The new DJI Air 3 drone has dual cameras to take your aerial photography to new heights

By Stephen Fenech On Jul 26, 2023

Leading drone brand DJI has unveiled the DJI Air 3 – the latest drone in the Air family that offers dual primary cameras to take your aerial photography to new heights.

Onboard the DJI Air 3 is a wide-angle camera and a 3x medium telephoto camera which can produce 48-megapixel images and 4K HDR videos at 60fps.

“The DJI Air 3 is the first drone of our Air Series which offers professional features like dual primary cameras and omnidirectional obstacle sensing and at the same time retaining its lightweight capabilities with a weight of just 720g for more freedom and flexibility,” said Ferdinand Wolf, Creative Director at DJI.

“The drone is the perfect all-rounder for your outdoor adventures and offers you a more diverse camera language.”

Under the camera system’s hood is 1/1.3-inch CMOS wide-angle camera and 1/1.3-inch CMOS 3x medium tele camera.

The cameras have the same size sensors but offer different focal lengths to offer the pilot even more variety with their photography.

The wide-angle camera lets you capture wide, sweeping landscapes which is the equivalent of a 24mm lens and an F1.7 aperture.

The 3x Tele medium camera is similar to 70mm and a F2.8 aperture, and it can achieve up to 3x optical zoom.

The wide-angle FOV allows a much broader capture while the 3x medium tele lets you boldly focus on your subject.

On the video side the DJI Air 3 can output 4K/60fps HDR and up to 4K/100fps max. video specification without FOV cropping.

The new DJI Air 3 is also the first of the Air Series to support 2.7K vertical video (9:16).

Another first for the DJI Air 3 is omnidirectional obstacle sensing so it can detect and help you avoid obstacles in every direction.

If an obstacle is detected the drone can actively avoid and bypass the trouble.

This gives beginners even more peace of mind as they take to the skies for the first time.

The ActiveTrack function can even allow pilots to fly hands-free and the Advanced RTH (return to home) for a worry-free landing.

The DJI AIR 3 has a 48 per cent improvement in maximum flight time of up to 46 minutes.

There is also a new battery charging hub which can transfer power from other batteries to the battery with the highest charge.

OTHER INTELLIGENT FEATURES

FocusTrack for both cameras: Consisting of Spotlight 2.0, ActiveTrack 5.0 and Point of Interest 3.0.

FocusTrack keeps the subject in the centre of the frame. When using the 3x medium tele camera, a unique sense of spatial compression will be generated to highlight the pilot or any other person as the subject in terrific status.

QuickShots: Empowers the DJI Air 3 to perform creative camera movements like Rocket, Dronie, Circle, Helix, Boomerang, and Asteroid.

2.7K Vertical Shooting: The DJI Air 3 supports dual-camera 2.7K vertical video shooting. The wide-angle camera can include rich image information, while the 3x medium tele camera can portrait the pilot or others as the subject, facilitating more eye-catching vertical aerial photography. The 2.7K vertical shot output can be shared immediately on social media without post-cropping.

MasterShots: Allows the DJI Air 3 to automatically perform diverse camera movements, shoot multiple clips, edit the clips, and add music to generate fast and effortless cinematic footage

Night Mode: Thanks to the noise reduction algorithm, the DJI Air 3 can capture up to 4K/30fps clean footage in low-light environments.

Hyperlapse: Select from four sub-modes of Free, Circle, Course Lock, and Waypoint to shoot up to 4K horizontal or 2.7K vertical timelapse footage.

Slow Motion: Select 4K/100fps or 1080p/100fps to directly record a 4x slow-motion video.

SmartPhoto 3.0: In single shot mode, the DJI Air 3 uses SmartPhoto 3.0 by default, which can automatically select among HDR, hyperlight, and scene recognition according to the scenario for better imaging results. In HDR DNG format, the camera can record a larger dynamic range with built-in contrast enhancement. The image file can achieve JPG-level quality in post-editing software, reducing the difficulty of post-production.

QuickTransfer: Quickly download photos and videos from the aircraft to your smartphone through a wireless connection, saving time and effort.

Waypoint Flight: This feature is available on the Air Series for the first time. The user can plan flight routes and shooting actions for the DJI Air 3 in advance to achieve difficult camera movements like one-takes. Pilots can also save a flight route to repeat the same mission precisely later, making it easy to create long-duration timelapse videos that capture transitions such as day to night or season to season.