DJI’s drones dominate the market to such an extent that you simply barely hear every other manufacturers talked about. They don’t seem to be fairly competing with themselves, however the DJI Air 3 does fill a spot between the professional-grade Mavic sequence and the pocket-size Mini vary. It is the primary new Air mannequin since 2021’s Air 2S, and DJI has accomplished it once more, with a drone that gives enhanced video efficiency and mercifully stress-free flying.
I have been flying the DJI Air 3 for the previous few months, evaluating it with a variety of different drones, together with its important competitor, the very good Air 2S. The most important enchancment over its older cousin is a multi-camera setup beforehand unique to the a lot pricier Mavic fashions, however there are notable boosts to battery life and flight security too.
Twice as Good
The headline characteristic for the DJI Air 3 is the 2 cameras mounted on its entrance gimbal. There is a “customary” wide-angle digicam providing a 24-mm-equivalent discipline of view (broadly much like the digicam on the Air 2S) and a medium-telephoto digicam providing a 70-mm-equivalent discipline of view. The latter provides the drone a brand-new inventive choice, with the angle permitting for a narrower framing of smaller topics and the flexibility to isolate them towards the background in an all-new, dramatic method. A tighter discipline of view won’t sound all that thrilling, however in follow it’s a major improve.
{Photograph}: DJI
Each cameras use a 1/1.3-inch Quad Bayer CMOS sensor with 48-megapixel decision. What I like about these sensors is that they each seize video on the identical high quality, making it simpler to present footage a unified, harmonious look when modifying, regardless of which components have been captured by which digicam.
The DJI Air 2S had a single 1-inch 20-megapixel sensor, which could make the Air 3’s smaller 1/1.3-inch sensors sound slightly disappointing. However it doesn’t really feel like an excessive amount of of a loss. I perceive DJI’s justification; two bigger sensors would add weight and take up area. However all advised, I believe the picture high quality is healthier on the Air 3, with wider dynamic vary and fewer noise.
The Air 3 does lose the flexibility to document video at a 5.7K decision, being restricted to 4K on each cameras, however in all honesty, I don’t assume anyone will thoughts all that a lot. For almost all of informal customers, 4K will likely be greater than sufficient element.
4K may be captured at as much as 60 frames per second in the usual video mode, 100 fps in slow-motion mode, and 30 fps within the new evening mode, which ekes out additional element after the solar goes down. I discovered the flat D Log M coloration profile a pleasure too, because it let me do my very own coloration grading and correction in postproduction and obtain the outcomes I wished.
Images (which may be captured in JPEG or DNG RAW) look glorious too, and whereas the Air 3 can’t match the WIRED-recommended Mavic 3’s 4 Thirds Hasselblad digicam, it’s not far off, whereas being smaller and considerably cheaper.
Fly Safer for Longer
Buzzing across the seashores and headlands of Britain’s southeast coast, I discovered the Air 3 to be much more forgiving and pleasurable to fly than its (already forgiving and pleasurable) predecessor. That is because of a much bigger battery (46 minutes versus the Air 2S’s 31—though real-world use numbers are marginally decrease for each drones) and a full omnidirectional anti-collision sensor setup that makes crashes not possible. The Air 3 now has sensors going through forwards, backwards, upwards, downwards, and laterally on each the left and proper sides, and in good mild these will spot hazards and cease your drone from careering into them. These sensors turn out to be much less dependable the darker the situations are, but it surely’s a useful characteristic that might save your blushes and financial institution stability.
Like all DJI drones, the Air 3’s flight controls are splendidly intuitive and loaded with sensible automated capabilities. As an illustration, you possibly can faucet a button on the controller to take off, and one other to carry the drone again from wherever it’s and land. You may also outline waypoints for totally automated flight, and set the Air 3 to trace a static or transferring topic, holding its cameras skilled on it always.
