPS lock usually before or shortly after the DJI RC has booted. I think it's at least as good as the M2P.

The GPS problem was fixed more than 6 months ago

• The M3C is a rocket, much faster than the M2P.

The Mavic 3 and Mavic 2 top speeds are about the same.
If the latest specs are correct, the Mavic 3 is now slightly slower.

 

[guzewski]

The GPS problem was fixed more than 6 months ago

The Mavic 3 and Mavic 2 top speeds are about the same.
If the latest specs are correct, the Mavic 3 is now slightly slower.

The M3C max speed is in fact only about 3 Km/hr faster than the M2P, but the M3C ascent speed is significantly faster (8 m/s vs 5 m/s). This is what I noticed when I took off: the thing ascends very quickly.

 

[GadgetGuy]

• It makes a really big spherical pano (about 67 Mb) and they look great. I've put a test here. Feel free to pan/tilt/zoom around. It's not that interesting but it shows the capabilities. See if you can find Waldo. The M2P pano is about 1/4 the size.

What desktop pano program do you use to create the interactive web files you uploaded to your website, from the original 67MB spherical pano, created by the Mavic 3 Classic?

 

[SmilingOgre]

Agreed. I love mine as well. Got the nd filter set a bit ago and am getting some gorgous 24P footage that blends nicely with the cimema camera footage I use. A very nice drone.

 

[guzewski]

What desktop pano program do you use to create the interactive web files you uploaded to your website, from the original 67MB spherical pano, created by the Mavic 3 Classic?

Actually, the software I use is a bunch of open-source JavaScript called Pannellum. You need a place to host the web site, and then you put the Pannellum stuff and the pano image from the drone there. You need to write a few lines of HTML to put it all together but it's very well documented on the Pannellum site: https://pannellum.org/

I've attached the HTML file that I use. Once you get it done the first time, it's all boiler-plate for subsequent efforts. You just change the file name and maybe the pitch, yaw and FOV parameters.

For an alternative viewer. you can upload the pano image to google maps like I did here.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Actually, the software I use is a bunch of open-source JavaScript called Pannellum. You need a place to host the web site, and then you put the Pannellum stuff and the pano image from the drone there. You need to write a few lines of HTML to put it all together but it's very well documented on the Pannellum site: https://pannellum.org/

I've attached the HTML file that I use. Once you get it done the first time, it's all boiler-plate for subsequent efforts. You just change the file name and maybe the pitch, yaw and FOV parameters.

For an alternative viewer. you can upload the pano image to google maps like I did here.

Thank you! I've been using PTGui and PanoramaStudio Pro for that purpose, but am always looking for different methods, as they each have their strengths and weaknesses, especially in how they load and how they look.

It appears that the attached HTML file that you use didn’t make it through. Can you please repost it?

 

[guzewski]

Thank you! I've been using PTGui and PanoramaStudio Pro for that purpose, but am always looking for different methods, as they each have their strengths and weaknesses, especially in how they load and how they look.

It appears that the attached HTML file that you use didn’t make it through. Can you please repost it?

I've used PTGui to stitch panos. Here's one that I like.

Yeah I just saw that the file didn't make it in my previous post. Let me try it again...

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EDIT: Hmmm. for some reason I can't attach a file to this post. It just doesn't show up even though it's there before I hit POST REPLY. And if I try to include the code in-line I get a submission error. I have no idea what's going on. Sorry.

 

[vindibona1]

Thanks for the review. I'll probably pick one up just before vacation in March as I don't want to burn warranty time while we're here in hibernation in gray winter wonderland.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I've used PTGui to stitch panos. Here's one that I like.

Yeah I just saw that the file didn't make it in my previous post. Let me try it again...

---

EDIT: Hmmm. for some reason I can't attach a file to this post. It just doesn't show up even though it's there before I hit POST REPLY. And if I try to include the code in-line I get a submission error. I have no idea what's going on. Sorry.

Cool!
It's probably a security limitation.
Try my suggestion in our PM.

 

[GaryOC]

Thanks for your thoughts on the drone. I'm considering upgrading from my Mavic 2 Pro also. Pretty cool pano image.

 

[JoshC]

Actually, the software I use is a bunch of open-source JavaScript called Pannellum. You need a place to host the web site, and then you put the Pannellum stuff and the pano image from the drone there. You need to write a few lines of HTML to put it all together but it's very well documented on the Pannellum site: https://pannellum.org/

I've attached the HTML file that I use. Once you get it done the first time, it's all boiler-plate for subsequent efforts. You just change the file name and maybe the pitch, yaw and FOV parameters.

For an alternative viewer. you can upload the pano image to google maps like I did here.

Hey I'm looking for 360 hosting options so I'm interested in Pannellum. I'm curious, where do you actually upload the image? I tried using Imgur, but with the default output jpg from M3 the file size is too large for Imgur.

 

[guzewski]

Hey I'm looking for 360 hosting options so I'm interested in Pannellum. I'm curious, where do you actually upload the image? I tried using Imgur, but with the default output jpg from M3 the file size is too large for Imgur.

I buy my hosting services from a commercial hosting site, and there are many such services available. So I upload the Pannellum stuff, the pano image, and the control HTML file, to my site, and that's it. I think one can just point to the Pannellum JavaScript from you own control file, but I preferred to download that stuff and host it myself.

I've attached a copy of one of my control files, if you want to see what's involved. It's a zip file containing a .txt file. It should be a .htm file when you deploy it. This stuff is very well documented on the Pannellum site.