Patience or Instant Gratification? Wait for the Mavic Pro 3 or Buy the Air 2?

[Sky Hawk Photography]

Hello all! I'm a professional videographer and photographer that currently owns the Mavic Air and I love it. My passion for drone photography has skyrocketed in the last 18 months (see some of my Mavic Air photos below) but my work requires more video than photos. As much as I love my Mavic Air, I'm ready to upgrade and the Air2's battery life and 48mp camera for photography is enticing as well as the 4K 60 fps. My plan has been to wait for the MP3 but not having any idea of when that could be makes the Air2 more welcoming. Peter McKinnon's (whom I very much trust) review also has been thinking harder about the Air2. What are your thoughts? I'm sure I'm not the first to ask this so I apologize for the repetitive nature of this question. Thanks for any insight or thoughts!

 

[Starz]

Timeline on the production of the elusive mp3 is probably along the lines of winning the lottery twice in one week.
Time will be better spent on the MA2.

 

[Fogfire]

Get the Air 2. For most work it should be fine. Not quite the camera as on the EVO II Pro. Or Drone let to be leaked from DJI
The main issue which you know from Air is ND filters vs a real aperture and 8 bit video. SO it depends on the output needs of your work. Good enough for any content going online.

Then sell it, or keep it as a back up, if the MP3 is what you want in 6-18 months. IT will be like a low-cost rental. keep the boxes, put the stickers on a sheet of plastic, bags, photograph it a packaged like new. You can get top dollar. And you might like the size better.

 

[Sky Hawk Photography]

Get the Air 2. For most work it should be fine. Not quite the camera as on the EVO II Pro. Or Drone let to be leaked from DJI
The main issue which you know from Air is ND filters vs a real aperture and 8 bit video. SO it depends on the output needs of your work. Good enough for any content going online.

Then sell it, or keep it as a back up, if the MP3 is what you want in 6-18 months. IT will be like a low-cost rental. keep the boxes, put the stickers on a sheet of plastic, bags, photograph it a packaged like new. You can get top dollar. And you might like the size better.

Thanks man, thinking about resell for the Air2 down the road makes a lot of sense.

 

[Johnmcl7]

Bear in mind the Air 2's sensor should be more treated like a 12MP sensor and it's still a very small 1/2in, this article explains the sensor design:

Quad Bayer sensors: what they are and what they are not

Marketing departments are trying to sell you on the wrong thing - resolution isn't why these sensors are good, it's the better image processing.

www.gsmarena.com

It's not a bad sensor but not in the same league as the much bigger 1in sensor in the Mavic 2 Pro for photography although whether you get the full benefit of the larger sensor will depend on whether you post process the raw files or use the jpegs straight out of the drone.

We've no idea when the M3P may came out and even what form that will be and in the meantime you could lose out on a lot of potential footage.

 

[Jiggleman]

Do you plan on doing a lot of post processing on your videos? If not, then the MA2 is good. If you plan on taking advantage of the 10-bit recordings, then the M2P would make more sense. Either way, you can sell them when the M3P comes out and its something you want.