My thoughts on the DJI Air 3S as an Air 3 owner

[Droning on and on...]

My thoughts exactly,as it looks like the Mavic 4 could be a real dandy.

If your main use is for stills, that's probably the right choice.

Let's hope the Quad Bayer trend doesn't reach to the Mavic 4, and it get a standard bayer sensor at 4/3" or bigger.

 

[ryguy80]

Let's hope the Quad Bayer trend doesn't reach to the Mavic 4, and it get a standard bayer sensor at 4/3" or bigger.

The next size up sensor is APS-C, and I think having that sensor in the Mavic 4 would put it out of reach for most people from a price point. It also encroaches on DJI’s Enterprise line of interchangeable lens drones. My money is on a 4/3” sensor in the Mavic 4.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The next size up sensor is APS-C, and I think having that sensor in the Mavic 4 would put it out of reach for most people from a price point. It also encroaches on DJI’s Enterprise line of interchangeable lens drones. My money is on a 4/3” sensor in the Mavic 4.

Merely maintaining the current MFT sensor of the primary camera from the Mavic 3 series in the Mavic 4 would limit justification for upgrading to increased flight time, where most users under VLOS are still barely scratching the surface of the current 43 minute flight time. We shall soon see.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Merely maintaining the current MFT sensor of the primary camera from the Mavic 3 series in the Mavic 4 would limit justification for upgrading to increased flight time, where most users under VLOS are still barely scratching the surface of the current 43 minute flight time. We shall soon see.

You're forgetting the additional cameras in the standard and pro. These have turned out to be much more popular than I think DJI expected. There's a lot of room to improve there. Imagine a 1" sensor on each of the telephoto cameras on a Mavic 4 Pro.

And if you're looking at your Mavic 3 Pro and saying, "it can't be done", you're clearly not an engineer

Or, suppose they got rid of the other 2 cameras and instead implemented optical zoom, covering the same range? I suspect there are a few people that would upgrade for that.

Or a new main sensor much lower noise with much more dynamic range. Can you say shadow details? Maybe a few still photographers might be interested?

There's a lot that can be improved with the camera without a larger main sensor. Add to that the Lidar and no-GPS navigation capabilities on RTH, and some other stuff DJI engineers are thinking that we can't imagine (spending most of your waking hours working on these things stimulates a lot of creative thinking), and I think a compelling next generation can be offered.

BTW, I love the leaked "baseball" design of the new gimbal!

 

[GadgetGuy]

You're forgetting the additional cameras in the standard and pro. These have turned out to be much more popular than I think DJI expected. There's a lot of room to improve there. Imagine a 1" sensor on each of the telephoto cameras on a Mavic 4 Pro.

And if you're looking at your Mavic 3 Pro and saying, "it can't be done", you're clearly not an engineer

Or, suppose they got rid of the other 2 cameras and instead implemented optical zoom, covering the same range? I suspect there are a few people that would upgrade for that.

Or a new main sensor much lower noise with much more dynamic range. Can you say shadow details? Maybe a few still photographers might be interested?

There's a lot that can be improved with the camera without a larger main sensor. Add to that the Lidar and no-GPS navigation capabilities on RTH, and some other stuff DJI engineers are thinking that we can't imagine (spending most of your waking hours working on these things stimulates a lot of creative thinking), and I think a compelling next generation can be offered.

BTW, I love the leaked "baseball" design of the new gimbal!

Indeed. That's why I said merely maintaining the MFT sensor, meaning no major change to the cameras, relying upon increased flight time only, would not be a sufficient improvement to justify upgrading. Optical zoom weighs too much to replace multiple telephoto cameras on a drone. Mavic 2 Zoom came with a variable aperture, which rendered the far end of the zoom useless at night and in low light.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Indeed. That's why I said merely maintaining the MFT sensor, meaning no major change to the cameras, relying upon increased flight time only, would not be a sufficient improvement to justify upgrading. Optical zoom weighs too much to replace multiple telephoto cameras on a drone.

Standard response: Not an engineer.

 

[Cannoli1970]

Just gonna leave my honest opinion about the newly-released DJI Air 3S.
(I don't have the drone, and probably won't get it because I already own the regular Air 3)

• No variable aperture - this would be a game-changer. I was waiting for that, but I guess it's still left for the Mavic Pro series, bummer.
• 1-inch sensor, nice! But this should have been on the original Air 3, because it already was on the Air 2S, however it was not a downgrade, compared to the Air 2S sensor, I think that the slightly smaller Air 3 sensor is much more color accurate and low-light capable.
• Downward vision assist - very useful, don't need to point down the camera, I would love to see this as a firmware update on other drones that have downward VPS.
• New panorama stitching modes - not sure yet how they really work, but they look promising
• No option to buy drone-only - Yes, this would be extremely nice for the people who already own the Air 3 or just the RC2 controller. Would save money, but DJI probably won't offer this.

Overall, an upgrade, personally not worth an upgrade if you already have the Air 3, as I do, but as a mid-range first drone, it's an awesome kit!

I agree 100% on your closing comments. I was disappointed that I could not purchase just the drone. Note: for those of you who have the Air 3, the batteries are identical, so if you purchased the Air 3 with the "DJI Intelligent Flight Batteries" x3, then you may want to purchase the basic DJI Air 3S package in order to save a little bit.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Some leaks: DJI Mavic 4 Pro Rumors: April Release, 52-min Flight Time, 100MP Sensor

• Stepless electronic variable built-in ND filter (this sounds potentially cool)
• 100MP main sensor (this gets me Quad Bayer nervous)
• 52 minute flight time, so likely ~45min in real use
• O4+, whatever that is

 

[GadgetGuy]

Standard response: Not an engineer.

As a purported engineer, please explain how you expect a miracle of an optical zoom at a fixed aperture without a substantial weight increase.

The best optical engineers at Canon and Nikon haven't any success in many decades. Their best solution has been reducing sensor size to reduce the amount of glass necessary to accomplish the optical zoom.