The Mavic 3, First Impressions.

Two Pros, plus two Zooms, plus a Phantom 4, equals a Mavic 3. They did the maths.

It had been nearly four years since DJI put “Mavic” and “Pro” on the same piece of plastic — the last do-everything folding Pro launched in 2018. Today DJI pulled back the curtain on the Mavic 3, dropping the “Pro” name and arriving in three flavours: Base, Fly More and Cine.

Why the Long Gap?

In the run-up we had seen DJI shift towards a more Apple-like release cycle: a major release followed by a lightly refreshed version twelve months later. The Mavic Air 2 in 2020 became the Air 2S in 2021; the Mini in 2019 became the Mini 2 in 2020.

So with four releases in two years, why had the Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 Pro not seen the same cadence? Pure speculation, but if it is not broken, why fix it. At launch the Mavic 2 Pro offered the largest sensor in a folding drone, 10-bit colour, high resolution and professional features few competitors could bundle at that price. The closest, Autel Robotics, reached 6K resolution but did not integrate a 1″ sensor until the Evo 2 Pro in 2020.

Within DJI’s own range, capability trickled down. The Air 2 borrowed loosely from the Mavic 1 Pro airframe and sensor with newer software and ADS-B; the Air 2S added a 1″ sensor and 4K HDR at 60fps. Together they eroded the consumer case for the pricier Mavic 2 Pro. Variable aperture, sideways obstacle avoidance and the Hasselblad colour profile stayed exclusive to the Pro line throughout.

Mavic 2 Pro versus Mavic 3

The Cameras

The Mavic 2 Pro carried a single 1″ CMOS sensor roughly equivalent to a 28mm field of view on full frame, shooting 20-megapixel stills and 4K video at 30fps, with a 10-bit Log profile at up to 100 Mbps. Not shabby, for 2018.

With the Mavic 3, DJI has effectively merged the Mavic 2 Pro and the Mavic 2 Zoom into one aircraft by combining two fixed focal lengths. The main wide camera grows to a 4/3 sensor, around 1.7× the area of the outgoing 1″, while holding 20MP resolution. That means a larger pixel pitch, which should translate to less image noise at higher ISO.

Rumours had suggested a mechanical shutter on the wide camera, previously exclusive to the Phantom 4 Pro series. It appears the Mavic 3 sticks with electronic shutters on both. Mapping operators will note that — a mechanical shutter reduces distortion when capturing nadir imagery for photogrammetry. Even so, it will be interesting to see whether the Mavic 3 takes the Phantom 4 Pro V2’s mapping crown, since the longer flight time and larger sensor let you cover more ground between battery swaps.

Video and Obstacle Avoidance

Video moves to 5.1K at 50fps, with 4K up to 120fps, and maximum bitrate rises to 200 Mbps in both H.264 and H.265. The Cine version adds Apple ProRes 422HQ as a native format alongside a 1TB onboard SSD to hold the much larger 10-bit files.

Worth noting: the high-resolution and high-frame-rate modes appear limited to the wide camera. The telephoto is capped at 4K or 1080p at 30fps.

APAS 5.0 brings omnidirectional obstacle avoidance and improved return-to-home. Skydio has held the crown for dynamic avoidance in dense foliage, so broader sensor coverage here is a welcome improvement.