DJI Air 3 for Actual Property Images (All You Have to Know)

Launched in the summertime of 2023, the DJI Air 3 has confirmed to be a dependable, well-rounded drone, good for these in search of a mid-level drone with nice specs.

Like its predecessor, the Air 2S, the DJI Air 3 has a superb cost-to-feature ratio, enabling the Air 3 to be accessible to a variety of drone house owners.

From rookies to content material creators, to fanatics alike, the Air 3 has one thing for everybody.

We’ll have a look at most of the options of the DJI Air 3 that make it a viable choice for Actual Property images, in addition to some pattern photographs from Actual Property shoots since its launch.

Overview

As talked about, the DJI Air 3 was launched in July 2023 and is the successor of the ever-popular DJI Air 2S, launched in 2021.

One factor that helped make the just about three-year-old Air 2S a well-received drone was its 1-inch CMOS Sony sensor digicam. That digicam was good for various sorts of business work, together with Actual Property. Actually, till 2023, the Air 2S was my actual property work-horse, with many flight miles on it.

» MORE: DJI Air 3 Assessment – Is This the Drone for You?

Sure, the Air 3 does have smaller predominant and secondary cameras than the DJI Air 2S’ predominant 1-inch” CMOS sensor digicam. Nevertheless, the newer know-how in each of the Air 3’s cameras has aided the Air 3 in taking wonderful images, in each vibrant daylight and in low-light circumstances.

Due to the Air 3’s newer imaging know-how, though technically solely 12 MP images (extra on this shortly), the images taken are detailed and work properly for actual property, whether or not capturing constructions or the encompassing setting.

Required Certifications

Taking images and movies of properties on the market with the Air 3 falls below business functions, or the furtherance of enterprise.

In the USA, you could fly your drone below the FAA’s Small UAS Rule (Half 107) to be legally acknowledged as a business drone pilot.

Due to this, if wanting to do drone Actual Property images, in the USA, a Half 107 Certification is required.

For extra data on the Half 107 Certification course of, beginning your individual drone enterprise, or registering your DJI Air 3, please see the next articles:

Background on Shifting to the Air 3 for Actual Property

I’ve been taking pictures Actual Property images and movies for shoppers since 2018. I used a DJI drone with a 1-inch sensor when initially beginning out. On this case, the Phantom 4 Professional.

Again then, 1-inch sensors and taking pictures 20 MP images had been absolutely the trade customary and a primary requirement for actual property professionals.

As a small firm, we added a number of smaller-sensored Autel foldable drones to the fleet as backups. We additionally used them periodically when the DJI drones had been grounded on account of unlockable geofenced areas.

We didn’t like the unique Evo’s 12 MP picture high quality again then, however we saved them round simply the identical.

Quick ahead to 2021, and we retired our a number of Phantom 4 Professional workhorses in favor of the smaller footprint and 1-inch sensor of the Air 2S. The Air 2S can be our major workhorse for years.

For our higher-end properties over $500,000, we used the Mavic 3 Professional commonly for a time, as its 4/3 Hasselblad digicam is unbeatable.

Nevertheless, the bigger, vastly costlier Mavic 3 Professional would show to be overkill for the extra average-sized and average-priced properties we commonly started getting booked for in 2023.

That is the place the Air 3 is available in.

Digicam know-how has gotten so good over the previous 2 years or in order that it has change into evident that the 1/1.3″ sensor digicam on the Air 3 would just do positive for actual property over the smaller sensor 12 MP cameras on the drones of yesteryear.

In our space, many residence patrons are viewing actual property photos on smartphones and tablets. Thus, extraordinarily high-resolution images taken on massive sensor drone cameras are usually not a necessity for our shoppers typically.

For these shoppers particularly requesting content material from the upper priced and spec’d Mavic 3 Professional, it’s out there.

The Air 3’s mixture of dimension, weight, flight efficiency, and picture high quality makes the Air 3 the perfect drone for our actual property functions and is used commonly.

» MORE: Actual Property Drone Images: A Complete Information (Insider Suggestions)

Air 3 Options for Actual Property Images

One of many causes the Air 3 is such a strong and well-rounded drone is the truth that DJI has crammed numerous the perfect options from different DJI drones into the Air 3.

The Air 3, whereas an inexpensive superior shopper drone, shares most of the higher-end options of the rather more costly and professional-level Mavic 3 collection.

These options all result in a greater actual property photograph expertise, corresponding to:

• Twin cameras, with focal lengths equal to 24 mm and 70 mm, respectively
• Omnidirectional impediment avoidance
• Night time Mode, leading to wonderful night and nighttime images

Moreover, the Air 3 advantages from even newer DJI proprietary know-how over the Mavic 3 collection, particularly:

• OccuSync 4.0 video transmission system

We’ll be discussing these options in-depth all through this text.

» MORE: DJI Mini 2 SE for Actual Property Images (All You Have to Know) 

Air 3 Digicam

One of many issues that makes the Air 3 so versatile is the twin cameras. Just like the unique Mavic 3’s setup, the cameras on the Air 3 are a bit smaller at 1/1.3″ sensors, versus the Mavic 3’s 4/3″ predominant digicam.

» MORE: Greatest Digicam Settings for DJI Air 3 (Photograph & Video)

The primary digicam on the Air 3 is equal to 24mm with an f/1.7 aperture, and the tele lens digicam is equal to 70mm with an f/2.8 aperture. Each of those cameras take the identical decision images, which is right for actual property images.

The brand new 70mm digicam is ideal for zooming in on explicit areas of curiosity inside a property or space facilities whereas sustaining distance out of your topic.

Within the above picture, the pool-goers had been alerted forward of time of the shoot. On the finish of the placement session, all of them talked about they didn’t hear and even discover the Air 3.

In some neighborhoods, being as inconspicuous as potential is important, and relying on the state of affairs, the Air 3 at instances offers this.

Photograph Codecs & Photograph Modes

As is anticipated of all of DJI’s newer drones, together with the Mini collection, the Air 3 is able to taking pictures JPEG or RAW (DNG).

For skilled photographers, the choice to shoot RAW information oftentimes is a should, relying on their modifying type. This isn’t to say you can’t be an expert actual property photographer whereas taking pictures JPEG, as many do choose taking pictures JPEG due to the file sizes, and the images are nonetheless superb.

The Air 3 RAW (DNG) information are massive, uncompressed, and unprocessed information. Like floor cameras corresponding to Sony, Canon, and Nikon, these information retain all the information and data in a photograph. They’ll then be manipulated in any means utilizing your actual property photograph modifying software program of alternative.

Along with a slew of photograph modes, the Air 3 gives the next nonetheless images modes an actual property photographer ought to discover helpful:

• Single Shot: 12 MP and 48 MP
• Automated Publicity Bracketing (AEB): 12 MP, 3/5 frames; 48 MP, 3/5 frames at 0.7 EV step

Single-shot actual property images taken with the Air 3 look nice. When uncovered correctly, it’s exhausting to make a distinction between the Air 2S 1-inch sensor and the Air 3’s 1/1.3″ sensor, even on the decrease 12 MP choice.

Apart from the usual single-shot mode, which I personally use 50/50 when taking pictures properties, the AEB (computerized publicity bracketing) mode is great.

AEB on the Air 3 works precisely prefer it does for floor cameras, providing you with the flexibility to seize 3 or 5 frames at 0.7 publicity worth steps between every captured picture.

» MORE: DJI Air 3 for Images

The Air 3 could be very steady when flying, even in breezy circumstances. When merging the AEB frames collectively, the ensuing images look nice, even with the motion of the Air 3, as might be seen within the instance beneath.

Low-Mild & Nighttime Capabilities

When doing actual property images, there could also be instances when it’s essential to get twilight photographs. There could even be instances when nighttime photographs are wanted, maybe when taking pictures property in downtown areas.

Fortunately, the Air 3 takes wonderful lowlight and nighttime images, both utilizing Night time Mode or fine-tuning the handbook settings your self in Professional Mode.

A lot of that is as a result of Air 3’s predominant 24 mm digicam having a really large f/1.7 aperture which allows numerous mild.

That is an argument for these saying the low-light efficiency of the Air 3 can’t match the low-light efficiency of the Air 2S. The Air 2S, whereas having a bigger sensor, does have a tighter f/2.8 aperture. Footage communicate a thousand phrases.

Though there could also be some traces of noise within the photographs taken in low-light circumstances with the Air 3, for essentially the most half, this may be addressed in post-editing software program and isn’t a difficulty in any way.

» MORE: Drone Images Final Information

48 MP Considerations for Actual Property

Just like the Mavic Air 2 and DJI Air 2S earlier than it, the Air 3 can shoot 48 MP images.

When taking pictures 48 MP, though the cameras are technically 12 MP, Quad Bayer know-how is used. Quad Bayer know-how quadruples every megapixel within the digicam, leading to sharper images. 48 MP images.

Presently, I’m not utilizing the 48 MP choice for actual property, and all of our consumer images (together with the images on this article) are delivered as 12 MP images.

This all boils right down to the current degradation within the high quality of 48 MP images the Air 3 produces from both digicam.

Upon its summer season 2023 launch, the Air 3 took nice photos in each 12 MP and 48 MP choices. A couple of months later, nevertheless, a firmware replace was put out by DJI that precipitated the 48 MP photographs to be barely blurry, with a noticeable enhance in chromatic aberration and ample artifacts.

DJI was made conscious of the problem and has since launched a slew of subsequent firmware updates to handle a few of these points.

Sadly, individually, I don’t really feel the 48 MP photographs are pretty much as good as they initially had been upon the Air 3’s unique launch. Due to this, I’ll proceed to shoot 12 MP images till this difficulty has been rectified.

» MORE: Digicam Expertise in Drones (Defined)

Chromatic Aberration

I discussed that the Air 3 suffers from chromatic aberration when taking pictures 48 MP photos. It likewise suffers some when taking pictures 12 MP images.

What’s chromatic aberration?

Chromatic aberration is when there are noticeable coloured edges that seem round objects in high-contrast conditions. These colours are usually purple, inexperienced, or magenta.

Chromatic aberration is attributable to a digicam’s lens, whether or not drone, mirrorless digicam, or DSLR.

I actually seen a rise in chromatic aberration on vibrant, unedited images, across the branches of bushes and on the roof tiles.

Within the instance beneath, chromatic aberration was notably noticeable within the treeline, the place the solar was shining from the southeast. The shot was not used for the consumer.

Though nonetheless seen, to counter this, I had to make use of a heavy hand in Lightroom when utilizing the defringe software, together with pulling again the inexperienced, purple, and magenta saturation.

As the instance highlights, this didn’t work properly on this case, because the roof tiles had been the identical coloration as the vast majority of the chromatic aberration, and desaturating that coloration would destroy the look of the tiles.

This might be countered simply by taking the identical image later within the day when the solar had moved. This, nevertheless, was not a viable choice that day as we had one other three shoots lined up one after the opposite.

Fortunately, there are methods across the chromatic aberration that’s generally discovered with the Air 3. That is both via using photograph modifying software program, altering the place of the Air 3, and even taking some images at one other time of day.

» MORE: Can You Fly DJI Air 3 at Night time (Defined)

Dimension & Flight Traits

The DJI Air 3 is barely longer, taller, and heavier than the Air 2S and nearly 3 times the load of the Mini Professional strains of DJI drones.

The Air 3 flight traits might be outlined as managed and well-refined. These are traits anybody taking actual property images would need.

The Air 3 flies easily on all fronts, no matter shifting ahead, in ascent, or in descent. Flying the Air 3 for any objective is like driving a high-powered luxurious sports activities automotive, with equal elements consolation and efficiency.

The Air 3 can actually be described as an excellent flying drone.

When taking pictures actual property images, it’s fast to stand up and go and could be very simple to regulate. The Air 3 motors are highly effective, however it doesn’t really feel just like the Air 3 will likely be fast to get away from you in an uncontrolled method.

Because of its managed flight traits, the ascent and descent speeds of 22mph don’t really feel as quick as they really are. They do turn out to be useful when making an attempt to get in as many photograph shoots as potential in sooner or later.

With the Air 3 weighing 720 g, it handles wind very properly. So properly, actually, that it’s immune to winds as much as 26mph.

For our most up-to-date actual property initiatives on the Gulf Coast of Florida, the Air 3 was flown in gusts between 15 and 20 mph. For the decrease register of that vary, it simply stayed in place for numerous photographs.

In larger mph winds, I’d trust the Air 3 would carry out equally as properly.

Battery Life

That is the place the Air 3 actually shines. Nevertheless it’s not as a result of it has the longest battery lifetime of a shopper DJI drone; the Mini 3 holds that title at 50 minutes.

The Air 3 is rated to fly 46 minutes per battery.

Drone operators will hardly ever, if ever, get these sorts of flight instances. Nevertheless, when constantly flying right down to about 25% battery on actual property work, I’m simply in a position to get about 34 minutes of utilization.

For actual property work, I counsel getting the fly extra combo, as three batteries is an effective quantity to have when doing a number of actual property jobs.

What makes the Air 3 battery setup so stellar is the all-new Air 3 battery charging hub.

Not like every other DJI battery charging hub (as of this text’s writing), there may be an choice that lets you press and maintain the black operate button (whereas the hub is unplugged) and switch the remaining energy from a number of batteries to the battery with the best remaining energy.

As a substitute of getting three partially powered batteries as you head to the subsequent actual property shoot, now you can have one totally (or near a completely) charged battery on your subsequent flight.

That is notably helpful if doing quite a lot of shoots through the day. I’ve had situations of not solely taking photos at a number of properties throughout a day but in addition filming 4k 60fps footage for every property as properly.

A number of batteries utilizing the facility switch function was a lifesaver.

» MORE: DJI Air 3 – Battery (All You Have to Know)

Distant Controller Choices

Equally as vital because the digicam specs, battery life, and efficiency is how the Air 3 is bodily managed by the tip consumer.

The Air 3 makes use of two completely different distant controller choices, the DJI RC 2 and the DJI RC-N2, each of that are good for the Air 3.

As a result of the Air 3 is on a distinct transmission system than, say, the Air 2S or Mavic 3 collection, the DJI RC-N1, DJI RC, DJI Good Controller, and DJI RC Professional won’t work with it.

For individuals who already personal the DJI RC Professional, this can be a disappointment, as that distant controller is the best possible skilled management machine for DJI shopper and prosumer drones.

Fortunately, each the DJI RC 2 and RC-N2 are viable choices, choices that each occur to work fairly properly for the Air 3.

Each controllers really feel and behave like their predecessors, the DJI RC and DJI RC-N1.

Most instances, once we are out doing actual property, we’ll use the DJI RC 2, as that controller is a lot vibrant, at 700 nits, for many of our sunny days.

If taking pictures ocean or gulf-front properties, we would decide to additionally convey alongside the DJI RC-N2. This is able to be to connect certainly one of our 1000-nit high-brightness tablets.

Moreover, when taking pictures actual property video footage, we all the time convey the RC-N2 hooked up to a 7″ high-brightness pill. The RC-N2 and pill mixture guarantee I can get the perfect framing potential, as a result of bigger display screen.

» MORE: The way to Fly DJI Air 3 Drone (With DJI RC 2)

Impediment Avoidance

When flying for actual property, it’s important to get the best-composed photographs of the property as humanly potential.

Oftentimes, we is perhaps so centered on the shot at hand that we ignore our environment.

That is the place the brand new omnidirectional impediment avoidance system performs a significant position. This 360-degree, omnidirectional safety consists of:

• Entrance
• Again
• Left/Proper Sides
• Prime
• Backside

When not doing skilled drone work, I’m one to usually fly with all impediment sensors off.

Nevertheless, I’ll admit that there have been instances after I was totally engaged in a tough shot or two between numerous bushes and was so grateful that I had remembered to allow the proper security options.

I’ve been spared from a number of shut calls utilizing the omnidirectional impediment avoidance system.

Whereas, sure, the Air 3 advantages from the added safety of 360-degree impediment sensing, we by no means counsel totally counting on automated impediment avoidance.

» MORE: Impediment Avoidance in DJI Drones (Defined for Novices)

OccuSync 4.0 (Transmission System)

The Air 3 makes use of the upgraded OcuSync 4 (O4) video transmission system. This method is an improve over the Mavic 3 strains working on the O3+ system.

With OcuSync 4, the video sign vary has been prolonged to 12.4 miles on the Air 3, in comparison with the Mavic 3’s 9.3 Miles.

We by no means endorse or advise drone pilots to fly that far, because the legislation in the USA is to fly inside visible line of sight (VLOS) always.

What the OcuSync 4.0 transmission system means for Air 3 house owners utilizing the Air 3 for actual property work is that the Air 3 has an excellent stronger and cleaner sign operating between the drone and distant controller.

That is splendid for actual property photographers taking photos in each extremely congested city and downtown areas.

» MORE: DJI Transmission System (All the things You Have to Know)

Geofencing Considerations?

Like all DJI drones, the Air 3 can also be geofenced.

Not like the skilled drones of previous (the Phantom Professional and Mavic Professional strains), this technology of DJI drones is simpler to unlock in authorization zones.

When doing actual property shoots, having the ability to instantly unlock areas is vital, as your consumer’s residence simply is perhaps in an authorization zone, needing LAANC approval to fly.

With earlier iterations of DJI drones, it was generally exhausting, if not unimaginable, to unlock the drone to do business work in sure areas. Due to this, many, myself included, had non-geofenced drones to fly in areas the place LAANC was approved for the pilot however denied by DJI unlock.

Since utilizing the Air 3 for actual property work, now we have had completely no points unlocking the Air 3 whereas on location in authorization zones.

» MORE: Do DJI Drones Have Geofencing? (And The way to Unlock Them)