Mavic 3 Panos with 161mm lens

[Tony_S]

I have been flying the excellent Mavic 3 now for two years. This has taken over (to some extent) from my Mavic 2 Pro which I still fly. As a photographer I am always trying to extract the maximum quality and versatility from the sensors of the dji drones. Having access to a wide variety of focal lengths on the Mavic series until recently has meant keeping legacy aircraft. The excellent 28mm (equv) lens on the 1” Mavic 2 Pro sensor, I often find a more useful focal length than the ubiquitous 24mm prime found on most other drones. The 22mm (equv) on the Air 2s with a 20mp sensor is a real keeper. For me, however, the Mavic 3 was a game changer and not because of the 24mm micro 4/3 sensor. The poorly regarded 161mm (equv) fixed aperture f/4.4 1/2” has been a revelation for my kind of photography. More recently I have had much success with stitched panoramas at this focal length. This is a real tribute to the stability of the camera/gimbal and drone. I have successfully stitched up 3 images, at this focal length, with good results. My next purchase a Mavic 3 Pro with the 70mm (equv) 0.75” sensor which will be an excellent addition. I have appended a stitched panorama (2 images with PTGui) from the Mavic 3’s 161mm lens taken of Red Wharf Bay, a beautiful spot off the east coat of Anglesey, UK.

 

[jephoto]

Very nice. I rarely play with the 7x lens, but this is encouraging.
I do find the 3x lens on the M3Pro really useful though. Love the feel and compression.

 

[Tony_S]

Very nice. I rarely play with the 7x lens, but this is encouraging.
I do find the 3x lens on the M3Pro really useful though. Love the feel and compression.

Thank you Jephoto. The M3Pro looks like a good upgrade for me…….unless the M4 arrives first!

 

[AlanL]

I have both the Mavic 3 and the Mavic 3 Pro. The difference in image quality between the 161mm on the Mavic 3 and the 166mm on the Mavic 3 Pro is also a real game changer with the 166mm far ahead of the 161mm on the Mavic 3. It's supposed to be the same sensor in both models but my experience with both 7x lens/sensor combinations suggests otherwise.

The 70mm on the 3 Pro has become one of my favorite lens/sensor combinations for my own landscape photography work. I used to shoot panoramas with my Mavic 3 using the 161mm lens that were often up to 3 rows tall and 4 or 5 panels wide but I can easily do the same in one shot with the 70mm lens and much nicer image quality.

 

[Tony_S]

I have both the Mavic 3 and the Mavic 3 Pro. The difference in image quality between the 161mm on the Mavic 3 and the 166mm on the Mavic 3 Pro is also a real game changer with the 166mm far ahead of the 161mm on the Mavic 3. It's supposed to be the same sensor in both models but my experience with both 7x lens/sensor combinations suggests otherwise.

The 70mm on the 3 Pro has become one of my favorite lens/sensor combinations for my own landscape photography work. I used to shoot panoramas with my Mavic 3 using the 161mm lens that were often up to 3 rows tall and 4 or 5 panels wide but I can easily do the same in one shot with the 70mm lens and much nicer image quality.

 

[Tony_S]

Thanks Alan. The 70mm lens sounds really good and very nice to know that there has been an upgrade to the 7 x, 162mm lens. The Mavic 3 series drones seem to be really excellent value. My disappointment is that they could not retain the GO 4 App which worked so well with the Mavic 2 Pro. I still have this aircraft as I find the 28mm lens, despite being on a 1” sensor, to be really good and often a more useful focal length then the 24mm on the M3.

 

[AlanL]

My first drone was a Mavic Air 2 so I never got to use the GO 4 app from the older DJI drones - just the DJI Fly interface. I do have the RC Pro for my Mavic 3 Pro and set it up so I could use one of the rear buttons to switch between the 3 lens/sensors. Don't give up on the 24mm micro 4/3 - I have been getting some great captures with that one too. Between the 3 cameras on the 3 Pro I have shot well over 13,000 images to date.

 

[Filmarik]

I have been flying the excellent Mavic 3 now for two years. This has taken over (to some extent) from my Mavic 2 Pro which I still fly. As a photographer I am always trying to extract the maximum quality and versatility from the sensors of the dji drones. Having access to a wide variety of focal lengths on the Mavic series until recently has meant keeping legacy aircraft. The excellent 28mm (equv) lens on the 1” Mavic 2 Pro sensor, I often find a more useful focal length than the ubiquitous 24mm prime found on most other drones. The 22mm (equv) on the Air 2s with a 20mp sensor is a real keeper. For me, however, the Mavic 3 was a game changer and not because of the 24mm micro 4/3 sensor. The poorly regarded 161mm (equv) fixed aperture f/4.4 1/2” has been a revelation for my kind of photography. More recently I have had much success with stitched panoramas at this focal length. This is a real tribute to the stability of the camera/gimbal and drone. I have successfully stitched up 3 images, at this focal length, with good results. My next purchase a Mavic 3 Pro with the 70mm (equv) 0.75” sensor which will be an excellent addition. I have appended a stitched panorama (2 images with PTGui) from the Mavic 3’s 161mm lens taken of Red Wharf Bay, a beautiful spot off the east coat of Anglesey, UK.View attachment 177769

If you love the M3 and its 161mm camera you will be over the moon with M3P 166mm. Many people talk it down but shooting DNG and carefully processing them can produce very usable photos in terms of IQ. I have adopted DxO PureRaw in my workflow and never looked back. If extracting maximum out of the sensor is your quest I'd highly recommend you checking the DxO PureRaw LR plug-in.
Among other benefits I can now comfortably shoot with with 166mm at ISO 800 knowing that noise won't be a problem and the photos will come out just fine. The DNG files from the other two cameras on M3P look much sharper and more detailed when run through the PureRaw first. To continue processing I have created custom LR presets for each camera comprising bespoke levels of sharpening, WB, color profiles (created in X-rite program) etc. Producing beautifully consistent photos from all 3 cameras is now a breeze.

 

[Meta4]

I find the 28mm lens, despite being on a 1” sensor, to be really good and often a more useful focal length then the 24mm on the M3.

The difference between those lenses is only marginal and by moving the drone backward or forward a little you can get similar results with either.
Mavic 3 vs 2 Field Of View Comparison?

 

[Tony_S]

If you love the M3 and its 161mm camera you will be over the moon with M3P 166mm. Many people talk it down but shooting DNG and carefully processing them can produce very usable photos in terms of IQ. I have adopted DxO PureRaw in my workflow and never looked back. If extracting maximum out of the sensor is your quest I'd highly recommend you checking the DxO PureRaw LR plug-in.
Among other benefits I can now comfortably shoot with with 166mm at ISO 800 knowing that noise won't be a problem and the photos will come out just fine. The DNG files from the other two cameras on M3P look much sharper and more detailed when run through the PureRaw first. To continue processing I have created custom LR presets for each camera comprising bespoke levels of sharpening, WB, color profiles (created in X-rite program) etc. Producing beautifully consistent photos from all 3 cameras is now a breeze.

Thank you Filmarik. That is very helpful information. Looks like I will have to upgrade my M3 sooner rather than later!

 

[Filmarik]

Thank you Filmarik. That is very helpful information. Looks like I will have to upgrade my M3 sooner rather than later!

You are most welcome.

 

[Tony_S]

The difference between those lenses is only marginal and by moving the drone backward or forward a little you can get similar results with either.
Mavic 3 vs 2 Field Of View Comparison?

Thanks Meta4 and thank you for the FOV ref

 

[jephoto]

If you love the M3 and its 161mm camera you will be over the moon with M3P 166mm. Many people talk it down but shooting DNG and carefully processing them can produce very usable photos in terms of IQ. I have adopted DxO PureRaw in my workflow and never looked back. If extracting maximum out of the sensor is your quest I'd highly recommend you checking the DxO PureRaw LR plug-in.
Among other benefits I can now comfortably shoot with with 166mm at ISO 800 knowing that noise won't be a problem and the photos will come out just fine. The DNG files from the other two cameras on M3P look much sharper and more detailed when run through the PureRaw first. To continue processing I have created custom LR presets for each camera comprising bespoke levels of sharpening, WB, color profiles (created in X-rite program) etc. Producing beautifully consistent photos from all 3 cameras is now a breeze.

Hey Filmarik/ love to hear more about DXO PureRaw. Mind posting a couple examples? And how you use it in a Lightroom workflow?

 

[Filmarik]

Hey Filmarik/ love to hear more about DXO PureRaw. Mind posting a couple examples? And how you use it in a Lightroom workflow?

DxO PureRaw3 is what I use. There is a newer version 4 but I tried it and did not see reason to upgrade. To me its UI is more cumbersome than 3 and the results were indistinguishable from v.3, to my eye anyway.
DxO PureRaw is in a nutshell a noise reduction software. It is where I drop my DNG files as a very first step after downloading them from the microSD card. But on top of reducing noise PureRaw has excellent lens profiles and ability to enhance detail to put it simply. In doing so it creates new DNG files which are larger than the original ones and puts them in a new folder. After completing this process it automatically opens LR Library Panel allowing the new DNG files to be easily imported into new LR folder. I have created my dedicated presets for each of the three M3P cameras which include X-rite generated color profiles, WB, HDR sliders moved to specific levels, sharpenings etc etc. I apply those profiles to the respective files and export as 16 bit TIFF. I make these relatively flat preserving maximum dynamic range. Then I open the TIFF files in PS and tweak them further to my liking adjusting levels, applying a moderate S curve etc etc, and as a last step before converting to 8bit TIFF I apply another very fine sharpening amount to the files. Those 8 bit TIFFs are my finals for printing and archiving. When I need to I convert to JPEG at various sizes and compression level as deliveries to my clients. That is usually based on client's specific requirements and their intended application such as printing, social media, website etc etc.
Sounds probably a bit complicated, right. It is a bit of work involved to get it all right but once done my processing is very efficient and results are consistent.
Not any artistic photos but perhaps a good indication of IQ I get from 3 M3P cameras using the above described workflow. You need to click on the link under the second photo to see the third photo from the main 24mm camera.
View attachment 178553View attachment DJI_20241020153320_0014_D-DNG.jpg