NDD!

miemo · Jul 30, 2023

Finally some free time AND sunshine today on Sunday, so some first observations on actually using the Air 3:

Still very impressed with the build quality, at least on the same level as Mavic 2 Pro
Winds today were up to 10m/s but Air3 handled it all without any hiccups where as Mini 3 Pro at least seems to be struggling (at least visually in the air, even if the footage would be steady) already in similar conditions
Connectivity between the RC2 & Air3 seems much better than with RC & Mini 3 Pro – it was a bit spotty in urban areas, so far no issues with similarly challenging enviroments
Battery seems to last ages compared to Mini 3 Pro, can easily use one battery on two different flights whereas with Mini 3 the charge was often so low already after any flying that didn't feel secure enough to start another flight without changing to a fresh battery
The "charge one battery with what's remaining in the other two"-feature is truly great! Was able to squeeze in one bar extra while walking to another location with this. Could easily mean one more additional flight you get from the "leftovers"
I shot almost exclusively with the 70mm camera as that's the main point of the drone to begin with, and at least that one has thoroughly and positively surprised me! The overall image quality seems to be MUCH better than what I've been getting from Mini 3 Pro. Better details, better dynamic range, less artifacts, … Mini 3 Pro was already relatively close to Mavic 2 Pro, Air3 feels to be on the same level as Mavic 2 Pro, at least. So DJI is really pulling in all the data out of the sensor with the better processors – and might have even used higher quality optics as they didn't need to watch the extra grams so carefully on this one. Will be interesting to test the wide-angle head-to-head with Mini 3 Pro later…
Love the 70mm perspective but will get some time getting used to in order to really reap the benefits, after having spent years only looking at the aerial views through a wide angle view. For some reason for aerials, the 70mm feels MUCH longer vs how it does on the ground – might just be that earlier wiring of the brain for the wide-angle view only in this context…
Operating the Air3 feels super-snappy, can really tell it has way more processing power than the Mini 3 (and probably also more compared to quite a bit older Mavic 2 Pro) – the drone connects to the controller and the satellites very quickly, meaning you're up in the air faster. Also shooting 48MP RAWs doesn't lock up the whole drone anymore as it does with the Mini – it's only the shutter button that's deacticated while the image processing and saving happens. That still takes a while though, BUT also this time around you can do an image sequence or bracketed set with 48MP format, which saves a lot of time too. All of these are great UX improvements!
No panoramas for the 70mm camera, though. Did a quick horizontal panorama test manually, merges nicely in Lightroom so don't see any reason why this couldn't be done automatically with the longer focal length as well. Maybe in later firmware releases…?

miemo · Jul 30, 2023

Some sample images, all with the 70mm camera. Shot in RAW, edited using my regular workflows in Lightroom.

The first image is a good example of a shot that simply would not have been possible without the longer focal length: the cathedral which is one of the main sights in Helsinki, Finland sits in the middle of a no-fly zone so with a regular wide-angle drone view is just a small bit on a larger view. With the 70mm, you can make it the central theme of the photo.

miemo · Jul 30, 2023

Some quick video samples as well…

First one continues the theme of the Helsinki Cathedral, showcasing the classic rotating parallax effect with the 70mm. Shot as quickshot, came out with the normal color profile so only some small tweaks to the colors in post.

The second one is shot as DLOG-M, almost directly towards the sun – notice how well the clip retains both highlights and has shadow details. Really impressive! A quick grade in post, including masking the sky.

Torque · Jul 31, 2023

I have only two complaints so far:
The gimbal cover is horrible, the most challenging model so far!
The bag that all the sponsored reviewers seemed to love is really a tight fit and I'm worried about prop damage each time I move the drone in or out. Hard case on its way from Amazon.

miemo · Jul 31, 2023

Torque said:
I have only two complaints so far:
The gimbal cover is horrible, the most challenging model so far!
The bag that all the sponsored reviewers seemed to love is really a tight fit and I'm worried about prop damage each time I move the drone in or out. Hard case on its way from Amazon.

The gimbal cover seemed easier at first hand but **** if isn’t finicky MF once again! And this time around it comes with new issues: there are separate rubber “seals” that should hug the gimbal parts, but those fall off almost instantly. Already lost one of the seals, another one was found within the bag. Oh well, just need to wait for a more reasonable 3rd party solution as has been the norm with DJI…

Think DJI is basically trolling us with the gimbal covers by now: it just can’t be that a company that engineers marvels like their flying cameras just would not be able to design a cover that actually snaps in place around the gimbal.

Agree on the bag as well: it feels high-quality but is really just a bit too tight compared to e.g. Mini 3’s bag. Again, some proper after-market prop guards would help.

Yazu · Aug 1, 2023

Hey, got few questions regarding how audible the drone is inside the city. Have flown a Mini3P in central city few times and it's barely audible if audible at all around 50m. Also how does the photo quality compare to the Mini3P, been trying to find some comparison shots but everyone keeps on comparing the AIR 3 to Air2.

Sorry for the questions just curious of how it compares to Mini3P, the 70mm lens is something I'm interested in on the drone.

Nice shot of the cathedral btw

Droning on and on... · Aug 1, 2023

miemo said:
Think DJI is basically trolling us with the gimbal covers by now: it just can’t be that a company that engineers marvels like their flying cameras just would not be able to design a cover that actually snaps in place around the gimbal.

Obviously you're out of the loop on this: Gimbal cover design is one of the responsibilities of Kevin the Janitor.

He was also on the Mini3P design team, the battery locking tabs being his role, which he assigned to his Maintenance Apprentice, Carl.

BearMan54 · Sep 22, 2023

Yorkshire_Pud said:
I wouldn't leave the batteriers fully charged for the entire weekend.
I have no idea if thsoe batteries can self discharge but if not then I'd set the drone on a table etc. start the motors and let them idle for a while to burn off some battery charge. It might also be an idea to direct the blast from a fan over the drone whist doing this.

OF COURSE remove the gimbal cover if you are going to poeer the drone up.

Batteries don't start to discharge, DJI drone batteries discharge to 60% when they are not used for ten days.

pommy · Sep 22, 2023

BearMan54 said:
DJI drone batteries discharge to 60% when they are not used for ten days

After 3 days, they drop to 96% if left idle - and then down to 60% (if idle) for 9 days.

GadgetGuy · Sep 22, 2023

pommy said:
After 3 days, they drop to 96% if left idle - and then down to 60% (if idle) for 9 days.

Pro Tip:

Additionally, when at 96%, they cannot be topped off to 100% unless you first drain them down to 95%. That's not in the Manual! I bought a third party single battery charger/discharger that can be used as a power supply with my DJI batteries inserted, and use it to charge my iPad for 5 minutes, which is enough to deplete the battery to below 96%, so it can be charged back up to 100% for flight. Kind of a pain, but it works. Otherwise, you are starting every flight with 96% remaining from day 3 to day 9 after the last full charge.