Latest DJI Drone

[Hurricane]

We often discuss drones on this forum.
They are a great way to capture images of our passion.

Usually, I wait until a particular drone model is a few years old and try to get a lower price deal.
But, in general, you don't save much.

I have a DJI Air 2 drone and one of the original DJI Minis
Over the last few months I've been waiting for DJI to announce their Air 3 - the replacement for the Air 2S.
I was surprised to see it announced last month so I ordered one of the launch stock - direct from DJI.
I was even more surprised when it arrived a couple of days later.
All this and I hadn't read or watched a single review.
It had to be good - its DJI after all!!



One big issue that I've had is that this drone (even the fly more package) doesn't come with a USB charger.
And none of the standard USB chargers will work - it needs to be at least a 65 watt charger - the DJI one was out of stock so I bought a 100 watt one which works nicely.

Apart from an initial test, I haven't really had time to fly it but this morning there was very little wind and I wanted an image for the PC desktop that I'm working on.
So, it has had its first flight.
The only issue was an automatic RTH (Return to Home) after it lost contact with the controller.
I was shading the controller behind a tree and the drone was about three quarters of a mile away.
After a few seconds, I cancelled the RTH and continued taking photos of the Devon coastline.

This is the result - I'm quite pleased with it.
This drone has two cameras on board - a standard camera and an optically zoomed camera.
Both cameras have the same controls over image quality etc.
This image was taken with the zoom camera/lens.


Lots of new features.
When flying, I don't often use RTH to land a drone - I always "bottle out" when it gets closeand take over myself because it looks like it won't make the take off point.
On this flight, I let it RTH and land itself and it landed within millimeters of the take off point.

This could be a great drone.

 

[PCUK]

Is this model legislation exempt thanks to size? Thanks.

 

[MapisM]

Thanks M for sharing your impressions.
Did you get the remote with embedded screen, or the one requiring a smartphone?
I use a by now archaic original Mini, which is nothing to write home about.
But frankly, I'm not sure their latest and greatest stuff is worth the somewhat outrageous prices.
Even if in principle I'd love not needing to fiddle with the smartphone and have a remote that includes a screen.
My only other gripe with the Mini is the low tolerance of highly contrasted scenes, where the details of lighter parts get lost.
The view of the boat from above at the beginning of this video that I recently made shows clearly what I mean.
In your experience, are newer models much better in this respect?

 

[Hurricane]

Is this model legislation exempt thanks to size? Thanks.

Nothing is legislation exempt.
You still have to fly within the law/drone code.

But in answer to your question, it weighs over 700 grams so way over the limit of 250 grams that exempt you from flying without a license.
To keep below the 250 gram limit, you will need a DJI Mini (Mini 1, Mini 2 or Mini 3) - the Mini 3 comes in a Pro mode with some sensors and better camera etc

I keep my original Mini 1 because it fits in a very small case that I can chuck into a bag whenever I go somewhere.
My two "Air" drones are much bigger so it is a bit of a consideration whether to take them with me or not.
The old Air 2 drone will be left on the boat so that I don't have to cart them about - we usually fly to the boat.

Here is a video taken using the older DJI Air 2 drone

And here is some that a friend took with his Mini 3 drone
Not a huge difference in quality making the Mini 3 a good alternative.

To fully appreciate the quality, you may need to set the Youtube resolution - Auto doesn't always give the best quality.
To do that click the cog icon and select Quality - I usually upload my videos in 1080 resolution but record in 4K

 

[jfm]

Thanks Hurricane.
I need to upgrade - current drone is a phantom 4

I'm also interested in whether the remote has its own screen (which from my phantom 4 experience I found is much easier than messing with an iphone).

As regards laws/licences, these are country specific so you'll have different rules in Spain compared with UK, I guess. I'm France based and last time I looked French laws were less restrictive than UK, but I might be out of date

Edit - yes it does offer a controller with built in screen = Buy DJI Air 3 (DJI RC-N2) - DJI Store

Edit - drone laws seem much less restrictive in France if under 0.8Kg, and drones bought pre-2023 are somewhat grandfathered. Drone Laws in France | UAV Coach (2023)

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks M for sharing your impressions.
Did you get the remote with embedded screen, or the one requiring a smartphone?
I use a by now archaic original Mini, which is nothing to write home about.
But frankly, I'm not sure their latest and greatest stuff is worth the somewhat outrageous prices.
Even if in principle I'd love not needing to fiddle with the smartphone and have a remote that includes a screen.
My only other gripe with the Mini is the low tolerance of highly contrasted scenes, where the details of lighter parts get lost.
The view of the boat from above at the beginning of this video that I recently made shows clearly what I mean.
In your experience, are newer models much better in this respect?

Hi P
You might like to play with the image exposure settings - for video, people sometimes lock the exposure so that it doesn't auto correct when you pan round etc.
Without locking, you can set the exposure control up so that "tapping" on an object will set the exposure for that object.
That should fix most of your problems - after that, maybe you need to fit some filters.
I think @Hooligan has done some good work on this.
Its all a matter of time - playing with the settings to get the best result.

 

[Hooligan]

Hi P
You might like to play with the image exposure settings - for video, people sometimes lock the exposure so that it doesn't auto correct when you pan round etc.
Without locking, you can set the exposure control up so that "tapping" on an object will set the exposure for that object.
That should fix most of your problems - after that, maybe you need to fit some filters.
I think @Hooligan has done some good work on this.
Its all a matter of time - playing with the settings to get the best result.

I have the Mini 2. I parked the last one in the water which didn’t do it any good. When I looked to replace it I didn’t think worth going to the 3 so stuck with what I knew. @MapisM on my mini you have the ability to alter aperture settings manually which will correct the issue you have. Not sure if doable on yours but I do play around with this and it is quite effective. The Mini needs a phone plugged in as part of the controls which I find ok once set up but I can see why an independent control screen would make life easier. The feature I would like is a RT control rather than a RTH as on the boat even at anchor RTH is fairly useless!

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks Hurricane.
I need to upgrade - current drone is a phantom 4

I'm also interested in whether the remote has its own screen (which from my phantom 4 experience I found is much easier than messing with an iphone).

As regards laws/licences, these are country specific so you'll have different rules in Spain compared with UK, I guess. I'm France based and last time I looked French laws were less restrictive than UK, but I might be out of date

Edit - yes it does offer a controller with built in screen = Buy DJI Air 3 (DJI RC-N2) - DJI Store

Edit - drone laws seem much less restrictive in France if under 0.8Kg, and drones bought pre-2023 are somewhat grandfathered. Drone Laws in France | UAV Coach (2023)

Yes, I bought the Air 3 with the RC2 controller that has a built in screen.
This is the first drone that I've owned with a built in screen - much easier to set up.

The technology has moved on since the Phantom 4.
Active Track now identifies the target and will automatically follow it - not using GPS to follow - all done using image tracking technology.

This is a long video but I think it shows the accuracy of the latest Active Track algorithms.

The Air 3 also has "all round" obstacle avoidance which is good for most obstacles - trees branches are a problem that seem to work most of the time!!

IMO, the Air 3 meets that "sweet spot" between the low cost drones and the expensive professional photographers drones.
It has most of the features of the Mavic Pro and is a little smaller.
The Air 3 also has a longer flight time - IIRC, 43 mins.
The battery system that comes with the fly more package is interesting.
You plug all the batteries into a three station receptacle where you can then charge them all at the same time (well it actually charges them one at a time).
That isn't a new feature - all the previous fly more packages did this.
What is new, is that you can put part charges batteries into the receptacle and press a button - the lower charged batteries will then charge the fullest battery without plugging into the mains.

There is a small problem at the moment with videos.
I use KDENLive to edit which, at the moment, doesn't allow DJI MP4 files to be imported.
Running the files through ffmpeg seems to sort it though.
Being a new product, I'm sure this will be fixed either by DJI or KDENLive.

The Air 3 Fly More comes with a case but I don't like these soft cases so I bought one of these which works for me:-
Amazon.co.uk

So, if you are considering replacing your Phantom 4, the Air 3 is a good option.
A folding drone will definitely take up less storage space.

 

[MapisM]

I use KDENLive to edit

Would you mind expanding a bit on it, and what drove your choice?
I'm still using the archaic Movie Maker for Windows, and while it still does all I need, I wouldn't mind considering something better/newer...
...as long as it neither has a steep learning curve, nor a relevant cost attached!

 

[jfm]

Thanks Hurricane. That's really useful info. I think I need the Air3, in the fully optioned package with screen in the controller. Of curse mavic pro 3 is better, but 2x the price and over 800g which is messy in the EU.

I'll hold off ordering because atm I don't have a boat to film )) and maybe put on Christmas list

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks Hurricane. That's really useful info. I think I need the Air3, in the fully optioned package with screen in the controller. Of curse mavic pro 3 is better, but 2x the price and over 800g which is messy in the EU.

I'll hold off ordering because atm I don't have a boat to film )) and maybe put on Christmas list

If you want to keep the weight to under 250g, have a look at the Mini 3 Pro (with sensors etc) and a Fly More package and a controller with screen,
It is considered to be a top quality drone but light and outside a lot of the regs.

 

[Hurricane]

Would you mind expanding a bit on it, and what drove your choice?
I'm still using the archaic Movie Maker for Windows, and while it still does all I need, I wouldn't mind considering something better/newer...
...as long as it neither has a steep learning curve, nor a relevant cost attached!

Ahh - a blast from the past - Windows Movie Maker.
By far the easiest application to use.
But when you want to do something special, it falls a bit short.

Wherever possible, I use Open Source Software - I don't even have a Windows computer any more - everything in my world is Linux based.

So, my choice would always be an Open Source video editor.
KDENLive is an active Open Source Project producing an "in depth" video editor that runs under all platforms so you can run it under Windows.
See here:-
Kdenlive - Video Editing Freedom

It is written by the KDE team who produce a lot of Open Source Software - their Plasma Desktop Environment is regarded as the most configurable DE in the Linux world.
Although, I don't use Plasma myself,
I chose to start using KDENLive about 4 or 5 years ago - mainly because I wanted something that used "Key Frames".
Key Frames give you the ability to change parameters within a video clip.
For example, using Key Frames, you can zoom on a subject - IIRC, at the beginning of that second clip of mine above (Return from Boatyard) uses that concept to zoom - the drone didn't actually move.
But Key Frames can do a whole lot more.

Now, the BIG WARNING - KDENLive isn't for the faint-hearted.
You will loose many hours understanding how to use it.
But, IMO, it is all worthwhile in the end.
KDENLive will work on most hardware because they also have the option of using "Proxy Clips".
Even 4K video can be demanding on the computer so KDENLive can be set up to convert the clip you are working on into a lower resolution clip that it then uses for editing.
And it will go back to the original clip when you make the final render.

Anyway, KDENLive is Free so why not give it a try.

EDIT
One of my favorite Youtube channels is Chris Barnatt's Explaining Computers Dot Com
A few weeks ago, he did a nice little video on free video editors - see here

I don't agree with his choice but KDENLive is included in his review.

 

[MapisM]

Now, the BIG WARNING - KDENLive isn't for the faint-hearted.
You will loose many hours understanding how to use it.

There goes the idea of giving it a try.
Many years ago, I didn't dislike digging into deep NT server administration parameters, to the point that occasionally I found workarounds after my IT manager had already raised his hands.
But now, anything I can't figure without instructions after 5 mins goes straight into the "not worth of my time" folder!
So, I'll postpone the Movie Maker replacement idea to if and when it won't work at all anymore.
Assuming that by then I won't have given up drones and videos altogether - which is rather likely, coming to think of it.

 

[Hooligan]

There goes the idea of giving it a try.
Many years ago, I didn't dislike digging into deep NT server administration parameters, to the point that occasionally I found workarounds after my IT manager had already raised his hands.
But now, anything I can't figure without instructions after 5 mins goes straight into the "not worth of my time" folder!
So, I'll postpone the Movie Maker replacement idea to if and when it won't work at all anymore.
Assuming that by then I won't have given up drones and videos altogether - which is rather likely, coming to think of it.

@Hurricane suggested the same to me a while back. He is spot on in that it is not easy at all to get started. I am ashamed to say it beat me! So I have stuck with the rest of the ignorant world!!!!

 

[Hurricane]

How about giving some of the easier ones in Chris' video (see my post above) a try?
He is a very reliable down to earth source.

 

[Alicatt]

Thanks Hurricane.
I need to upgrade - current drone is a phantom 4

I'm also interested in whether the remote has its own screen (which from my phantom 4 experience I found is much easier than messing with an iphone).

As regards laws/licences, these are country specific so you'll have different rules in Spain compared with UK, I guess. I'm France based and last time I looked French laws were less restrictive than UK, but I might be out of date

Edit - yes it does offer a controller with built in screen = Buy DJI Air 3 (DJI RC-N2) - DJI Store

Edit - drone laws seem much less restrictive in France if under 0.8Kg, and drones bought pre-2023 are somewhat grandfathered. Drone Laws in France | UAV Coach (2023)

How is the gimbal holding up in your P4?
I have the P4pro and am finding of recent that when you turn the drone the camera kind of banks into the turn giving you a diagonal horizon and very slowly settling down into a horizontal horizon

You can see it at the end of this short clip, just uploaded it so may take a while to process

 

[Hurricane]

Does it have an FPV Mode or did it get upgraded at some point to have the FPV mode where the gimbal "banks" at each turn like an air plane.

 

[Alicatt]

Does it have an FPV Mode or did it get upgraded at some point to have the FPV mode where the gimbal "banks" at each turn like an air plane.

It does but it's not that, it has a FPV mode bult into the firmware, when the FPV is turned on it does bank into the turns but is slow to come back to horizontal, it used to be that when it stopped turning it would come back to level in less than a second, it felt quite natural.

DJI said they can do nothing about it, they do not make the sensors for the gimbal any more, I have looked on ebay and there are a few but they are all used, not cheap, and I may end up with one that is worse than what I have now.

 

[jfm]

How is the gimbal holding up in your P4?
I have the P4pro and am finding of recent that when you turn the drone the camera kind of banks into the turn giving you a diagonal horizon and very slowly settling down into a horizontal horizon

You can see it at the end of this short clip, just uploaded it so may take a while to process

That feels like a gimbal fault Alicatt. I have owned about 4 phantoms, the latest being a 4 pro I think, and have never had that problem.

A few times on start up I have found the horizon not straight so of course I adjust it quickly and easily from the controller, and after that I have never had the effect shown at the end of your video.

I have no idea how you would fix it, sorry!

 

[Hurricane]

The feature I would like is a RT control rather than a RTH as on the boat even at anchor RTH is fairly useless!

Did you know that the DJI drones can be set up to hover rather than RTH when they loose connection with the controller.