DJI MAVIC 3 OVERVIEW

DJI MAVIC 3

DJI is teasing film-makers to re-shoot everything that has been recorded before. Or at least that would be our feeling if we produced movies rather than high-quality camera accessories made from fine grade leather. DJI has announced the third edition of their iconic Mavic series, and it is something beyond belief. Such a mind-blowing piece of tech comes with a reasonable price of $2,199.00, although the bill skyrockets quite fast after considering some of the pretty-much-needed accessories that are sold separately by DJI.

DJI Mavic 3 Quick Round-up

DJI promises stunning imagery thanks to the legendary image quality from Hasselblad. Maybe two-thirds of the price of this flying beauty is dedicated just to the optical and computational imaging capacity within it. Fly and discover imaging above everything else, every change that has been done to produce the Mavic 3 sets a higher standard for aerial photography.

And that's not just a mere catchphrase, with a 4/3" CMOS sensor, the Mavic 3 delivers a generous 12.8-stop dynamic range capable of retaining more details in highlights and shadows, upgrading aerial imagery to unprecedented professional levels. A single battery charge gives up to 46 minutes of flight time for us to stay longer in the air, capturing everything with the superb quality only Hasselblad can give to us.

Thanks to the advanced Omnidirectional Obstacle Sensing built inside the Mavic 3, we can easily forget about mastering flying skills. Fly confidently and safely wherever you are, expand your vision to a radius of up to 15 kilometers long. Fly further and explore more with the O3+ transmission system streaming smooth live feeds.

With a new Advanced RTH system, Mavic 3 camera drone returns safely home through a fast and optimized route. Whether activated by a low battery condition or ourselves, getting the quadcopter drone back while still in the air is easier than ever before.

DJI Mavic 3 Official Combos

Online, we can choose from two different combinations beyond the baseline version. These are the "DJI Mavic 3 Fly More Combo" ($2,999.00) & the "DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium Combo" ($4,999.00), and both come with interesting goodies worth considering.

• DJI Mavic 3 Standard Pack
• RC-N1 Remote Controller with 1x extra sticks and cables (USB Type-C, Micro-USB & Lightning)
• Storage Cover
• 1x Intelligent Flight Battery
• 3x Pair of Low-Noise Propellers
• 65W Portable Charger

• DJI Mavic 3 Fly More Combo
• 2x Intelligent Flight Batteries
• 1x 65W Portable Charger with an additional Battery Charging Hub.1x Convertible Carrying Bag
• 1x ND Filters Set with ND4 (0.6), ND8 (0.9), ND16 (1.2) and ND32 (1.5).
• 6x Pair of Low-Noise Propellers

• DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium Combo
• 1x upgraded DJI RC Pro with a high-bright display
• 1x ND Filters Set with ND4 (0.6), ND8 (0.9), ND16 (1.2) and ND32 (1.5), ND64 (1.8), ND128 (2.1), ND256 (2.4) and ND512 (2.7)
• 1x 10Gbps Lightspeed cable, and other useful accessories for professional-level imaging
• 8x Pair of Low-Noise Propellers

Not to mention that the Cine Premium Combo comes with a different version of the drone, a Mavic 3 Cine aircraft which supports Apple ProRes 422 HQ video encoding and a built-in 1TB SSD.

Imaging Above Everything

Recently unveiled by DJI, this new flagship drone will change the game of action and aerial imagery. After 5 years, the highly anticipated Mavic 3 comes with a dual-camera 20MP 4/3" setup exclusively designed by Hasselblad. The built-in imaging power enables us to shoot up to 5.1K video, and the 12MP telephoto lens shoots at 4K with 4x digital zoom. Coped with insane flying capabilities, the impressive imaging power makes this the greatest pro-line consumer drone ever to be made.

Like the former Mavic 2, the brand-new Mavic 3 comes in two different versions: the base model and the Cine version one. But unlike the Mavic 2, which made users pick between two different models, the distinctions between the Mavic 3 variants are not as dramatic In fact, the only noticeable distinctions between the two models are that the Cine supports an additional video format, Apple ProRes 422 HQ, and comes with 1TB of internal storage, versus the base model’s 8GB. Oh, and the branding that states the Cine to be Cine.

DJI's Mavic 3 has some of the most impressive performance specs ever to be seen in a consumer (purchasable) drone. It is the first-ever Mavic drone to feature two cameras. The principal one is a 20MP 4/3" Hasselblad sensor, with an adjustable aperture and the ability to capture video up to 5.1K/50 fps. The other camera is a 12MP telephoto capable of shooting in 4K/30 fps, supports up to 4x digital zoom and natural "hybrid" 28x zoom.

With phones giving us up to 5 cameras, having 2 might not feel like a great deal, but let us elaborate a bit deeper on why it is a huge thing. What triggers us the most is the primary 4/3" CMOS sensor on such a small camera (the whole drone's body doesn't count of course).

Along with the new imaging setup, the Mavic 3 also features various design and software enhancements that expands its performance capabilities. One of our favorites, the Mavic 3's omnidirectional sensor array, which allows it to virtually see its environment, ensure a collision- and crash-free flight, even in the woods! And speaking of improvements, the Mavic 3 is the first DJI drone to feature a 1080p/60 fps live feed, meaning what we see on our display is almost identical to what the Mavic 3 is recording in real-time.

Bring on Those Specs!

First some photography and video related figures given by the 4/3" CMOS 20 MP Hasselblad camera:

• Field of View: 84°
• Equivalent format: 24mm
• Aperture: ƒ/2.8 to ƒ/11
• Focus: 1m to infinity (with autofocus)
• Electronic shutter: 8 seconds - 1/8000s
• ISO range: 100-6400 for both stills and video

But that's not all, remember that it features an additional Telephoto camera:

• 1/2" CMOS Sensor
• Field of View: 15°
• Equivalent format: 162mm
• Aperture: ƒ/4.4
• Focus: 3m to infinity
• Electronic shutter: 2 seconds - 1/8000s
• ISO range: same as the main camera

Image Size depends on both cameras, resulting in 5280×2970 JPEG/DNG(RAW) when using the main Hasselblad camera and 4,000×3,000 pixels JPEG when shooting with the telephoto secondary camera. Now, speaking of video, Apple ProRes 422 HQ allows us to shoot at 5120×2700 at 24/25/30/48/50fps in 5.1K, 4096×2160 at 24/25/30/48/50/60/120fps in DCI 4K, 3840×2160 at 24/25/30/48/50/60/120fps in 4K.

But when shooting in H.264/H.265 (200 Mb/s), the figures vary a bit as the following:

• 1K: 5120 × 2700 at 24/25/30/48/50fps
• DCI 4K: 4096 × 2160 at 24/25/30/48/50/60/120fps
• 4K: 3840 × 2160 at 24/25/30/48/50/60/120fps
• FHD: 1920 × 1080 at 24/25/30/48/50/60/120fps

Now, about the drone by itself, we get these awesome figures:

Battery

• 5000 mAh: up to 46 minutes

Dimensions and Weight

• Folded (without propellers) 221×96.3×90.3mm
• Unfolded (without propellers) 347.5×283×107.7mm
• Mavic 3: 895 grams
• Mavic 3 Cine: 899 grams

Operating Frequency

• 400-2.4835 GHz
• 725-5.850 GHz

Transmission Distance

• FCC: 15km
• CE: 8km
• SRRC: 8km
• MIC: 8km

Maximum Flight Altitude and Distance

• 6000 m above sea level
• 30km

Maximum Flight Speed

• Maximum Ascent Speed: 1 m/s (mode C); 6 m/s (Mode N); 8 m/s (S mode)
• Maximum Descent Speed: 1 m/s (mode C); 6 m/s (Mode N); 6 m/s (S mode)
• Maximum Flight Speed: 5 m/s (mode C); 15 m/s (N mode); 19 m/s (S mode)

How does it Fly?

With a Binocular omnidirectional vision system, complemented by an infrared sensor on the underside of the aircraft, this bad boy is as precise as any good pilot.

The frontal vision system has a measurement range of 0.5-20m and detection range of 0.5-200m. The effective detection speed is ≤15m/s with a field of view of 90° (horizontal) and 103° (vertical). The rear vision system has a measurement range of 0.5-16m and an effective detection speed of ≤14m/s with the same field of view.

Some other detection figures are:

Now for the stabilization, we also get some interesting data as well. And frankly, these ones require some aeronautical knowledge in order to find them relevant or not. The drone features a 3-axis motorized stabilization mechanism  with the following ranges:

• Tilt: −135° to 100°
• Rotation: −45° to 45°
• Pan: −27° to 27°

Also interesting, the hover accuracy range or the capacity of the drone of staying perfectly still during flight:

• Vertical: ±0.1m (with visual positioning); ±0.5m (with GNSS positioning)
• Horizontal: ±0.3m (with visual positioning); ±0.5m (with high precision positioning system)

Last but not least, the storage capacity of this marvelous tech creation in our hands. Regular Mavic 3 comes with a built-in capacity of 8GB (which reduces to approximately 7.2 GB of available space), in contrast with the Mavic 3 Cine comes with a huge 1 TB SSD (which of course also reduces down giving us an approximate figure of 934.8 GB of available storage space). 8 GB is obviously short, but DJI includes a card slot for MicroSD SDXC or UHS-I cards with a capacity of up to 2 TB.

Wrapping-it Up

Image quality on the Mavic 3 is utterly amazing. With 12.8 stops of dynamic range and an adjustable ƒ/2.8 to ƒ/11 aperture, this drone handles nearly any lighting situation. The Mavic 3's powerful imaging capabilities give us a 10-bit D-Log Color Profile and Hasselblad's Natural Color Solution for natural and true color reproduction.

This last feature is what makes this magnificent aircraft the perfect companion for professional content creators looking for consumer-level solutions for their everyday needs. HNCS is the result of Hasselblad's many decades of experience and gives us precise pixel calibration across the whole imaging process. This is achieved via RGB color data being passed through both an image processing algorithm and color processing mode while shooting. The result, precise and natural color reproduction without the need for color presets at all.

The advanced return home is also a nice feature, meaning we don't have to worry about our drone getting lost under normal shooting circumstances. This is an example of something that might get away from what the RTH is capable of. Returning to the starting point can be triggered by ourselves, but it can also be automatically triggered if there is a signal loss. On its way back, the Mavic 3 plots the optimal route home, avoiding obstacles along the way.

When flying with the included RC-N1 remote and our smartphones, the Mavic 3 can live stream the camera's view back to you at up to 1080p 60 resolution. Yes, this allows us to proof footage at Full HD quality but also enables us to have better control of the craft. The Mavic 3 is engineered to steadily hold its position in the air, allowing pilots to take decently clean long-exposure or time-lapse shots. About long exposures, we are a bit skeptical and would love to test it at slower speeds than 1/5s, which is our safety rule for this matter.

Who Should Buy the DJI Mavic 3 Drone?

In short, we think seriously passionate content creators should consider this thing. The possibilities are just infinite with such versatility, and as DJI improves their game, flying skills are scarcely needed at all. Focusing on getting the right frame in a creative way should be our main concern, and DJI is giving us that possibility with the Mavic 3. What would the future give us? We are not sure, but we are desperate to see more photos and movie-clips recorded with this thing!