The DJI Mavic 3 was already one of many most impressive drones that we have ever examined, so after we bought phrase of a Professional variant, we had been fairly excited.
Now, now we have it in our palms, and the most important change is obvious to see – the digital camera module has expanded in dimension and now options three sizable lenses providing quite a lot of focal lengths.
DJI has gone with the smartphone strategy, multiplying the cameras with a purpose to permit for versatile photographs that swimsuit a variety of eventualities.
We’ve been flying with it over the past couple of weeks, and right here’s what we discovered.
DJI
DJI Mavic 3 Professional
Really useful
With the Mavic 3 Professional, DJI takes its flagship craft and provides an extra digital camera, whereas enhancing its present telephoto providing. It additionally provides bundle offers with its glorious DJI RC distant. If you happen to’re in search of one of the best of one of the best, this is likely to be the one for you.
- Further digital camera could be very helpful
- RC Professional controller is a large enchancment
- Unmatched monitoring capabilities
- Excellent and secure flights
- The cameras have completely different capabilities
- Some equipment really feel decrease high quality
Selecting your choices
- With DJI RC – $2199 / €2099 / £1879
- Fly Extra Combo with DJI RC – $2999 / €2799 / £2549
- Fly Extra Combo with DJI RC Professional – $3889 / €3499 / £3169
- Cine Premium Combo – $4799/ €4599 / £4109
As with the original Mavic 3, and most of DJI’s different choices, there are a selection of the way to buy the Mavic 3 Professional. The important thing distinction, this time round, is that the usual distant has been upgraded to the DJI RC, moderately than the RC-N1 distant that got here as commonplace on the Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Traditional.
If you happen to’re not acquainted, the DJI RC was launched alongside the Mini 3 Pro final 12 months. As an alternative of relying in your smartphone, the DJI RC primarily has an Android handset constructed proper into the distant. It is far more handy to arrange, plus, your telephone is not tied up at some stage in your flight – which is all the time good.
If you happen to choose, you possibly can go for a Fly Extra bundle with DJI’s flagship RC Professional controller as a substitute, and that is the model that now we have in for testing. The RC Professional provides quite a few programmable buttons, in addition to a brighter show, 32GB of inside storage, a mini-HDMI output and exterior antennas. It will value you a reasonably penny, although.
Elsewhere, the Fly Extra Combo nets you a carry bag, which is way lighter and extra compact than the one included with the Mavic 3, and much more handy to take with you. Nonetheless, it would not really feel fairly as premium because the older mannequin.
The bag appears the half, although, and encompasses a new magnetic latching mechanism that reminds us of the Peak Design Everyday Backpack. It is practical and really satisfying to make use of.
The batteries are the identical because the Mavic 3, to allow them to be used interchangeably, which we all the time prefer to see. And the included 3-bay charger is equivalent, too.
Design and options
- Takeoff Weight: 958g
- Dimensions folded: 231.1 × 98 × 95.4mm
- Dimensions unfolded: 347.5 × 290.8 × 107.7mm
- Storage: 8GB inside + microSD card slot
The Mavic 3 Professional is actually the identical dimension because the Mavic 3, apart from the digital camera unit, which is considerably bigger. Elsewhere the design stays largely equivalent, so far as we will inform.
The brand new digital camera unit pushes the burden over the all-important 900-gram mark, and relying on the rules the place you reside, that would pose a difficulty with the legality of flying it. If you wish to be taught extra about drone rules, now we have an in-depth information to the UK and US necessities here.
One other change is discovered with the muzzle that reigns within the propellers and gimbal for secure transport. This was launched with the unique Mavic 3, however because the form and dimension of the digital camera unit are so completely different, a brand new model was developed for the Mavic 3 Professional.
The brand new model works in a lot the identical method, and it is nonetheless simply as efficient at maintaining all the pieces collectively and guarded, but it surely feels far more cheaply made than the outdated one. This is not going to be a dealbreaker for anybody, we’re positive, but it surely’s nonetheless a disgrace to see the fabric high quality take a success on this accent.
The flying expertise
- Max pace: 21 m/s in Sport mode
- Max flight time: 43 minutes
- O3+ video transmission
Our take a look at flights had been carried out in quite a lot of situations, largely delicate temperatures round 15 levels Celsius, and wind speeds starting from 5 to 25mph. These wind speeds are completely nothing to the Mavic 3 Professional, and it remained rocksteady at a hover and nimble in flight.
The specs counsel that this drone ought to fly with just about the identical traits because the Mavic 3, and that has been our expertise thus far. The one distinction, so far as we will inform, is that the estimated most flight time has been decreased from 46 minutes to 43 minutes. That is doubtless as a result of extra weight.
In actuality, your flight time will range relying on how you’re flying, and the way a lot wind you’re battling. We had been all the time north of half-hour within the air, although, and we’ve hardly ever wanted longer.
One distinction that was instantly obvious was the standard of the video downlink to the RC Professional controller. We personal the DJI Mini 3 Professional and DJI RC controller, so we’re already used to an excellent video hyperlink, however this actually steps issues up a notch.
The spec sheet tells us that the Mavic 3 Professional transmits to the RC Professional at as much as 15 MB/s, in comparison with simply 5.5 MB/s on the DJI RC and RC-N1. This huge distinction within the bitrate might be the most important promoting level for the RC Professional controller. There’s additionally 10ms much less latency, however we might be shocked if anybody may inform the distinction in the true world.
As with the usual Mavic 3, the drone’s monitoring talents are extremely spectacular. We put it by means of a little bit of a torture take a look at, asking it to observe us biking by means of a woodland path and it outperformed our expectations.
There was a number of foliage to dodge, and since there was an honest breeze, the branches had been shifting about too. The Mavic 3 Professional was unfazed, it weaved elegantly between the branches, all the time maintaining us within the shot.
One factor to notice is that ActiveTrack solely works utilizing the primary digital camera, you possibly can nonetheless monitor a topic with the opposite cameras, however the drone will not autonomously observe them
Cameras and picture high quality
- 24mm equal f/2.8-f/11 with 4/3 sensor
- 70mm equal f/2.8 with 1/1.3-inch sensor
- 166mm equal f/3.4 with 1/2-inch sensor
- As much as 20MP stills
- As much as 5.1k 50fps movies
The cameras are the place the true distinction is made with this mannequin. The excellent most important digital camera with its whopping 4/3 sensor and variable aperture stays unchanged from the usual Mavic 3, however the telephoto digital camera will get a lift, and an middleman 70mm equal is added.
The 70mm digital camera boasts a sensor dimension simply shy of 1 inch, or roughly equal to the iPhone 14 Pro‘s most important shooter, in addition to a large f2.8 aperture to help with low-light taking pictures.
The telephoto lens nonetheless has a smaller 1/2-inch sensor, however its attain has been elevated barely, from 163mm to 166mm, and its aperture has been opened as much as f/3.4, from f/4.4 on the earlier mannequin. It is nonetheless the weakest of the bunch, but it surely’s an enchancment.
The taking pictures codecs and picture resolutions stay unchanged from the Mavic 3, the important thing distinction is that you just now have extra choices in your focal size, which might unlock some very fascinating and artistic photographs.
The picture and video high quality from the primary digital camera is indistinguishable from the usual Mavic 3, it is the auxiliary lenses that get our consideration this time round. The brand new 3x 70mm equal digital camera is our favorite – it is a very helpful focal size, and the picture high quality is fairly nice. After all, it would not fairly match the supreme high quality of the primary sensor, but it surely’s adequate for many productions and gives a drastically completely different look to the usual wide-angle drone shot.
The 7x telephoto is enjoyable to play with, even when it does verge on feeling barely creepy with the ability to punch in thus far. It actually has its makes use of, however we discovered that the constancy nonetheless is not fairly as much as the usual set by the opposite two cameras. For critical work, we might persist with the primary and the 70mm.
One factor that we discovered barely irritating is the truth that every digital camera helps completely different resolutions, body charges and film profiles – which implies that may be exhausting to make use of them interchangeably. The 7x telephoto is probably the most restricted, with no log profiles obtainable, whereas the primary digital camera can shoot in DLog and the 3x can shoot in DLog-M.
Because of this, you possibly can’t change cameras on the fly – you need to select your focal size earlier than hitting file, and cease and begin the recording to change cameras. It isn’t the tip of the world, you may get one of the best outcomes by planning your photographs fastidiously anyway, but it surely’s rather less handy than we might like.
Verdict
We expect the Mavic 3 Professional is one of the best shopper drone that cash can purchase, identical to the Mavic 3 that got here earlier than it. It would not make the usual Mavic 3 out of date, by any means, they’re primarily the identical drone, in spite of everything. However, for those who like the concept of an extra focal size, the Mavic 3 Professional justifies its value nicely.
We’re actually happy to see the DJI RC controller grow to be the usual possibility, too. It is superior to the phone-clamp type distant that was commonplace with the usual Mavic 3 and it provides to the worth of the brand new packages.
To us, the fancier DJI RC Professional distant is not value the additional outlay, however we will think about eventualities the place it could be. Some skilled shoots will want issues like an HDMI output, and in these eventualities, the distant turns into a necessity. For most individuals, although, it would not do sufficient to justify spending round $900 further on it.
As we stated in our Mavic 3 evaluate, that is extra of a prosumer drone, and we might steer informal customers in direction of one thing just like the Mini 3 Professional or Air 2S – that are each extra inexpensive and fewer intimidating.
However, for those who’re extra critical about your aerial images, this can be a drone that may take your work to new heights. It is nearly as good because it will get with out leaping as much as one thing like an Encourage – and that prices over seven instances as a lot – which makes the Mavic 3 Professional appear like a cut price, comparatively.
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