DJI Air 3 dual camera drone with O4 HD video transmission is now available
[18:16 Tue,25.July 2023 by blip]
Today the "all-rounder drone" DJI Air 3 was officially presented. It is the first drone in the Air series to have professional functions such as dual primary cameras and omnidirectional obstacle detection, but it also weighs a little more at 720g. The new functions, including an O4 HD video transmission, were already widely known through several leaks.
Dual camera system
The Air 3's dual primary camera system consists of a wide-angle camera with a 35mm equivalent focal length of 24mm (field of view 82°) and an f/1.7 aperture, and a f/2.8 telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom (70mm, field of view 35°). Both cameras have CMOS sensors of the same size (type 1/1.3"), their pixel size is 2.4μm, the maximum resolution is 48MP. Compared to the previous Air 2S model with 1", the sensor size has shrunk slightly.
DJi Air 3 with dual cameras
Both cameras support 10Bit D-Log M and 10Bit HLG (4:2:0) color modes, as well as Dual Native ISO for direct output of HDR videos in 4K/60fps. It can be recorded with max. 4K/100fps in H264/H.265. Unlike the predecessor DJI Air 2S, the field of view should no longer be cut.
The DJI Air 3 is also the first Air series drone to support 2.7K (9:16) vertical video recording for social media platforms.
Flight times, speed and control
Under ideal conditions, the Air 3 should offer a flight time of up to 46 minutes, significantly longer than its predecessor, the S2, which was 31 minutes. DJI specifies the top speed of the drone as 21 m/s, the maximum climb and descent speed as 10 m/s. It not only surpasses the Air 2S, but also the Mavic 3 Pro.
According to DJI, the new battery charging station supports an accumulation function. Pilots can press and hold the function button to transfer the remaining power of multiple batteries to the battery with the highest remaining power
The implemented omnidirectional obstacle detection is also new for the Air series. The front and rear of the drone are equipped with a pair of fisheye lenses to enable forward, backward, left, right and up detection, while the bottom is equipped with dual lenses and a 3D ToF, enabling powerful omnidirectional obstacle detection.
If an obstacle is detected, the DJI Air 3 can also use APAS 5.0 to actively avoid obstacles. The ActiveTrack function works together with the improved return function (Advanced RTH)8 to enable fully automatic flight.
The next-generation O4 video transmission system not only offers a theoretical transmission range of up to 20 km, but is also designed to improve transmission stability to avoid jerking in the live view and thus increase flight safety. It supports live feeds up to 1080p/60fps. For the frequency band in Europe, 5.1 GHz has been added to increase transmission performance.
DJI Air 3 with RC-N2
In order to be able to use the new O4 video transmission system, two new remote controls are appearing with the Air 3, the RC 2 and the RC-N2. The latter is equipped with a 700 nit 5.5" FHD display as well as a powerful processor with improved CPU and GPU performance. With two integrated and two external antennas that support a quad receiver system with two transmitters, the number of transmitter and receiver antennas is doubled compared to the previous generation RC. The signal strength increases, the transmission performance is said to be improved.
Smart features
The DJI Air 3 also has numerous features and functions on board. For example, FocusTrack, consisting of Spotlight 2.0, ActiveTrack 5.0 and Point of Interest 3.0, keeps a subject in the center of the frame. QuickShots allows DJI Air 3 to perform creative camera moves like Rocket, Dronie, Orbit, Helix, Boomerang, and Asteroid.
The Waypoint Flight feature is available for the first time in the Air series. Pilots can use it to plan flight paths and shots in advance to perform difficult camera movements. You can also save a flight path to accurately repeat the same mission at a later time or date.
Using the MasterShot function, the DJI Air 3 automatically performs various camera movements, captures multiple clips, edits the clips and adds music to create cinematic footage quickly and easily. In a night mode, thanks to noise reduction algorithms, clean footage can be recorded at up to 4K/30fps even in poor lighting conditions.
4x slow motion is possible in 4K and FullHD. Four options are available for Hyperlapses: Free, Circle, Course Lock, and Waypoint. These can be used to record time-lapse recordings in up to 4K horizontally or 2.7K vertically.
Other functions include SmartPhoto 3.0, QuickTransfer and LightCut in conjunction with the LightCut app on a smartphone for automated post-processing or video playback.
Price and availability
The DJI Air 3 is available today and costs EUR 1,099 with the DJI RC-N2 standard controller, or EUR 1,349 in the Fly More Combo with RC-N2 controller, two additional batteries, a battery charging station, shoulder bag and more.
The DJI Air 3 Fly More Combo including the DJI RC 2 remote control is available for EUR 1,549.
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