Mavic 3 will be released on November 5!

[CanadaDrone]

So right now we have A2S at $999 or $1299 for Fly more?
And allegedly we have the M3 at $2049 or $2799 for Fly more?

You are right. What more is a drone going to do than the A2S and less than the M3 to sit in that $1500 to $1900ish(Fly More) price range? I can't think of much. I agree that you would have way too crowded of a product line.

Maybe if they had swung for the fences on the specs with the M3 and put its price tag up there another $500-$1000....

At this point the biggest questions for me would be how much is the new SC? and what will its availability be?

Correct, those are the A2S prices in USD.

They have arguably swung for the fences with the M3 (assuming the leaks are accurate), without increasing the size too much and without cannibalizing Inspire 2 sales. A M43 sensor is a pretty huge upgrade, and on top of that we are getting a second camera with a 1/2" sensor (same size as the Air 2 non-S) with a 160mm (equivalent) lens. If you need much more than that, you are likely an Inspire 2 customer.

The old SC is/was ~$650 USD as a standalone and about $200 cheaper if bought as a combo. Also, the existing SC will work with the M3 as far as we know (it works with the Air 2S), so those who already own one should be able to use it just fine, without Occusync 3.0 which is more of a "nice to have" than a necessity, as OS2.0 is very good already.

Availability on everything I would guess will not be great because I suspect it will be incredibly popular, and the global pandemic is causing shortages that are affecting the electronics industry worse than others.

People have tons of options - I think everyone is focusing on the price of the Cine package and freaking out, when in reality that is a niche product that is nice to have but not what most people will buy. The leaked prices for the base model and fly more combo are very reasonable considering the upgrades, in my opinion. Image sensors are very expensive and the move up to a M43 sensor is a big deal, especially for professional use.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

At this point the biggest questions for me would be how much is the new SC? and what will its availability be?

My guess is that DJI might start selling the new SC ONLY as part of the Cine package to boost sales of that package.

But I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is sold as a stand alone at launch time. I would like to grab one too.

 

[Kilrah]

I really can't agree. I think having no viable drone for the $1200 to $1800 market range

If the M3 is priced like the rumors say it's likely that the M2 didn't sell great and DJI have deducted that there wasn't enough market in that price range, already too expensive for hobbyists and not enough drone for pros. Hence cheaper Air line for hobbyists and more drone with M3 for pros.

 

[mschaffer66]

and on top of that we are getting a second camera with a 1/2" sensor (same size as the Air 2 non-S) with a 160mm (equivalent) lens.

In my opinion, which isn't worth much at all, that second camera seems kinda gimmicky.

I just don't see flying around shooting pictures or videos with that bad a$$ M43 sensor and then switching over to that little zoomed sensor. But then again I'm the kind of person that never uses the "on device" digital zoom features. I'd rather do that offline on a nice big monitor and maintain the full original quality.

It seems like that just takes up space and weight that could be better utilized if anything for just a little bit more flight time.

Thats just my thought. I think otherwise the whole thing seems pretty great even for a hobbyist with deeper pockets..

 

[CanadaDrone]

In my opinion, which isn't worth much at all, that second camera seems kinda gimmicky.

I just don't see flying around shooting pictures or videos with that bad a$$ M43 sensor and then switching over to that little zoomed sensor. But then again I'm the kind of person that never uses the "on device" digital zoom features. I'd rather do that offline on a nice big monitor and maintain the full original quality.

It seems like that just takes up space and weight that could be better utilized if anything for just a little bit more flight time.

Thats just my thought. I think otherwise the whole thing seems pretty great even for a hobbyist with deeper pockets..

The second camera is not a digital zoom, it will be full native resolution at 160mm equivalent. They will likely have some sort of hybrid "zoom" option that combines data from the two sensors though and I don't expect that to be very good.

A telephoto lens is useful on a drone for sure (especially for people using drones for inspections, such as those done on wind turbines or similar), and quality will be worlds better than the M2Z, and with much higher magnification, so that is a win for some people. Good to have the option, not so good that you are paying for it regardless of if you use it or not, so I can see both perspectives. Digital zoom is digital zoom - it doesn't matter if the drone is doing it or you're doing it on your computer, you lose quality unless you are doing so from a higher resolution than your desired output resolution.

Personally I think atmospheric distortion is going to be the biggest issue with people using the 160mm equivalent lens for any distant subjects, and I think we're going to see a lot of threads with people wondering why their image is soft while trying to magnify something far off in the distance.

 

[Hauptmann]

$2,000 won't be a problem for me if if has a 40 min. battery and good "follow me" capabilities. As for the camera? I'd rather have a 3X zoom than a 7X FFL telephoto

 

[CanadaDrone]

$2,000 won't be a problem for me if if has a 40 min. battery and good "follow me" capabilities. As for the camera? I'd rather have a 3X zoom than a 7X FFL telephoto

Depending on your desired output resolution, you will be able to losslessly "zoom" (crop) up to ~2.6X to 1080P or ~1.35X to 4K. Not a bad compromise in light of all the other benefits.