Mavic 3 telephoto lens image quality comparison - Oval v.s. Round

[Bussty]

Hey Andrew I finally got airborne and got the shots for you. I shot jpeg and raw. No filters and I used the overlay as a grid pattern so I may have gotten 33% overlap. I hope you can do your thing with them. I have dropbox so I can send them to you . . .

Hey James that is awesome!. Thanks so much. I'll send you a personal message. Very exciting!

 

[UAVquadman]

Hey Andrew I finally got airborne and got the shots for you. I shot jpeg and raw. No filters and I used the overlay as a grid pattern so I may have gotten 33% overlap. I hope you can do your thing with them. I have dropbox so I can send them to you . . .

there is no RAW for 7x.

 

[Bussty]

there is no RAW for 7x.

I asked James to take an overview shot of the whole scene with the main camera also to get a feel for the differences of the view so the RAW refers to the main camera. Cheers

 

[Chrislaf]

I'm very pleased with the tele lens on my new Mavic 3. I took an 18 shot pano (3 rows, 6 shots per row) at 7X and was very pleased with the sharpness of the resulting pano when it was stitched together. I also took a couple of similar images from the same height at 7X and they were not as sharp as the pano image. I did notice that using spot focus created a much sharper image for the single shot images.

Chris

 

[Bussty]

I'm very pleased with the tele lens on my new Mavic 3. I took an 18 shot pano (3 rows, 6 shots per row) at 7X and was very pleased with the sharpness of the resulting pano when it was stitched together. I also took a couple of similar images from the same height at 7X and they were not as sharp as the pano image. I did notice that using spot focus created a much sharper image for the single shot images.

Chris

Yes I think DJI is on to a beast here but don't really realize it!

 

[UAVquadman]

I asked James to take an overview shot of the whole scene with the main camera also to get a feel for the differences of the view so the RAW refers to the main camera. Cheers

I figured that's what you must have meant! thanks! LOL....

 

[polywogfpv]

I have the oval. At 7x images are clear and crisp only in direct sunlight. Any shade or anything under or over 7x the image starts degrading fast

 

[Bussty]

I have the oval. At 7x images are clear and crisp only in direct sunlight. Any shade or anything under or over 7x the image starts degrading fast

I wonder how that works?

 

[polywogfpv]

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My above comment was not clear, as below 7x it jumps to the electronic zoom of the main lens as everyone already knows. Here is a short video showing the zoom range. Watch in HD

 

[polywogfpv]

I wonder how that works?

check out photo

 

[polywogfpv]

check out photo

7x and 28x 7x is looking pretty sharp

 

[Bussty]

check out photo

I see what you mean I think you could combat that quite easily with HDR or noise reduction software.

 

[Bussty]

7x and 28x 7x is looking pretty sharp

Wow that 7x is crisp! Really crisp. What's the date of manufacture on the box? You can imagine if you took a grid of say 5x4 images using that 7x (would probably cover a 3-4x view) how awesome the final resolution would be, much higher than the 1x lens. Such a great tool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[polywogfpv]

Wow that 7x is crisp! Really crisp. What's the date of manufacture on the box? You can imagine if you took a grid of say 5x4 images using that 7x (would probably cover a 3-4x view) how awesome the final resolution would be, much higher than the 1x lens. Such a great tool. Thanks for sharing.

Interestingly enough, the manufacture date is 11 2021. It is the Cine version. Perhaps the cine versions got the oval lens before the non Cine versions. I have no idea. Here is a screen shot of the lens.

 

[polywogfpv]

Interestingly enough, the manufacture date is 11 2021. It is the Cine version. Perhaps the cine versions got the oval lens before the non Cine versions. I have no idea. Here is a screen shot of the lens.

I have not had any of the issues or complaints most people talk about. Here in Southern Cal, the GPS has always locked on within a couple of minutes and now even quicker after the last update. The main wide angle lens doesn't show softness on the edges or in the corners, at least not to where I can tell. My range is good, have never lost connection, etc.... I guess I am lucky, because I am not doubting the issues so many have had. I'm glad because it was a lot to pay. The initial lag of the promised functions didn't bother me. I like to fly manual, and I knew as having other DJI products that the promised functions would come out, and they did. I'm a lot more patient than most I guess. Knowing ahead of time that there are growing pains, I just accepted it or I would not have been an earlier adopter. Some are still on the fence. Just buy it from Amazon, and if it doesn't work, return it. Life is already hard enough than to create unnecessary problems. I am interested in learning how to take the multiple shots at 7x and stitching them together. I have Photoshop. Can you point me in the right direction?

 

[Bussty]

That's really interesting re the build date, almost makes sense that the Cine's had a different manufacturing cycle and may have lucked in on certain components? I'm not sure if other Cine users are having issues or not? Does all seem to create a lot of uncertainty especially for those like me now on the fence about buying.

Nevertheless to stitch high quality stills made up of a grid of 7x images is quite straightforward, key thing is to make sure you lock your focus point which I think you do by touching the screen also make sure your display is in the 9 grid pattern so your screen is divided up into thirds, you'll use that for lining up shots. But here is what I would do...

• Form an imaginary box around the area you want to capture. This would generally be in the space between 1x to 6x normal view.
• In tele mode set your lens to 7x and position the view to the top left hand corner of the box
• Touch the screen to lock the focus, you could also zoom to 28x using the function button? Lock the focus there then zoom back out to 7x using the function button.
• Take an image
• No move the camera so the left edge now sits over whatever was on the 2 second vertical line to the right (in other words you next shot now has a 33% overlap)
• Take an image
• Carry on doing that until you get to the far right of you imaginary box.
• Now rather than scrolling across take your next shot by moving the top edge of the frame to the where the 2 horizontal line down was.
• Then go back towards the left as you did above capturing that row and so on until you have covered your imaginary frame. Potentially your imaginery frame could be bigger than the 1x view it can start to get unwieldy and is why DJI or Litchi should eventually automate this process like they have on the newly released Matrice 30
• Now take all those images and either load them into Photoshop (I don't use it but I think you go File / Panorama or something like that) hit the stitch button and it should just combine them into a Panorama. There will be Youtube videos on this. You could also use the free Microsoft ICE as here Image Composite Editor - Microsoft Research

That's pretty much it. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions

 

[polywogfpv]

That's really interesting re the build date, almost makes sense that the Cine's had a different manufacturing cycle and may have lucked in on certain components? I'm not sure if other Cine users are having issues or not? Does all seem to create a lot of uncertainty especially for those like me now on the fence about buying.

Nevertheless to stitch high quality stills made up of a grid of 7x images is quite straightforward, key thing is to make sure you lock your focus point which I think you do by touching the screen also make sure your display is in the 9 grid pattern so your screen is divided up into thirds, you'll use that for lining up shots. But here is what I would do...

• Form an imaginary box around the area you want to capture. This would generally be in the space between 1x to 6x normal view.
• In tele mode set your lens to 7x and position the view to the top left hand corner of the box
• Touch the screen to lock the focus, you could also zoom to 28x using the function button? Lock the focus there then zoom back out to 7x using the function button.
• Take an image
• No move the camera so the left edge now sits over whatever was on the 2 second vertical line to the right (in other words you next shot now has a 33% overlap)
• Take an image
• Carry on doing that until you get to the far right of you imaginary box.
• Now rather than scrolling across take your next shot by moving the top edge of the frame to the where the 2 horizontal line down was.
• Then go back towards the left as you did above capturing that row and so on until you have covered your imaginary frame. Potentially your imaginery frame could be bigger than the 1x view it can start to get unwieldy and is why DJI or Litchi should eventually automate this process like they have on the newly released Matrice 30
• Now take all those images and either load them into Photoshop (I don't use it but I think you go File / Panorama or something like that) hit the stitch button and it should just combine them into a Panorama. There will be Youtube videos on this. You could also use the free Microsoft ICE as here Image Composite Editor - Microsoft Research

That's pretty much it. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions

Wow! Thanks for all that! I surely appreciate it.

 

[Bussty]

Wow! Thanks for all that! I surely appreciate it.

You are most welcome, let us know how you go. I'm not sure DJI knows it (I don't think they did when they built this drone) but they have given us the ability to take better than DSLR quality stills from the sky which we have never really had before to the same extent so exciting times

 

[Chrislaf]

You are most welcome, let us know how you go. I'm not sure DJI knows it (I don't think they did when they built this drone) but they have given us the ability to take better than DSLR quality stills from the sky which we have never really had before to the same extent so exciting times

Better than DSLR quality stills - I wouldn’t go that far. With most DSLRs you still have a bigger sensor and you can choose the quality of the glass you put in front of the sensor. The Mavic 3 is a big step up in image quality but there is still quite a ways to go before it could match DSLR quality.

Chris

 

[Bussty]

Hi Chris

We have alread

Better than DSLR quality stills - I wouldn’t go that far. With most DSLRs you still have a bigger sensor and you can choose the quality of the glass you put in front of the sensor. The Mavic 3 is a big step up in image quality but there is still quite a ways to go before it could match DSLR quality.

Chris

Hi Chris

We have proven this, I don't for a minute think a single shot from a 5280x3956 Drone sensor will beat a DSLR of the same resolution BUT you take 10 or 16 or 26 shots using a 4000x3000 sensor with a Tele lens and combine them into a single image you are absolutely going to provide better quality. So say you make an image with the Tele lens covering just 5 shots across and 4 down that's 20 x 4000 x 3000 pixels that's 240,000,000 pixels! A single 4/3 DSLR is only producing 5280 x 3956 which is 20,887,680 which is 8% of the Tele stitch! It's mind boggling. If DJI can automate this so it's fast they will have a real high quality beast on their hands.

I think it's a whole new era in stills for drones.

Cheers

Andrew