Going the Distance: DJI’s New Mavic 3 Boasts Increased Range, Dual Cameras
By redesigning the Mavic from the ground up, DJI was able to improve every notable feature of the already powerful drone — from flight time to camera specs.
The Mavic 3 is the latest in DJI’s series of popular drones that sit right at the intersection of portability and performance. The update that really has us drooling? Flight time and transmission distance.
Under ideal conditions, the Mavic 3 can fly for a truly impressive 46 minutes on one battery. That’s thanks to higher efficiency motors, reduced body and component weight, and a higher capacity battery.
The Mavic 3 also showed 35% less drag in wind tunnel testing than previous generations — holy mechanical camera bird, Batman. An improved controller with a powerful new antenna can handle transmission distances of up to 9 miles. We’re not saying you could just go out and make something like “The Ultimate Run,” but we’re not not saying that.
“Creating the Mavic 3 was an arduous journey for our engineers who tackled complex technical problems to serve the goal that the Mavic series has always met — build professional-quality imaging and flight technology into a compact consumer drone,” said Ferdinand Wolf, Creative Director, DJI Europe.
“We are confident that this drone will astonish videography and photography enthusiasts, as well as professional production houses and media workers around the globe.”
A Portable, Professional Feature Set
Professional videographers and prosumer enthusiasts will be particularly happy to see the slate of high-end features included in the Mavic 3 Cine Premium Combo package ($4,999) — like Apple ProRes 422 HQ encoding, an internal 1TB SSD, ND filters, and an included 10 Gbps data cable.
But even if you don’t make your living shooting ski and mountain bike films, there’s still a lot to love with the standard version of the Mavic 3. In 2018, DJI partnered with Hasselblad for the Mavic 2 Pro, and that collaboration continues here with a 4/3 CMOS sensor and a 24mm prime lens.
The Hasselblad camera can shoot 20MP stills in RAW and 4K video at 120 fps. Need more cropping capability? The Mavic 3 also shoots 5.1K at 50 fps. The 24mm prime’s aperture range is f/2.8-f/11, meaning low-light situations are much easier to deal with.
The second camera in the dual-camera system is a 162mm telephoto lens with 28x digital/optical zoom and an f/4.4 aperture. All this in the light and portable Mavic package.
With the Mavic 3, DJI continues to enhance and improve the less sexy (but still important) side of drone tech — like flight safety, following and tracking technology, and positioning algorithms.
One especially notable improvement in this regard is ActiveTrack 5.0 (DJI’s tracking mode). In previous incarnations, the Mavic could follow a subject as long as it was moving away from or toward the drone. The new software/hardware combo now allows for movement in all directions.
Previous versions of the Mavic could fly alongside a subject in motion. The Mavic 3 can fly around a moving subject using its pumped-up hardware and software.
Other safety features include alerts when pilots fly near restricted airspace, altitude limits, and improved signal loss prevention. DJI also updated its Return to Home feature, giving the Mavic 3 the ability to determine the most efficient (and safest) path back home. It even measures wind speed and provides real-time updates on needed battery life to complete a return journey.
Specs and Accessories
DJI launched the Mavic 3 with a host of new modes and optional accessories, like the improved controller we mentioned, a 65W, USB-C portable charger, and a wide-angle lens with a 108-degree field of view.
The Mavic 3 standard version ($2,199) comes with:
- Mavic 3 drone
- 1 battery
- 1 battery charger
- 1 RC-N1 remote control + 3 cables
- 1 storage cover
- 3 pairs of propellers
DJI also offers the Mavic 3 Fly More Combo ($2,999) and the previously mentioned DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium Combo ($4,999). Find out more at DJI.com.
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