I’ve been creating stock content since around 2012 and have been publishing regular blog posts here since early-2017. In fact, my first blog post was an interview of my friend and mentor, Joas Souza, who I had the pleasure to visit recently at his image printing office in London – below is a link to that interview from back in the day.

Interview with Joas Souza, London-based Architectural Photographer

Seven Years later – Invested in the DJI Air 3

Sometimes I ask myself what I could have done differently in this business during the past decade or so, for instance, what if I had invested earlier in a drone earlier, let’s say in 2017. Below I listed some “regrets” I’ve had.

My Top 5 Stock Photography & Footage Regrets and Their Lessons

When it comes to my drone side of the business, it’s been really just the case of better late than never, since I did finally take to the skies in early April 2021. Over three years later I’ve flown over 100 hours in three different countries, first with the Air 2s and then the Mini 3 Pro…

…and now I’m happy to report that in July 2024 I finally invested in the Air 3, since I managed to sell my almost new replacement Air 2s.

Why I’ve upgraded to the Air 3?

In this blog post I’ll outline five reasons (in no particular order) why I decided to upgrade to this drone, which perhaps will give you enough reason to also consider to further your own business.

I’ll use some of the stills here that I captured during my first-ever shoot in Lisbon where I flew alongside Master Microstocker, Dmitry!

Reason 1: The option to use the 70mm equivalent optical zoom lens

I was honestly getting pretty tired/bored of the 24m equivalent lens that is on the Air 2s and similar focal length on the Mini 3 Pro. As I’m mainly shooting stills, my frustration was that I would often need to get super super close to subjects to be able to capture all the detail and then crop in post-processing.

Being very close to the ground/water naturally means that there are more risks. For instance:

• To get the shot, needing to fly closer to “unathorised” places, as well as over univolved people. The less attention I can draw to myself the better;
• When flying low above water the drone sensor can be confused with the reflection and may think it’s close to the ground and want to auto-land. This has happened to me a few times, particularly when flying in foggy weather…and having to quickly cancel the auto-landing to avoid disaster;
• I’m often shooting in some riskier conditions on the Portuguese coast, so there’s the risk of drone being downed by huge unpredictable waves. Or at the very least having salty water spray from damage the engines leading to corrosion; and
• Annoying and aggressive seagulls (and other birds) are naturally closer to the ground. Seagulls don’t usually fly higher than 60 metres, although I have had a few close calls with storks which can go above 100metres!

• Dangers from obstacles such as electric wires, antennas, boat masts, trees etc. These obstacles are particularly dangerous when flying at night sensors don’t work. So when I do fly at night I rather be much higher up above (60metres+).

Some stills captured on my first shoot with the Air 3

Therefore, with the 3x zoom lens, which is optical in nature (not digital), means that I can mitigate many of the risks listed above. Even if I’m a bit further away from the subject(s), the relatively large sensor that captures 48MB sensor ensures high-quality captures.

See below three examples from my first shoot with this wonderful lens.

Capturing footage with the 70mm lens

As for footage, I was also getting bored of the 24mm focal length as it’s pretty standard and doesn’t do much to really stand out from the competition. See the clip below and just imagine that I could track the red car more closely using the 70mm instead of the boring old 24mm equivalent.

I really like this clip and quite disappointed that this and other premium clips have never sold at Overflightstock, but that’s for another post 😦

Therefore, having another focal length adds varieties to my footage portfolio, which should lead to more sales, even if prices are depressed as of late. For more details see below a detailed breakdown by Vic VideopIC.

Introducing the Parallax Effect

In addition, only with the 70mm lens and higher it’s possible to create a Parallax Effect to the shots, which is a technique that consists of animating different elements of a scene at different speeds to create the illusion of depth and movement. In other words, the foreground is moving faster than the background, thus creating the feeling of depth – see below some examples.

Reason 2: It’s quite affordable for a professional-quality drone

Speculation is ripe that DJI will release in the Autumn of 2024 the Air 3s, an upgrade to the Air 2s. Therefore, in anticipation (I’m assuming) they have lowered the price of the fly-more-combo for the Air 3 by 20% of which I’ve taken full advantage.

I purchased mine in Portugal directly from DJI so maybe the discount depends on where you are.

Note that the fly-more-combo doesn’t include the ND filters which I’ve purchased separately at 84 Euros, from ND 4 up to ND 64.

Nevertheless, I must say that around $1,400 for a professional-quality drone is a damn good price and should last me a good two years before I need to upgrade.

Reason 3: Huge increase in flight times

The Air 3 boasts a whopping 50% increase in flight time vs the Air 2s and Mini 3 pro, up to 46 minutes in ideal conditions but closer to around 33 minutes in the real world. This makes a huge difference to get to where you want to shoot and not have to rush shots.

From a safety perspective the added battery time is also welcome as it gives more peace of mind that it will make it back in one piece assuming that it’s not too far. On particularly windy days, when the battery drains quickly, I can focus a few more minutes on shooting than having to return.

Lastly, the extra battery also comes in handy for those longer hyperlapses when I don’t need to worry so much about the battery running low. I may even try an epic 20-second hyperlapse one of these days.

Together with a total of three batteries on the fly-more-combo, this is enough for at least 90 minutes of flight time without needing to recharge. This is more than enough for shooting in one location!

Reason 4: Improved signal strength

I was getting super frustrated with weak signals on both the Air 2s and Mini 3 Pro everytime the drones were a little far out and/or flying in urban areas. In fact, a total loss of signal was the main contributing factor for my losing my original Air 2s on that fateful New Years’ night in Rio combined with the incorrect RTH settings, which I still argue is a bug on the DJI system.

Although I haven’t thoroughly tested the Air 3, the manufacturers boast the following:

“Another powerful upgrade of Air 3 is video transmission. The next-gen O4 video transmission provides a max range of 20 km with increased stability, and a 1080p/60fps max-quality live feed to ensure ultra-smooth viewing.”

Not sure about flying it out to even close to 20km…that’s just silly but happy to hear that they have improved the signal strength. And yes, I love the RC 2 remote controller (with the antennas for better signal) as it’s super bright as well and I was getting frustrated trying to fly on sunny days looking at my phone + having to worry about the phone’s battery running out as well as annoying notifications if I forgot to put it on flight-mode.

Reason 5: Night Mode is excellent

Night Mode is a function straight from the Mavic 3 which increases the ISO range to optimise image quality in low-light conditions. Here’s a still from one of the clips I captured in Belem, Lisbon with acceptable noise levels.

Capturing footage at night was something that I never really did with the Air 2s because the quality was so low but this is something that I’ll start doing with the Air 3.

As for stills, the longer exposures produce impressively sharp results especially at low ISO…it really is a tripod in the sky! When I did have to increase the ISO slightly, the noise amount was acceptable and was easily mitigated using Topaz’s wonderful noise-reduction which I run through most of my images anyway.

Isn’t the Mini 3 Pro now redudant?

So, now I also have the Mini 3 Pro with its inferior image quality and battery…isn’t it a redudant drone now? I don’t think so, I’ll still find many uses for the Mini, such as:

• As a sub-250gram drone, it’s easier to get away with quick shots in urban areas over people (but not crowds)…drawing less attention;
• Flying it indoors is easier and less noisy;
• Portability is a key factor as when I do travel I may just want to take my Mini with me instead of the heavier Air 3; and
• True 4K vertical shooting can come in handy in some circumstances.

Otherwise, I’m all in with the Air 3 – run and get one today!

Conclusion

I’ll keep testing the Air 3 and update you guys regularly on how I get on.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the above analysis and feel free to comment below. There’s a 100% chance you’ll receive a reply from me! 😀 Until next time.

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About Alex

I’m an eccentric guy, currently based in Lisbon, Portugal on a quest to visit all corners of the world and capture stock images & footage. I’ve devoted ten years to making it as a travel photographer / videographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others by showing an unique insight into a fascinating business model.

I’ve gone all in on submitting book cover images to Arcangel Images. Oh and was also flying a DJI Mavic 2s drone regularly (although it crashed into Botafogo Bay on NYE – here is the story), which I’ve upgraded to a Mini 3 Pro and now the Air 3.

I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography