DJI Mavic 3 long-term use report: Digital Pictures Overview

I’ve been utilizing the DJI Mavic 3 Cine for one yr now. I depend on drones to seize video and stills of pure landscapes for my Science & Symphony Movies which might be offered in live performance halls around the globe. Having used this drone for skilled work for a while, I’ve rounded up various options I feel are nice, and a few points I’ve encountered that want enchancment.

Observe: simply as I used to be ending this text DJI launched two main firmware updates (v1.000.1000 being the newest as of writing) that not solely addressed the problems I point out beneath, however added some very good new options. I will point out the helpful impacts of the firmware updates as I’m going.

Motivation

One of many movies I am engaged on, Moontides, is about essentially the most excessive lunar tides on Earth. A drone can present a novel perspective on how dramatically a panorama can change in simply six hours – going from low to excessive tide and vice versa. For this movie I visited the Cornish coast of England and the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada. The pictures was performed across the full moon since throughout full and new moon the Solar and Moon are aligned with our planet, producing extra excessive tides.

The second movie, Liquify, follows water from mountain tops and glaciers all the best way to the ocean. For this movie I visited the southern coast of Iceland since inside a comparatively brief driving distance you possibly can see mountain tops, rivers, waterfalls, glaciers, lagoons and coastlines.

For each movies I used the Mavic 3 Cine for my aerial footage.

Two (cropped) panoramas displaying the rising tide at Mousehole, Cornwall, UK. The panoramas had been shot 6 hours aside.

When the Mavic 3 Cine was introduced, three issues rapidly motivated me to buy it: its compact dimension, its lengthy battery life and its inner SSD reminiscence. The primary two of those options turned out to be every part I would imagined, however the third proved to be annoying at instances – till only recently when my points had been addressed with firmware updates.

Compact dimension

One of many Mavic 3 attributes I actually get pleasure from is how compact it’s, but with out sacrificing picture high quality. When folded, the Cine is barely 22 cm × 9.6 cm × 9 cm (8.7 in x 3.8 in x 3.6 in).

What’s good:

The drone and equipment match properly in its carrying bag (included with the Combo bundle), which simply matches into my digicam backpack. The truth that I can mix the Mavic 3 Cine with different photograph gear in a single backpack is a giant plus for me.

Lengthy battery life

The Mavic Cine 3 makes use of a reasonably a compact Clever Flight Battery (capability: 5,000 mAh). At 336g (11.9 oz), this battery makes up greater than a 3rd of the drone takeoff weight of 899g (31.7 oz). That tells you ways mild the drone itself is! With the intention to keep away from stopping my workflow through the day, I cost three batteries within the Battery Charging Hub in a single day. Every takes roughly 1.6 hours to cost. You get the Hub with the Combo bundle.

What’s good:

The Mavic Cine 3’s most flight time of 46 minutes has modified the best way I work. With the flight instances of half-hour or much less on earlier fashions, I discovered that by the point I used to be getting the pictures I wanted I needed to flip round and land the drone to vary the battery. With the Mavic 3 I discover myself glad with the pictures I’ve obtained solely to find that I’ve 20 extra minutes or so of flight time left. This permits me to be extra artistic and experimental.

Inner SSD

Along with a slot for microSD playing cards, the Cine mannequin contains an inner 1 TB SSD with roughly 935 GB of obtainable house. This massive capability is especially helpful when capturing video utilizing the high-quality Apple ProRes 422 codec.

What’s good:

• The 1 TB SSD permits me to shoot roughly 3.75 hours of 4K/30p ProRes 422 video, lots for someday’s work. Alternatively, it will possibly retailer 2.5 hours of ProRes 422 HQ, 15.5 hours of H.264, and 20.25 hours of H.265 30 fps video.
• When plugged in to a pc, the Mavic 3 Cine’s SSD routinely mounts as an exterior drive, with switch speeds of as much as 0.80 GB/s. When linked, the battery contained in the drone will begin to cost as properly.

What wants enchancment:

• On multiple event, the DJI Fly app warned me in mid-flight that the drive was extremely fragmented and that it wanted to be reformatted. Whereas I used to be nonetheless allowed to seize video, this error interfered with capturing panoramas. I defined to DJI buyer help that this warning has come up a number of instances even when the drive is lower than half full. They’d no instant answer however requested me to ship them the drone for service.

After the firmware updates:

• Previous to the newest firmware replace, any microSD card within the Mavic 3 Cine would additionally mount on my pc however I might solely browse its content material, not copy the information. Now, identical to with the SSD, I can drag-and-drop its content material to my pc.

Exterior of those three major advantages to my workflow, the DJI Mavic 3 Cine has a variety of helpful modes and options which have made it extraordinarily helpful.

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine

The Mavic 3 Cine options three flight modes with totally different most flight speeds: Cine (5 m/s), Regular (15 m/s) and Sport (19 m/s). Different settings allow you to cap the speeds at which the digicam tilts (pitch) and pans (yaw). For instance, the period of time the drone takes to pan 360 levels will be so long as 45 seconds and as brief as 1 second! It offers you two gimbal modes, one to maintain the gimbal mounted on the horizontal, the opposite to have it persist with the orientation of the drone for a first-person view.

Though the devoted distant controller could be very vivid, the sky will be very vivid as properly. I discovered that by inserting a darkish jacket over my head and controller I might focus higher on the display screen and on all of the impartial flying and gimbal controls. Sitting down and inserting the management on my lap additionally helps me, and if I can not cowl my head then I attempt to discover an open and shaded space the place I can sit down. An assistant retains the drone nearby for me whereas I consider the flying.

Under is considered one of my first flights of the DJI Mavic 3 Cine whereas capping the velocity of the drone and the gimbal. Following are my ideas on piloting it.

Flying the Mavic 3 manually in Cine Mode (5 m/s max. velocity). 5.1K 50fps 10-bit D-Log video color-graded with the DJI Mavic 3 LUT. Mousehole, Cornwall, UK

What’s good:

• The gimbal velocity management and the flight modes with their corresponding most speeds assist me preserve a clean flight path and keep away from abrupt adjustments in movement, which might destroy the cinematic pictures I wish to get.
• Though I normally shoot with the gimbal aligned with the horizon (Observe Mode), I like the choice of getting the gimbal comply with the motion of the drone (First-Individual View or FPV).
• Not as soon as in my yr of flying did I have to calibrate the Mavic 3 Cine’s gimbal due to misalignment with the horizon.

What I felt wanted enchancment:

• Whenever you flip left or proper in FPV Mode the gimbal follows the motion of the drone progressively, however once you cease turning the gimbal falls again to the horizontal place abruptly. This conduct makes the FPV Mode ineffective when making an attempt to attain cinematic outcomes.

After the firmware updates:

• DJI addressed the difficulty with the gimbal returning too abruptly to the horizontal place in FPV mode. Now, the digicam comes out of a flip easily, making this mode helpful for reaching cinematic pictures.

• Observe that DJI has renamed the part the place you set most speeds to the not-so-obvious identify of Achieve and Expo Tuning.

Clever Flight Modes

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine at totally different instances to point out the distinction between excessive and low tides at a location experiencing excessive lunar tides. Corridor’s Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada.

FocusTrack

DJI has a function it calls FocusTrack, which might lock on a topic and fly whereas retaining the topic – both stationary or transferring – within the body. Relying on the mode, there are a variety of parameters pilots can select from.

When capturing Moontides, I ventured to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada. There I wished to seize the gorgeous and attention-grabbing sea stacks – massive columns of rock which might be reduce off from the shoreline by erosion. To fly round considered one of these stacks whereas retaining it within the body was a breeze with the Highlight mode. I used to be in a position to change drone altitude, distance to the topic, and place of the stack within the body in a clean and seamless manner.

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine round a sea stack (or flower pot) utilizing Highlight to maintain my topic within the body. Discover how the Mavic 3 didn’t lose monitor of the topic even when it was momentarily blocked by tall timber. Nova Scotia, Canada.

What’s good:

• I’ve used all FocusTrack modes efficiently and have been very impressed with the best way ActiveTrack easily avoids obstacles by both flying over, below or round them with the assistance of DJI’s Superior Pilot Help System 5.0.
• The mode I’ve used essentially the most is Highlight, because it supplies the right mixture of flying manually round a topic whereas routinely retaining the topic within the body.

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine across the identical sea stack as above however throughout excessive tide. Discover how dramatically the panorama has modified. Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hyperlapse Modes

The Mavic 3 means that you can shoot hyperlapse movies. These are timelapse sequences shot with the digicam in movement – both whilst you fly freely or by utilizing considered one of a collection of pre-programmed maneuvers: Circle, Course Lock, and Waypoints.

Circle works like Level of Curiosity; Course Lock allows you to set the route of flight in a straight line whereas supplying you with impartial management of the route of the digicam; and Waypoints flies the drone and orients the digicam in accordance with a pre-determined path you arrange utilizing as much as 5 drone positions.

What’s good:

• The supply of Cruise Management (see beneath) allows you to preserve a continuing velocity and obtain smoother movies.
• All particular person frames are saved as RAW or JPEG.
• The drone will routinely generate a timelapse video from the picture sequence.

What wants enchancment:

• When utilizing Clever Modes, neither capturing 5.1K video nor capturing in 10-bit D-Log can be found. This wasn’t a dealbreaker for me, however the latter was a sorely missed function since for me color-grading is essential to attain a constant look in my video productions.

After the firmware updates:

• The firmware updates mounted a difficulty with hyperlapse mode the place the app would freeze the display screen after every shot, giving the phantasm that you simply had misplaced reference to the drone. Now the reside video is freed from interruptions whereas capturing hyperlapse sequences.

Cruise Management and Waypoint Flight

Two main options had been added within the newest firmware updates. The primary one, Cruise Management, allows you to set a continuing velocity whilst you fly the drone and management the gimbal. This function helps us to acquire cinematic footage by avoiding unintended, undesirable adjustments in velocity. Cruise Management can’t solely preserve a continuing velocity but in addition a continuing yaw movement.

You’ll be able to set one of many customizable buttons of the distant controller to allow, disable, and replace Cruise Management whereas in flight. Beware: in case you are altering elevation whereas setting Cruise Management, a continuing elevation movement may also be set, presumably leading to unintended penalties.

The second firmware replace added true Waypoint Flight (i.e., not simply in hyperlapse mode), one thing I used to be sorely lacking after I began writing this text. This function supplies the flexibility to program flight parameters (e.g., altitude, velocity, lens zoom, hovering time, digicam motion, and both heading and gimbal tilt or Level of Curiosity), after which the drone flies easily from one waypoint (GPS location) to the subsequent.

For my first Waypoint check flight I flew to 6 factors, hovered, and determined what to do subsequent. On my my second check flight I flew constantly and added 22 waypoints in mid-flight by urgent the C1 button. As soon as you might be performed setting the flight path, you possibly can go into every particular person waypoint and edit its parameters.

The app allows you to save a waypoint monitor as a Flight Plan, that you would be able to fly once more and/or edit later. In the event you want the drone to comply with a selected path and a selected set of actions, you possibly can check the flight path and tweak it till you might be completely glad with it. You may also select the drone motion on the finish of the flight path (for instance, hover, return-to-home) and within the case of dropping sign.

I want Waypoint flight had been obtainable after I was photographing the lunar tides for my movie. This function would have let me {photograph} the identical panorama from the very same level at high and low tide, whereupon I might have cross-dissolved from one scene to the opposite or offered them as a break up display screen.

I used to be very curious to see how precisely the Mavic 3 Cine might repeat a Waypoint flight, so proper after I saved my first check flight, I commanded the drone to re-fly this 6-waypoint flight of just about one minute length. Under you possibly can see that the accuracy of the Waypoint Flight Path is restricted solely by the accuracy of the GPS. The outcomes are so spectacular that I can not wait till my subsequent alternative to {photograph} the lunar tides!

Panoramas

A lot of the images I take with drones are shot as panoramas since I like the extensive vistas an aerial perspective supplies. Because you get all the person pictures (in DNG RAW or JPEG) in addition to the stitched panorama (in JPEG) you’ve got loads of choices afterwards.

The Mavic 3 Cine provides 4 sorts of panoramas: Vertical, Broad, 180 Levels, and Spherical. Vertical shoots 3 images in 3.5 seconds to cowl roughly 128 levels vertically. Broad shoots 9 images in 14 seconds to cowl nearly 180 levels horizontally. 180 Levels shoots 21 images in 33 seconds to cowl greater than 180 levels horizontally, and Spherical shoots 25 images in 40 seconds to cowl 360 levels horizontally and 125 levels vertically—from the nadir to 35 levels above the horizon.

Broad panorama composed of 9 images shot in Auto Publicity Mode and stitched in Adobe Lightroom. F2.8, ISO 100. Höfn, Iceland.

A lot of the panoramas I shoot with the Mavic 3 Cine are Spherical – so long as I’ve time and battery cost – and I take advantage of both Adobe Lightroom or PTGui to pick out all or a subset of the photographs to supply the sphere of view that I would like. One other benefit of Spherical panoramas is that in submit I can select the orientation (yaw) of the ultimate picture.

What’s good:

• The Mavic 3 routinely stitches the images (a course of that takes from 11 to 40 seconds relying on the kind of panorama) and lets me preview the consequence whereas nonetheless within the air.

What wants enchancment:

• When my unit shot panoramas within the Broad format a subset of the images had been tilted with respect to horizon, leading to warped panoramas. DJI buyer help had no instant answer and requested me to ship the drone for service; this was the second difficulty that they wanted to troubleshoot for me.

Spherical panorama composed of 25 images shot in Auto Publicity Mode and stitched in PTGui with a ‘tiny planet’ projection. F2.8, ISO 100. Jökulsárlón, Iceland.

DJI RC-N1 Distant Controller

The Mavic 3 Cine was my first drone with a devoted distant management and I’ve no real interest in going again to a management that requires the cumbersome setup of a smartphone. The RC-N1 distant controller’s inner rechargeable battery will be charged in 90 minutes (by way of a 15V USB charger) and operates the controller for 3 hours. The final two firmware updates, v04.17.0800 and v04.17.0300, ought to get you a steady expertise with just one bug I observed.

What’s good:

• The RC-N1 includes a vivid 1920 x 1080 14cm (5.5″) display screen in a reasonably compact and ergonomically designed controller.
• Many options obtainable on the app by way of touchscreen will also be accessed straight by way of 4 programmable customized buttons and a couple of dials. I’ve programmed these to manage gimbal conduct and entry digicam publicity settings. For instance, by urgent the C1 button I can immediately level the digicam downward to both discover my location or take images from straight above.
• The controller makes it straightforward to take screenshots and report the display screen.

The one bug:

• Once I open the DJI Fly app whereas the the controller is in Cine Mode, the app erroneously reveals that the Mode change is about to Regular. With the intention to set it to Cine I’ve to change it to Regular after which to Cine once more. That is clearly a bug and I hope DJI resolves it sooner or later.

Is the Mavic 3 Cine a very good drone for professionals?

The reply to this query after I began writing this text was: ‘nearly.’ The DJI Mavic 3 Cine is the drone I’ve loved utilizing essentially the most. I am very proud of the picture high quality, and the flexibility to shoot in D-Log ProRes 422 is unquestionably a plus for me. Its APAS 5.0 system could be very spectacular and I like how its clean avoidance leads to movies that can be utilized in skilled productions.

With DJI’s latest addition of the function that I used to be lacking essentially the most, Waypoints, plus Cruise Management, I’ve modified my reply to: ‘positively.’ I’m more than happy with how DJI has rolled our new options for the Mavic 3 Cine. Sure, it will it have been higher to get all these options from the beginning, particularly for my movies. Nevertheless it’s higher than the choice of by no means getting them in any respect. Maintain them coming, DJI!