For this week we will be comparing the DJI Mavic 3, DJI Phantom 4 Pro v2, DJI Mavic 2 Pro, and DJI Mavic Pro in their ability to map a 3d structure.

For this test, all 4 drones were flown at the Tippecanoe County Amphitheater, on an oblique mapping mission. The DJI Mavic 3 was flown manually while all of the other drones were done through an autonomous mission using the Measure Ground control application. The Mavic 3 has not had a software development kit released for it yet so it is unable to fly automated mapping missions.

All aircraft were flown at 300 feet above the ground with 80% overlap and sidelap. Below are the 3d models generated by running each drone’s images through PIX4D.

DJI Mavic Pro Model

Created from 128 Photos

DJI Mavic 2 Pro Model

Created from 112 photos

DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 Model

Created from 76 Photos

DJI Mavic 3 Model

Created from 145 Photos

Results

The Mavic 3 shows promise and could be a good mapping drone with extended flight times, but without the automated capability, it is being held back. Currently, if I were to go out and buy a drone for mapping it would be the Mavic 2 Pro or the Phantom 4 v2.

For the quality of the photo, the Mavic 2 Pro and the Phantom 4 have the same sensor size 1”, but the Mavic 2 Pro is a Hasselblad, and it looks better in my opinion. The Mavic 3 looks better than the Phantom 4 and the Mavic 3 even though it has the same 20mp file size, the full 4/3rds sensor provides a shaper and clearer photo. Overall, I would rank the Mavic 3 as the number one drone for capturing imagery, but I would rank the Mavic 2 as the top drone for all options right now.