DJI, the global leader in civilian drones and creative drone technology, announced in October 2024 – the DJI Air 3S, an advanced dual-camera drone for unmatched aerial travel photography. Featuring a 1-inch CMOS primary camera and a 70mm medium tele camera, with up to 14 stops of dynamic range that both support the new Free panorama feature, allowing the Air 3S for flexible shooting range selections to capture landscapes, architecture, and more in stunning detail. The DJI Air 3S new night-cap obstacle sensing and precise next-gen Smart RTH (Return-To-Home) features ensure effortless peace of mind to safely capture perfect cinematic photography at night.
“The DJI Air 3S takes our Air Series to new heights by offering professional features like dual primary cameras and omnidirectional obstacle sensing while retaining its light weight of just 724g for boundless freedom and flexibility,” said Ferdinand Wolf, Product Experience Director at DJI. “The Air 3S is the perfect all-rounder for travel photography – capturing all your special moments during vacation while also providing safety and security if operating at night.”
DJI Air 3S Enhanced Dual-Camera – Take Unmatched Imagery
The DJI Air 3S dual cameras improve on the 10-bit and ISO image quality, capturing videos and photos with even more breathtaking details than the current DJI Mavic 3 Pro.
Even in normal colour mode, DJI Air 3S dual cameras can record 10-bit video using H.265 encoding, delivering refined colour performance and greater flexibility in post, with the maximum ISO raised to 12,800.
In D-Log M and HLG colour modes, the maximum ISO is raised to 3,200, allowing for greater brightness and more details in urban night scenes.
Compared with previous generation DJI Air 3, the Air 3S employs a more advanced video encoding compression algorithm that reduces video file sizes by over 30% without compromising image quality, saving valuable storage space for creators.
Free panorama mode in both cameras enables the seamless creation of panoramic shots by stitching together multiple images with a manually selected subject or area. The wide-angle camera offers a broader field of view (FOV), greatly improving efficiency when capturing panorama photos.
The medium tele camera significantly reduces image distortion, crafting expensive shots with a wide perspective from multiple photos and rich details captured by its superior focal length. Both cameras are capable of shooting video with a maximum dynamic range of 14 stops, capturing cinematic footage in high-contrast scenes.
DJI Air 3S Dual Cameras
- Primary 50MP, 1-inch-CMOS camera and 24mm lens supports 4K/60fps HDR and 4K/120fps video recording as well as 10-bit D-Log M colour mode. This large sensor, enhanced by advanced image-processing technology and intelligent algorithms, preserves even minuscule details in low-light conditions such as sunsets and night-scapes.
- Secondary 70mm medium tele camera with a 3x optical zoom excels at portrait and vehicle shots, offering compressed depth of field to highlight any subject with a bolder, more cinematic look. With its 48MP 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor, this camera supports the same video specs and colour modes as the primary camera. This ensures visually consistent footage for streamlined post-processing.
Expand Creativity with Safer Night Time Flying
The DJI Air 3S is the first DJI drone to feature forward-facing LIDAR, offering unrivalled environmental awareness,, featuring downward infrared time-of-flight (TOF) sensors and six vision sensors (two at the front, rear and bottom), to achieve night-scape omni-directional obstacle sensing. This advanced technology enables the Air 3S to automatically identify and circumvent obstacles during its flight and return paths, ensuring trouble-free safety during nighttime photography.
Designed to be the perfect easy-to-use all-rounder drone, the DJI Air 3S is powered by real-time vision positioning and map construction technologies, memorising flight paths when adequate lighting is available. This ensures a safe return when taking off from locations without a satellite signal.
Stay in Focus with ActiveTrack 360°
The DJI Air 3S features ActiveTrack 360° to keep any subject in the frame. Based on the surrounding flight environment, the optimised tracking performance automatically plans a flight path. It adjusts the framing to guarantee more dynamic shots that keep the subject the center of attention even if the lower half of their body is partially obscured such as standing behind bushes or on a bridge.
Air 3S also introduces a new Subject Focusing feature that keeps the subject in sharp focus, even during manual flight or when the subject moves off-center. This feature allows the pilot to fully concentrate on the more creative aspects of perfecting a shot like composition and camera movement.
DJI Air 3S Other Standout Features
- 45-Min Max Flight Time: With up to 45 minutes of flight time, the Air 3S offers adequate time to scout locations, compose, capture cinematic shots, and repeat.
- 10-bit O4 Video Transmission: Powered by DJI O4 HD video transmission technology, the Air 3S delivers 10-bit video transmission at 1080p/60fps over distances of up to 20 kilometres.
- 42-GB Built-in Storage: Setting a new standard, the Air 3S allows creators to film without needing to deal with microSD cards.
- Off-State QuickTransfer: Files can be sent from the Air 3S to a smartphone even when the drone is powered off. Transfers to a computer can also be done with the drone powered off by simply connecting Air 3S via a compatible USB cable.
- Charging Hub with Power Accumulation: The Charging Hub supports PD fast charging and a power accumulation function, allowing users to transfer the remaining power of multiple low-power batteries into the battery with the highest remaining power.
Short Hands on Experience with the DJI Air 3S
I had a preview and short hands on experience with the DJI Air 3S in Singapore when it was announced in October 2024. Although I do not have many extensive drone flying experiences, I always wanted to add drone photography, drone videography / cinematography to my photography and content creation services.
Although I put my microSD card into the DJI Air 3S, flew the drone for my short hands on flight, my inexperiences showed as I didn’t record the drone aerial footage on the microSD card, it got recorded into the DJI Air 3S instead.
However, fellow technology blogger Joe Teh of Techielobang produced this YouTube video, that would showcased the capabilities of the DJI Air 3S during the preview and hands on session.
Down the road, I am looking at adding a DJI drone to my photography and content creation services, I am looking at producing travel vlogs and potentially explore other business opportunities with drone photography, videography and cinematography.
I am going to share more about DJI drones, I am also planning to do DJI drone reviews too. However, I am going to start learning from scratch, from the most basic beginner drone level before moving up to the mid-tier level drones.
Pricing and Availability
The DJI Air 3S is now available at all authorised retail partners and online e-stores, with shipping, in the following configurations:
- The DJI Air 3S (DJI RC-N3) retails for $1399 and allows pilots to check the live feed and flight status using their smartphone.
- The DJI Air 3S Fly More Combo (DJI RC-N3) retails for $1729 and includes the DJI RC-N3 remote controller, an ND filter set, two additional batteries, a battery charging hub, a shoulder bag, and more.
- The DJI Air 3S Fly More Combo (DJI RC 2) retails for $1959 and includes the DJI RC 2 remote controller with a 5.5-inch 1080p 700-nit high-bright screen, an ND filter set, two additional batteries, a battery charging hub, a shoulder bag, and more.
For more information on the DJI Air 3S, please visit https://www.dji.com/air-3s
* Information courtesy of DJI Singapore and Redhill *