Mavic Air versus Phantom 3 Pro

[ATPhoto]

I've been flying a P3Pro for a while and was looking for something a bit more portable. To me the most important thing is the still image quality and I was hoping to get some feedback on the difference between the P3P and the Mavic Air. So if anyone has experience with both craft's still image quality, I'd really appreciate some feedback.
thanks Andrew

 

[Kevjones777]

I've been flying a P3Pro for a while and was looking for something a bit more portable. To me the most important thing is the still image quality and I was hoping to get some feedback on the difference between the P3P and the Mavic Air. So if anyone has experience with both craft's still image quality, I'd really appreciate some feedback.
thanks Andrew

This is going to be subjective.
1. Lots of pilots who have never owned a P3 have no reference to compare their unedited video from the Air with.
2. Some Air's have better video than others.
3. How good are you at post editing.
4. Only my opinion but the unedited video from the Mavic as pretty poor, dull unsaturated and not sharp. The spark in my view has better unedited video.
5. The mavic air is a fixed focus camera so it is generally ok but behaves differently depending on where it's pointed. There is a sweet spot where it is amazingly good for it's size.
6. This is NOT a professional video drone. It's also not a toy drone it's somewhere between.
7. If you are very good at editing you can get some very good video but you are not going to make a feature film (ha ha ha).

Others opinions may differ from what I said. I am good with that I have 18 years of wildlife photography behind me and a few hundred thousand worth of camera equipment. This drone is great with an ok camera and a very poor Jpeg engine. (no doubt this is going to get tweaked and make it very much better).

 

[ATPhoto]

This is going to be subjective.
1. Lots of pilots who have never owned a P3 have no reference to compare their unedited video from the Air with.
2. Some Air's have better video than others.
3. How good are you at post editing.
4. Only my opinion but the unedited video from the Mavic as pretty poor, dull unsaturated and not sharp. The spark in my view has better unedited video.
5. The mavic air is a fixed focus camera so it is generally ok but behaves differently depending on where it's pointed. There is a sweet spot where it is amazingly good for it's size.
6. This is NOT a professional video drone. It's also not a toy drone it's somewhere between.
7. If you are very good at editing you can get some very good video but you are not going to make a feature film (ha ha ha).

Others opinions may differ from what I said. I am good with that I have 18 years of wildlife photography behind me and a few hundred thousand worth of camera equipment. This drone is great with an ok camera and a very poor Jpeg engine. (no doubt this is going to get tweaked and make it very much better).

Thanks for the response Kevin, however I did state in my OP that I was more interested in the still image quality, not the video, though what you have posted is very interesting to know. I am a very experienced landscape photographer ........

 

[4wd]

So far as I know the Air doesn't do RAW, the photos otherwise are comparable to the P3.
I have the P3 and Mavic Pro, there isn't much in it, both are much better using the DNGs.
Both can produce good results with decent light, but things start to fall apart in lower light and strong backlighting.
Lens refraction is often annoying but that's partly due to being higher up than a 'normal' small camera.

 

[ATPhoto]

So far as I know the Air doesn't do RAW, the photos otherwise are comparable to the P3.
I have the P3 and Mavic Pro, there isn't much in it, both are much better using the DNGs.
Both can produce good results with decent light, but things start to fall apart in lower light and strong backlighting.
Lens refraction is often annoying but that's partly due to being higher up than a 'normal' small camera.

Thanks for the feedback 4wd...... and the Air does shoot RAW.....I found a few sample dng files online and they look pretty good once you work them over in photoshop. Just trying to get some feedback from someone who has used the 3pro and the Air........

 

[Kevjones777]

Thanks for the feedback 4wd...... and the Air does shoot RAW.....I found a few sample dng files online and they look pretty good once you work them over in photoshop. Just trying to get some feedback from someone who has used the 3pro and the Air........

Someone who has both is going to give you the best comparison.

ATPhoto you are correct the RAW files do give you something to work with and for some strange reason they do not suffer from distortion. As you well know then you are going to have to be careful with the shadows else I am sure you will get some good shots. The unedited Jpegs are horrible. I would like to see them introduce more tweaking on the Jpeg. After all these years I just hate Raw files (ha ha ha ha). They currently use a small correction of -3 to +3 in the three settings I would like to see that -5 to +5 and the ability to adjust the channels on a colour saturation individually. Or even if they preset it, to at least on the vivid setting, add some colour. The WB on these things is almost impossible to set I understand that as the craft is constantly moving but if you hover and take a still you can get that pretty much ok. There is something seriously wrong with the sharpening algorithm. Try it, makes zero difference between -3 and 0 then jumps to over sharpen at +2. You will also notice that from the time you adjust a setting it takes a second or two for the setting to take effect. Contrast settings works ok and can manage a bit of noise.

 

[ATPhoto]

Someone who has both is going to give you the best comparison.

ATPhoto you are correct the RAW files do give you something to work with and for some strange reason they do not suffer from distortion. As you well know then you are going to have to be careful with the shadows else I am sure you will get some good shots. The unedited Jpegs are horrible. I would like to see them introduce more tweaking on the Jpeg. After all these years I just hate Raw files (ha ha ha ha). They currently use a small correction of -3 to +3 in the three settings I would like to see that -5 to +5 and the ability to adjust the channels on a colour saturation individually. Or even if they preset it, to at least on the vivid setting, add some colour. The WB on these things is almost impossible to set I understand that as the craft is constantly moving but if you hover and take a still you can get that pretty much ok. There is something seriously wrong with the sharpening algorithm. Try it, makes zero difference between -3 and 0 then jumps to over sharpen at +2. You will also notice that from the time you adjust a setting it takes a second or two for the setting to take effect. Contrast settings works ok and can manage a bit of noise.

Once again Kevin, many thanks for taking the time to respond. All this info is certainly helping me move towards the decision to get the Air!

 

[dragonmuzz]

I've been flying a P3Pro for a while and was looking for something a bit more portable. To me the most important thing is the still image quality and I was hoping to get some feedback on the difference between the P3P and the Mavic Air. So if anyone has experience with both craft's still image quality, I'd really appreciate some feedback.
thanks Andrew

Hi I had a P3A so same stills as a pro and 2.7 k video I also had a phantom 4 which of course has similar specs to the P3P...I now have the new Mavic Air and thus far even with the fixed focus camera it's better then both .every pic is crisp and clear and the video is the best I've seen on a Non pro DJI drone .
Couple this to the superb features and OA system ( I personally have no need for that because I've been flying RC aircraft for 25 years but hey it's handy to have ) and you have a very potent camera that you CAN carry in your pocket.
I used to carry my phantoms around in a armoured suitcase size trolley with wheels .....I now have a bag that carries everything that's smaller then my wife's shoulder bag.....the technology nowadays is mind boggling.
Oh and BTW I've had zero issues with range ....on FCC mode and a windsurfer I've had no range issues whatsoever....3 miles out and 50 feet below in a valley and I'm still getting control and video .....buy one

 

[ATPhoto]

Hi I had a P3A so same stills as a pro and 2.7 k video I also had a phantom 4 which of course has similar specs to the P3P...I now have the new Mavic Air and thus far even with the fixed focus camera it's better then both .every pic is crisp and clear and the video is the best I've seen on a Non pro DJI drone .
Couple this to the superb features and OA system ( I personally have no need for that because I've been flying RC aircraft for 25 years but hey it's handy to have ) and you have a very potent camera that you CAN carry in your pocket.
I used to carry my phantoms around in a armoured suitcase size trolley with wheels .....I now have a bag that carries everything that's smaller then my wife's shoulder bag.....the technology nowadays is mind boggling.
Oh and BTW I've had zero issues with range ....on FCC mode and a windsurfer I've had no range issues whatsoever....3 miles out and 50 feet below in a valley and I'm still getting control and video .....buy one

This is just the feedback I was after. ...thank you! I was always too scared to take my P3 anywhere too far so this sounds great, and I won't have to use my wife's bag to carry it!