In this article we’re going over 30 of the most asked questions about the Mavic 3 so you can finally decide if you’re going to buy it or not.
If you already have the Mavic 3, it’s still a good list to find a few interesting things about your drone.
In this article we’re going over 30 of the most asked questions about the Mavic 3 so you can finally decide if you’re going to buy it or not.
If you already have the Mavic 3, it’s still a good list to find a few interesting things about your drone.
Let’s get the main specs quickly out of the way, so we can get into the more interesting questions. Below you can find a table comparing all the specs with the Air 2s for reference of the improvement.
| Features | Mavic 3 | Air 2s |
|---|---|---|
| Sensor size | 4/3 CMOS | 1'' CMOS |
| Second cam Sensor | 1/2'' CMOS | - |
| Pixels | 20 mp | 20 mp |
| F Stops | 12.8 | 12.6 |
| FOV | 84° | 88° |
| Aperture | f/2.8 to f/11 | f/2.8 |
| 5k Res | 5.1K/50fps | 5.4K/30fps |
| 4k FPS | 120 fps | 50 fps |
| Encoding | H.264/H.265 | H.264/H.265 |
| Bitrate | 200 Mbps (H.264/H.265) | 150 Mbps |
| Battery | 46 min | 31 min |
| Max Hover | 40 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Range | FCC: 15 km CE: 8 km | FCC: 12 km CE: 8 km |
| Weight | 895 g | 595 g |
| Folded Size | 221×96×90 mm | 180×97×77 mm |
| Unfolded Size | 347×283×107 mm | 183×253×77 mm |
| Obstacle Sensing | Omnidirectional | Omni w/o lateral |
| Max Speed | 75 kph | 68.4 kph |
| Max Altitude | 6 km | 5 km |
| Wind Resistance | 43 kph | 38.5 kph |
| Temperature | -10° to 40° C (14° to 104° F) | 0° to 40° C (32° to 104° F) |
| GNSS | GPS+Galileo+BeiDou | GPS+GLONASS+Galileo |
| Internal Storage | Mavic 3: 8 GB Mavic 3 Cine: 1 TB | 8 GB |
| Image size | 5280×3956 | 3:2: 5472×3648 16:9: 5472×3078 |
| Raw Photos | JPEG / DNG (RAW) | JPEG / DNG (RAW) |
| Battery mAh | 5000 mAh | 3500 mAh |
| Lipo | LiPo 4S | LiPo 3S |
| Video Transmision | O3+ | O3 |
| App name | DJI Fly | DJI Fly |
| Remote Res | 1080p/30fps 1080p/60fps | 1080p/30fps |
The Mavic 3 does support AeroScope Remote ID, which is kind of a license plate for drones, broadcasting its location. This means that it will be complying with the FAA rules taking effect in 2023.
Don’t worry, your drone isn’t traceable yet, but after 2023 US authorities will be able to locate your drone in case it’s flying in restricted airspace.
The Mavic 3, like all other DJI drones, comes with the robust DJI Geofencing system that prevents the drone from taking off in no-fly zones. This keeps you safe if you fly near airports or military bases. It can be turned off if you know what you’re doing, but since this system is in place you’re unlikely to trigger any warnings in the future with the Remote ID system. I suggest you read my guide on what geofencing for drones is if you want to find out more.
Mavic 3 has been released with no class marking in the European Union. This means it also doesn’t come with a C2 rating, which means it’s going to be viewed as a legacy rone and will have to be flown in the A3 sub-category from 2023.
This means that the Mavic 3 will be included in a category of flight from 2023 which allows it to be flown at least 150m from residential or industrial areas and 50 meters from uninvolved people.
This is a bit of a letdown, but DJI probably wasn’t able to make it C2 because of the safety requirements for a drone to fit in that Class Marking, which would have made the Mavic 3 into a much less potent drone (and probably slower).
With the introduction of the AirSense system in the DJI Air 2s, every drone pilot could see a notification in case any larger aircraft was to come close, and it was very well received by everyone. But will the new Mavic 3 have the same capability?
The Mavic 3 comes with DJI’s Airsense technology, which uses and ADS-B receiving unit to warn drone pilots of nearby airplanes and helicopters which transmit that signal, but without sending the signal back.
This means good news, you’re going to be able to see other planes, but the planes won’t be able to see and report you, so focus on taking the drone to safety whenever you get the notification.
Many professional users have bought the smart controller to use with their previous DJI drones, including the Mavic 2, because of a simpler connection process, brighter screen and more. But will the original smart controller work with the new Mavic?
Mavic 3 isn’t compatible with the DJI Smart Controller, as it uses a new Occusync 3+ technology. The new RC Pro Controller is however working with the Mavic 3, but requires a new acquisition.
Fans are quite upset that DJI hasn’t made the Mavic 3 compatible with the original Smart Controller, as at a price of $800 they were expecting to be working with future drone generations. And the new RC Pro Smart Controller, while better, it also costs about $1200, which is a substantial investment (similar to buying an Air 2s Fly more combo).
It’s quite exciting to use any of DJI’s FPV goggles and have the first person experience, but I have some bad news for this one.
The Mavic 3 doesn’t work with any of the DJI goggles released so far, and that includes the DJI FPV 2 Goggles and the original white DJI goggles.A future update could change the compatibility.
Future updates could make them compatible since they both use the Occusync 3 technology, and since the Mavic 3 uses Occusying 3+ the frequencies might be really close related.
While we all know the new advertised range of 15 km for the Mavic 3, how much can it fly in real life conditions and which one gives up first, battery or range?
For this we thankfully have a brave soul who has pushed his Mavic 3 to the limits and recorded everything in the video below.
As you can see, he used both the RC Pro controller as well as the RC N1 and they have both shown similar results.
The Mavic 3 can fly up to around 23km(14 miles) in FCC mode in real life conditions. If you want to return safely back to the start point, a range of 10km ( 6 miles) is the limit for the battery life.
We’ve all seen how far it can fly, but there aren’t many people who ask how high it can go.
As I have covered in my guide on high altitude drones, there are two main factors that limit the max height:
The Mavic 3 has a maximum height ceiling of 6 km (20.000 ft), which is also the highest point above water level you can take off from. The software ceiling for the Mavic 3 is at 500m height.
The software height is a welcome limitation, as it could be dangerous going very far up and potentially losing signal and especially battery life, considering the drone escalation is much slower than it’s speed going forward.
DJI Mavic 3 can reach a speed of 75 km/h(47 mph) in sport mode and 54 km/h (34 mph) in normal mode and comes with a max ascent speed of 29 km/h(18mph) in sport mode and a max descent speed of 22 km/h(14mph)
As you can see in the photos below, the Mavic 3 is visibly larger than the Air 2s, and rightfully so, since it has to carry a larger battery, more sensors and a huge camera.
The Mavic 3 is 221×96×90 mm in size when folded and 347×283×107 mm when unfolded. It also weighs 895 grams.
This makes it a bulky foldable drone, comparable to the likes of the Autel Evo 2.
Because the M3 is a higher end drone, people were wondering if DJI managed to make it waterproof (me included), but is it?
The Mavic 3 is not waterproof or rain proof, but because of the positioning of the rear battery entry, it’s more difficult for water to get in the battery compartment compared to previous models, potentially making it more rugged in case it rains.
An alternative to protect the Mavic 3 during rain is to get a wetsuit accessory to keep some of the water away.
We learned the Mavic 3 is a sturdy and fast piece of equipment, but how well does it handle wind?
The Mavic 3 can resist winds of up to 43 km/h(27 mph), which is associated with a Wind Force of 6 on the Beaufort Scale, described as a “Strong Breeze”. This level of wind can put large branches in motion and umbrellas can be used with difficulty.
For more references, check the Beaufort scale for wind measures. It’s impressive that the Mavic 3 can actually withstand winds that can create 3 meter waves in the sea.
A few interesting things about the camera that people are usually interested in, and cannot be found in the standard specs.
Having a mechanical shutter on your drone has it’s benefits and drawbacks, like reducing rolling shutter, but limiting frame rate capabilities.
Some people were hoping to get a mechanical shutter on the Mavic 3 so it can finally replace the Phantom 4
Both the Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Cine come with an electronic shutter instead of a mechanical one, making it an impediment for mapping and photogrammetry endeavors.
Since mapping has to be precise, having a high rolling shutter with the use of an electronic shutter can make mapping more difficult.
There’s no question dynamic range is one of the most important factors for drone cinematography, as it’s the ability of a camera to correctly expose for both very dark and very bright spots in the image. It’s even more important for drones, since many times we can have the sunt or sky in the same frame as a forest.
The DJI Mavic 3 has 12.8 stops of dynamic range, which means it has a good ability to expose light and dark areas as well as capture more details.
The difference compared to a drone like the DJI Air 2s isn’t great, as it has 12.6 stops. The latest gopros have about 9 stops of dynamic range and cameras like the GH5 come with around 14 stops of dynamic range.
We know Mavic 3 has a zoom camera, but how good is it and how much can it zoom?
The Mavic 3 Zoom camera has a combined (hybrid zoom) of 28x the original image, which is composed of a 7x optical zoom (lossless) and a 4x digital zoom that make up the total.
The zoom camera can be quite useful, but unfortunately it doesn’t currently allow for a smooth zoom in, and it starts directly at the 7x zoom, because it’s a separate camera, on top of the main micro 4/3 one.
Many of us expected the Mavic 3 to be ready for doing inspections and carry an infrared camera, but it seems DJI doesn’t want to make their Enterprise drones obsolete yet.
The Mavic 3 doesn’t come with an infrared camera that can provide thermal imaging so it’s not suitable to use in inspections that require heatmaps or thermal readings.It only comes with the micro 4/3rds sensor and a zoom camera.
The Mavic 3 doesn’t come with a lidar camera sensor, as initially speculated, just with the omnidirectional camera sensors that are still able to appreciate the distance to objects, but without providing lidar maps.
As expected with any of the more advanced DJI drones, the Mavic 3 does come with intelligent flight modes that can make flying a breeze, but which ones?
The Mavic 3 has a set of features and flight modes that will only come with the big update in january of 2022:
It seems that DJI will release the hyperlapse flight mode with the update from january 2022 and you’ll be able to create automatic hyperlapse videos without editing in post processing.
Mavic 3 explore mode is a free zooming mode while using the Zoom camera which is made with the intent to explore new areas where you might want to film, or any other reason why you may want to zoom.
You can see an example of the use for the Explorer Mode in the video below.
Let’s have a look at some of the frequently asked questions about Mavic 3 hardware that’s more miscellaneous.
An HDMI port would allow for livestreaming images on a larger screen directly from the controller, or a second monitor for someone to watch.
The standard controller the Mavic 3 comes with(called the DJI RC- N1) doesn’t have an HDMI output, instead you’re getting an HDMI output with the DJI Mavic 3 Cine version or if you buy the DJI RC PRO controller that supports HDMI output.
The Mavic 3 comes with 8 gb of internal storage (approximately 7.2 GB of available space), while the Mavic 3 Cine comes with a much larger 1 TB of internal storage (approximately 934.8 GB of available space).
Choosing a memory card for a drone is quite important, so let’s look at what the Mavic 3 supports and what’s recommended to buy.
The Mavic 3 has a single MicroSD card slot that supports a minimum of SDXC or UHS-1 micro sd memory cards. The maximum capacity of the memory card supported by the Mavic 3 is up to 2 TB.
The minimum write speed supported is of 10 mb/s (UHS-1), but if you want to shoot in 4k or 5k, it is recommended to get the fastest writing speed memory card with the UHS-3 category.
Otherwise the drone might stop recordings and the video could show glitches and data loss.
An RTK (Real TIme Kinematic) module allows for extra precise GPS tracking and is used the most with jobs like mapping and photogrammetry in general.
The Mavic 3 doesn’t come with an RTK module and therefore isn’t as precise in surveying and mapping programs
There are many situations in which you need the serial number for DJI drones, including for activation or to get it through warranty, so where is it situated?
The Mavic 3 serial number is located in the battery compartment, after you remove the batter, right next to a small QR code. You can read the serial number and use that qr code online.
Especially if you want to fly the drone indoors, a propeller guard is of utmost importance for everyone’s safety.
The Mavic 3 doesn’t come with a propeller guard in the fly more combo, but it can be bought separately from DJI for $49 and it’s made from two lateral pieces.
The Mavic 3 is not yet compatible with DroneDeploy missions and this also means th that it’s not compatible with any mapping software including DJI’s or other third party applications.
While this is a subjective matter, I need to say my opinion even if just to guide a few of you towards the right decision.
Just as I have shown in the comparison with the DJI Air 2s, the Mavic 3 is suitable mainly for cinematic professionals who are really going to make use of that large micro 4/3rds sensor in situations where the use of a more compact foldable drone is required.
The Mavic 3 isn’t overpriced, because it comes with a lot of expensive technology and a pretty expensive sensor too, two cameras and a large battery. While comparing it with cheaper drones like the Air2s it may seem like it doesn’t make a large difference in output for most people, the price is justified for those few who want the absolute best resources because their job demands it.
If you’re going to make such a big shopping decision, which place is the best to buy it for, that offers a good return policy and a good price too?
There are a few good ways to buy it in my opinion: either buy it from the DJI website directly, or from amazon (also DJI’s official amazon account) which would be best if you have amazon prime. A local reseller would also be good if you trust them and their prices match the ones on amazon. Never buy from random chinese companies, as you might not be able to return the drone in case anything happens.
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