Delayed Video Plans and Key Features

I’ve been meaning to make this video for a couple of days since the update dropped a while ago. The standout feature they’ve introduced is exciting, though it comes with a caveat I’ll reveal shortly. One major addition is the ability to use the Pocket 3 as a webcam or for live streaming in D-Log M. This offers more dynamic range and greater control over the look. I don’t typically use it this way, but it’s a handy option if you do. The feature I’m most thrilled about, however, requires a quick trip over here to show you.

Exploring the New 40 mm Mode

The highlight I’m eager to try is the new 40 mm mode. It lets you zoom in with a crop that promises better image quality. What’s coolest is that you can still zoom further. My big questions were: How does it stack up against the regular 2x zoom? And can you zoom beyond 40 mm to something like an 80 mm field of view? Right now, you’re seeing the standard field of view. Switching to 40 mm tightens the focal length significantly.

It looks pretty neat. The downside? It doesn’t support ActiveTrack, so I can’t track myself moving around. You’re locked into the shot you frame. But how does it compare to a 2x crop on the regular camera? Here’s a side-by-side with two Pocket 3s—yes, I own two, thanks to an unfortunate incident. On one side, you’ve got the 2x crop using the joystick; on the other, the new 40 mm mode.

Medium Telephoto Mode Comparison

DJI calls it “Medium Telephoto” mode. How do they look? I’m curious: Does the background change when I get close to the camera? It’s hard to tell on these tiny screens, but with Medium Telephoto mode, you can zoom even further. So, on one side, it’s a 2x crop; on the other, it’s 40 mm mode with an additional 2x crop, still in 4K. I don’t fully grasp how DJI pulls this off, but how does it look? And up close, what about the details and out-of-focus background?

For reference, the normal field of view is 20 mm. I need to wrap this up—the tide’s coming in, and I’ll get wet soon. But check out the zoom range difference. It’s incredible how far you can now zoom on the Pocket 3 with decent quality. Cropping in 400% like this loses sharpness, but the new mode holds up better. If you’re enjoying this, consider subscribing. I test gear in Alaska‘s harshest conditions and share tips and tutorials.

Quality Insights and Limitations

I’m not sure how DJI does it, but it’s impressive. There’s some quality loss—side by side, the 2x in regular 4K mode might edge out the 40 mm mode slightly. Yet, getting an extra 2x on top of Medium Telephoto mode to reach what feels like 80 mm is wild. It starts to degrade, but for a 4x crop, it’s still decent. Well done, DJI!

A couple of limitations: As mentioned, ActiveTrack doesn’t work in this mode, so no dynamic movement tracking. Depth-wise, it doesn’t mimic a true 40 mm or 80 mm lens on a full-frame camera with shallow depth of field—it’s a bit different but still looks good. Also, it’s restricted to normal mode; D-Log M and HLG aren’t options here.

Focus Breathing Compensation

DJI also added focus breathing compensation. Normally, focusing on something close shifts the frame’s edges noticeably. With this feature, the change is far less pronounced—likely a slight crop, but much subtler than before. It’s not perfect, but for such a tiny camera, it’s a shock they’ve packed this in. It’s not on par with a big mirrorless camera like a Sony or Canon, but it’s a huge improvement. Compare the two: one camera shifts a lot, the other barely does. It’s a small but nice touch.

Wrapping Up and What’s Next

Watch my next video for 18 months of near-daily Pocket 3 use, what killed my original one, and more. Got questions? Drop them in the comments or join my live stream, most Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. See you in the next one. Cheers!

Why ND Filters Are Important

ND filters are important because you want to get proper motion blur. I made a whole video about it—it’ll be linked up in the corner here—but if you don’t get proper motion blur, it’s not going to look like we expect it to with our eyes. For example, if you’re doing this, you want to be able to see that your hands or fingers are blurry. It’s not right now because I’m shooting on a camera with a really high shutter speed since it’s so bright. Essentially, if you’re moving fast and you want the stuff in motion to feel like it’s moving quickly without a stuttery effect, ND filters will fix that for you.

They’ll also help you get proper exposure or allow you to do long-exposure photography if that’s your goal. For instance, with a proper shutter setting and ISO setting—say ISO 100, the lowest you can go, and a shutter speed of two times my frame rate, in this case, 1/60—the footage is completely blown out. It’s just white because I’m in a snowy area with a lot of bright sunlight. But if I put on the 64 and 128 combination filter, you can see the exposure is absolutely perfect, giving us that nice motion blur.

Motion Blur Examples and Preferences

Here’s an example of some footage without motion blur, and next to it, you can see footage with motion blur. Every movie you’ve ever seen and the way we process imagery—motion blur is the correct way. Now, I’m not saying you have to do it that way; you can do whatever you want. But to get your footage to look the way it should and the way it would if a professional drone pilot like me shot it, having motion blur is important—unless you’re doing VFX. If you want to know more about that, you’ll want to watch that other video.

Landing Pads for Practicality

I hand-launch and hand-takeoff with my drone a lot because sometimes that’s just the most practical thing. But one accessory I use very often when I’m out in dirty areas like this—snow, sand, mud, or anything similar—is a landing pad. While there are some really cheap ones on Amazon that sort of work, this one by Hoodman is by far the best I’ve found. It’s heavy enough that it won’t be blown away by the drone when you’re taking off and landing, which is a real problem with the cheap ones. It’s also waterproof, made from some great material, and it opens up and folds down really easily. It’s got a green side and an orange side. Hey, real quick—if you’re enjoying or getting value out of this video, consider subscribing. I go out and test and compare equipment in the most real-world conditions I can find here in Alaska, where I live, and I give you tips and tutorials on how to use it.

Extended Sticks for Precision with the DJI Air 3S Drone

Another thing I don’t use all the time but do use a lot are these extended sticks. All this stuff will be linked in the description. Sometimes I just run with the regular DJI sticks, but these extended sticks make a big difference. You can see the height difference between these two is huge. Because you have longer travel here versus shorter travel with the regular ones, it gives you more precise control over what the drone is doing. Especially if you’re a pinch controller like I am, it enables you to make bigger movements while having the drone respond less, so you can be more precise when trying to do really technical, complicated shots. I find the longer sticks help me quite a bit when I’m focused on flying a drone precisely and well. A lot of times, I just roll with the regular DJI sticks because they’re in the controller and I always have them with me. Occasionally, if I’m just doing something like Active Track, I’ll take off and use my thumbs to get the drone where I want it without even putting the sticks in. But if you’re going to do anything long and precise, these sticks will help quite a bit.

Screen Protectors for the DJI RC2

While we’re on the subject of controllers, if you got your Air 3S with the nice DJI RC2, which I absolutely love, I highly recommend getting a screen protector for it. It takes very little—like dropping something on it just the right way or having something fall on it—to crack the screen. A good screen protector is super inexpensive on Amazon and will save your controller screen if something hits it a little too hard or in just the wrong spot. They’re like 10 bucks, cost almost nothing, and are super worth it to make sure your controller screen is protected.

Keeping Batteries Warm in Cold Weather

If you operate in cold areas like I am today—where it’s single digits and quite cold, even though it looks nice—you’ve got to keep your drone batteries and controller battery warm. I use these Zippo electric hand warmers. They’re rechargeable and have a little USB out if you need to emergency charge something. I run them on the lowest setting to keep batteries and the drone warm while I’m hiking or out and about. This keeps my batteries warm so when I’m ready to fly, both the controller and the drone are warm enough to fly without needing to hover for a while to heat up.

Power Banks for Extra Juice

Another thing I take with me a lot to recharge controller batteries or the drone battery are these Anker power banks. They have a couple of USB-C outs, and I use these things a ton. There’s a larger and a smaller version—this is the 20,000 mAh one, and the 27,000 mAh one is also very good. Both will be linked in the description. You can recharge a drone battery with this or get a little more battery life out of your drone or controller if you need to. These go with me everywhere because they’re super valuable, especially when I’m limited on how many batteries or things I can take with me.

Wrapping Up

Next, you’re going to watch this video right here. I’ll see you over there. As always, if you have questions, you can ask me in the comments below or join my livestream, which happens most Wednesday nights at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern—at least when I’m not out in a place like this and have to hike a bunch of miles to get home. I’ll see you again soon in the next one. Cheers!

If you’ve been wondering whether to buy the DJI Mic 2, the DJI Mic Mini, or the Hollyland M2, this is the video for you. Let’s test and compare these wireless systems to see which one might be right for you. There are links to everything in the description below. I purchased all these units myself—no one sent them to me—so take that for what it’s worth. If you’d like to support the channel, there are affiliate links in the description that help me create more content like this.

Testing the DJI Mic Mini

To start, this is the sound of the DJI Mic Mini. You can see it clipped right here. There’s a little wind, so I’ve put the fuzzy windscreen on. I’ll do the same with the Hollyland and the DJI Mic 2. How does it sound? From what I’ve heard, the DJI Mic Mini sounds really good. I like it—it’s clear, clean, and has a nice sound to complement your voice. It also has noise reduction, which we’ll test in a bit.

Testing the Hollyland M2 System

This is the sound of the Hollyland M2 system, which actually surprised me. It sounds clean, clear, and crisp—pretty natural. Maybe it doesn’t have quite as much low end as the DJI systems, but it sounds great overall. I was shocked. I resisted getting these for a long time, and now I regret that because they’re really fantastic. We’ll test how they sound inside clothing soon and share tips to improve the audio in that setup.

Testing the DJI Mic 2

Next, we have the DJI Mic 2, which also sounds great but isn’t as clear. It doesn’t have as much high frequency as the Mic Mini or the Hollyland, which surprised me since it’s a larger system. But how far do these systems reach, especially the Mic Mini and Hollyland? The DJI Mic 2 has internal recording, a huge advantage for professional work in certain situations.

Range and Signal Testing: DJI Mic Mini

This is the Mic Mini now. Obviously, these are the best conditions you’ll find—there’s almost no interference around me. A big factor is what happens when you turn your body and place it between the microphone and the camera. In my experience, you can go far as long as there’s nothing between you and the camera—you’ll get a great signal. The issue arises when you put your body or other objects between the camera and the microphone. Right now, I’m about six or seven feet from the camera. Let’s turn around, start walking away, and see how far we get.

Usually, I notice drops pretty quickly when the body is between the microphone and the camera. The body attenuates RF signals well and fast. But how quickly does it reacquire the signal when you turn back? In my experience, the DJI system links back up super fast.

Range and Signal Testing: Hollyland M2

Now, let’s switch to the Hollyland M2 system. Like most of these small systems, it performs great at a distance. I’m about 200 or 300 feet away, and all these systems do well with no interference. The big difference is what happens when you put a body or something between the transmitter and receiver. I’m six or seven feet away now—let’s start walking and see how it does. You usually get drops early; it’s just part of how these work.

I’m really impressed with these mini systems. They’re small, easy to hide, and sound way better than you’d expect.

Range and Signal Testing: DJI Mic 2

Now, the DJI Mic 2. Just like the others, the big question is what happens when you put a body or something between the receiver and transmitter. Let’s find out. I’m at 10 feet—now I’ll start walking away. The Mic 2’s big advantage is its 32-bit internal recording. This means you can adjust volume after the fact and won’t lose audio. For professional work with clients, this can save the day—it has for me. Were there drops? I have backups since everything was recorded internally, so I always have the audio. But how did the transmission do?

Like the other systems, distance isn’t a big issue. I’ve gone well over a thousand feet with this system, and as long as there’s a direct line of sight to the camera, it works fine. Without a lapel, it’s larger and harder to hide. It looks nice in the sun, though it’s still cold out here.

DJI Ecosystem Advantage

A huge advantage of the DJI Mic Mini and Mic 2 over others is their direct connection to the Pocket 3, Action 5, or Action 4. Right now, you’re hearing the DJI Mic 2 through a lapel mic straight into the Pocket 3. It’s a super easy, fantastic way to get audio into a camera without an extra receiver. The Hollyland does USB-C out directly to audio too, but it’s seamless with DJI cameras.

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Testing Inside Clothing: DJI Mic 2

A big question is how these sound when mounted out of sight, like under clothing. The DJI Mic 2 is under my shirt and jacket now. If I move, it’s pretty good—surprising, actually. It’s mounted where it can’t move, which is key. If it’s on a shirt with a jacket over it, two moving pieces of clothing can cause issues. Now it’s on my shirt outside, with the jacket over it. Movement creates noise because the shirt and jacket shift against each other.

Testing Inside Clothing: DJI Mic Mini

Let’s try the DJI Mic Mini inside my shirt pocket with the jacket over it. If I move a lot, how’s that sound? Now, the Hollyland M2 is outside my shirt but inside my jacket. Movement causes rustling because the fabrics move independently. If you tape them together or fix the Hollyland to both, it reduces the issue. Now it’s in my shirt pocket—how does that sound? There’s some rustle, maybe a bit more, but taping it with double-sided tape on both sides eliminates a lot of that.

Using a Lapel with DJI Mic 2

Another advantage of the DJI Mic 2 is its 1/8-inch jack for a lapel. You’re hearing it now without one, and now with a lapel hidden in my hat. It sounds different—better. The mic stays in place even if you turn, keeping the sound consistent. This is a high-end Sanken COS-11D, a few hundred dollars, and I use it a lot professionally.

Noise Reduction Testing

I don’t often advocate for built-in noise reduction, but all three units have it, so let’s hear it. You’ll get better results in post with more powerful tools, but if you just shoot and post without editing, here’s how they sound.

DJI Mic 2 Noise Reduction

This is the DJI Mic 2 with no noise reduction, driving at 60 mph. Now with noise reduction on—not my favorite, but it works in a pinch.

DJI Mic Mini Noise Reduction

This is the DJI Mic Mini with no noise reduction at 60 mph. Now with strong mode noise reduction—basic does little. How’s that sound with the same noise?

Hollyland M2 Noise Reduction

This is the Hollyland M2 with no noise reduction, same conditions. Now with noise reduction on—it’s impressive for built-in, but post-production is still best.

For fun, here’s no noise reduction again, then post-processed with iZotope RX9. It’s better, though I didn’t fine-tune it. Good audio engineers can do wonders, but it costs money and time. Do you want to spend on software or just post quickly?

Specific Features and Considerations

Now that you’ve heard the differences in sound, range, and interference, let’s cover specifics. The DJI Mic 2 lets you plug in a lapel—I use a COS-11D with it into a Pocket 3 for most YouTube videos. Battery life is about 6 hours, with 18 hours total via the case. It’s $350, with 32-bit internal recording as a backup. For Sony shooters, the multifunction hot shoe interface goes digitally into the camera—no wires. The touchscreen transmitter is quick and easy, with a knob for adjustments.

DJI Mic Mini Features

The DJI Mic Mini is tiny—one of the newest systems. It’s easy to hide and links wirelessly to Action 4, Action 5, or Pocket 3. It’s $170 for the set, or $50 for a transmitter (white or black). It has the longest battery life: 11.5 hours for transmitters, 10.5 hours for the receiver, with a 5-minute charge for another hour and 48 hours total via the case. A disadvantage is it doesn’t work with the multifunction hot shoe yet, though a Firmware Update hints at future support. DJI, please make one for Canon too! Controls are limited—volume only—other settings need the DJI Mimo app.

Both DJI systems pair via Bluetooth to phones or GoPros, but bandwidth limits quality, making it sound crunchy—not the mics’ fault.

Hollyland M2 Features

The Hollyland Lark M2 surprised me at $120. It has a charging case and 10 hours of transmission time. The transmitters are tiny and lightweight, great for hiding. It comes with accessories like magnetic clips and necklaces, though the wind muff is huge. There’s an 8-inch cable for cameras and a USB-C adapter for phones or Action 5 Pro. The receiver is the smallest camera-mounted one. It pairs automatically and works well.

Recommendations

I bought all these myself—they’re fantastic. It depends on your needs. For professional work, the DJI Mic 2 is ideal with its lapel option and backup recording—it’s saved me on big shoots. If you use DJI Pocket 3, Action 4, or Action 5, the Mic Mini is my favorite—small, lightweight, with 1,300-foot range (Mic 2 has 800 feet, Hollyland 1,000 feet). It’s great for YouTube on a budget. For smartphones or USB-C cameras like Insta360, the Mic Mini or Hollyland works. On a tight budget, the Hollyland M2 is fantastic.

Watch the next video linked here. Ask questions in the comments or join my livestream most Wednesday nights at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time (8:00 p.m. Eastern) for more discussion. See you in the next one—cheers!

By the way, this video isn’t sponsored by anybody. I purchased this with my own money after my other one got destroyed because it has been such a useful tool for me over the last year and a half—especially for creating YouTube content or just capturing behind-the-scenes moments of shoots I’ve been on and stuff like that, which I’ll show you more of here in a minute. But first, we’re almost to our destination.

Active Track: A Game-Changer

Honestly, one of my favorite features of the Pocket 3 is the Active Track—the fact that I can have it track me around a scene like this and show off is really sweet. Especially if you work by yourself and film yourself, it’s almost like having somebody who can film you. That’s why I’ve been using the Pocket 3 to film a ton of my YouTube videos over the last year and a half or so since it came out—it just made filming so easy. It’s not just the fact that you can use Active Track, which is super useful, but you can set it up to track from one side or the other or a specific area on the screen to get the look that you want. For example, if you want to lead something through a scene like this shot here, it gives a little more weight to one side or the other, which makes it look a bit better than just center Active Track like I am right now.

Even just handheld, the Active Track works incredibly well because it keeps you in the frame, and you don’t really have to worry about whether you’re holding it in the right spot or turning it enough—it’s just going to keep you exactly where you need to be in the frame the entire time. It takes a lot of work off you. One of my favorite ways to use Active Track is getting environmental scenic shots of places I’m walking through—like this glacier here or this one right here where we are right now. By the way, this is the business end of a glacier, which means this is the part that is falling off as it moves and flows downhill into water. Contrary to popular belief, glaciers are always moving—winter, summer, it doesn’t matter—they’re always moving. So, this will still have big pieces calve off while we’re here. I wouldn’t get any closer than where I am right now; in fact, this might be just a little too close if a really large piece comes off. If you come out to a place like this or get the chance to visit a glacier feeding into water, don’t get too close to the business end.

Field of View and Focus

Another thing I love about the Pocket 3 is the field of view. You get this nice 20mm field of view—like right now, about 3 feet away from the camera—but you still get really nice environmental framing where you can see a lot of what’s going on around you, which is great. The thing that makes the Pocket 3 look like a much more expensive camera than it actually is, though, is that when I get close, the background blurs out. You can still see the background, but because I’m in focus, it makes you focus on the subject—super useful. That’s part of what makes the Pocket 3 such a great little camera: it actually has this little focus system. If I’m standing farther away, everything’s in focus, and it all looks good, but the closer I get, the more the background fades away and becomes a little out of focus, which just makes it look so much better than it should. That brings us to image quality.

Image Quality of the DJI Pocket 3

Image quality is fantastic for what it is. You can film 4K up to 120 frames per second in slow motion; if you don’t want slow motion, you can film 4K up to 60 frames per second, which is super useful. It’s what I’ve been filming most of this video in because it gives you really, really great footage. The fact that it films in 10-bit D-Log M gives you a massive range that you can use to color grade this camera and make it match pretty much anything else you’re shooting with. Because of that, you can get really great, incredibly rich, and bold colors out of this if you grade it well. If you want something that’s really easy to grade, I do have a pack of LUTs that works really well with the Pocket 3—they’re linked in the description.

This is where we need to talk about dynamic range. While this camera does have incredibly good dynamic range for what it is, it’s still limited—it’s a small sensor. But if you look at the shot here, I’m walking, and the camera’s pointing directly at the sun. Straight out of the camera, this is what it looks like—you could expose it different ways if you wanted to—but in post, you can bring the shadows or midtones up and make it look how you want. So far, everything you’ve seen in this video has been recorded in D-Log M.

Interestingly, shortly after launch, DJI added a normal 10-bit option. This is normal 10-bit, which, if you don’t want to color grade, looks great—really solid colors, very natural colors, a nice blend of contrasty and punchy, vibrant colors, but not over the top—really nice. If you want to shoot in a higher dynamic range, this is HLG. Honestly, I don’t see a huge difference between HLG and D-Log M, so I generally shoot in D-Log M, but if you’re someone who likes to shoot in HLG, you have the option.

DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Stabilization

We’ll get into low light in just a sec because this camera actually does very well in low light, but before we do that, we have to talk about stabilization. The way the Pocket 3 stabilizes—because it has a physical gimbal—means you get this really incredibly good, smooth footage. This shot you’re seeing right here was me running, holding the Pocket 3 behind John as he was biking. You can see just how stable it is, which is insane because I’m running on ice, trying not to fall, but it still gives you this beautifully smooth, incredibly well-stabilized shot.

This comes into play when you’re working in low light. A lot of action cameras stabilize by analyzing the image and using gyro data, but this can lead to weird blurry images or strange movements and vibrations. The Pocket 3 will stabilize perfectly in low light—it doesn’t matter—because it has a gimbal. There is one situation where this works against the Pocket 3, though: in motion in vehicles. Because the Pocket 3 stabilizes based on what the IMUs feel—whether it’s being pulled left, right, or straight up and down—it will tend to drift one way or the other depending on what’s going on. So, if you’re driving in a car going around a corner, you’ll see the horizon start to tilt one way or the other. It’s a minor inconvenience, but that’s where action cameras actually do a little better because they’re physically fixed cameras and don’t suffer from that same problem. Beyond that, the stabilization in the Pocket 3 is absolutely incredible for such a small camera.

Stabilization is only as good as how well you hold it, though. I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I get rid of the up-and-down motion, which you can see a little bit in my running shot. The answer is: walk softly as much as you can, then hold the Pocket 3 so you have some movement in your arm to counteract your motion. Try to hold it as fluidly as possible so you don’t get this as much, and you get more of a nice, smooth shot.

Low Light Performance

Now for low light—you have to be realistic; this is still a small sensor camera—but the Pocket 3 does really well in low light. Right now, it’s pretty darn low light in here, and I’ve used this camera way beyond where it probably should go. If you set it at minus two sharpening and minus two noise reduction, then sharpen and reduce noise in post, you can actually get some really clean imagery all the way up to about ISO 1600, maybe even 3200, depending on what you’re filming. The fact that this small camera can give you usable low light in something like this—if you ever happen to be in a glacier ice cave or just walking around the streets at night—is impressive. For its size, the Pocket 3 has really good low light, largely thanks to that 1-inch sensor. How spectacular is this ice cave? Also, it’s not the safest one I’ve been in, so I think maybe we should go out.

Vertical Video

Now we need to talk about vertical video. I don’t shoot a lot of vertical video, but the Pocket 3 will shoot vertical video—like I’m doing right now—where it crops in on the sensor, giving you a 3K image, basically up to 60 frames per second. That’s an easy way to shoot vertical; you don’t have to mess with the gimbal at all. But you can also just hold the gimbal sideways, like you see here, and shoot vertical video that way. There are a couple of advantages and disadvantages to doing that. The advantage is you get a wider field of view—here you can see side-by-side the normal vertical video, which is the cropped-in mode, and me holding the gimbal sideways. You can see you get a much wider field of view if you hold the gimbal sideways. The downside is that the gimbal’s meant to work in a certain orientation, so it doesn’t always do what you want when you’re holding it vertically. Ways to mitigate that are to put it in follow mode and stuff like that, but it does shoot really great vertical video. Of course, you can Active Track in vertical video mode and pretty much do everything else you’re doing in vertical video mode.

Audio Integration

One of the best features of the Pocket 3 is the seamless integration with DJI’s microphones—the little wireless microphones they sell. If you get the Creator Combo, you get the DJI Mic 2, but if you don’t want to spend that much, just buy a Mic Mini—they’re about 50 bucks. Right now, you’re hearing the DJI Mic 2; I’m a couple hundred feet away with a lapel plugged in and sitting just inside my hat here. One of the best things they added was a Firmware Update that allowed you to also record the internal mics at the same time, which is what you’re hearing right now. Now I’m back to the lapel mic and a mix of the other audio as well. The best thing I found this was set up to be was a backup recording—so if something happened, like the DJI Mic battery died or something, you’d still have a recording. But I found it really useful for environmental noise. If you just want to get some nice noise that sounds like what it is—like for ASMR-type videos or something—then this really isn’t a bad deal. Having good, clean, clear audio no matter what with the DJI Mic 2, regardless of how close or far away from the camera you are, really makes this a useful tool. It’s pretty much all I’ve been using to record most of my YouTube videos outdoors because it’s such a great system and gives you such great, clean audio regardless of the wind or other conditions I’m in.

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Photos, Battery Life, and Durability

While this isn’t really a photo camera—it only takes 9-megapixel stills because it’s a 1-inch sensor—those 9 megapixels are probably why you get such good low light performance. The Pocket 3 does take pretty nice photos, and they’re more than enough for sharing on social media. All these photos were taken with the Pocket 3, and yeah, your phone will probably take better photos now because if you have a newer phone, they all do. But the photos coming out of the Pocket 3 are actually really nice. You can do these 180° panos and ultra-wide photos, which are really fun when you’re in a place like an ice cave and want to make it look really big and wide. Those ultra-wide photos really do come through, and the panos also look really solid. They’re one of my favorite ways to do it because you get this super amazing, huge field of view using the Pocket 3. It stitches them together for you, puts them out there, and then you’re good to go. While I wouldn’t recommend this camera if you’re going to do a lot of photo work—I’d recommend something else—it does take good photos.

That brings us to battery life and durability. The Pocket 3 is way more durable than I first thought it was going to be. When DJI sent me the original one, I took mine into well-below-zero temperatures—it fell over a bunch, got wet inside glacier ice caves, got rained on and snowed on. Finally, what messed it up was a shoot I was doing for Caterpillar—we were using it as an angle to capture these glass panes, and when they broke, all the tempered glass hit it and basically messed up the focus system so it wouldn’t focus at infinity. I’m amazed at how much use my Pocket 3 got—it literally went everywhere with me, probably flew something like 100,000 air miles, and withstood pretty much everything I threw at it and just kept going, which is amazing for a little tiny gimbal camera. It really could handle some serious abuse. That’s not to say that if you get it rained on in just the right spot, it wouldn’t totally stop working—it absolutely could. It’s electronic, it’s a gimbal, it’s fragile—you have to be careful—but mine withstood a lot.

As for battery life, it’s very subjective depending on what you’re doing with it—the frame rates you’re filming in, how hard the gimbal is working, how cold it is outside (right now it’s single-digit temperatures, so I’m not getting great battery life). That being said, I ran pretty much everything up to just a few minutes ago on one battery handle extension. Getting a couple of hours off the battery and the battery handle extension works really well—it will keep the camera battery charged and deplete the battery handle first, then the camera battery will start to discharge. The cool thing is that you can also recharge the whole system rapidly—up to 80% in like 15 or 20 minutes (I don’t remember exactly, but I’ll put it on the screen here)—so you can get back up and running really quick. I’ve got a USB power bank in here, and I just plug the battery handle in and get it charging without it being attached to the camera—it will charge all by itself. Super nice. Generally, when I go out and do stuff like this, unless it’s super cold like it is right now, I just run with one battery extension handle, and that’s more than enough for me to get everything I need to film an entire YouTube video throughout most of a day of hiking and running around.

What Drives Me Crazy

You might be thinking the Pocket 3 is very near the perfect camera—and it is really good—but there are a few things that drive me crazy about it, and I want to make sure you’re aware of those so if you’re looking to buy this camera in 2025, you can make up your mind. One is the focus system—it’s not a tracking focus system, so it just kind of goes based on whatever’s in front of it, and it’s also very quick and jerky. I wish there was a way to slow it down and have it be a little smoother in the way it goes from far focus to near focus. That’s pretty minor, and so long as you have somebody or something in the frame where it should be toward the center, you actually do get a really nice, controlled focus—it’s just a little faster than I’d like.

The other thing that drives me crazy is this message when you’re using the transmitter—it stays on the screen forever. I wish it was like one or two seconds, and that’s it—that’s all I need to know the mic is connected. I don’t need a full 7 or 8 seconds of it telling me it’s connected. While you can do a 2x zoom in-camera and it actually looks pretty decent—basically indistinguishable from me cropping in two times in post—however DJI is doing that, they’re doing a really good job. But I do wish there was a way to have more powerful focal lengths available. Maybe that’ll come in the Pocket 4—that would be really cool if there was something like a 40 to 50mm focal length and then the 20mm.

Is It Worth It in 2025?

So, is the DJI Pocket 3 worth it in 2025? Yes, and here’s why. Beyond everything I’ve shown you in this video, what makes this camera so amazing and fantastic is the fact that it’s super easy to use. This is exactly how I’ve been using it for the last year: pull it out, turn it on, and start filming—no ND Filters, no nothing special, no anything I need to do. There are great setup and tutorial videos about how to get the most out of this—lock your exposure, lock your white balance (which I didn’t even do in some of this video)—but this camera is just one of the easiest cameras to run around, film with, and get great-looking footage. Being able to do all the other stuff I showed you in this video is really just a bonus.

If you’re interested in picking one up, there are links in the description—they’re affiliate links that help me do what I do because, like I said, this video isn’t sponsored. There are some other links down there of other products I use that you can check out as well. Next, you’re going to want to watch this video right here, which shows how the Pocket 3 and an Action 5 compare to each other. I’ll see you over there. As always, if you have questions, ask me in the comments below or join my livestream, which happens most Wednesday nights at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern—at least if I’m not out in a place like this where there’s no cell phone service. I’ll see you again soon in the next one—just got a quick three miles back.

Full Disclosure: DJI sent me this drone to test and Review. However, they are not paying me or sponsoring this video in any way, and all opinions shared here are my own.

A Step Up from the DJI Neo

This isn’t the first drone to feature many of these capabilities. The DJI Neo, released earlier in 2024, also had a lot of these features. However, I wasn’t excited about the Neo because I felt its image quality wasn’t on par with most of DJI’s other drones.

What excites me about the Flip is that DJI managed to integrate the same sensor found in the Mini 4 series, the Air 3’s telephoto camera, and all the Air 3 cameras into this lightweight drone—while keeping it under 249 grams. This means you get exceptional 4K quality at up to 60 frames per second in a 10-bit 4:2:0 D-Log M color profile, offering plenty of dynamic range and flexibility for color grading and editing in post-production.

Exceptional Image Quality

Everything you’re seeing in this video was filmed in 10-bit D-Log M and color-graded in post. I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the image quality this drone produces. You can achieve beautiful footage, and the Flip also supports 4K at 100 frames per second for slow-motion shots.

One downside is that slow-motion footage is automatically output at 25 frames per second. While this is great for users in Europe, those in the U.S. will need to adjust the speed by 118% to match 30 frames per second or slightly slow it down to match 24 frames per second.

Vertical Video and Social Media

If you’re filming vertical video, the Flip supports 2.7K resolution at up to 60 frames per second. While it’s not quite like the Mini series, this resolution is more than sufficient for most social media platforms. Stay tuned for my upcoming comparison video between the Flip and the Mini series.

Low-Light Performance

The Flip isn’t a low-light powerhouse due to its small sensor, but I was pleasantly surprised by its performance. DJI claims the Flip uses a dual ISO sensor, optimized for ISO 100 and 400, which minimizes noise. I tested the ISO range extensively, running it at -2 sharpness and -2 noise reduction for the best possible image quality. This allows you to sharpen and denoise in post-production.

Here’s how the Flip performs at various ISOs:

• D-Log M: ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600
• Normal Color Profile: ISO 1600, 3200, and 6400

While the DJI Flip lacks a dedicated low-light or night mode like the DJI Air 3S, it still delivers decent results with some post-processing. I recommend limiting the ISO depending on how much denoising you’re willing to do in post.

Photography Capabilities

The Flip features a quad Bayer sensor, allowing you to capture 12- or 48-megapixel still photos. While I’ve been critical of DJI’s 48-megapixel stills in the past, their image processing has improved significantly.

• 12-Megapixel Photos: Offer more dynamic range and are easier to work with. You can shoot in JPEG, RAW, or both for maximum flexibility in post-production.
• 48-Megapixel Photos: Provide more detail but sacrifice some dynamic range compared to the 12-megapixel option.

If you’re using the remote, you also gain access to panoramic, ultra-wide, and sphere photo modes.

Smart Features and Flight Modes

The DJI Flip is packed with smart features. You can use it with just the drone, your phone, or the DJI RC-N3 or RC2 remote controllers. Here are some of the standout features:

• Follow and Direction Track: Tracks you from the front or behind but not from the side (due to the lack of side sensors).
• Circle Mode: Automatically circles around a subject. Be cautious, as there’s no side obstacle avoidance.
• Boomerang and Helix Modes: Create dynamic shots by circling and ascending around a subject.
• Spotlight Mode: Keeps the camera focused on you as you move through a scene.
• Voice Commands: Control the drone with simple voice commands like “Circle” or “Droney.”

Audio Recording

One of the coolest features is the ability to record audio using your phone or the DJI Mic 2 system. This allows you to capture high-quality audio directly synced with your video files. If you don’t download the files to your phone, the audio and video will be separate, requiring manual syncing in post.

The Flip also features built-in noise reduction, making it possible to capture clean audio even when the drone is close to you.

Wind Resistance and Durability

Despite its small size and lightweight design, the Flip handles wind surprisingly well. During my tests in 10-14 mph winds and freezing temperatures, it performed admirably, comparable to the Mini 3 and Mini 4.

Battery Life

DJI claims a flight time of 31 minutes, but in real-world conditions, I’ve been getting 12-18 minutes depending on the wind and temperature. In cold weather, I highly recommend using the Fly More Combo, which includes three batteries and a charging hub. The batteries recharge quickly via USB-C, making it easy to keep flying.

Pricing and Value

The DJI Flip is priced at under $450 for the drone with one battery. The Fly More Combo, which includes three batteries, a carrying bag, and the RC2 remote, costs $779. Considering the features and capabilities, I think this is an excellent value.

Final Thoughts

At first, I thought the DJI Flip was a bit of a gimmick. However, after using it extensively, I’m genuinely impressed. It’s a durable, versatile, and feature-packed drone that doubles as a personal AI-powered vlogging camera. Whether you’re hiking in the mountains or capturing cinematic shots, the Flip delivers exceptional results.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out my upcoming comparison video between the Flip and the Mini 4. As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments or join my live stream on Wednesdays at 4:00 PM Alaska Time (8:00 PM Eastern). See you in the next video!

Dynamic Range and Image Quality Testing

One of my biggest questions going into this comparison was about dynamic range, especially given DJI’s claims about the Air 3S having some of the best dynamic range of any small consumer/prosumer drone they’ve released. I tested this in environments with extreme contrast – bright sunlight against deep shadows – to see how both drones would handle these challenging conditions.

When it comes to image quality, there isn’t a night and day difference. The Air 3S does have slightly better dynamic range and produces a cleaner image with better noise handling, but the gap isn’t as dramatic as you might expect. I ran all these tests with noise reduction at -2 and sharpening at -2, which I’ve found gives the best image quality overall. As my colleague Philip Bloom has demonstrated, you get much better results by sharpening and reducing noise in post-production.

Slow Motion Capabilities

The slow motion capabilities between these drones show some interesting differences:

Mini 4 Pro:

• 4K up to 100fps
• 1080p up to 200fps
• Outputs files in 25fps

Air 3S:

• 4K up to 120fps
• 1080p up to 240fps
• Outputs files in 30fps

While the actual slow-motion effect is similar, the Air 3S definitely produces higher quality slow-motion footage across all modes. The 30fps output of the Air 3S also makes it easier to work with in typical 24fps or 30fps timelines, unlike the Mini 4 Pro’s 25fps output which requires additional processing.

Photo Capabilities

In photo testing, the results were fascinating. The Air 3S’s 50-megapixel photos performed better than I expected, showing noticeable improvements over the Mini 4 Pro’s 48-megapixel shots. However, I still recommend the 12-megapixel stills for both drones – they consistently show better dynamic range and fewer issues with chromatic aberration.

Low Light Performance

My low light testing was methodical, progressing through various ISO settings:

• Started at ISO 100 in D-Log M
• Tested through to ISO 1,600 (Mini 4 Pro’s limit)
• Continued with Air 3S up to ISO 3,200 in D-Log M
• Switched to normal profile/night mode for higher ISOs up to 12,800

I conducted these tests with -1 sharpening and -1 noise reduction to better evaluate the results. The Air 3S showed better low-light performance overall, though the difference wasn’t as dramatic as I expected. I also ran comparison tests with various noise reduction settings on the Air 3S, from -1 to +1, which clearly showed how increased noise reduction sacrifices detail.

The 70mm Advantage

One significant advantage of the Air 3S is its 70mm (3x) camera alongside the standard 24mm lens. This dual-camera setup provides entirely different creative possibilities for shot composition and compression effects. During my mountain-top testing, I demonstrated the exact difference between these focal lengths, showing how the 70mm lens can create unique perspectives impossible with the Mini 4 Pro’s single lens.

Vertical Video Capabilities

Surprisingly, the Mini 4 Pro outperforms the Air 3S in vertical video production. The difference lies in their approach:

Mini 4 Pro:

• Physically rotates the entire gimbal
• Full 4K resolution up to 60fps/100fps
• Complete sensor readout

Air 3S:

• Fixed gimbal position
• 2.7K cropped vertical video up to 30fps/60fps

For vertical content creators, this makes the Mini 4 Pro particularly appealing, as you get higher resolution and better quality in vertical orientation.

Active Track Performance

Both drones feature impressive active tracking capabilities with the latest DJI algorithms. They both offer:

• Custom tracking paths
• Auto mode with various positioning options
• Advanced obstacle avoidance

However, there’s one significant difference: the Air 3S can track subjects at speeds over 30 mph, while the Mini 4 Pro is limited to about 25 mph. This makes the Air 3S better suited for tracking faster-moving subjects.

Obstacle Avoidance Testing

During my testing, I found that both drones’ obstacle avoidance systems, while generally excellent, struggle with thin branches even in well-lit conditions. This isn’t a fault of either drone but rather a limitation of current sensor technology that users should be aware of.

Travel and Portability

The Mini 4 Pro has distinct advantages for travel:

• Under 249g with lightweight battery
• Less regulatory restriction in most Countries
• Easier to transport due to smaller size
• Particularly advantageous in the European Union regarding licensing requirements

Wind Resistance

In my wind resistance testing, the Air 3S demonstrated significantly better stability. When filming close-up shots in windy conditions, the Mini 4 Pro noticeably struggled to maintain position, while the Air 3S remained remarkably stable. This difference becomes less noticeable at greater distances but is crucial for close-proximity filming.

Speed Testing

The speed difference between these drones is dramatic:

Air 3S:

• Top speed: 60 mph (with slight tailwind)
• Ascent/descent speed: 22 mph

Mini 4 Pro:

• Top speed: 35-36 mph
• Ascent/descent speed: 11 mph

Environmental Performance

My temperature testing revealed significant differences in environmental adaptability. Testing in desert conditions at 90°F (32°C) and then in sub-zero temperatures at -8°F (-22°C) within 24 hours showed:

Air 3S:

• Consistent performance across temperature range
• Built-in fan prevents overheating
• Reliable in extreme cold down to -20°F (-29°C)

Mini 4 Pro:

• Struggles with IMU calibration in cold
• More susceptible to temperature extremes
• No active cooling system

Battery Life

Both drones offer similar flight times with their respective batteries, though the Mini 4 Pro loses about 8 minutes of flight time with the lightweight battery that keeps it under 249g. The Air 3S shows more consistent battery performance across temperature ranges, likely due to its better thermal management.

Price Comparison

The price difference is significant:

Mini 4 Pro:

• Starting at $759
• Up to $1,100 for full packages

Air 3S:

• Starting at $1,100
• Up to $1,600 for comprehensive packages

Final Thoughts

After extensive testing in various conditions, I’ve found that choosing between these drones depends heavily on your specific needs. The Mini 4 Pro offers remarkable capabilities in a highly portable package, while the Air 3S provides professional-grade features with better environmental resilience.

For more detailed discussions about these drones, join my Wednesday live streams at 4:00 PM Alaska time (8:00 PM Eastern). If you’re concerned about getting your drone through customs in the United States, I recommend checking out Drone Works (no affiliate relationship) – they maintain U.S. stock and offer quick shipping.

Image Quality and Stabilization

I don’t see any reason to compare stabilization between these three cameras because they all stabilize incredibly well. When it comes to footage, there’s a fair amount of difference between these cameras. The Insta360 will film 8K up to 30 frames per second, which you’re seeing now. Insta360 says you should really only use that in bright, well-lit conditions. The Action 5 Pro will film 4K up to 120 frames per second, which pretty much all these cameras do, and the GoPro will film 5.3K.

In full disclosure, I purchased all these cameras originally. DJI did send me an Action 5, but it met with an unfortunate accident, so I purchased another one. All these cameras were purchased specifically to test and Review for this video.

Focus Performance

What you’re seeing right now is the ideal conditions for any action camera – very well-lit space, very bright, and I’m using a selfie stick to hold them about 3 feet away. The reason for that is that the Insta360 seems to struggle with close focus distance. The Action 5 Pro does as well. This is where the GoPro actually wins, as it gets everything in focus at a fairly close distance. With the Action 5, you definitely want to be at least an arm’s length away. I struggle with the Ace Pro because it just does not seem to have subjects in focus. The background is in focus, yes, but it also feels artificially sharpened.

Image Quality Comparison

In most of this footage, I feel the GoPro looks the best, particularly in close focus situations. The GoPro and Action 5 Pro are tied for which one you can make look closest to other cameras. The GoPro has a log profile, does fairly well with 10-bit color, and produces very GoPro-esque footage. The Action 5 has its 10-bit log color profile (D-Log M), which you can match to many other cameras.

Insta360 Image Quality Issues

One thing that has stuck out since I started testing was the Insta360 Pro 2’s image seems softer, less detailed – not less sharp, but it has less detail in the video. Even at 4K 30 with HDR on or off, it still has that same softness. The place I can really tell is in my hat, which has lots of fine detail that doesn’t come across on the Insta360 at all. The colors look crushed, and the background looks over-sharpened.

Color and Detail Performance

From an image quality standpoint, I would rate the Action 5 or GoPro as number one, depending on the look you’re going for. The Insta360 is definitely last as it just does not look as good to me. This is in ideal conditions where everything should look amazing – it’s super brightly lit with great colors in the snow, but it doesn’t deliver.

Professional Features

One very disappointing aspect of the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 is there is no 10-bit color option. If you’re going to label your camera “Pro” anything, you need to have at least one mode with a 10-bit option. Not having a 10-bit option means there’s absolutely no reason to shoot any sort of log profile. It’s going to be much more difficult to match up to other cameras in post if you’re color grading.

Shadow Detail and Color Accuracy

There’s some strange behavior with the Insta360 – there is detail in the hat, especially when zoomed in, but it’s kind of smeared, as if it’s been artificially constructed or oversharpened. Another issue with the Insta360’s Ace Pro 2 footage is that it severely crushes the shadows. You can see almost no detail in any of the dark shadow areas, whereas in both the GoPro and the Action 5 Pro, you can see details in the shadows and dark areas. If you pull those shadows up or pull the mid-tones up, you can recover a lot of detail – with the Ace Pro 2, they just don’t exist.

Regarding color accuracy, the Ace Pro 2’s colors in pretty much any mode were not nearly as accurate as the GoPro or Action 5 Pro. For example, my red jacket in the Ace Pro 2 footage is way off color-wise, very different from what it actually looks like in real life. The Action 5 Pro got it closest, with the GoPro Hero 13 a close second.

Low Light Performance

When it comes to low light, no action camera will give you truly spectacular performance – they’re just not designed for that with their small sensors. Insta360 has their Pure Video mode, which is supposed to be super clean in low light. DJI has their Super Night mode, which I’ve found to be fairly good overall. The GoPro, on the other hand, struggles in low light and doesn’t have a dedicated low light mode anymore.

In testing about an hour before sunrise, the Action 5 Pro and the Ace Pro 2 are neck and neck. In some circumstances, the Ace Pro 2 does a little better, and in others, the Action 5 does. The GoPro is by far the worst, and I wouldn’t recommend using it in very low light. The Ace Pro 2 actually does a really good job, though I still prefer the look of the Action 5 Pro. In some highlights, like lights in the background on buildings, the Ace Pro 2 does slightly better.

Audio Features

The Ace Pro 2 has a wind cover in the front and voice isolation features. The Action 5 doesn’t have a wind cover but can wirelessly pair directly with up to two DJI Mic 2s. The GoPro doesn’t have a wind mic cover but has voice isolation features and can pair with Bluetooth audio devices. Insta360 has added support for USB-C audio, meaning any USB-C compatible microphone can plug directly into the camera, and I believe it can also pair with Bluetooth devices.

For sound quality straight out of camera with no extra processing, the Ace Pro 2 generally sounds pretty good, the Action 5 Pro sounds fine, and the GoPro Hero 13 sounds good as well. The real difference comes in higher winds, where pairing with an external mic like a DJI Mic 2 makes a significant difference.

Vertical Video Capabilities

Each camera handles vertical video differently. The GoPro has a native vertical mode since it shoots with an 8:7 sensor – you can do a 16:9 crop and still get full 4K/30 without rotating the camera. With the Action 5, you can film in 4K 4:3 mode and crop, or better yet, use the cage to flip the whole camera on its side with the magnetic mount for full 4K/30 vertical video. The Insta360 can be rotated, though I haven’t figured out exactly how. It also has a free frame video mode that gives you two crops of the sensor to choose from in post, providing full 4K vertical video. Overall, GoPro wins for quality, while the Action 5 wins for ease of use.

Subject Tracking

The Action 5 absolutely beats both GoPro and Insta360 in subject tracking mode. While you can get tracking with GoPro or Insta360 in their ultra-wide field of view, the slight movement that the tracking gives the Action 5 is nice for adding variety to your shots.

Battery Life and Cold Weather Performance

In battery life tests at 4K/30, the Action 5 Pro is the absolute best, averaging 2 hours and 30-50 minutes. The GoPro Hero 13 follows with around 1 hour and 40-50 minutes. The Ace Pro 2 has the worst battery life at about 1 hour and 15-20 minutes, depending on shooting modes.

In cold weather, the GoPro performs worst – it has always struggled with this and continues to do so.

User Interface and Design

The Action 5 Pro features an excellent OLED rear screen and a bright front screen that becomes touch-sensitive when you swipe up. The GoPro has a nice front screen, but only the rear screen is touch-sensitive and it’s not OLED. It’s also slightly smaller than the Action 5 but still adequate for an action camera.

The Action 5 Pro is the smallest and lightest, making it great for FPV use. The Ace Pro 2 is the largest and heaviest, with no front screen but a flip-around screen that might appeal to vloggers. However, this could be a potential point of failure in rugged conditions. The Insta360 is notably larger than the others, making it questionable as a true action camera.

Price Comparison

• DJI Action 5 Pro: Cheapest at $340-350
• GoPro: $400 (or $300 with GoPro subscription, currently on sale for $350)
• Ace Pro 2: Most expensive at $400

Final Verdict

The Ace Pro 2 isn’t worth its $400 price tag due to image quality issues and lack of professional features like 10-bit footage. While it has some nice features, it doesn’t justify the “Pro” designation. For serious use or client work, the Action 5 Pro or GoPro Hero 13 would be better choices.

Thank you for watching this video. I will see you in the next one.

Basic Screen Layout

When looking at the screen, you’ll first notice the mode indicator. If you tap on the arrow, it’ll take you out of the app, but you can tap up here to see any error codes. You can quickly set your return to home altitude – I usually leave mine around 300 feet. You can set the max altitude, and in some places, you can fly up to a thousand meters or a little over three thousand feet. You can also set the max distance you want to go. This is also where you can format your SD card or internal storage if you’re flying the Cine version. I’m not going to do that because I shot a bunch of footage today and don’t want to lose it.

Your battery percentage appears prominently, and as soon as you take off, that will change and give you a timer. Next to that, you have your RC signal strength, followed by your obstacle avoidance indicator. This is very important because if it’s on, you’ll see it turn white when it’s in operation. If it’s red while you’re flying, even though you see warnings on the screen, it may not actually be active, so you need to pay careful attention to whether that’s red or white during flight.

Camera Settings

The GPS satellite count is crucial – it’s important to get as many satellites as you can and wait for the drone to indicate the home point has been updated. This confirms you have a good GPS lock; otherwise, you could end up in a flyaway situation. Below that, you have your different camera selections – the Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Pro have slightly different cameras, but you can choose between 1X and 7X on the Mavic 3, or 1X, 3X, and 7X on the Mavic 3 Pro.

Next to that is your button for choosing between photo, video, master shots, quick shots, hyperlapse mode, panorama modes, night mode, explore mode, and slow motion. We definitely don’t want to be in night mode when it’s bright outside. Then you have your autofocus/manual focus toggle switch, which you can also manually adjust depending on how you want to focus. Autofocus generally works fairly well on this drone, so you don’t necessarily need manual focus very often. I’ve found that occasionally I do need to use manual focus to ensure focus on specific subjects, especially with the more telephoto cameras.

Advanced Controls

The record start/stop button and play button let you Review recently shot footage. The mode button switches between auto mode and pro mode. I generally shoot in pro mode, but if you’re not very familiar with flying drones and video/photo work, then auto mode does a pretty decent job by itself.

Tapping anywhere on the screen opens up additional controls. Here you can set your white balance – either automatic or manual. I’ve found that generally, if you hit auto, the drone does a pretty good job of finding the correct white balance. I usually let it set automatically and then lock it because as you move and change position, the white balance could shift in the drone.

Resolution and Frame Rates

Here you have your resolutions and frame rates that you can shoot in those resolutions. When you go to 4K or Cinema 4K (C4K), you’ll notice that you can’t shoot 4K 120 – that’s because it’s specifically available in the slow motion modes, not in standard mode. The storage indicator shows how much space is left on your SD card or SSD. Below that, you have your normal color, HLG color, D-Log, and D-Log M color profile options. You can turn the color display assist on or off, which I leave on because it’s much more useful.

Codec Selection

You can switch between H.264, H.265, or ProRes if you have the Cine version. H.264 is the codec you want to use with an older computer because it’s easier for computers to decompress when editing footage. H.265 offers better quality but is more compressed, making it harder on your computer. ProRes, available on the Cine version, is a much larger file format with more data and looks slightly better. If you’re working with someone who’s going to heavily color grade the footage or match it to other cameras, that’s the way to go. Honestly, in a side-by-side comparison, especially for social media, you really can’t tell the difference. Between ProRes 422 LT, 422, or 422 HQ, I generally shoot LT unless I’m working on a TV show, as it’s half the data of HQ and the difference is minimal.

Camera Controls

Tapping the shutter icon or aperture icon lets you change ISO, shutter speed (which you should try to keep at two times your frame rate), and aperture. You can set it to auto aperture or control it manually – I generally run everything manually. The screen displays the distance traveled, how many feet from your takeoff point you are, and your height. Just above that, you can see your horizontal and vertical movement speeds.

Navigation Features

The radar map offers different options. You can turn on obstacle detection, which shows lines around the drone when approaching obstacles. You can switch to an actual map, and if you have internet connectivity or downloaded maps previously, it’ll show much more detail. I generally prefer the radar view because it’s fairly easy to find your way home since you can always see your home point marked with “H”.

Advanced Menu Settings

Accessing the deeper menus through the three dots in the top right corner reveals more options. You can set how obstacle avoidance handles objects – bypassing them, finding alternate paths, or stopping. Nifty mode tends to make smoother movements, looking more cinematic if you’re filming something like tracking through trees. You can also just have it stop and brake, or turn it off at your own risk.

Return to Home Settings

You can configure the drone to display the radar map for everything it senses around it, which I find useful, especially when starting close to objects – the wide-angle lens can be deceiving about distances. The return to home settings let you choose between a straight path back or an optimal route avoiding obstacles. The return to home altitude setting is particularly important, as is updating the home point, which requires cellular connection or another GPS source when using certain remotes.

Flight Limits and Safety

You can set your maximum distance, calibrate your compass and IMU (though I only do this when the app prompts me), and access battery information including serial numbers and charge cycle counts. The auxiliary LED settings can be controlled, with auto mode turning them off during filming to prevent interference. The “Find My Drone” feature shows the last known location if you lose your drone.

Emergency Procedures and Safety Features

In emergencies only, pushing the sticks down and together or down to the outsides for about three seconds will cause the drone to shut off and fall. This is also useful if you land and the motors won’t quit – just keep the sticks down in the center, and it will eventually stop. In the U.S., you can turn AirSense on or off, which listens for ADS-B signals from manned aircraft. When active, it shows you on the map where aircraft are in relation to your drone and their heading. While useful in heavily trafficked areas, I generally don’t use it as it can interfere with my workflow, and I stay aware of aircraft around me anyway.

Control Settings

The control tab contains aircraft information and measurement preferences between metric and imperial systems. Subject scanning can be turned on when airborne in normal video recording mode, though it doesn’t work in log format. The gimbal can be used in F-Follow mode or FPV mode – in FPV mode, the gimbal banks left or right with drone movement, which isn’t usually desirable.

Flight Control Customization

You can choose stick mode 2, which most people use, or switch to different configurations if you prefer the throttle on a different stick. The C1, C2, and C3 buttons can be customized depending on your remote model. RC calibration and drone relinking options are available here – to relink, turn on the drone and hold the power button for about seven seconds until it beeps.

Gain and Expo Settings

For my flying style in cine mode, I keep settings around 2.2, but when tracking or self-filming while walking, I increase to 3.5-4 to match walking speed. The angular velocity, smoothness, and sensitivity in cine mode are generally slow, with Expo at 0.25. In normal mode, I have everything turned up as high as possible, though I rarely use this mode, preferring cine or sport mode.

Sport Mode Configuration

In sport mode, I maximize speed settings. The brake sensitivity at 100 works well, but you can increase to 150 for faster stops – useful but not recommended for flying directly toward objects. My Expo settings are 0.35 for roll and pitch, 0.25 for yaw, and 0.3 for vertical movement. The gimbal tilt speed is set to 30 with tilt smoothness at 10. These settings vary by drone and pilot preference – extensive flight practice is crucial for mastering control feel.

Camera Format and Storage

You can choose between MOV and MP4 formats, though this matters little in practice. Video subtitles record all drone information during flight – direction, speed, GPS coordinates, and camera settings. Programs like Handbrake or VLC can read these details, which is helpful for reviewing specific shots. The anti-flicker setting works well in auto mode.

Visual Aids and Display

The histogram shows the distribution of light values in your shot. Focus peaking helps with manual focus confirmation. The overexposure warning is accurate for normal color profiles but less reliable with D-Log, which has more dynamic range. Grid lines, center points, and diagonal markers assist with manual movements around subjects.

USB and File Management

USB mode, particularly useful for the Cine version, powers down non-essential systems when connected to a computer for footage transfer, preventing overheating during long downloads. You can create custom folders and file naming conventions, though the default includes DJI, date, and file number information.

Remember that while these settings work well for me, individual drones may need slight adjustments, and your flying style might differ. The key to improvement is consistent practice and understanding how your drone responds to various control inputs.

Live Streaming and Transmission Options

The transmission settings generally work best on auto, but you can enter live streaming platform details if needed. With HDMI output, you can choose between mirroring the screen (showing all control information) or live view for a clean HDMI feed – essential for live TV work. You can operate on both 2.4 and 5.8 GHz frequencies or select just one. If you’re having range issues, especially in cities or dense RF environments, check if either the 5.8 or 2.4 GHz band is particularly congested in your area. Channel mode can be set to manual or auto – I leave it in auto as it performs well overall.

System Information

The system menu provides access to all your serial numbers, including battery and flight controller information, along with app version numbers. This information creates a solid foundation for operating the Mavic 3 Classic, Mavic 3, or Mavic 3 Pro. While there are differences between these models, their flight characteristics and handling are quite similar across the board. Each drone needs individual tweaking as they have slight variations, and your flying style might differ from mine.

Cacheing and Storage Options

You can enable cache recording, which saves what you’re viewing on the screen to your remote controller or phone. This can be invaluable if you lose the drone, as you’ll still have a 1080P recording of what you were filming. You can set how much memory to allocate before it starts overwriting old files. From my experience, when I lost a drone inside a glacier, at least I had the day’s footage in 1080P cached.

Conclusion

If you want to improve your Drone Video or photo skills, there’s no substitute for practice. You can ask questions in the comments below or join my live stream, which happens most Wednesday nights at 4 PM Alaska time (8 PM Eastern) when I’m not out filming in locations like this. These settings should give you a strong foundation, but remember that mastering drone photography and videography requires time, patience, and plenty of flight hours.

Image Quality Comparison

When it comes to image quality, it was actually a lot harder to compare these two drones than I thought it would be. They both have a 24mm wide-angle camera and a 70mm telephoto camera. The Mavic 3 has that additional 162mm very long angle lens which gives you some really creative shots. The quality is decent – it’s not great in low light, it’s terrible in low light, but in broad daylight or good lighting, it’s actually pretty cool.

If you’re shooting in normal color profiles on both of these drones, like you really won’t see much of a difference even though the Mavic 3 can shoot 5.3K and the Air 3S can only shoot 4K – you just won’t see a lot of difference.

Slow Motion Capabilities

Both of these drones do film slow motion. The Air 3S has been upgraded from 100 frames or 200 frames (depending on your resolution) to 120 frames a second in 4K and 240 frames a second in HD, which I love because it just translates out better if you’re slowing it down in post. 100 and 200 is kind of a weird thing to try and slow down.

What’s interesting is the Mavic 3 will do 4K 120, and it’s a very high quality 4K 120 because it crops way in on the sensor. You can see the regular field of view and then this is the 4K 120, so it’s giving you a pixel-to-pixel reading of 4K 120, which is good because you get good quality. But it will only do HD up to 200 frames per second, and again it crops in even farther – it’s a very, very tight crop.

DJI Mavic 3 Pro Slow-Motion

The dynamic range on both drones on the 1080p 200/240 is really not that great – I wouldn’t recommend using it, but the 4K 120 is actually pretty decent on both. I do think the Mavic 3 wins out a little bit just on pure quality. The other thing is that the Air 3S can do slow motion on all of its cameras where the Mavic 3 can only do 4K 60 on the 70mm.

Log Profile Performance

If you just shoot in normal mode, actually I think the Air 3S probably is a little nicer, a little better. But if you shoot in log and you want the most amount of flexibility in post, the Mavic 3’s main camera is still just about impossible to beat unless you jump up to something like an Inspire 3, which is insane because it has actual D-Log, not D-Log M.

D-Log M is a nice little log profile, but it’s not a really, really flat log profile, whereas D-Log out of the Mavic 3’s main camera is unbelievably great to color grade. I use the Mavic 3 on a ton of commercial work for TV shows and many other big large productions because it just has such a great image out of that main camera.

As soon as you switch to any of the other cameras, they’re basically the same. Again, I think I’d probably give the edge to the Air 3S on the 1-inch sensor and on the 70mm sensor just because it’s newer. They have a little better imaging processing pipeline, I think, and so you definitely get a little bit more.

Low Light Performance

When it comes to low light, in some cases the Mavic 3 wins quite a bit, and in some cases the Air 3S wins a little bit, but I think overall, even in night mode on the main cameras, the Mavic 3 still wins for low light performance overall just because it gives you a sharper, clearer image and it just has a little bit less noise. That’s because it has that big 4/3-inch sensor.

The Air 3S, though, definitely holds its own, but you also have a little less control over night mode because it’s just kind of all built into one system. In ISO tests in D-Log up to the max of both of their D-Log ranges, and then in night mode up to the max of both of their night mode (or normal in the Air 3S’s case) ranges, the one thing I noticed on the Air 3S that I’m not a fan of is all the night mode footage feels a little soft and a little smeared, which I think is partly due to lens design and partly due to the new sensor – I don’t actually know, I’m just guessing.

I also noticed that the Air 3S definitely has more lens flares than the Mavic 3 does, and not necessarily in a good way. I have been a fan of the lens flares overall of the Mavic 3 – not a fan of the lens flares in the Air 3S.

HDR and Image Processing

The one thing I will say about the Air 3S footage that I am not really a fan of is it has somewhat of an HDR look, and I think that’s where DJI is processing the image to get those claimed 14 stops of dynamic range. If you shoot in log, the Mavic 3 is still by far the better drone, but if you just want to post stuff straight off the drone and you want to throw stuff straight on social media, the Air 3S has a fantastic image if you turn the sharpening down to about minus one or minus two and the noise reduction down to minus one or minus two.

Drone Photo Capabilities

When it comes to photos, this is another area where the Mavic 3 wins, sort of technically, because of that 20-megapixel main sensor – it’s a true 20 megapixels which gives you just beautiful images straight out of camera.

The Air 3S in its photos does a fantastic job in its 12 or 50-megapixel stills if you’re using the main camera, or the 12 or 48-megapixel stills, but again I still see lots of little kind of aberration and strange weirdnesses in those photos. I will say that the 50-megapixel photos out of the Air 3S are better than the 48 megapixels were out of the Air 3 or out of the 70mm camera on either drone – they just are better and they definitely have more detail.

I did just for the heck of it compare it to my Inspire 3, which is a 42-megapixel full-frame sensor, and obviously the Inspire 3 is going to beat it hands down – I should hope so, being that it’s like 10 or 20 times the price. But I was surprised to see how good the Air 3S images hold up in that 50-megapixel mode. But again, there are some issues there – the 12-megapixel images are just a little cleaner. If you do want a lot of detailed imagery, then yes, the 50 megapixels out of the main camera are fine, you just have to work with them a little more and not zoom in super close.

Active Track Performance

When it comes to active track, both of these drones will active track, but the Mavic 3 is a much older drone, and while they’ve added some cool features, the active tracking is not quite as good as the Air 3S. The active track works – it’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. It lacks some of those features that the Air 3S has, or the Air 3 or even the Mini 4 Pro does, where you can have it do moves around you.

The biggest problem with the active track on the Mavic 3 is that it kind of tends to do this push-in pull-out thing as it’s following a subject – it’s not super stable. The Air 3S offers a much more refined and definitely much more advanced active track system, which isn’t surprising as this is 3 years newer than the Mavic 3 Pro.

The other place that the Air 3S definitely wins over the Mavic when you’re doing any sort of active tracking is the fact that the Mavic is limited to about 25 mph for active track, where the Air 3S can active track all the way up to 32-33 miles per hour. So if you do things like active track boats or cars, stuff like that, it’s definitely going to help you get a lot more flexible tracking shots.

Speed and Performance

Beyond active track, we also need to talk about their top speeds. Both of these drones offer very similar top speeds, but there are a couple of places where the Air 3S beats the Mavic 3 Pro. The Air 3S can get up to 60 miles an hour, which is absolutely insane, but DJI says you do need a little bit of a tailwind.

The other place that makes a big difference is in the climb speeds – the Air 3S will now climb up to 22 mph if you’re just doing a straight climb, and it will also dive at 22 mph, which is terrifyingly fast. But there is a caveat to that – it won’t descend that fast if you are below your takeoff height.

The Mavic 3 has a top speed of 47 mph, but it will only ascend at almost 18 mph and will only descend at 13 mph – so a full 10 mph slower than the Air 3S.

Flight Characteristics and Battery Life

When it comes to battery life and flight time and flight characteristics, battery life is actually quite similar – the Air 3S edges out the Mavic 3 Pro but will match up pretty much exactly with the Mavic Classic.

The Air 3S definitely has a more refined flight feel as far as how it responds to the controls. You can tell that they’ve just continued to refine how the drone responds and how it interacts with your control inputs, so it just has a little bit better of a flight experience and feel.

When it comes to obstacle avoidance, the Mavic 3 is good, but the Air 3S is way better, especially in lower light situations, not just because of the new LiDAR sensor but also because of the new cameras that they put on there, which now see into much lower light than the Mavic 3 system does.

Sound Levels

In sound testing at about a meter and a half away (approximately 4.5 feet), the Air 3S operates more quietly than the Mavic 3.

Price Comparison

Price is a huge determining factor for a lot of people:

• The DJI Mavic 3 Classic starts at about $1,200-1,300
• The DJI Air 3S starts at a little over $1,000
• The DJI Air 3S Fly More Combo goes up to about $1,500
• The DJI Mavic 3 Pro starts at about $2,200
• The DJI Mavic 3 Cine is around $4,700-4,800
• The DJI Mavic 3 Pro Fly More Combo is around $3,800

Wrapping up DJI Mavic 3 Pro vs Air 3S comparison

If you’re not looking to spend more than $2,000, obviously the Air 3S is going to be a fantastic drone for you – it’s super solid and the flight characteristics are amazing. While the Mavic 3 Pro is great and has fantastic image quality, the possibility that a Mavic 4 Pro or something is around the corner might make it worth waiting a little longer.

If you already have the Mavic 3 Pro, I don’t see any reason to upgrade or cross-grade to the Air 3S. Overall, if you just want to shoot good footage and take it straight off the drone and post it on social media, have some good pictures and stuff like that, the Air 3S is a solid drone, even if it does have a little bit of an HDR look. But if you want high-quality footage that you can mix and match with other cameras and use on serious productions, the Mavic 3 is still the way to go.

Thanks for watching this DJI Mavic 3 Pro vs DJI Air 3S comparison video.

Normal Color Profile Comparison

Right now, I’m filming in normal color profile on both of these cameras because I feel like that’s probably how most people are going to use them. While they both do great in normal color profile, I feel like the iPhone definitely has a distinct advantage here. I just feel like it has better results because of all the computational photography or videography it’s doing behind the scenes. It definitely has a bit of an advantage. So I have the wide-angle on the Pocket 3, and I’m using the wide-angle on the iPhone.

Log Format and Dynamic Range

But the reality is that both of these cameras also shoot log, which gives you the most dynamic range possible. The iPhone shoots ProRes log if you’re using the native iPhone app, but I’m using the Blackmagic app because, one, it saves a ton of space where the Apple ProRes log just eats up huge amounts of space. Now you can plug in an external SSD, or in my case right now, I’m using a card plugged into the side, but I’m also using the Blackmagic app just to try and save some of that data. So I’m shooting a ProRes Light Apple log, where the Pocket 3 shoots in D-Log M.

In this case right here, this is an extreme example of dynamic range for both of these cameras. The sun is directly behind me, we’re shooting into some white clouds back there, as well as some snow on the mountaintops, but then my face is completely in shadow. I am very strongly backlit right now, but the question is how much can you recover in post?

Actually, it’s pretty good. So this is an example of normal color profile. I’m not quite as strongly backlit, but I am strongly sidelit here, and this is the question of which camera does a little better in normal color profile. To me, in almost everything I’ve shot so far, I feel like it’s the iPhone. But here again, in a very strong backlight situation, I feel like this is where the iPhone definitely wins. When you’ve got this extremely high dynamic range, it just does a little better because of all the stuff that the camera is doing behind the scenes with the computational power of the phone. The Pocket 3 is definitely no slouch, but the iPhone definitely edges it out.

Active Track and Composition Options

One of the places that the Pocket 3 definitely beats the iPhone is because it has Active Track, which is what I’m using right now. Now, I put the wide-angle on the Pocket 3 because I want to kind of try and match the iPhone, but obviously, the fact that the Pocket 3 can track you through a scene gives you more options on how you want to compose a shot. Now you’re probably seeing the iPhone in the shot here, but it does just give you a little more options for what you can do and how you want your shots to look.

Camera Versatility

Now, obviously, there are a couple of places where the iPhone wins over the Pocket 3. Even though I’ve added the wide-angle lens to the Pocket 3, the iPhone has the wide-angle camera, which is what I’m using right now, and then it also has the telephoto camera. On the Pro, it’s the 5x, which is 120mm, and on the regular one, it’s the 3x, which is like 70mm. That gives you a lot more options, and you can get a lot more other types of shots if you’re wanting to get more of that highly compressed telephoto look.

Stabilization Test

Obviously, there are a lot of other differences. As I’m hiking around here, I’m getting really warm, and I’m sure as soon as I stop hiking around, I’ll cool right back off. But one of the ways that I’m really curious to see how these two compare is in stabilization, which, as we run up through these boulders here, will be a great place to test the stabilization. All right, onward we go.

File Sizes and Quality

Now, in most of the footage you’ve seen so far, like the best, highest quality by far is the Apple ProRes log that the phone shoots natively in the internal app, but the files are gigantic. You’re going to fill up a 256 gig phone or a 128 gig phone in like 8 minutes. It’s like 15 minutes on my 256 gig phone. Now, I’ve got a lot of other stuff on there too, but still, it takes up a massive amount of space, whereas the Pocket 3, honestly, I was amazed how close it contended with those, even though it’s shooting in a much smaller file size and definitely not as flat of a log profile, but still very color-gradable.

Usability and Dedicated Devices

So if you’re looking to mix and match your stuff with higher-end cameras, the phone might be the one you want to go with. Honestly, I have loved using the Pocket 3 for the last year. I’ve used it almost daily, basically, for shooting tons of BTS content, even some of my main A-roll for my YouTube videos when I’m out doing stuff like this. It just is a fantastic, easy camera to use, and it’s super fun to shoot with.

Personally, one of the reasons that I don’t like to use my phone very often is I just don’t like using a phone for that. I like using a dedicated camera, even though the phone is super capable, and I do use my phone occasionally for B-roll clips and stuff like that. I don’t want notifications; I don’t want anything to interrupt, and it never fails—you start filming, and then something happens. But if you already have the phone and you just want to get into creating content, the phone is a great place to start. You don’t need to add much to it; you don’t need to really add anything else to it if you don’t want to. You could just use the phone and add an SSD or something like that and start creating all your content on any of the new model phones because they’re all really fantastic.

For me, though, I love using the Pocket 3 because it’s a dedicated camera. It’s just a fun camera to shoot with. I’ve ended up using it as some of my most—a lot of my A camera for a lot of the YouTube videos that I’ve been producing over the last year because it just does really well in almost every situation, including low light, which, yeah, there’s a spot right over here we’re going to test low light in.

Low Light Performance

So for low light, I feel like this will give us a good test of the low light performance between the Pocket 3 and the iPhone 16 Pro. Personally, I think the Pocket 3 is going to win because it has a bigger sensor, but we’re about to find out.

All right, so now I’m shooting in just the straight normal color profiles in both of these cameras. This is the iPhone’s 24mm lens; it is the best low-light lens it has, and this is what you’re going to get out of it. I’m letting it run in Auto because I don’t really know what else to do. I think I’ve probably pretty much maxed out the ISO. I know on the Pocket 3 right now, I’m running at 3200 ISO and 1/60 on the shutter speed, but the Pocket 3 has a trick up its sleeve when it comes to low light. We’re going to switch to that right now.

And this is the trick that the Pocket 3 has: it has a dedicated low light mode. Now, I’m not claiming that it’s the best, but it does give you some pretty surprising results considering what it’s coming from. I wouldn’t consider any of these cameras to be like low light beasts—they’re not, they have tiny sensors—but they have come a long way. The Pocket 3, in this case, and particularly, I feel like it does a better job overall just in the low light performance. I mean, this is dark, this is very dark, and the only thing really lighting me is the headlamp that I’ve just got sitting bouncing off the rocks over there. So yeah, it’s kind of interesting. Which one do you think does better? I’m curious. I’ll obviously have to wait to get back to the studio to see.

Stabilization in Low Light

There is an area where the Pocket 3 definitely does better than most other cameras, and that’s stabilizing in low light because the Pocket 3 is based on a gimbal rather than, you know, just stabilizing based on IMUs and visually what’s going on. The Pocket 3 can definitely get a more stable shot in much lower light because it’s stabilizing regardless of what’s happening visually. But there’s an area where the Pocket 3 stabilization actually works against itself, and we’re going to talk about that in just a sec. But for now, let’s keep heading up this valley and see what we can find for stabilization.

Stabilization Comparison

You’re going to get the best stabilization on the iPhone out of the normal iPhone app. It’s just a little bit better at it, but not to say you don’t get stabilization out of something like the Blackmagic app as well. The Pocket 3 stabilizes exceptionally well because it’s all based on the gimbal, but like I alluded to earlier, there is an area where the Pocket 3 doesn’t stabilize as well as the iPhone, and that’s because it’s a gimbal-stabilized camera. The iPhone is fixed, so when you’re in a vehicle traveling around corners, so long as the iPhone stays fixed to whatever is level, it’s going to keep it level, where the Pocket 3 will start to drift to the left or to the right.

And when I was in the helicopter, it becomes very apparent anytime the helicopter is making banking maneuvers because the Pocket 3 doesn’t really know which way is up or down. Now you can put the Pocket 3 in FPV mode and get more sort of follow-type shots, which work well in certain situations, just not all of them. So if you’re looking to stabilize like in a vehicle, the iPhone actually does a better job.

But then, of course, if you’re going to shoot in the ultra-wide, which I’ve got the wide-angle lens on the Pocket 3 now, and I’m shooting in the ultra-wide on the iPhone, that’s going to give you even better stabilization just because the field of view is so wide, it really almost doesn’t even matter on stabilization. The iPhone also gives you something called Action mode, where it crops in a little more and definitely gives you a lot smoother footage, but the Pocket 3 still takes the cake when it comes to smoothness just because it is stabilizing mechanically, not digitally.

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Slow Motion Capabilities

And then we need to talk about slow motion because both of these cameras will shoot slow motion, and if you’re somebody who likes to shoot a lot of slow motion, either one of these does a pretty good job, with a few differences. But they both will film 4K up to 120 frames a second. Now, the iPhone Pro will do that, and you can also film HD or 1080 up to 240 frames a second, which is also really useful for slow motion. The one caveat is that the Pocket 3 will film 4K 120 in D-Log if you want to film in D-Log, but the iPhone will not unless you’re filming in 4K 120 and then you slow it down yourself in post. It won’t do it in, you know, a regular—the actual slow motion mode.

Lens Options and Durability

And that brings us to something that I both love and hate about the Pocket 3 and that I love about the iPhone: you get the three different cameras, or four different cameras if you count the front-facing one, which is really nice. Now with the Pocket 3, obviously, you can add a wide-angle lens, you can add an anamorphic lens. I’ve now been through two wide-angle lenses because they keep falling off, or I keep losing them somehow. Oh no, I just picked up the Pocket—the phone because I was doing some stuff here. I must have bumped the wide-angle lens just enough that it fell off down into there. That’s one area where the iPhone is so much better. Let me get away. That’s one area where the iPhone is so much better because it has three different cameras.

So that is what I love and hate about the Pocket 3. Now, that being said, the main camera on the Pocket 3 actually is a really nice 20mm focal length for being able to handhold it and get a good shot vlogging and stuff like that. But I don’t like attaching other lenses to the Pocket 3 because I’ve now been through two of the DJI wide-angle lenses.

Audio Performance

And that’s where we come to audio. So this is both of these cameras with no wind noise reduction, no microphones, anything like that, and there is a little bit of wind out here. It’s been kind of hit or miss. But the great thing about both of these is you can pair them with the DJI Mic 2, and as soon as you pair it with the DJI Mic 2, you get much cleaner audio regardless of the amount of wind, plus you don’t have to be that close to the camera. So right now, you’re listening to the Pocket 3 with the DJI Mic 2, and now you’re listening to the iPhone 16 using the DJI Mic 2 as the microphone. Not bad, right? Like, it’s pretty good.

But there is a place where the iPhone actually does better audio-wise, and it’s because they have the new spatial audio microphones where you can go in and edit the way your audio sounds after the fact. So like in the cave where you’ve got lots of dripping and lots of noise going on, I’m able to take that audio and then make it sound like it was in a studio. This is the trick that the Pocket 3 has: it has a dedicated low light mode. Now, I’m not claiming that it’s the best, but it does give you some pretty surprising results considering what it’s coming from. I wouldn’t consider any of these cameras to be like low light beasts—they’re not, they have tiny sensors—but they have come a long way. If you’re in a place where, like, you’re in a room where you want to get rid of echo or something, it actually does do a really good job.

Photo Capabilities

And then we need to talk about photos because photos are the place where the iPhone absolutely destroys the Pocket. Not that the Pocket can’t take good photos—it actually does take really nice photos—but they’re only 9.4 megapixels, which is not very big. Now it can do panoramic photos, and it can do these kind of 3×3 photos where it gives you a little wider field of view. They’re definitely nice, the photos are nice, but they’re not very big. They’re plenty big enough for social media, but if you are actually serious about doing a little bit more photo work, not only because the iPhone has those three different lenses that give you different focal lengths, which can be very handy if you’re going to like try and take photos of something a little farther away, but it has that 48-megapixel main camera which produces really beautiful photographs. And then also is the 12-megapixel 120mm if you’re using the Pro, or 12-megapixel 70mm if you’re not using the Pro, and then also the ultra-wide, which produces some really beautiful photos as well.

The definitely best camera on the iPhone is that main 24mm camera, but it really does take some beautiful photos. And because of all the computational photography stuff that’s happening inside of the iPhone when it’s taking photos, it can give you some really incredible results that almost look too good to be true. They’re not—I mean, it just does a really good job of managing the dynamic range and kind of improving the photos overall. But if you’re going to want to take the best photos and do some editing, the iPhone also does RAW photos, which is what I usually take because that is a little less sharpened, and you get a little more leeway in post to be able to edit them. But they really just—I mean, the photography in phones has come so far in the last few years, it’s really, really incredible.

Ergonomics

And then we come down to ergonomics, and ergonomics are very different in both of these. Obviously, with the Pocket 3, you just flip the screen on, it turns on, you can have it automatically start recording, you can have the screen or have the gimbal automatically face you. You’ve got this little screen that you can see yourself in if you want to be able to see yourself. The gimbal just flips around, and you can film yourself really easily.

Now with the iPhone, if you’re filming on the front, you either have to pair it with an Apple Watch, which I have, but that’s obviously quite a bit more expensive to be able to see yourself if you want to film yourself with the best camera. So that’s what I’ve been doing today, is using the Apple Watch as my remote essentially. But you can use the front-facing camera; it’s just the front-facing camera quality, while it’s improved—this is the front-facing phone camera—it’s not bad. You have to remind yourself to look at the little green dots so you don’t end up looking away and looking at the screen. But it will shoot ProRes log, which really isn’t bad, but again, the best quality is the main camera in the front.

This would work fine for a pinch and good lighting, no problem. Live streaming, no problem. But as soon as you get into lower light or other areas, stabilization isn’t quite as good. Those are areas where you’re definitely going to want to use the front-facing camera.

Durability

And then there’s durability. Now the iPhone has an IP68 weather rating or waterproof rating, but basically means it could be submerged up to 6 meters for up to 30 minutes and be fine. The Pocket 3 does not have any such rating. That being said, I don’t know that I would go ahead and like dunk my iPhone in the water back here. I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to that. But also, I have run the Pocket 3 through some incredibly harsh conditions, and it has fallen over a lot. Now granted, it’s probably just luck of the draw that it hasn’t absolutely destroyed the gimbal every time it fell over, but I mean, it fell over from a pretty good height. Whereas the iPhone, being that the front and the back are both glass, I definitely would put a case on it, and I’m a lot more nervous about dropping it in a place like this where I’m in rocky terrain, where the Pocket 3 has handled pretty much everything I’ve thrown at it.

That being said, like, I’d be a little more comfortable having the iPhone out in some pretty heavy rain than I would the Pocket 3.

Battery Life

Also, when it comes to battery life, I mean, they both have built-in batteries. With the Pocket 3, you can add this battery handle, which I’ve been using, and they both do well shooting up here all day. But the Pocket 3 still has about 70-80% battery even though the handle is now depleted, where the iPhone is down to about 16%. So if you have the Creator Combo with the battery extension battery, then you’re going to get more battery life out of the Pocket 3, plus the Pocket 3 has this super-fast recharging mode which gets you back up to 80% within 20 or 30 minutes—I don’t remember exactly what it is. The iPhone can recharge quickly too, but not that quickly.

Conclusion

But now I want to hear from you: are you somebody like me who just wants to use a dedicated device that does nothing else but photo and video, or do you just like to use your phone for everything you do? Like, there’s a case to be made for both.

Call to Action

But next, you’re going to watch this video right here where I compare the Pocket 3 to some other cameras. I’ll see you over there. As always, if you have questions, ask me in the comments below or join my live stream, which happens most Wednesday nights at 4 PM Alaska time, 8:00 PM Eastern. We can have a conversation; I can answer questions that maybe I didn’t get to in this video. And yeah, I’ll see you guys soon in the next one. Cheers!

Understanding Bitrate

The thing you need to know about bitrate is that it really comes into play when you’re trying to preserve fine details—like leaves, gravel, sand, and similar textures—or when you’re moving at high speeds. To test the Action 5 Pro’s low bitrate, we’re going to stick it on my FPV drone and fly it through an area with lots of small, fine details like sand, gravel, and trees. We’ll also compare it with the Action 4 to see if there’s any discernible difference between the two when you put the footage side by side.

To be honest, I haven’t really noticed a difference yet, but I wasn’t looking for it either. So, this will be a good test to see if the Action 5 Pro’s low bitrate is actually an issue.

The Test Setup

To make this comparison as fair as possible, we’re going to run both cameras at identical settings—4K 60fps with the highest bitrate possible on both cameras using HEVC. This will give you the closest comparison between the two.

Now, I can’t fly both cameras at the same time, but I’ll run the same lines—or as close to the same lines as I can—so we can get an A-to-B comparison. Normally, I would use ND Filters to add motion blur to the footage, but in this case, I’m not using any. I want to see a direct comparison with no motion blur, to evaluate the detail as clearly as possible.

Shoutout to Hoodman

No one is sponsoring this video, but I have to give a shoutout to Hoodman. They gave me a landing pad a while back, and I’ve been using it ever since. It’s the best small, portable drone pad I’ve found. It’s made of some kind of rubberized plastic material and folds up compactly. The whole thing is weighted, so it doesn’t blow away even with heavy prop wash from bigger drones like FPV models. Sure, it’s more expensive than the cheap ones on Amazon, but in my opinion, it’s 100% worth it.

Starting the Test

At this point, I’d usually realize I forgot to charge something and have to drive an hour back home for a battery. But today, everything is charged enough for the test. Luckily, we don’t need to do too many flights—just a few.

The Results

Okay, I can see a difference. It’s not night and day, but there are a few noticeable differences. For instance, in some spots, like the tops of trees, the Action 4 is definitely sharper and shows more detail. When you look at the gravel, you can see the footprints or hoofprints more clearly with the Action 4. It also captures better detail in bushes and, again, in the tops of spruce trees. The Action 4 footage is cleaner and sharper overall.

Both cameras were set to identical settings, so this confirms that the Action 5 Pro bitrate is an issue, particularly when shooting fast-moving subjects or scenes with lots of fine detail. The Action 5 Pro just doesn’t have enough bitrate to keep up in those scenarios.

The Future Fix

I checked DJI’s forums to see if there was any talk about this, and sure enough, there’s a forum thread about the Action 5 Pro. In the middle of the thread, I found a post from someone claiming to be part of DJI’s R&D team. They said the original intention behind the low bitrate was to save customers effort when transferring footage from the SD card or internal storage to a hard disk. However, they appreciated the feedback and confirmed that a higher bitrate option will be available in the next Firmware Update for the Action 5 Pro.

Conclusion

So, according to this post, DJI plans to release a firmware update that will include a higher bitrate option. This should make the Action 5 Pro much better for fast-moving subjects like biking, FPV flying, or anything else with lots of fine detail. The update should clean up the ‘mushy’ effect that happens in those situations.

Next, watch the video linked here, and as always, feel free to ask me questions in the comments or join my live stream, which happens most Wednesday nights at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time (8:00 p.m. Eastern). We can discuss this topic further and address any questions I didn’t cover in this video.

See you next time.

Cheers!

Disclosure

Hey, just so we’re clear, DJI did send me the Action 5 Pro to test and Review, but they’re not paying me or reimbursing me or giving me any other financial compensation other than I get to keep the camera. The Hero 13, I purchased myself purely just so that I could do this video test and review and compare these two cameras.

Resolution Comparison

Now there is one thing that differentiates these cameras a lot, and that’s just pure resolution. For that, in video mode at least, GoPro wins. Now in photo mode, the Action 5 wins because it does 40-megapixel stills as opposed to the GoPro’s 27. But right now I’m filming 5.3K in the GoPro, 4K 30 on the Action 5, and the reason I saved that for up here is because there’s some decent scenery to look at.

So what I want to do is just give you a few clips of this up here and maybe some other spots we can look at and see how much of a difference there is between 5.3K on the GoPro and 4K 30 on the Action 5.

So let’s start out by comparing apples to apples: 4K 30 both cameras, both had their sharpness settings set to the same, which in my case is low because I prefer to sharpen in post if possible. And the Action 5 looks sharper to me, and if we crop in 200%, it definitely looks sharper, though there might be a tiny bit more noise. Uh, the Action 5 just definitely has a sharper picture.

But GoPro’s native resolution is 5.3K, so here we have 5.3K Ultra wide, same field of view as close as I can get them. And if we crop in 200% again, the Action 5 to me looks just a little bit sharper, which is kind of surprising.

Color and Skin Tone Comparison

But of course, if you’re like me and you end up filming yourself a lot, then you kind of want to see how it looks on skin tones and what the colors look like and how sharp it is on a face, stuff like that. So here we have some clips that is me walking toward camera, and in this particular instance, it’s been interesting because the Action 5 has this little white balance sensor in the O here. I feel like it gets better, more accurate colors overall.

One thing that GoPro always struggled with, in my opinion, was the skin tones and the natural colors. Now they added the natural color profile, which is what you’re seeing right now, which does a really good job of giving you that saturated look but not making the skin tones crazy. But I’m curious what you think between this and the uh, normal color profile in the Action 5.

Of course they both have log. We’ll switch to that next. And now you’re looking at the GoPro log in on the GoPro 13 and DLog M on the Action 5. And this is where you’re going to get the most flexibility you can out of these two cameras.

One thing that’s interesting is that the Action 5 actually previews the file in what it will look like colored, so you get a more realistic view of what it’s actually going to look like, where GoPro just gives you the flat color feed out, um, or at least I haven’t found a way to turn a like look on so you can see what it’ll look like when it’s colored. But this is going to be the most dynamic range you’re going to get.

So the sun is right behind those clouds there and these mountains are in shadow and I’m in shadow. What do you think? It’s hard for me to tell here. We’re going to have to uh, check it out at the studio.

Dynamic Range

There in those clips, at least to me, it looked like the Action 5 had a fair bit more dynamic range. Now DJI says 13 and 1/2 stops, which I guess depending on how you define that, sure, could be. I wouldn’t personally classify it as 13 and a half stops. That would be on par with like my Sony A7S3 or A1 or Canon R5 Mark II, but it definitely has a good bit more dynamic range than the GoPro does or in general other action cameras from what I’ve seen.

So one of the things that the Action 5 talks a lot about is 13 and half stops of dynamic range. Now that you know can be whatever, but it does appear to have really good dynamic range if you’re shooting in DLog. I’m shooting in log on the GoPro right now and DLog M on the or DLog M on the Action 5, but the GoPro does have an HDR mode. I’m kind of curious to see how well that does.

Now this is in the HDR mode of the GoPro, HLG HDR, which should give you the highest dynamic range. Now the sun’s directly behind me, my face would be directly in the shadows. That is about uh, as high dynamic range as you’re going to get, especially with the white snow and then the black rocks here. So I do feel like the Action 5 has better dynamic range overall.

Low Light Performance

One of the areas that the Action 5 and the GoPro differ dramatically is in low light performance. The Action 5 has that one over 1.3 in sensor, the GoPro has the one over 1.9 in sensor, but generally the Action 5 has much better low light, or the Action Series has had much better low light. So yeah, I think we found a place that we can go test the low light out. Shall we?

So here again is where the Action 5 wins hands down. It just has considerably better low light performance. But the other thing that’s interesting is inside this ice cave, you can see the bright highlights that are seen at certain places in the cave. The GoPro consistently was blowing those highlights out in order to expose the scene properly, where the Action 5 was preserving a lot more highlights. So again, this demonstrates the Action 5 does have a fair amount more dynamic range than most other action cameras.

Slow Motion Capabilities

Another thing both these cameras have is lots of slow motion options. Now there is this little bit of water coming down here. I think that’s a great place to show off the super slow motion modes that both of these cameras now have.

Now the Action 5, you can film in 1080 240 frames a second, and then after you film a clip, if you like a certain spot, you can hit the slow motion button and have it slow down to 960 frames a second. I’ve had mixed results, most of them have been good. Some of it I think mostly just depends on subject material.

With the GoPro, you can do bursts of 5.3K up to 120. You can do bursts of uh, like there’s a few other options. I’ll show you here on the screen that you can get some incredibly slow motion shots.

There is one more thing that the GoPro 13 has as an advantage over the Action 5 is that it still stabilizes in slow motion modes. The Action 5 does not, so you want to film in the normal mode with stabilization and and then use the slow motion afterward. Basically, slow it down in post.

Waterproofing

Nice thing is both of these cameras are waterproof as they come straight out of the box. The GoPro Hero 12 is waterproof up to 10 m, where the Action 5 is waterproof up to 20 m. But the Action 5 also has some like depth gauges and some other stuff that if you’re a scuba diver, I could see coming in really handy. So but it’s 33 ft on the GoPro, 65 feet on the Action 5. I don’t have any water that deep here, but I do have this pond here. I’m not going to swim in it because it was frozen last week.

Photo Capabilities

Now while I don’t consider either one of these cameras to really be photo cameras, even though the Action 5 takes 40-megapixel stills and the GoPro 13 takes 27-megapixel stills, you can see the photos here side by side. Like they’re nice, they’re detailed you get a fair amount of latitude to play with them in post, but if you crop in like 300% or so here, you can see the difference and again here. So I don’t know, they’re okay, but they’re not photo cameras. Again like it’s nice to have if you need it, but it’s not quite like taking photos with a DSLR or a mirrorless camera.

Audio Performance

So one thing that pretty much no action camera, no matter what, is going to have good audio is when you’re in wind. Even though they they all have noise reduction, it’s just not necessarily the best. So I’m going to show you what the no noise reduction and then what a little bit of wind reduction and their various modes of wind reduction here are built into camera.

But then we’re going to switch to something like the DJI Mic 2, which you can switch to. Both of these will pair to an external audio source. The DJI Mic 2 pairs directly to this, and you can pair up to two transmitters to the Action 5 Pro, which is very nice if you’re going to have two people talking on camera. But the GoPro will pair to one external audio source as well. We’re going to compare the audio samples.

So I did find an interesting bug with the GoPro on external audio paired audio sources is if you hit the quick capture mode, it doesn’t like relink to the audio source. It it like, or at least it doesn’t change to the audio source or doesn’t tell you that it does. So there’s the bug when you go from an off state and you just hit the power or the uh, record button to go straight recording, it doesn’t link back up to the microphone.

So if you power the GoPro on, it will relink like the Action 5 does, but if you just hit the quick capture mode, it doesn’t. But if you exit the quick capture mode, keep the GoPro on, then it will relink as soon as you’re done recording that clip. But that in my opinion is a pretty big win for the DJI Action 5 Pro is you don’t have to think about it very much.

Stabilization

Both of these cameras have incredible stabilization. So I’ve turned it off right now just to show you like I am not walking on easy stuff to walk on. But let’s turn both of them on the first level of stabilization.

And now they’re both on the first level of HyperSmooth 6 and RockSteady uh, whatever version we’re on of that, which is also pretty good. But it’s pretty incredible what these can do.

And now both of these are on their boost mode, which gives you the highest level of stabilization. But both of them also offer horizon balancing. So now I’m on the horizon balancing mode on both cameras. The Action 5, you can only tip up to 45°, whereas the GoPro, you can tip in 360° and and keep the horizon perfectly level.

Now you can do that with the Action 5, you just have to be filming in 2.7K. So now I’m filming in 2.7K on the Action 5 because that’s when it gives you Horizon Steady, which is the 360° horizon leveling mode. So as you can see, like I’m you know going completely around and both cameras keep the horizon about as perfectly level as you can get. And that is very handy if you’re in a place like this where you’re just running around and you’re not really thinking about like how you want to keep the horizon and level, but you want it to kind of stay level, it works well.

Now there is one more thing about stabilization of both these cameras is GoPro has ReelSteady, which it doesn’t matter stabilization is on or off. I’ve got it off right now so you can see the difference. I’ll turn ReelSteady on right here. And this is GoPro after it’s been stabilized with ReelSteady, which is fantastic, especially if you do FPV stuff.

But the Action 5 has integration with Gyroflow, which means you can use it later to stabilize in post. The caveat there is that it has to be in wide angle mode and, Rock Steady has to be turned off, but it does give you some very nice stable footage. This is an example of it off right now, but if we turn it on, you can see how much more stable the footage gets using, Gyroflow, which is fantastic. Also same thing if you do FPV.

Battery Life and Compatibility

Now on the subject of batteries, both of these cameras have new batteries. They are different capacity batteries. The interesting thing is that the Action 5 comes with a 1950 mAh battery, but it is exactly the same as the Action 4 and Action 3. And so if you stick the Action 3 or Action 4 camera battery in there, the camera will work exactly like it should. And so far I haven’t found anything that it won’t do on the Action 3, Action 4 batteries other than it just won’t run for quite as long. So that’s kind of nice if you already have an Action 3, Action 4, and you want to upgrade the cameras. You have batteries that at least will work for it.

The GoPro also comes with a new battery, but the difference is that while it is also a higher capacity battery, they change the connection. So while the batteries are exactly the same size, and I mean exactly the same size, they change the connection point. So you can’t use your old batteries with the new GoPro. Now I’m sure that some of that is to you know, make sure it has longer run time and better overheating performance maybe.

So I did run some overheating tests here in my house, which I keep at about 68° in this room, and I did it with a fan to run the batteries completely dead to see how long and 4K 30 they would run. And I got 111 minutes of 4K 30 out of the GoPro Hero 13, and I got 168 minutes out of the Action 5, also at 4K 30.

Then I decided to run overheating tests by removing them from the fan, having them just sitting there by themselves, and running them as long as they would go. Again, I got 111 minutes till the GoPro battery died and 170 minutes till the Action 5 battery died. So neither one of these overheated filming at 4K 30 in a 68-degree room, which I think is about 20, 21°C. So that’s a big improvement for the GoPro because in the past, it had major issues overheating quite a bit.

Charging Speed

So right now, the GoPro is recharging using 10 watts of power off of my Anker recharging system here, but the Action 5 is using 26 watts. So that’s quite a bit of difference, which means the Action 5 is likely going to recharge a fair bit faster. And the GoPro just dropped to 7 1/2 watts, and the Action 5 is still at 26, 26 watts of recharging.

Essentially that means the Action 5 is going to recharge in a lot less time, which is one of the features that DJI added to the Action 5 is this sort of fast charge mode where it charges the battery up to 80 or 90% as fast as it can without damaging the battery and then slows down for that last 10%.

Physical Differences and Features

Beyond all the differences that we’ve just seen and explored extensively on the mountains, there are a lot of other changes as well. First off, the GoPro is slightly larger than the Action 5. They’re both about the same thickness, and it’s slightly heavier.

And also the Action 5 and the GoPro have very differently sized screens here as you can see. The Action 5 has a very large OLED screen where the GoPro’s is a bit smaller. They both have front screens as well, but the Action 5 actually has a touchscreen on the front, so you can make changes to pretty much everything. It works exactly like the screen on the back, whereas the GoPro does not have a touchscreen on the front.

Now both these cameras offer a quick capture functionality where you just push the record button and they will start recording or do whatever mode you set up in the setting. However, in my experience, the Action 5 is consistently 2 seconds faster to start up than the GoPro Hero 13 is. Now this might change with firmware updates down the road, but for now at least, the Action 5 starts up and starts recording quite a bit faster than the GoPro does.

They both offer a quick switch button which allows you to cycle between both uh, and you can also set up custom modes on the Action 5, and they both offer pretty similar menu functionality where you have access to some pretty quick and commonly used items or you can go into the deeper preferences.

The Action 5 is where you can switch between the internal storage or the external storage, which is a big thing, and you can format it as well, whereas the GoPro has no internal storage and if you want to format, you go down to reset format SD card.

One thing the GoPro has is GPS built into the GoPro again. They put that back in there, which I’m glad to see that they did. The Action 5, you have to get an accessory to have that GPS included in there.

Pricing and Packages

And then we come down to price. They’re both priced pretty similarly actually. The GoPro 13 is $399 unless you’re a GoPro subscriber for $99 or $49. I believe occasionally you can find the subscribers on sale.

So if you do that, then you get it for $100 off, which puts it at $299. But then if you want to add any extra batteries, you’re going to be into like another $50 because this has a brand new battery. You’re going to add at least one, they’re $30 apiece, and if you want to get a dual charger, then you’re going to be into another $80. You can get a similar charging stick to the Osmo Action 5 Pro’s charging stick, and that’s going to run you $130.

Now when it comes to the Action 5 Pro, it is going to run $350 or $349 for just the camera, which comes with the battery, or $450, which is the adventure combo, which means you get a selfie stick or an extension rod and three batteries and the battery charging case, which I absolutely love. Now if you want to add the charging stick,charging handle, that’s going to be $99, and if you just want to buy extra batteries, those are going to run $32 each.

Next, you’re going to want to watch this video right here. I’ll see you over there. As always, if you have questions, ask me in the comments below or join my live stream, which happens most Wednesday nights at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, where we can have a little more of a conversation or I can answer questions maybe I can’t get to in this video. Hold up, I’ll see you again soon in the next one.