Is The DJI Mavic 3 Worth It?

The Wait Is Over: Here's the New DJI Mavic 3

So do I think the Mavic 3 is worth it? Yes and no.

DJI Mavic 3 Good Points

Apple ProRes 422 HQ

Ok, so the overriding factor that makes this drone a cut above the rest of the Mavic line-up is Pro Res. Developed by Apple, ProRes is a high quality, lossy video compression format created for use in post-production. Pro res supports video resolution up to 8K and the file sizes are HUGE!

Pro Res File Sizes

Even though I haven't actually flown this drone yet, I have managed to get hold of some Pro Res files. Just FYI, a 50 second Pro Res clip totals 8.7GB! You need to get on Amazon and buy some large, fast external hard drives.

Now I can't show you the clips as they are not mine but I can show you some screen grabs from both the unedited, four thirds Pro Res file and the edited version.

Please note that the images below have been reduced for web. There is no way around this but trust me when I say that the full resolution video is stunningly sharp. I am impressed. The edited video has simply had a LUT (look up table) applied.

Screen Grab from Unedited Pro Res Video File

Screen Grab from Edited Pro Res Video File

Low Light Video @ ISO 800

I'm not sure if this is legit or not but by looking at his channel, I think it probably is. The video below shows the low light, unedited h.264 footage from the DJI Mavic 3. To me it looks pretty clean but I have heard that after ISO 1600, things get a bit rough. 

Of course, we don't know if these reviewers have added some Neat Video noise reduction to their videos either.

Still, if you can shoot ISO 800 at night and produce clean clips like this, I think that's pretty good. Check out the short video below.

Stability

Like all DJI drones, this thing holds like a rock. Even my DJI Mini 2 can hold it's own in 25mph+ winds. Amazing and no issues here. The Mavic 3 will be like a tripod on a dolly in the sky.

Obstacle Avoidance

Good to see the Mavic/Prosumer line up of DJI drones getting full 360­° sensors. This is a huge benefit especially if you plan to follow yourself on a bike through the woods or whilst skiing off-piste. Love it and by all accounts, it looks to work incredibly well.

H.264/5 D-LOG in 10-bit

It was pretty much a given but I am glad to see that the "lesser" Mavic 3 (without Pro Res) will film D-LOG at 10 bit. But why does this matter?

First of all, D-LOG captures a much "flatter" image with regards to saturation and contrast. This allows the producer to edit more and introduce their own style. It also makes it easier to match LOG footage to LOG footage from other cameras.

Even though it is only 2 numbers more, the difference between 8-bit and 10-bit is massive. 

12-Bit DNG RAW Images

Expanding on the data above, when you get to 12-bit, you enter the dizzy heights of 68,719,476,736 colours! That's 68 billion colours.

So not only do you have the flatter LOG files to work with, you also have all those extra colours. The processed 12-bit RAW images from the DJI Mavic 3 should be sublime and I look forward to testing the drone out soon.

However, from looking at the images I have downloaded from Mavic 3 owners so far, I am a little concerned. It appears that on quite a few images, the edge quality suffers a little compared to the central portions.

100% Crop of Unedited Image - Central Portion

100% Crop of The Same But Unedited Image - Edge

Just being honest here but I would need to see more images and hopefully take some of my own before buying. The stills photography with this drone plays a large part of why I would buy it. Right now, I'm not convinced.

Even though I am not overly impressed with the stills (at the moment), I am keeping them in the "good" section as I have hope. All too often I have seen shabby reviews and relied on third parties (often not even photographers) to provide real world examples.

Still, doesn't it look lovely...

DJI Mavic 3 Bad Points

Right, these are the reasons I didn't buy the DJI Mavic 3 on release. As I have said in the video above, I was all ready, money in hand, to buy this. I was as excited as everybody else but something held me back.

Most of these issues are more than likely going to be addressed in future firmware updates. Some of them may not bother you or sway you either way. However, for me, I don't want to pay these high prices if I have these things niggling inside my head.

The Price

Personally I think for what you get, the price is a little high but this is contentious. Some may find the price good for what they need. Maybe the "higher than expected" price is due to the state of the world and chip shortages.

Maybe it's DJI getting greedy because they knew only too well how popular this would be. I hope not.

Whatever the reason, there are actually some good alternatives out there right now with maybe some better choices coming soon. More in a bit.  

UK and USA Prices

That's a big chunk 'o change and only you can decide if it is worth it or not. If you shoot a lot of high end work and need this as a second camera, then yes. It is worth it. However, if you are shooting regular high end projects then I think it is worth splashing out a bit more for the DJI Inspire 2 and X5s or X7 camera.

If, like me, you shoot a fair bit of commercial work such as:

Then perhaps the Fly More Combo is a better choice. Look at it this way, you would save £1,730 and should the need for Pro Res arise, you could hire the DJI Mavic 3 Cine model for around £170 for a week and charge that to your client.

If you are more of a hobbyist or only use drones occasionally (e.g. for weddings as an add on for ground video), maybe opt for the basic package and grab a battery or two later down the line.

D-LOG Colour Bleed

To be fair, I have only seen a couple of instances of this as in the image above. No one other than Mr Potato Jet has noticed it but it could be an issue. It only seems to happen when filming at speed using h.264/265 but the colours can bleed into the background in some situations. 

Flight Time

This is a much bigger issue as far as I am concerned. If true, and if it doesn't get addressed or "debunked", I will not be buying this drone.

DJI proudly pushed a 46 minute flight time for the Mavic 3 drone but according to a few reviewers, this is not so. Not even close. Parker Walbeck did a superb review and his testing showed that flying:

I also watched another reviewer film his very first flight and gushed about the visible 39 minutes remaining after take off. In the end, on a reasonable flying day, he got just 19 minutes of flight time all recorded as it happened.

That's enough for me to pay attention. I am about to rent one to see for myself because that is not good at all. My Mini 2 does better than that!

Noise at High ISO and Low Light

I won't go too much into detail here because it could be down to user error. However, Parker mentioned above, did a quick test to see whether the Mavic 3 was better than the Mavic 2 at ISO 1600 in low light.

This is what he found (click or tap screen for larger version):

Second Camera

It would also be great for roof inspections or other commercial work where you couldn't get too close to the building or subject.

However! In reality, the camera is pretty much a dud as far as I can see. I have downloaded footage and images from this camera and they are bad. These are the reasons:

If I were to buy this drone, I really can't see any situation where I would use it. I would rather crop in from a 20mp still or from the 5.1k footage when outputting to 1080p. 

Unfinished Business

The drone community waited 3 years and longed for the DJI Mavic 3...and with good reason. The DJI Mavic 2 Pro was outstanding and truly ground-breaking when released. We all expected the Mavic 3 to have the same WOW factor. 

For many it did as the Pro Res video is stunning. 

But. The Mavic 3 was released with a ton of features missing. Features that would be added with firmware updates in January 2022 at the earliest. WTH?

After three years and a ton of feedback from potential customers, releasing a product that is not "market ready" is a poor show. Here's what is missing:

Perhaps these are not deal-breakers for many as most will buy it for the video and stills. I personally would have been hugely disappointed at the lack of 4K 120p because this is another welcome feature of the DJI Mavic 3.

So Is The DJI Mavic 3 Worth It?

DJI Mavic 3 Summary

As you may have noticed, I am a little disappointed. Since my DJI Inspire 1 passed away unexpectedly last December, I have been waiting nearly a year for this. I wanted it to be perfect. 

When there is 18 month old but still superb tech out there like the Autel Evo II still relevant. Whilst Autel also have some very exciting new drones coming out soon to compete with the DJI Mavic 3. And when other, newer companies such as XDynamics with their beautiful Evolve 2 drone are waiting in the wings, I am put off from buying the Mavic 3 Cine right now. 

Hopefully I will be proven wrong on these issues or the 2022 firmware updates will address them but for now, I am holding fire. I am 90% sure I will buy this at some point so fingers crossed.

What do you think? Did you buy the DJI Mavic 3?

Please leave your comments below. Good or bad. Thanks : )