I started shooting with the Mavic 3 this week, and so far I'm pretty impressed. The image quality from the super zoom camera isn't the best compared to the main M4/3 camera, but it's crazy to be able to capture photos and videos of such distant objects. These are very distant mountains in this video, mere specs from where the video was captured. I tried to show that by including wide angle shots in the beginning and end of the video. Color and contrast editing has been applied, as has post processing stabilization to some of the timelapse shots (created by speeding up minute long video clips).

That's an impressive quality of Zoom. Lovely shots.

Blériot53 Posted at 11-27 12:07
That's an impressive quality of Zoom. Lovely shots.

Thank you! It's a lot of fun just to take this thing up in the air and look at things with that long zoom lol. I'm looking forward to getting it up in the air again when the weather improves so I can get some more footage using the main camera more.

Illuminations Posted at 11-27 12:22
Thank you! It's a lot of fun just to take this thing up in the air and look at things with that long zoom lol. I'm looking forward to getting it up in the air again when the weather improves so I can get some more footage using the main camera more.

I have the Mavic 2 Zoom which I am quite pleased with, but the results you've achieved exceed anything I've done.  Maybe I'll consider upgrading next year, wehn all the teething troubles may have been ironed out

Wow, this is exactly what I was hoping to see from the zoom lens.
Brilliant testimony of what it can deliver.

Did you use digital zoom, or just the 7x optical?

Montfrooij Posted at 11-27 12:40
Did you use digital zoom, or just the 7x optical?

I did use the digital zoom, but I didn't film or take photos with it. The dip in quality is very noticeable with the digital zoom, even on the small screen of my phone. I'd much rather just film with the wide camera or the zoom camera at their native focal length and then crop in post. However, the digital zoom from 1x-7x is very useful for composition, and from 7x-28x it's great if you want to use the drone as a telescope to observe wildlife.

Blériot53 Posted at 11-27 12:35
I have the Mavic 2 Zoom which I am quite pleased with, but the results you've achieved exceed anything I've done.  Maybe I'll consider upgrading next year, wehn all the teething troubles may have been ironed out

I used to have the Mavic 2 Zoom - it was great before it had a close encounter with a tree (my one and only crash)! Waiting on the Mavic 3 seems like a good idea to me, at least until they roll out the big firmware upgrade that adds all the missing capabilities and features. Personally, the main things I wanted from the Mavic 3 are there at launch, but I am looking forward to the 120fps 4K! I'm excited to go film some waterfalls when they add that functionality.

Illuminations Posted at 11-27 12:49
I did use the digital zoom, but I didn't film or take photos with it. The dip in quality is very noticeable with the digital zoom, even on the small screen of my phone. I'd much rather just film with the wide camera or the zoom camera at their native focal length and then crop in post. However, the digital zoom from 1x-7x is very useful for composition, and from 7x-28x it's great if you want to use the drone as a telescope to observe wildlife.

I think you are absolutely right.
This optical (7x) tele lens is one thing I hope DJI wil enhance further.
It is something no other current drone can deliver.

You can get amazing parallax shots

Montfrooij Posted at 11-27 13:04
I think you are absolutely right.
This optical (7x) tele lens is one thing I hope DJI wil enhance further.
It is something no other current drone can deliver.

It's a feature I think a lot of other reviewers have undervalued - they only compare the image quality with the main camera and write it off as a toy, not realizing that it's actually a highly specialized tool. You're absolutely right that it's something that sets it apart from other drones.

It'd be cool to see DJI make zoom focused Mavic 3 with the main camera being a 7x super zoom with a 1-inch sensor, and the secondary camera being a wide angle with a small sensor meant primarily for navigation. Alternatively, I'd also be interested in seeing a Mavic 3 variant with a m4/3 sensor and a 50mm equivalent lens. I love wide angle lenses on drones, but I also often crop in to isolate details in the landscape, and having a 50mm equivalent lens would be great for that.

Illuminations Posted at 11-27 12:53
I used to have the Mavic 2 Zoom - it was great before it had a close encounter with a tree (my one and only crash)! Waiting on the Mavic 3 seems like a good idea to me, at least until they roll out the big firmware upgrade that adds all the missing capabilities and features. Personally, the main things I wanted from the Mavic 3 are there at launch, but I am looking forward to the 120fps 4K! I'm excited to go film some waterfalls when they add that functionality.

I'll look forward to seeing some of that work

Thos clouds are stunning.   

Wow, very impressive footage.    Eagerly anticipating seeing some of your M3 waterfall footage.  

Nicely done. And the quality is much better than I would have thought after watching a few YT reviews!

Illuminations Posted at 11-27 15:12
It's a feature I think a lot of other reviewers have undervalued - they only compare the image quality with the main camera and write it off as a toy, not realizing that it's actually a highly specialized tool. You're absolutely right that it's something that sets it apart from other drones.

It'd be cool to see DJI make zoom focused Mavic 3 with the main camera being a 7x super zoom with a 1-inch sensor, and the secondary camera being a wide angle with a small sensor meant primarily for navigation. Alternatively, I'd also be interested in seeing a Mavic 3 variant with a m4/3 sensor and a 50mm equivalent lens. I love wide angle lenses on drones, but I also often crop in to isolate details in the landscape, and having a 50mm equivalent lens would be great for that.

Yes, in my opinion, wide lenses are not always that handy with all the regulations forcing you to stay away from your subject.
So I would rather have a good 35mm instead of a 24mm
But 50 would be nice (like the 'M2Z') too.
I guess not many people will agree, so it probably won't happen.

DAFlys Posted at 11-28 01:04
Thos clouds are stunning.

The wild weather of the past few days has been fantastic for photography!

DowntownRDB Posted at 11-28 05:03
Wow, very impressive footage.    Eagerly anticipating seeing some of your M3 waterfall footage.

Thanks! I'm definitely looking forward to getting the 4k 120fps firmware so I can get out there and film that.

Depp Posted at 11-28 06:01
Nicely done. And the quality is much better than I would have thought after watching a few YT reviews!

Thanks! The Youtube videos I've watched did a pretty poor job testing the super telephoto. At least 3 of them just used it to film themselves talking from a distance and really didn't bother trying to do anything creative with it.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-28 08:40
Yes, in my opinion, wide lenses are not always that handy with all the regulations forcing you to stay away from your subject.
So I would rather have a good 35mm instead of a 24mm
But 50 would be nice (like the 'M2Z') too.

35mm would be a fantastic focal length for a drone camera - that'd be wide enough for landscapes and navigation, but tight enough for better subject isolation and maintaining distance from your subject.
You're probably right that most people wouldn't agree, though I think that if they used a slightly longer focal length on a drone they might change their minds. I think the prevalence of almost identical wide angle lenses on drones has been passed down from the days when camera drones  just had a GoPro strapped to them.

Illuminations Posted at 11-28 10:43
35mm would be a fantastic focal length for a drone camera - that'd be wide enough for landscapes and navigation, but tight enough for better subject isolation and maintaining distance from your subject.
You're probably right that most people wouldn't agree, though I think that if they used a slightly longer focal length on a drone they might change their minds. I think the prevalence of almost identical wide angle lenses on drones has been passed down from the days when camera drones  just had a GoPro strapped to them.

Exactly!
Back when drones could fly around without much rules, it was probably a good way to capture a lot in one frame, but those days are gone.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-28 11:30
Exactly!
Back when drones could fly around without much rules, it was probably a good way to capture a lot in one frame, but those days are gone.

Yep,  I only got into drones back in the DJI Spark era, and it felt like the dying days of the wild west.
I also think that the it used to be that all you needed to capture eye-catching footage was to fly a GoPro up and anything it captured would look cool since aerial photos and video weren't as common then.

Illuminations Posted at 11-28 11:40
Yep,  I only got into drones back in the DJI Spark era, and it felt like the dying days of the wild west.
I also think that the it used to be that all you needed to capture eye-catching footage was to fly a GoPro up and anything it captured would look cool since aerial photos and video weren't as common then.

Very true. The big white Phantom was king of the skies.

Illuminations Posted at 11-28 10:26
The wild weather of the past few days has been fantastic for photography!

lol.   Its been too wild here to fly.

Illuminations Posted at 11-28 10:29
Thanks! I'm definitely looking forward to getting the 4k 120fps firmware so I can get out there and film that.

Let's hope DJI releases the firmware on time or earlier than advertised.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 11-29 03:42
Let's hope DJI releases the firmware on time or earlier than advertised.

Yeah, fingers crossed!

Illuminations Posted at 11-29 12:05
Yeah, fingers crossed!

For sure.