Observations and Issues First Flight

bkushner · Jul 27, 2023

Flew two batteries today on the new Air 3. Overall love the drone...couple of things on my mind though.

1. Shot a panorama. I had to try it 4 times before success. The 3 failures consisted of a message showing up late in the sequence saying the drone move can't shoot. Odd because the drone is moving the whole time during a Pano. No winds or any conditions that would be abnormal.

2. Why is the top speed in Normal only 26 mph when the Air 2S was 33mph? Sport mode is 46mph???

3. Further to my question in number 2, during RTH the speed is 22mph yet I can push the stick up and get 33mph in RTH with sensors on. SO if it will do 33 mph in RTH why not in Normal Mode?

thispilothere · Jul 27, 2023

Any chance you can post some full-sized pics of a Stop sign from 200-250 feet up from each camera? I know it's an odd request...

solidhouse · Jul 27, 2023

bkushner said:
Flew two batteries today on the new Air 3. Overall love the drone...couple of things on my mind though.

1. Shot a panorama. I had to try it 4 times before success. The 3 failures consisted of a message pooing up late in the sequence saying the drone move can't shoot. Odd because the drone is moving the whole time during a Pano. No winds or any conditions that would be abnormal.

2. Why is the top speed in Normal only 26 mph when the Air 2S was 33mph? Sport mode is 46mph???

3. Further to my question in number 2, during RTH the speed is 22mph yet I can push the stick up and get 33mph in RTH with sensors on. SO if it will do 33 mph in RTH why not in Normal Mode?

Hopefully, DJI will up the maximum speed in normal mode to 33mph in a future firmware update.

Also, I notice that explore mode is missing as is the capability to take photos at the full 9x zoom on the tele-camera.

bkushner · Jul 28, 2023

solidhouse said:
Hopefully, DJI will up the maximum speed in normal mode to 33mph in a future firmware update.

Also, I notice that explore mode is missing as is the capability to take photos at the full 9x zoom on the tele-camera.

Yes the NO ZOOM in photo mode was a bummer.

solidhouse · Jul 28, 2023

bkushner said:
Yes the NO ZOOM in photo mode was a bummer.

I’m wondering if this can be fixed in a future firmware update.

Phantomrain.org · Jul 28, 2023

NO ZOOM is worse then a Bummer , its reason not to sell the Mavic 3 . \ , I was not expecting the No Zoom. UGH
So this leaves Room for the Air 3 Pro with the Zoom and Aperture control.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the water

Wreckhunter · Jul 28, 2023

bkushner said:
Yes the NO ZOOM in photo mode was a bummer.

the 70mm camera already has a 3x factor,why dump digital zoom on top of that which serves
no purpose at all.But to only make your still photos look like crap.

Wreckhunter · Jul 28, 2023

Phantomrain.org said:
NO ZOOM is worse then a Bummer , its reason not to sell the Mavic 3 . \ , I was not expecting the No Zoom. UGH
So this leaves Room for the Air 3 Pro with the Zoom and Aperture control.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the water

I don't think that is a deal breaker by any means.

bkushner · Jul 28, 2023

firsthobby said:
the 70mm camera already has a 3x factor,why dump digital zoom on top of that which serves
no purpose at all.But to only make your still photos look like crap.

I use the zoom a lot for searching things names of ships etc. I'm always using it on my M3P for this reason, not to shoot content.

Wreckhunter · Jul 28, 2023

bkushner said:
I use the zoom a lot for searching things names of ships etc. I'm always using it on my M3P for this reason, not to shoot content.

I understand now.

wco81 · Jul 28, 2023

Phantomrain.org said:
NO ZOOM is worse then a Bummer , its reason not to sell the Mavic 3 . \ , I was not expecting the No Zoom. UGH
So this leaves Room for the Air 3 Pro with the Zoom and Aperture control.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the water

Hopefully at least a 1-inch sensor too.

Felix le Chat · Jul 28, 2023

bkushner said:
Flew two batteries today on the new Air 3. Overall love the drone...couple of things on my mind though.

1. Shot a panorama. I had to try it 4 times before success. The 3 failures consisted of a message showing up late in the sequence saying the drone move can't shoot. Odd because the drone is moving the whole time during a Pano. No winds or any conditions that would be abnormal.

2. Why is the top speed in Normal only 26 mph when the Air 2S was 33mph? Sport mode is 46mph???

3. Further to my question in number 2, during RTH the speed is 22mph yet I can push the stick up and get 33mph in RTH with sensors on. SO if it will do 33 mph in RTH why not in Normal Mode?

View attachment 166440

Over the years I've come to expect all new DJI releases to be buggy and missing advertised features. I put off buying my mini 3 pro for the best part of 12 months just to make sure it got delivered fully featured and with 99% of the bugs ironed out. It is a shame that DJI and the other leading manufacturers think so little of their loyal customer base and don't provide a new product that from the get-go delivers hassle-free performance up to the level promised in their advertising.

Droning on and on... · Jul 28, 2023

bkushner said:
I use the zoom a lot for searching things names of ships etc. I'm always using it on my M3P for this reason, not to shoot content.

Is there digital zoom in lower resolution video modes, like FHD? This may be a workaround for exploring, then switch over to photo for the capture. You can then crop in post, having framed your subject with digital zoom in FHD video mode.

Not a fix, but a workaround. Did they keep video zooming?

VenomXts · Jul 28, 2023

Thank you all for being beta testers, now someone start takings some sunrise/sunset pictures and post!

Trying to decided on M3 pro, keep air2s for awhile longer and wait for A3S or buy this...

Also:

Pano stitching off the drone (yes I know I can do better manually) but I should not have to unless i want to.
Occusync 4 flying over tree penetration vs the O3?
@Phantomrain.org how do you think its gona shoot storms/lightening etc?

Thanks!

BlairAir · Jul 28, 2023

bkushner said:
Yes the NO ZOOM in photo mode was a bummer.

Same on Mavic 3 Pro. Unless you use Explorer Mode. Also that speed in Normal was the same with Mavic Air 2. They raised it for Air 2S. Csn easily be done in Firmware. Can the user raise it in the speed settings (Gain and EXP) I'll check myself if UPS ever gets here (out for delivery "by 7 pm" - It's after 4 and he ALWAYS comes at 11 am unless he has a drone for me, lol).

KLRSKIR · Jul 28, 2023

VenomXts said:
Thank you all for being beta testers, now someone start takings some sunrise/sunset pictures and post!

Trying to decided on M3 pro, keep air2s for awhile longer and wait for A3S or buy this...

Also:

Pano stitching off the drone (yes I know I can do better manually) but I should not have to unless i want to.

Occusync 4 flying over tree penetration vs the O3?

@Phantomrain.org how do you think its gona shoot storms/lightening etc?

Thanks!

Pano stitching is pretty darn good and resolution is amazing. O4 has proven to be quite a great upgrade regarding penetration.

I live in very dense woods and this can make it out to almost a mile (4800') as I flew to my other house. Mind you this is down a hill of about 350', so the signal is shooting over any direct contact with the aircrafts' antennas. (See photo)

Night Mode is pretty darn good and comparable to the Mavic 3. Even regular exposures in auto are impressive.

Phantomrain.org · Jul 28, 2023

Amazon has delayed shipping

Torque · Jul 28, 2023

Phantomrain.org said:
Amazon has delayed shipping

Bought my Air 3 from B&H with 2 day shipping. Was scheduled to be delivered this morning. Now its sitting at the Fed Ex facility 10 miles from my house where they say it will set until Monday due to a lack of drivers...
And I'm working 12 hour shifts so I can't leave work to pick it up at the FedEx hub. :-(

GadgetGuy · Aug 2, 2023

bkushner said:
I use the zoom a lot for searching things names of ships etc. I'm always using it on my M3P for this reason, not to shoot content.

Can't you use video on the 70mm in 3x digital, and then switch to photo for your still shot on the 70mm? That's a 9x hybrid zoom video search, and a 3x optical still.

bkushner · Aug 2, 2023

GadgetGuy said:
Can't you use video on the 70mm in 3x digital, and then switch to photo for your still shot on the 70mm? That's a 9x hybrid zoom video search, and a 3x optical still.

Yes that’s exactly what I’m doing.