What to keep, what to shed

[GtoJon]

Ditch both & get the M3 again. I hand catch all the time. The M2P is not that good for wildlife & wetlands. The Phantom 4 is ok. The M2Z is just palin noise & crappy 12mp camera. The M3 7x camera is by far better in every way than the M2Z! I have owned the P4P, M2P & the M2Z. The M3 will get better again on the next FW update!
You cannot do this with any but the M3. Good luck with your choice! Do not buy the Cine or the Combo! Standard & extra batteries.

Cheers, Jon

 

[Point Zero]

So, worst case, you get a 20% increase in flight time, using all your own numbers.
That alone is worth the upgrade to me. The MFT sensor upgrade from the M2P is also a game changer for me. It's almost a two stop increase after dark! Plus a free optical 7x camera! What's not to like?

With regards to the "What's not to like?" bit, where should I start? lol

 

[Dougcjohn]

Ditch both & get the M3 again. I hand catch all the time. The M2P is not that good for wildlife & wetlands. The Phantom 4 is ok. The M2Z is just palin noise & crappy 12mp camera. The M3 7x camera is by far better in every way than the M2Z! I have owned the P4P, M2P & the M2Z. The M3 will get better again on the next FW update!
You cannot do this with any but the M3. Good luck with your choice! Do not buy the Cine or the Combo! Standard & extra batteries.

Cheers, Jon

Great to see the Eagles! Nice Drone & Camera movement. Date stamp looked recent, for MN your Snow has melted away. Have they started to chick yet or still incubating eggs. In Iowa, we’ve had a large increase in the Eagles last 3-4 yrs in 3 prime spots along river. Haven’t flown around them, do they spot you if a little closer than the distance your were positioned? Didn’t see Mate, thought he/she would have made an entrance during the first longer video.

I assuming it’s the YouTube downgrading & compressing your uploads… the M3 X7 image itself wasn’t close to the caliber expected: tree limbs, bark & eagles not sharp, motion blur and color & depth not presenting the effort worked to obtain the shot. Besides the distance shots showing your drone placement, was there any video section from the MFT Lens?

I’ve had YouTubes for construction sites or agriculture upload crisp sharp cropped and others blurry on an I2 using X5S 12mm Zuiko & X7 like I used different camera.

 

[Dougcjohn]

I bought a M3 shortly after it was introduced because it got some great reviews and I really wanted the extra flight time. It got returned and the box was never opened based on the initial software/firmware issues and having to wait on the updates that may or may not have resolved the problems. Then came the GPS issues. Seems most of these problems will have been solved with the next update so I may be back on the market. But….



I’ve got a Phantom Pro 4 and a M2 Pro. If do get the M3 the question is what to sell. I was never fond of the M2 and hated the low to the ground landing gear and body. I often work and land in areas where it’s grassy or not generally hospitable for easy landings. With the P4 this has never been an issue. With the M2 always a fear.



But the Pro 4 is getting on in years and while bulky it’s rock solid in the air handling wind really well. I know I’ll have the same landing issues with the M3 as with the M2 but the question at this point is what to keep and what to shed.



Most of my work is wetlands and invasive species. Keep the M2, light and small or the Pro 4 which is a bit of a beast but a great flyer with an ok camera.



Your thoughts and advice?



Thanks



Andrew

I originally got the M3 Kit, had several oddities with it (expressed elsewhere on forum). Returned for Replacment (Best Buy). Gave some thought about the Cine kit, and later returned to order the M3 Cine Kit.

Haven’t done much video yet on the M3 Cine… but one thing I do like with the Cine is the extremely fast write speeds for Stills… same would be true for Non-ProRes Video too. Next shot is faster, Pano Faster, and speed to offload has been much better than expected being used to the Inspire 2’s Reader. If write speed is important that’s another consideration for the Cine model; Add in the ProRes License, 1TB NVMe SSD, 4 extra ND filters and RC Pro Radio… Cine package is value, if not desired… then it’s a waste.

 

[GtoJon]

Great to see the Eagles! Nice Drone & Camera movement. Date stamp looked recent, for MN your Snow has melted away. Have they started to chick yet or still incubating eggs. In Iowa, we’ve had a large increase in the Eagles last 3-4 yrs in 3 prime spots along river. Haven’t flown around them, do they spot you if a little closer than the distance your were positioned? Didn’t see Mate, thought he/she would have made an entrance during the first longer video.

I assuming it’s the YouTube downgrading & compressing your uploads… the M3 X7 image itself wasn’t close to the caliber expected: tree limbs, bark & eagles not sharp, motion blur and color & depth not presenting the effort worked to obtain the shot. Besides the distance shots showing your drone placement, was there any video section from the MFT Lens?

I’ve had YouTubes for construction sites or agriculture upload crisp sharp cropped and others blurry on an I2 using X5S 12mm Zuiko & X7 like I used different camera.

The male flies away before the female always. I think YouTube is compressing more now & I processed at only 50mbps. If you are curious as to the original file PM me & I can give you access. Also, these were both taken before the latest FW that only fixed the GPS, that it didn't, but improved my 7x camera again. I think DJI will do more fixing soon again & give us DNG photos & maybe less compression from the 7x camera. I did do a comparison to my X5s/45mm & the 45mm almost looked to sharp & crunchy/moiré ... etc.

I only tried shooting an eagles nest once 9 years ago with my Phantom & GoPro, when I thought my eagles were gone in January & he came out of nowhere & I could land fast enough. The M3 is the first snice then. I need more practice & sometimes forget to focus again when I get closer. But the 7x has good potential

Cheers, Jon

 

[Dougcjohn]

The male flies away before the female always. I think YouTube is compressing more now & I processed at only 50mbps. If you are curious as to the original file PM me & I can give you access. Also, these were both taken before the latest FW that only fixed the GPS, that it didn't, but improved my 7x camera again. I think DJI will do more fixing soon again & give us DNG photos & maybe less compression from the 7x camera. I did do a comparison to my X5s/45mm & the 45mm almost looked to sharp & crunchy/moiré ... etc.

I only tried shooting an eagles nest once 9 years ago with my Phantom & GoPro, when I thought my eagles were gone in January & he came out of nowhere & I could land fast enough. The M3 is the first snice then. I need more practice & sometimes forget to focus again when I get closer. But the 7x has good potential

Cheers, Jon

Yep, that looks much more to what was expected in sharpness, depth, motion & color seperation.
I‘m still leaning to the Inspire X5S & X7… the bigger glass & glass elements I still think has an overall edge. But the M3 is so much more nimble & stable… the I2 has movement that isn’t a concern in open but not where one would fly the M3.
Still has YouTube compression & it’s typical floating blur in transmission, but overall much better Image.

<Hit Sent by Mistake, iPad>

Wasn’t aware the Male departed... They are lifetime Mates, they share the raising & feeding til the chicks normally fly. But my Depth of Eagles are the Animal Shows & Videos.

I’ve been tempted to try capturing them too. There is a large group near river where a large construction I’m capturing is located. I’ve been a little shy to try… 1) aggressive birds, 2) River… both have a negative impact on a small drone. I’d want to give them the space but when they can spot of field mouse in long grass at altitude, a drone is an easy spot… question is degree of agitation.

 

[GtoJon]

Yep, that looks much more to what was expected in sharpness, depth, motion & color seperation.
I‘m still leaning to the Inspire X5S & X7… the bigger glass & glass elements I still think has an overall edge. But the M3 is so much more nimble & stable… the I2 has moment that isn’t a concern in open but not where one would fly the M3.

You will never get that close to eagles with an I2 & the 45mm is perfect for pics, but video, never I hope the rumors of an M3s is true

Cheers, Jon

 

[Dougcjohn]

You will never get that close to eagles with an I2 & the 45mm is perfect for pics, but video, never I hope the rumors of an M3s is true

Cheers, Jon

Oh Heck no… an I2 would probably just agitate them more. Ya the M3 is whisper quite in comparison.

The M3S is a question… I’d be curious what‘s added / improved to justify the “S” model when I personally feel their goal is to correct any hardware identified post release of M3.

Rumor has a larger Telephoto sensor. I’d like see a different total Payload. But I may be more thinking of a Mavic Enterprise 3 - being similar to the M30.

The Inspire 3… new tech, quite, redundancies and superior payloads… looking forward to seeing.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I originally got the M3 Kit, had several oddities with it (expressed elsewhere on forum). Returned for Replacment (Best Buy). Gave some thought about the Cine kit, and later returned to order the M3 Cine Kit.

Haven’t done much video yet on the M3 Cine… but one thing I do like with the Cine is the extremely fast write speeds for Stills… same would be true for Non-ProRes Video too. Next shot is faster, Pano Faster, and speed to offload has been much better than expected being used to the Inspire 2’s Reader. If write speed is important that’s another consideration for the Cine model; Add in the ProRes License, 1TB NVMe SSD, 4 extra ND filters and RC Pro Radio… Cine package is value, if not desired… then it’s a waste.

Despite all the benefits of the 1TB NVMe SSD on the Cine version, the fact that it is not removable means all your eggs are still in one basket after a battery change, unless you have access to a computer in the field, and copy off the new footage at each battery change. While you can use the microSD card instead, you lose all the 1TB NVMe SSD benefits by doing so. Lastly, the drone replacement cost with the internal 1TB NVMe SSD is $1000 more, if it crashes or is unrecoverable. You can buy two non-Cine versions for the price of one Cine version, and never lose any prior footage. RC-Pro works with both, and is a must have!

 

[Dougcjohn]

Despite all the benefits of the 1TB NVMe SSD on the Cine version, the fact that it is not removable means all your eggs are still in one basket after a battery change, unless you have access to a computer in the field, and copy off the new footage at each battery change. While you can use the microSD card instead, you lose all the 1TB NVMe SSD benefits by doing so. Lastly, the drone replacement cost with the internal 1TB NVMe SSD is $1000 more, if it crashes or is unrecoverable. You can buy two non-Cine versions for the price of one Cine version, and never lose any prior footage. RC-Pro works with both, and is a must have!

That's accurate, although if not doing ProRes, the 1TB size will support most outings. Agree, if using SD Card I swap with each battery change. The speed to extract from 1TB for SD Card equivalent: 32-128GB is impressively fast. At this stage, I trust an NVMe SSD more than a microSD card so I haven't extracted until mission complete.

Crash Refresh & Support:
Multiple discussions on Forum for the various ways to protect... and if an unrecoverable feature is important, that does have an added cost and reduces your coverage options. On DJI 2 yr plan the M3 Cine non-recoverable fee is $450 more than M3... after initial plans purchased.

My option for M3 Cine was $0. I purchased via BeatBuy and inherented their Protection Plan that I purchased with other products... so my cost to replace either M3 Model up to 2 per year for 2 yrs is only $99 each (4 total) Much more reasonable than DJI (recoverable) cost but you do have to return at least part of original craft.

DJI M3 Cine 2yr plan is a whopping $600, w 3 replacements at $240, $300, and $350 for Recoverable, and NonRecoverable $1190 (isn’t clear may only be a 1 time loss).

DJI M3 2 yr plan is $400 w 3 replacements at $160, $200, $230 and NonRecoverable $740.

Humorously, at present if I was to "loose" the M3 Cine... I'd wait to replace with the M3-S Cine. Replacement would be a low cost upgrade option compared to new kit.

 

[GadgetGuy]

That's accurate, although if not doing ProRes, the 1TB size will support most outings. Agree, if using SD Card I swap with each battery change. The speed to extract from 1TB for SD Card equivalent: 32-128GB is impressively fast. At this stage, I trust an NVMe SSD more than a microSD card so I haven't extracted until mission complete.

Crash Refresh & Support:
Multiple discussions on Forum for the various ways to protect... and if an unrecoverable feature is important, that does have an added cost and reduces your coverage options. On DJI 2 yr plan the M3 Cine non-recoverable fee is $450 more than M3... after initial plans purchased.

My option for M3 Cine was $0. I purchased via BeatBuy and inherented their Protection Plan that I purchased with other products... so my cost to replace either M3 Model up to 2 per year for 2 yrs is only $99 each (4 total) Much more reasonable than DJI (recoverable) cost but you do have to return at least part of original craft.

DJI M3 Cine 2yr plan is a whopping $600, w 3 replacements at $240, $300, and $350 for Recoverable, and NonRecoverable $1190 (isn’t clear may only be a 1 time loss).

DJI M3 2 yr plan is $400 w 3 replacements at $160, $200, $230 and NonRecoverable $740.

Humorously, at present if I was to "loose" the M3 Cine... I'd wait to replace with the M3-S Cine. Replacement would be a low cost upgrade option compared to new kit.

The problem with the 1TB size supporting most outings is that all prior and current footage from the flights during the outing are lost, should the drone become unrecoverable during any of the flights, instead of only the current flight, if using microSD cards instead on a standard M3, plus the extra cost to replace the unrecoverable Cine version. Best Buy may replace your Cine drone, but can't replicate your lost footage, which may be more valuable than the drone, on a commercial job. Hence, one must still take the extra time to offload the SSD footage after every flight.

 

[Dougcjohn]

The problem with the 1TB size supporting most outings is that all prior and current footage from the flights during the outing are lost, should the drone become unrecoverable during any of the flights, instead of only the current flight, if using microSD cards instead on a standard M3, plus the extra cost to replace the unrecoverable Cine version. Best Buy may replace your Cine drone, but can't replicate your lost footage, which may be more valuable than the drone, on a commercial job. Hence, one must still take the extra time to offload the SSD footage after every flight.

So very true! If craft is truely lost... media on craft goes with it.
That's true with any media... Inspire 2's 480-980 SSD.
I've been surprised how many only have 1 SSD cine stick.
If crashed & recoverable... good, lost would be a problem.

Not disagreeing on the benefits of removable media... would have preferred M3 had a Inspire 2 similar setup. That may be another "improvement" for the M3S-Cine!

With that said (knock on wood), I haven't lost a craft and many equiped with less radio transmission than M3's advanced OcuSync. The M3 provides a relatively safe basket for the 1 egg.

 

[BlairAir]

If you get the Mavic 3, and I'm not saying if you should or shouldn't, you would do well with these.

The seam Rugged enough and if you land on really soft ground, the ski/sled types might be more suited:

They seem less robust, from what I have seen, but might fit in a case easier than tge bulkier versions.