will the Air 3s ever get night mode ?

[jojonono]

at this point i am pretty convinced and been anticipating an S model for the Air series, coming from an Air 2s i think its time to upgrade...

only thing am wondering will the air 3s ever get a FW upgrade and have the night mode like most other drones released before ? its a deal breaker for me since i didnt have it in my air 2s and was amazed how great footage looks in night mode even on the mini 3 pro !

what do u guys think ?...

thanks,

 

[wco81]

Which drones have night mode? Have any of the Air models had night modes?

 

[jojonono]

Which drones have night mode? Have any of the Air models had night modes?

Mini 3 and 4 pro
Mavic 3
Air 3

 

[swoermck]

The DJI Air 3S has no dedicated night mode, but instead adopt to night time settings automatically. Yes, the Air 3 has a dedicated „night mode“, but for a good reason: ISO for filming in normal mode is only up to 6400 for the Air 3, only in night mode filming with ISO up to 12800 is possible. In comparison the „Normal“ mode of the Air 3S is up to ISO 12800, no „night mode“ needed.

Tested it myself (have the Air 3 and the Air 3S), similar results, Air 3S video at night is slightly darker (not too much), but when zooming in, the Air 3S will have more details which are already lost in the video of the Air 3.

Only thing to keep in mind: Night mode of the DJI Air 3 will set video to 4K 30fps automatically (MAX, no 60 fps in night mode), this is what you have to do manually on the Air 3S - I missed that the last time while filming in the night (it was still set to 4K 60fps), which resulted in a shutter speed of 1/60 - a MUCH darker image compared to the Air 3 (1/30 shutter speed).

 

[jojonono]

The DJI Air 3S has no dedicated night mode, but instead adopt to night time settings automatically. Yes, the Air 3 has a dedicated „night mode“, but for a good reason: ISO for filming in normal mode is only up to 6400 for the Air 3, only in night mode filming with ISO up to 12800 is possible. In comparison the „Normal“ mode of the Air 3S is up to ISO 12800, no „night mode“ needed.

Tested it myself (have the Air 3 and the Air 3S), similar results, Air 3S video at night is slightly darker (not too much), but when zooming in, the Air 3S will have more details which are already lost in the video of the Air 3.

Only thing to keep in mind: Night mode of the DJI Air 3 will set video to 4K 30fps automatically (MAX, no 60 fps in night mode), this is what you have to do manually on the Air 3S - I missed that the last time while filming in the night (it was still set to 4K 60fps), which resulted in a shutter speed of 1/60 - a MUCH darker image compared to the Air 3 (1/30 shutter

According to Billy Kyle the night mode looked better on Air 3

Also isn't the night mode suppose to clean the noise and produce sharper images ???

Final question, since both the air 3s and air 2s have a one inch sensor, does it mean bith produce similar (or very close) low light results?

Am seirously considering upgrading from Air 2s to Air 3s, is it a rational decision or a waste of money ?

Thanks

 

[Droning on and on...]

Am seirously considering upgrading from Air 2s to Air 3s, is it a rational decision or a waste of money ?

Thanks

If there was only a single, simple difference in which one was clearly superior to the other, the answer would be easy.

Of course, that's not the case. The 3S has many features the 3 does not. So upgrading can only be a decision you can make, based on what's important to you.

Someone that really needs the LIDAR obstacle avoidance at night would tell you yes, absolutely. Someone only concerned with resolution might say no, stay away.

Your best approach is to do the hard work: Spend time studying and fully understanding the feature differences, reviews, and examine stills and video online to form your own judgement.

Nothing wrong with posing the "should I" question, but you'll get an answer based on what's important to them, and it may not align with what's important to you.

 

[swoermck]

According to Billy Kyle the night mode looked better on Air 3

This is from my testing - zoomed in to make the difference visible: the purple color of the three houses in the middle you see in "Drone B" is lost in the video from "Drone A", looks overexposed to me.

Also if you compare the three purple lighted houses in the screenshot, the house on the left with the pointed roof has two windows, which you can clearly see in the footage of "Drone B", but barely visible in "Drone A"

 

[swoermck]

(forgot to mention: Drone A is the DJI Air 3, Drone B is the DJI Air 3S)

 

[jojonono]

I finally watched this video but I was SERIOUSLY disappointed by the Air 3s low light capabilities

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Not sure if air 3 was as bad and they will fix it for the ai 3s via fw update or sth, but as for now I don't think I will upgrade to the Air 3s, such a bummer!...

 

[swoermck]

Not sure if air 3 was as bad

you're correct, in that video the night shot of the Air 3S was really bad!

Nevertheless I can tell you that the Air 3 can do much better, this is from a video I did last year:



Nightmode, everything else set to auto!

And in my short comparison I did between the Air 3 and the Air 3S a few weeks ago I can tell you:

- Air 3S slightly darker (in automatic mode, still have to try how it looks like with EV +0.3)
- Air 3S cleaner image, less noise
- Air 3S more details

Anyway, sometime I still take the Air 3 with me, as you will only recognize noise and less details in the video when zooming in. And when looking at the screenshot from my video above, I still like the Air 3's night performance - even if not as clean as the Air 3S!

 

[davidarmenb]

According to Billy Kyle the night mode looked better on Air 3

Billy Kyle is a shill.

 

[jojonono]

you're correct, in that video the night shot of the Air 3S was really bad!

Nevertheless I can tell you that the Air 3 can do much better, this is from a video I did last year:

View attachment 179758

Nightmode, everything else set to auto!

And in my short comparison I did between the Air 3 and the Air 3S a few weeks ago I can tell you:

- Air 3S slightly darker (in automatic mode, still have to try how it looks like with EV +0.3)
- Air 3S cleaner image, less noise
- Air 3S more details

Anyway, sometime I still take the Air 3 with me, as you will only recognize noise and less details in the video when zooming in. And when looking at the screenshot from my video above, I still like the Air 3's night performance - even if not as clean as the Air 3S!

Tbh am not even gonna think twice, after that horrible video am pretty convinced going with a bigger sensor is the way to go, so I will go with the mavic 3 classic, I hardly need any zoom more than 3x, and a 3/4 sensor + night mode (and variable aperture) is always a winner compared to a midsized dronny such as the Air 3s, thanks for the eye opener but I don't think no matter how many fw upgrades the Air 3s will even come close to the mavic 3 night time performance...

 

[swoermck]

Tbh am not even gonna think twice, after that horrible video am pretty convinced going with a bigger sensor is the way to go

So I watched it again, but I don't think this video does the Air 3S justice: as stated before, I was able to got much better night videos with my Air 3, and from my first comparison (Air 3 to Air 3S) the Air 3S is at least the same quality, if not better.

Would love to get you some more samples of night videos, but living in the north of Germany we now have (almost) no day without rain since 4 weeks!!! (tried another comparison today during daytime, but rain just started after I got both drones airborne )

In the meantime I found a good comparison of the Air 3 with the Mavic 3 (4/3 sensor), I think this one is a fair comparison and gives you a good impression what to expect from a Air 3 / Air 3S:

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.. and now (finally the holiday season started) I'm hoping for better weather..

 

[jojonono]

well sorry i relaize this topic is a bit old, but am seeing everyone saying jsut to shoot WITHOUT the night mode and try something like Neat Video, is it really capable of achieving better results (if i invest in it) better than the night mode capabilities to remove noise ? am asking this because recently i shoot a noisy footage using my drone and i used cap cut noise reduction and it didnt d a fantastic job, just wondering if neat video will do a better job or what ?

 

[Droning on and on...]

well sorry i relaize this topic is a bit old, but am seeing everyone saying jsut to shoot WITHOUT the night mode and try something like Neat Video, is it really capable of achieving better results (if i invest in it) better than the night mode capabilities to remove noise ? am asking this because recently i shoot a noisy footage using my drone and i used cap cut noise reduction and it didnt d a fantastic job, just wondering if neat video will do a better job or what ?

Unfortunately, the most real answer is it depends on who you talk to.

On paper, spec-wise, it should have significantly better low light capability than the Air 3. Reviews are mixed, you can find YT reviews insisting it's a low-light beast with examples, others that say painting with elephant dung produces a better image.

So, the only thing you can do is survey a variety of reviews, and judge for yourself.

That said, having done that, IMO the 3S has significantly better noise performance in low light for video compared to both the Air 3 and Air 2S. The Air 2S does a tiny bit better job than the 3S comparing stills.

 

[swoermck]

is it really capable of achieving better results (if i invest in it) better than the night mode capabilities to remove noise ?

To give you an idea, I just uploaded a video I recently filmed with the DJI Air 3S:

DJI Air3 = no night mode???

Normal mode, all settings to Auto, 4k 30fps. The uploaded video is "as is" (not sure what YT will do: compression?), otherwise no grading, correction, just stitching two videos together to one.