The Air 3S is DJI 's new mid-range drone , evolving the Air 3 with several significant improvements.
These include superior image quality, especially in low light, and the ability to avoid obstacles at night, ensuring the drone returns safely. This is encouraging, as the versatile, if somewhat boring, Air 3 already performed excellently in low light when we tested it last year.
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“The DJI Air 3S takes the Air Series to new heights, offering professional features like dual main cameras and omnidirectional obstacle detection, while maintaining its lightweight weight of just 724g for endless freedom and maneuverability,” said Ferdinand Wolf, DJI’s Product Experience Manager, in a recent press release. “The Air 3S is the ideal tool for travel photography, capturing all your unique moments during your vacation, while providing safety during night flying.”
DJI has equipped the Air 3S with a wide range of sensors for detecting obstacles in nighttime landscapes, including front-facing LiDAR and time-of-flight sensors with downward-facing infrared, for a total of six vision sensors — two in front, two behind, and two below.
The Air 3S features an improved 50-megapixel, 1-inch sensor and 24mm lens on the main camera, as well as a 48-megapixel, 1/1.3-inch sensor with a 70mm lens (3x zoom), each offering up to 14 stops of dynamic range when shooting automatically (not in slow motion or portrait). 10-bit video recording can be encoded in H.265 with improved ISO.
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The main camera can record video at 4K/60fps HDR and 4K/120fps. According to DJI, the resulting file sizes are over 30% smaller compared to the Air 3. The Air 3S offers 42GB of onboard storage, expandable via microSD, ensuring you can capture all your footage for up to 45 minutes of maximum flight time. Files can then be wirelessly transferred to your phone without having to turn on the drone, or via a USB-C to your laptop.
Of course, DJI’s new drone has plenty of smart shooting options, like ActiveTrack 360 for automatic subject tracking. The Air 3S keeps the subject in focus during manual flight or when moving around the frame — allowing the “pilot” to focus more on composition and camera movement. Additionally, both cameras support DJI’s Free Panorama feature, which can stitch together multiple images of a selected subject or area.
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The DJI Air 3S is available from today at store.dji.com in a variety of kits, with prices starting at $1099 / £959 / €1099 for the device that includes a DJI RC-N3 controller, making it easy to fly via your mobile.
Source: theverge
