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Significant improvement of 7x lens! comparison inside

It is actually more useful than you think, even at night time.

The image below was shot with M3 7X telephoto lens, blended from three shots of different exposure, with ISO above 500.

It is not the sharpest image in the world, but the final result is more than "usable".

View attachment 163300
Given a stacked exposure and the exaggeration of camera movement per 7X, that is impressive.
 
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For those of you with the M3, what percentage of your photos and videos are shot with tHe telephoto?

10%? 20%? 50%. Over 50%?

what percentage of YoUr “keepers“ or favorites are shot with the 7x camera?

Unless it’s at least 20%, it seems hard to care about incremental improvements on a secondary camera.

does it get you clear shots of people’s faces or landscape/ architectural details that the main camera can’t get unless you move the drone like within 100-200 feet of the target?
I am a commercial and editorial photographer and I don't the 7x that much (maybe 5 - 10%), but when I need it, it is absolutely invaluable to be able to zoom in and make a tighter shot. Because the 7x is not the most stellar optic and sensor, there are times where it falls short, but at other times it has made absolutely amazing images. Any improvement would be welcomed, because it a a great tool to have when you really need to get tighter. Beats the Inspire 2 where I had to keep landing and changing lenses when I wanted a different view.
 
It is actually more useful than you think, even at night time.

The image below was shot with M3 7X telephoto lens, blended from three shots of different exposure, with ISO above 500.

It is not the sharpest image in the world, but the final result is more than "usable".

View attachment 163300
Dudu this is great shot, and you will be surprised by how good the image coming straight out of camera of M3P.
 
Sure I agree that the cameras with longer focal lengths can be improved.

id rather see them with larger sensors first though.

also probably a personal bias. I have a 70-200 lens for my Nikon Mirrorless but most of the time I don’t carry it.

my walk around lens is 24-120 mm and most of my shots are 50-55 mm or less. Because the main subjects are landscapes, architecture. If I did a lot of street photography, capturing faces of people, then longer focal lengths make more sense, such as 85 mm for portraits or longer for stealth street photos of random strangers.

considering that the main camera will ALWAYS be better, I wouldn’t anticipate heavy use of the tele cameras.

that is the case with my iPhone, which has wide, normal 2x and 3x.

it’s obvious the normal is the sharpest and the other angles have some distortion and softness at the edges. So I use normal most of the time and the normal shots are usually what gets tagged as favorites in thE library.
 
Sure I agree that the cameras with longer focal lengths can be improved.

id rather see them with larger sensors first though.

also probably a personal bias. I have a 70-200 lens for my Nikon Mirrorless but most of the time I don’t carry it.

my walk around lens is 24-120 mm and most of my shots are 50-55 mm or less. Because the main subjects are landscapes, architecture. If I did a lot of street photography, capturing faces of people, then longer focal lengths make more sense, such as 85 mm for portraits or longer for stealth street photos of random strangers.

considering that the main camera will ALWAYS be better, I wouldn’t anticipate heavy use of the tele cameras.

that is the case with my iPhone, which has wide, normal 2x and 3x.

it’s obvious the normal is the sharpest and the other angles have some distortion and softness at the edges. So I use normal most of the time and the normal shots are usually what gets tagged as favorites in thE library.

If you still have doubts about the quality of the two new telephoto cameras in M3P, watch this video in 4K60P.


screenshot.png
screenshot.png
 
A tele lens can be very useful and strong in landscape or cityscape compositions indeed.
Not everytime wide or even ultra wide is the way to go.

That said, the M3P with its > 900g MTOM and A2 restrictions in place for Europe is just too heavy for me as I am living in a dense area (and cannot go to a remote place solely for flying everytime) which limits its use dramatically.
 
A tele lens can be very useful and strong in landscape or cityscape compositions indeed.
Not everytime wide or even ultra wide is the way to go.

That said, the M3P with its > 900g MTOM and A2 restrictions in place for Europe is just too heavy for me as I am living in a dense area (and cannot go to a remote place solely for flying everytime) which limits its use dramatically.
If they did make a lighter battery to get the weight down, what do they do about the label? Would it still be a C2? I live in the US where the extra weight is no consequence so I'm curious about what you guys are dealing with.
 
If they did make a lighter battery to get the weight down, what do they do about the label? Would it still be a C2? I live in the US where the extra weight is no consequence so I'm curious about what you guys are dealing with.
It's about the maximum take-off weight the manufacturer of the drone specifies at the time of applying for the label, AFAIK. So if DJI makes a new battery and gets the drone accepted for a new label, the owner needs to do the same steps as they need to retrofit the 'OG' M3. With the consequence that the drone possibly can't take-off with the original battery if it's located in Europe.

'Drone policing' has become very easy using Remote ID, but I have a strong opinion about that. It isn't necessary for law enforcement to weigh the drone or check for labels, they can catch you in flight - from a distance. So I wouldn't recommend to just DIY own labels as someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

That being said - I won't upgrade for the time being. Let them first introduce the SDK for the M3 series, as they - somewhat - announced and retracted later. But that's for another topic.
 
It's about the maximum take-off weight the manufacturer of the drone specifies at the time of applying for the label, AFAIK. So if DJI makes a new battery and gets the drone accepted for a new label, the owner needs to do the same steps as they need to retrofit the 'OG' M3. With the consequence that the drone possibly can't take-off with the original battery if it's located in Europe.

'Drone policing' has become very easy using Remote ID, but I have a strong opinion about that. It isn't necessary for law enforcement to weigh the drone or check for labels, they can catch you in flight - from a distance. So I wouldn't recommend to just DIY own labels as someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

That being said - I won't upgrade for the time being. Let them first introduce the SDK for the M3 series, as they - somewhat - announced and retracted later. But that's for another topic.
How does Remote ID distinguish between different weights and labels to establish label compliance based upon weight?
 
How does Remote ID distinguish between different weights and labels to establish label compliance based upon weight?
I guess it enforces the manufacture side to register a certain model with proper RID so the RID can tell the whole story.
 
If you still have doubts about the quality of the two new telephoto cameras in M3P, watch this video in 4K60P.


View attachment 163334
View attachment 163335
Amazing and absolutely professional work. Can't wait for my 3 Pro to arrive!
I'm wondering if there's some kind of autofocus (subject) tracking when using the Tele lenses...losing focus on a 166mm f/3.4 lens could be a problem, even with such a small image sensor. And manual focus may not always be an option.
 
Amazing and absolutely professional work. Can't wait for my 3 Pro to arrive!
I'm wondering if there's some kind of autofocus (subject) tracking when using the Tele lenses...losing focus on a 166mm f/3.4 lens could be a problem, even with such a small image sensor. And manual focus may not always be an option.
Focus don't need a movement for subjects in a very long distance, they are in the depth of field, most of the time.
 
I guess it enforces the manufacture side to register a certain model with proper RID so the RID can tell the whole story.
RID can't know your takeoff weight nor what labels are on your drone, as the pilot is responsible for compliance on both.
 
Focus don't need a movement for subjects in a very long distance, they are in the depth of field, most of the time.
It has been a problem on the Mavic 3. The 7x auto-focus tends to hunt. For distant subjects, best results are obtained at 28x to verify sharpness, either using AF or Manual, and then switching to Manual focus, and zooming back out to 7x. You make a good point about the DOF. For distant subjects, focus won't change, once sharp. Where it breaks down is following a moving subject at very close range, or moving in to fill the frame with a very small subject, like a bird in a nest, where the close focus of DOF keeps changing as you get closer.
 
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Amazing and absolutely professional work. Can't wait for my 3 Pro to arrive!
I'm wondering if there's some kind of autofocus (subject) tracking when using the Tele lenses...losing focus on a 166mm f/3.4 lens could be a problem, even with such a small image sensor. And manual focus may not always be an option.
Hopefully, the AF hunting on the 7x has been eliminated. The large DOF shouldn't require it, unless you choose to reset it by tapping on a specific area of the screen.
 
It has been a problem on the Mavic 3. The 7x auto-focus tends to hunt. For distant subjects, best results are obtained at 28x to verify sharpness, either using AF or Manual, and then switching to Manual focus, and zooming back out to 7x. You make a good point about the DOF. For distant subjects, focus won't change, once sharp. Where it breaks down is following a moving subject at very close range, or moving in to fill the frame with a very small subject, like a bird in a nest, where the close focus of DOF keeps changing as you get closer.
Yes - I noticed some situations where the 7x hunts on my Mav 3. Objects with low contrast or shadow or many details seems to cause the autofocus to keep hunting for a sharp image.
My older DSLRs that could also shoot video had the same problem since on video and using the back screen, the cameras only used contrast detection for autofocus, while the eyepiece view used phase contrast as well as object contrast to nail AF.
If the new Mav 3 Pro also used phase contrast to boost the speed and accuracy of the AF it would be a real improvement.
 
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If they did make a lighter battery to get the weight down, what do they do about the label? Would it still be a C2? I live in the US where the extra weight is no consequence so I'm curious about what you guys are dealing with.
Like with the Mini 3 Pro, but there's probably the catch you rightly point out: the Mini 3 Pro is with the standard battery < 249 g but DJI features a battery plus, which then adds flight time but surpass the 249 g threshold.

The Mavic 3 Pro is in standard configuration C2 with >= 900 g but < 4 kg. So it's most likely that you may exceed your MTOM with additional batteries but your original level is then void as with the Mini 3 Pro, but I think, if you specify your drone with C2 and then reduce weight, it's not possible to fall below the C2 rating.

Not an expert here, but I guess, that could be the reason for DJI not doing any battery tricks here.

Here are the EASA rules:
drones-requirements-categories.JPG
 
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