Hi all, I am new to this forum, currently have an Air 2S. My interest of drones mainly lies on still photography and with the background of APS-C and full frame cameras, the quality offers from 1" sensor of Air 2S is hardly be satisified with inferior dynamic range and sharpness especially around corners. Heavy post processing is needed in every DNGs but I accept this, after all it is a drone under 1kg rather a proper camera. What I would really like to know is the new Air 3S or the existing Mavic 3 Classic can provide better still image output than the Air 2S? For Mavic 3 Classic my guess is Yes with larger sensor and variable aperture but for A3S, I am not so sure. Waiting for the reviews of real owners.
Waiting for still photography quality review by real Air 3S users
- Thread starter AYKO HK
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Go to YOUTUBE there are over 50 reviews . I’m sure you will find what you are looking for.
ryguy80
Well-Known Member
Welcome. I’m primarily a photo shooter with drones and anxious to see the results from the Air 3S. Mine won’t arrive until October 23rd, if I even receive it at all with the current political tensions between the U.S. and China. I’ll post some samples when I get mine.
Thanks for your reply. The drone is only released for a few days so I cannot find 50 reviews so far (most of them are pre-release comments) and I believe most of the reviews at this moment are sponsored or have partnership with DJI. I've watched over 10 YT reviews but none of them shows real and scientific still image comparsion with Air 2S or Mavic. It would be glad if you could show me some.
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Thanks and looking forward on your findings. Wish you enjoy your new toy.
Thanks a lot and I believe many pilots are waiting for the comments of real users.
Yeah those early Youtube "reviews" seem like they're from shills, people who were sent units to review or to keep.
So they wouldn't seem to be the most objective sources.
Erk1024
Well-Known Member
I think the way to get to good image quality is to take shots with AEB (for more dynamic range) and panoramas (for less noise / better sharpness). This reduces the effective focal length, so you end up with really wide shots. That's one of the reasons that the drones with multiple focal lengths (like the Air 3, Air 3s, Mavic 3 Pro) are really useful. You have the option of taking panoramas that aren't so wide.
Here is a panorama taken with the Mavic3 Pro's 70mm lens and the smaller 1/1.3" sensor. The Air3 and Air3S both have this lens/camera combo as well. So I think if you have one of the Air3's, you're good to go for photography.
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Macinfo
Well-Known Member
Most You tuber's that get DJI gear I think try and give an honest evaluation based on their knowledge of all the drones that they've done before. Generally, they've pointed out issues that they could find in the few short weeks of testing and in some cases, may not be running final firmware.
They usually compare it to the previous model if there is one and try and note whether the improvements are worthwhile to upgrade if you have a previous generation.
However its still too early I think for them to generate specific videos on comparative quality, but they are probably coming.. Though some have commented that the 3S has better dynamic range then previous Air 3, and with the better lenses, you should get some quality output. However this is all speculation and there could be firmware updates that may potentially improve the output..
They usually compare it to the previous model if there is one and try and note whether the improvements are worthwhile to upgrade if you have a previous generation.
However its still too early I think for them to generate specific videos on comparative quality, but they are probably coming.. Though some have commented that the 3S has better dynamic range then previous Air 3, and with the better lenses, you should get some quality output. However this is all speculation and there could be firmware updates that may potentially improve the output..
Wreckhunter
Well-Known Member
The ones that get gear have to say it is the latest and greatest,all you have to do is watch the early reviews from the same people and it
sounds like a broken record with each new released drone.
Thanks for your advice Erk! Tried both AEB and pano before and have some personal findings and comments are welcome:I think the way to get to good image quality is to take shots with AEB (for more dynamic range) and panoramas (for less noise / better sharpness). This reduces the effective focal length, so you end up with really wide shots. That's one of the reasons that the drones with multiple focal lengths (like the Air 3, Air 3s, Mavic 3 Pro) are really useful. You have the option of taking panoramas that aren't so wide.
Here is a panorama taken with the Mavic3 Pro's 70mm lens and the smaller 1/1.3" sensor. The Air3 and Air3S both have this lens/camera combo as well. So I think if you have one of the Air3's, you're good to go for photography.
1) AEB: After merging 3 or 5 AEB photos into one in Adobe LR, a new DNG is generated but the cost is AI denoise or RAW details is not allowed anymore. As most of my photos are landscape with high contrast, the dark areas are still quite noisy even with 5 AEB. So I go back to basic, using the single RAW photo method by lifting the shadow, lower the highlight then apply AI denoise and RAW details, I find noise and details perform better than the AEB one.
Maybe I will try again in the future by setting the exposure compensation value to +1 or even +2 before hitting the AEB button to provide more light for the shadow.
2) For the pano, I also faced some limitations. Firstly it is impossible to have predict the framing. For example, I would like to take a pic which emphasis on the lighthouse (just like your wonderful pic), but as the pano is always much wider than what I see in the controller's monitor, the resulting framing is always not I want. So I need to "step back" or "step closer" to the lighthouse and do it again several times to get the correct framing.
The second problem is the output of pano is JPG rather than DNG. Although the JPG is sharp enough for large size photo printing, but once I adjust the photos with LR, pic quality deteriorate very fast. Is there any way I can stitch the pano with the DNGs by third party PC software afterward?
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You can stitch the DNGs into panos in Lightroom.
And the resulting pano is a DNG file, though it can be several hundred megs and most of the online pano sharing sites have file size limitations, unless you probably get a paying account with them.
And the resulting pano is a DNG file, though it can be several hundred megs and most of the online pano sharing sites have file size limitations, unless you probably get a paying account with them.
Macinfo
Well-Known Member
Generally those praises are accurate too.. while perhaps some go overboard with some hyperbole, most of them state the details of the new product, give relevant comparisons to the previous generation if there is one..
There may not be piles of criticism in the initial reviews of the product, though I have noted some critiques in some of the videos. Generally they perform the service of introducing a new drone to the masses. Usually later as they use it more, they start to nit pick or they find software issues and show them in their videos that DJI has fixed
In many ways this is no different than any other device, many come out with upgrades year after year with modest performance and quality gains that one needs to decide whether they want to upgrade or wait...
Without these reviews, whether you like them or not, at least you have a starting place to determine whether you either want to upgrade or start flying with that model.
Macinfo
Well-Known Member
One has to have a subscription to Lightroom, which many do not have... and it's not cheap. I really wish Adobe would dump that model or offer stand alone versions that one can chose to buy and use for a few years perhaps before upgrading if they want the latest.
Erk1024
Well-Known Member
Yes. You can definitely merge the raw source images yourself. I use Lightroom, Photoshop or PTGui depending on which one gives the better results. Microsoft ICE is also amazing if you have a PC. If you get stitching errors, you can use the generative fill in Photoshop to fix those. It usually does an amazing job. Stitching errors are the biggest pain.
As far as composing a panorama, yes, that's the hard part. Usually I take a BIG pano and then crop it down to the composition I want. Nigel Danson shoots his pano's manually (video I linked before) and that gives him a lot more control over the size and the amount of coverage between shots. Also, for the 70mm and 166mm cameras, there is no automatic pano mode(?) on the Mavic3 Pro.
There is an excellent e-book that I found really useful. He also shoots his panoramas manually, and has tips on how to get the stitching to work. There is a different kind of panorama that you can shoot by pointing the camera straight down and MOVING the drone instead of rotating it. I tried a test one of these and it worked.
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jvn.photo
This was the pano taken by moving the drone. It's not very artistic, but it was only a test.
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Erk1024
Well-Known Member
Here is that link to that Nigel Danson video (for anybody wasn't following the other thread):
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