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2022 Travel Photographer of the Year competition

The winners and finalists for the annual Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) awards have been announced. Nearly 20,000 images were entered by both professional and amateur photographers representing 154 countries. Slovenian photographer Matjaz Krivic won the title of Travel Photographer of the Year for his images of one of two of the very last Northern White rhinos on this planet.

The TPOTY awards also recognize up-and-coming talent as young photographers aged 18, and even under 14 years of age, are also commended for their efforts. All entries are 'blindly' judged by a panel consisting of professional photographers from around the globe.

Winning images will be on display from May 1st - 31st at an outdoor exhibition at the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, England. Open to the public and free to view, it joins images from Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Food Photographer of the Year competitions. If you can't make it out, winners and finalists from this year's competition can be viewed on the TPOTY website.

Travel Photographer of the Year 2022: Matjaz Krivic (Slovenia)

Location: Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya

Caption: Najin 33 one of the last two Northern White rhinos left in the world resting under a hot afternoon sun with her friend and caretaker Zachary Mutai in Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

The Northern white rhino is all but extinct. The two last males died several years ago. The two females are still with us, but too feeble to bear babies. In an Italian lab their eggs are now artificially fertilised by sperm from the late males, and kept at minus 196 celsius, in hopes that surrogate rhinos from another sub species can carry the northern white back from the brink.

Tech Specs: Canon 5D mk IV, 100mm 2.8 Canon L lens, F8, 1/1000s, ISO 100

Young Travel Photographer of the Year: Cal Cole, UK (age 18)

Location: Manchester, UK

Caption: A Metrolink station during a winter storm. The cold tones combined with the spacing between each subject felt almost dystopian to me when I captured it.

Tech Specs: Nikon D3200, 18-135mm lens, F4, 1/80s, ISO 3200

Winner, Young TPOTY (15-18 yrs): Isabella Smith, USA (age 18)

Location: Athens, Greece

Caption: One of the Evzones soldiers starts his shift in front of the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. For this particular image I wanted to capture the anonymity and uniformity that all Evzones hold.

Tech Specs: Canon EOS R6, 150-600mm lens, F5.6, 1/640s, ISO 100

Winner, Young TPOTY (14 yrs & under): Kaia Tham, Australia (age 14)

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Caption: The city sways in the patch of water, strewn carelessly on the ground by rainfall. Passerbys tread around the puddle, a low plastic bag blows into it. But there is beauty in the mundane; another world to be seen.

Tech Specs: iPhone 11, Wide Camera 26mm lens, F1.8, 1/539s, ISO 32

The Art of Monochrome, Portfolio – Winner: by Roie Galitz (Israel)

Location: Kennedybukta, Svalbard, Norway

Caption: Not everything is great in the polar bear realm. This starving polar bear mother and her two young cubs hadn’t eaten anything in a long time, since the ice melted sooner than before. Due to the extreme starvation, the mother's milk has dried out long ago and two days after this photo was taken,we heard reports that both cubs died. This image is a testimony of climate change's impact.

Tech Specs: Nikon Z9, Nikon Z 70-200 lens, F3.5, 1/4000s, ISO 100

The Art of Monochrome, Best Single Image in a Portfolio – Runner-up: Dana Allen (USA)

Location: Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Caption: An African elephant among the herd.

Tech Specs: Nikon D4, Nikon 28-300mm lens, F16, 1/500s, ISO 800

Cultures, Highly Commended: Li Yushan (China)

Location: Inner Mongolia, China

Caption: Mongolian wedding customs are rich in content, grand and warm atmosphere, highlighting the Mongolian rugged and swarthy, brisk and passionate, culture-oriented, etiquette and other national characteristics, which are part of the intangible cultural heritage of China.

Tech Specs: Canon EOS 5D Mk III, 35mm lens, F8, 1/40s, ISO 250

Cultures, Best Single Image in a Portfolio – Winner: Athanasios Maloukos (Greece)

Location: Canosa di Puglia, Italy

Caption: La Desolata, is one of the most poignant processions in the Christian world during Holy Week, in the village of Canosa di Puglia, Italy.

Tech Specs: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 70-200mm lens, F8, 1/200s, ISO 200

Green Planet, Blue Planet, Best Single Image in a Portfolio – Winner: Panos Laskarakis (Greece)

Location: Okavango Delta, Botswana

Caption: A large male lion peers through the remains of a buffalo killed the day before.

Tech Specs: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 400mm lens, F5.6, 1/320s, ISO 640

Green Planet, Blue Planet – Special Mention: Scott Portelli (Australia)

Location: Antarctica

Caption: Adelie penguin chicks find refuge in an intricate tunnel system calved into nearby icebergs. Using these passageways to avoid predators, they group together for safety. Leopard seals patrol the surrounding waters, while skuas survey the vulnerable chicks from above.

Tech Specs: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, 100-400mm lens, F29, 1/200s, ISO 500

Deserts to Rainforests, Runner-up: Marek Biegalski (Poland)

Location: Iceland

Caption: Glacial rivers become visible only when you are high up in the sky. They're called 'braided river systems, as they often resemble an intricate jumble of patterns, intertwining in an almost inexplicable fashion and colours.

Tech Specs: Hasslblad L1D-20c, 28mm lens, F2.8, 1/200s, ISO 100

Best Single Image in a Portfolio, Deserts to Rainforests – Winner: John Seager (UK)

Location: Salar de Arizaro, Puna de Argentina, Argentina

Caption: ‘El Cono Arita’, a spectacular geological formation where erosion has shaped an almost perfect cone that seems to be lost in a vast desert of the Salar de Arizaro. Using a drone, I was able to capture the magnificent shadow of Arita on this beautiful, cloudless evening.

Tech Specs: DJI AIR2S, F2.8, 1/730s, ISO 110

Water, Highly Commended: Romain Miot (France)

Location: Oualata, Mauritania

Caption: I met this salt caravan after a four-day expedition into the middle of the Sahara desert. No roads lead to this place, so we navigated by compass. Hundreds of dromedaries and their masters were present on this desert plain where nothing lives.

Two wells had been dug to water the camels before they left for Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso to sell the salt. When I returned from the trip I realised that this image of a camel owner ordering the dromedaries looked like a conductor with an orchestra.

Tech Specs: Sony A7 III, 24-70mm lens, F2.8, 1/3200s, ISO 125

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The Canon EOS R7, like most modern cameras, has a menu filled with page after page of features. With so many settings (in fact more than 450) it’s easy to gloss over things that you don’t immediately need to adjust.

In this article I’d like to take a closer look at a few items that may improve the experience you have with your new camera. I’ll be calling out some new, overlooked or under-appreciated options and explaining what they do and who they are for.

Though I’m using the menu of the Canon EOS R7, these features can also be found on other cameras, even from other brands, but be advised that they may differ in slight or significant ways.

1. RAW burst and Pre-shooting modes [Shoot Menu 6]

Setting options:

• RAW burst mode: Enable/Disable
• Pre-shooting: Enable/Disable

Continuous shooting rates have steadily risen over the course of photographic history. Serious professional sports-orientated cameras are now able to shoot between 10 and 16 frames per second. When utilizing an electronic shutter, as the EOS R7 can, modern mirrorless cameras now frequently hit 30 frames per second.

However, it doesn’t matter how fast a camera can capture images if the key moment was missed before the shutter was pressed. The 'RAW burst' mode is designed to capture images from the moments immediately before your finger fully presses the shutter release button. This photographer’s holy grail has been available for some time on other brands, and on other Canon models like the G5X II and EOS M6 II, but is now available on R-mount cameras for the first time.

I came to appreciate this feature when trying to capture archers shooting arrows. Going in, I felt that the most compelling photo was the ones where the archer’s arrow has just been released but is still visible in the frame. The problem with trying to capture this moment is that it happens extraordinarily quickly and you can’t predict exactly when it will happen.

Catching an arrow in flight by trying to time its release is an effort in frustration. Using the RAW burst mode with Pre-shooting you can almost guarantee a good shot every time. Photo credit: John Greengo

First I tried to fire a sequence of images as soon as I saw the release of the arrow. In every case my reaction time was too slow and the arrow was off the screen. Next I tried firing a continuous burst at its highest speed just before I thought the archer was about to release. Most of these attempts ended with the camera’s buffer being filled up before the arrow was fired. Success was possible but resulted in an enormous amount of wasted images.

The RAW burst mode is designed precisely to solve the archer’s arrow problem. When you enable RAW burst mode and the Pre-shooting option, as soon as you start holding the shutter release button in the halfway position the camera begins recording high-speed frames into a buffer, over and over, flushing the old ones out. If you let go of the button and don’t take the shot, the images disappear and don’t clutter up your card. But if you do fully press the shutter, the most recent 15 images (0.5 sec) are saved as the start of your burst, and the camera continues to fire at 30 fps for up to 2 seconds (60 images). If you keep the shutter held, in total you’ll capture about 75 images, 15 from before the full shutter press and 60 from after.

Selecting the RAW burst mode is just the first step. You also need to select Pre-shooting to enable your camera to capture frames from before the shutter is released.

For decisive moments that are difficult to time, this is the feature that can guarantee your camera is capturing images at the right time. Subjects that are easy to predict but difficult to time – like hitting a baseball, whales breaching, and the archer’s arrow – can now be captured on a Canon R-mount camera like never before.

Be advised that when using this feature all images are written to a single .CR3 file. Extracting a single frame can be done either in camera or with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software. Additionally the camera uses the electronic shutter, which may exhibit rolling shutter distortion with certain types of subjects (see below).

2. Shutter mode [Shoot Menu 7]

Setting options:

• Mechanical
• Elec. 1st-curtain
• Electronic

Mechanical

With this option the physical shutter blades will open and close to begin and end the exposure. This is how Canon mirrorless cameras, and traditional Canon DSLRs, have worked for years. It’s a safe option for many types of photography and offers a flash sync of 1/250 second.

The downside of the mechanical shutter is that the first curtain opens with such speed that when it comes to a stop there is a slight vibration that may affect certain types of photographs. Images captured at marginally slow shutter speeds (1/30 to 1sec) can be affected by it. Images under high magnification like those taken with super telephoto and macro lenses are particularly susceptible to blur if any movement occurs during the exposure.

Elec. 1st-curtain

When the Electronic 1st-curtain shutter is employed the camera begins capturing the exposure by turning the pixels of the sensor on to record the light striking them. To end the exposure the mechanical shutter closes in the traditional fashion.

The effect of this process is that there is no physical movement inside the camera before the image is completely captured. While the second shutter does move and may cause a slight vibration, it happens after the exposure has ended. This makes the Elec. 1st-curtain option perfect for avoiding any vibration during the exposure.

Elec. 1st-curtain is a good option when working with high magnification equipment like super-telephoto and macro lenses. Without a first shutter in operation the camera will not have any mechanical movements during the exposure.

An additional benefit on the Canon EOS R7 is that Elec. 1st-curtain enables the camera’s fastest flash sync speed of 1/320, which is slightly better than the mechanical sync speed of 1/250. Elec. 1st-curtain is the factory default setting and probably the best setting for most shooting.

Electronic

With the full Electronic shutter option, the image sensor begins and stops recording by turning pixels on and off. In addition to enabling faster burst and shutter speeds, the benefit of the Electronic shutter is the complete absence of vibration and shutter noise. Ideal use for this may be during a stage performance or in a situation where audio is being recorded, and shutter clicks may be a distraction. In those situations, silent shutter can be a powerful tool.

The downside is that, as the sensor can’t turn all pixels on and off at the same time, a scanning technique is used. (See this article for a full explanation.) This means that subject movement during the exposure can appear as a distortion of that subject. The intensity of the issue depends on the readout speed of the sensor, and as the Canon EOS R7 does not have a particularly fast readout, its electronic shutter is often not suitable for capturing fast action.

The electronic shutter is perfect for situations where you want to remain discreet. Some cameras, including the EOS R7, have a slower scan rate, so be careful with fast moving subjects. Photo credit: John Greengo

Choosing to shoot with the electronic shutter will interfere with certain other camera operations, and several menu items are greyed out when it’s selected. A key limitation for the camera is that it’s not able to sync with a flash at any shutter speed with the Electronic shutter option selected. Be advised that this limitation is different with other Canon cameras.

I recommend using this option sparingly to avoid the aforementioned problems.

3. AF-assist beam firing [AF Menu 3]

Setting options:

• Enable
• Disable
• LED AF assist beam only

On the front of the EOS R7 is a small round window to the upper left of the lens, officially known as the Self-timer/AF-assist beam. This orange lamp will signal the countdown of the self-timer or light up a poorly illuminated subject to help the autofocus system.

The built-in light can help in low-light and close-up situations but it can also be disruptive. Be aware of situations where the light may not be appreciated by subjects, fellow photographers and others around you.

Focusing in low-light situations can be challenging and this lamp may help so long as your subject is not too far away. The practical distance varies based on the existing lighting and the maximum aperture of the lens being used. The lamp is not employed when continuous (Servo) autofocus is activated, so it won’t work for moving subjects.

Turning off this beacon may be wise for a number of reasons. The light is only of marginal help in a few special situations. The camera has a number of other tricks it can employ to help focus under poor lighting, such as keeping the lens aperture at maximum opening during focusing and increasing the gain on the sensor.

If you photograph people be advised that this lamp will shine a rather harsh light into the eyes of your subject. It’s possible that your subject will squint, turn away or recoil from the sudden beam of light.

Another serious downside to the light occurs if you are working around other photographers shooting the same subject, like at a concert, press event or tourist attraction. The bright orange light you’re shining onto the subject will show up in their images. This is not likely to go over very well with your fellow photographers.

I first encountered this lamp problem when leading a photo tour in Turkey where we scheduled a private dance performance of whirling dervishes. In a dark private hall our group spread out on one side of the room. As soon as the dance began an orange lamp appeared to follow the subjects around. Complaints from the rest of the photographers were quick to follow.

The point is that the photographer, when confronted, didn’t know it was on and didn’t see it either in the viewfinder or in the resulting photographs. Moreover, after apologizing about interfering with the others, the photographer didn't know how to turn it off. It took me a moment to find the feature in the camera's menu (not a Canon EOS R7) and disable it.

While this feature may be helpful in some situations it’s probably better left in the off position for most people.

4. Switch (AF/MF) [Setup Menu 5]

Setting options:

• Enable
• Disable

A new feature on the EOS R7 not seen on previous Canon cameras is a physical AF/MF switch on the body. For more than 30 years Canon has steadfastly kept the AF/MF switch on the lens while others like Nikon and Fujifilm have typically put it on the body. This particular feature on the EOS R7 allows you to deactivate the switch. Deactivating it may be helpful if you find yourself accidentally bumping it or would prefer to control this feature from the menu system.

The new-to-Canon MF/AF switch can be controlled by one of your grip-hand fingers. The switch allows for quick changes with a new breed of Canon lenses.

The reason for this new switch seems to be to accommodate a new category of lenses from Canon without the dedicated AF/MF switch, such as the RF 50mm f/1.8. Switching from AF to MF with these new ‘switchless’ lenses will be easy to do with this new lever on the body. However, be aware that if you wish to focus manually with a lens like the RF 50mm f/1.8 you’ll need to have both the body switch set to MF and the Focus/Control switch on the lens set to Focus.

Canon lenses without an AF/MF switch:

• RF 16mm f/2.8 STM
• RF 50mm f/1.8 STM
• RF 15-30mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM
• RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM
• RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM
• RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM
• RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Instead of an AF/MF switch, several lower-end Canon lenses feature a Focus/Control switch that allows you to configure the focus ring for something else.	Mainstream and higher-end lenses in Canon’s RF lineup feature a dedicated AF/MF switch on the lens.

For all the other lenses, RF and EF with an adaptor, priority will be given to the AF/MF switch on the lens. When a Canon lens with an AF/MF switch is attached to the EOS R7, this new AF/MF switch on the body will do nothing.

The option to disable the body-mounted AF/MF switch is found within the AF menu.

Note that when you disable this body switch, a new menu item appears on the AF1 Menu page called 'Focus mode,' where you can select AF or MF. This feature cannot be set to a custom button but it can be added to ‘My Menu’ for quick access.

5. Direction to set Tv/Av [Custom Menu 3]

Setting options:

• Normal
• Reverse direction

When turning the either command dial to change exposure settings, would you like your finger movements to match the movement of the exposure indicator? If you answered yes you will want to set this feature to ‘Reverse direction.’

When changing shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation the default setting on the camera is to have the dials and exposure indicator work in opposite directions. If you move your finger along the top of the dial to the left, the exposure indicator will go to the right. That’s the way it comes from the factory.

The front and rear command dials don’t, by default, move in the same direction as the exposure indicator. You can reverse their action so changing settings is more natural.

This issue is easily addressed by setting the 'Direction to set Tv/Av' menu option to 'Reverse direction.' Dial actions will be reversed when it comes to changing shutter speed and aperture. I find it to be more visually intuitive when the physical action mimics the visual display.

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John Greengo specializes in photographic education through online training, books and international photo tours. His photographic teachings have been viewed by millions around the globe.

These tweaks are just a few tips on how you can get the most from your camera. In the Canon EOS R7: Complete Camera Guide, an 8-hour video course, he will take you through all camera operations to help you set it up for your needs. John offers a multitude of classes covering a wide range of photographic topics including landscape, travel and gear-specific tutorials.

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USB power delivery is a great feature in many modern mirrorless cameras. However, taking advantage of USB PD when out in the field is not always convenient. The Power Junkie v2, available now on Kickstarter, aims to make on-the-fly power delivery much easier and enable longer shooting times.

The Power Junkie v2 can power up to three devices, including a camera and monitor, using 12V or 8.4V DC output or USB-C. The device can output from 5V at 3A to 20V at 1.1A, with additional outputs in between. Power is delivered via a Sony NP-F lithium-ion battery, a common battery among filmmakers. Even if you don't have Sony cameras, you can purchase NP-F batteries and integrate them into a Power Junkie v2 workflow.

In the video above, Blind Spot Gear, the makers of Power Junkie v2, showcase what makes the accessory special and potentially very useful for filmmakers in particular. We see the Power Junkie v2 attached to a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera, and the Power Junkie v2, with a single NP-F battery, is powering the camera and monitor.

Compared to the original PowerJunkie, launched four years ago, the v2 version offers expanded power outputs, including the new 12V output capability. It also features an all-new design. It has a 4/20 hole to attach directly to a rig, providing more security. It also features a power button, something missing from the original. You can also press the power button to turn off the PowerJunkie v2's lights without cutting the power itself, which is great if the lights bother you. You can also use the button to check the battery level. The PowerJunkie v2 can charge via its USB-C port, meaning you don't need to charge the battery on a separate charger – you can plug the PowerJunkie v2 into an outlet.

Beyond plugging the PowerJunkie v2 directly into your camera and using typical USB power delivery, you can connect a dummy battery to the PowerJunkie v2. You can purchase DC 8.4V dummy batteries for Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Fuji and Nikon cameras. There are also USB-C dummy batteries available for many cameras. A dummy battery is a 'battery' that fits into your camera and plugs directly into the PowerJunkie. The camera treats the dummy like a standard battery, except it has a built-in cable that runs to the PowerJunkie v2. You can purchase these dummy batteries from Blind Spot Gear, starting at $25 each.

The Power Junkie v2 campaign has just under a month remaining and has already eclipsed its funding goal. Early bird backing options start at just under $60 and include the PowerJunkie v2 plus the option to add a battery dummy. Shipping is expected to begin this March. For more information, visit Kickstarter.

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Note/disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project before backing it. Pledges to crowdfunding campaigns are not pre-orders. DPReview does not have a relationship with this, or any such campaign, and we publicize only projects that appear legitimate, and which we consider will be of genuine interest to our readers. You can read more about the safeguards Kickstarter has in place on its 'Trust & Safety' page.

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Scientists at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia have used a transmitter with 'less power than a microwave' to produce the highest resolution images of the moon ever captured from Earth.

Using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), the team captured high-resolution radar images of the moon, laying the foundation for a next-generation radar system that will allow scientists to study planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system. The prototype of the new system, which was used to capture the images, is part of a joint effort by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Green Bank Observatory (GBO) and Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RIS). The group is designing a new radar system for the GBT, the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope.

The Green Bank Telescope. Image credit: Jay Young

The team used a low-power radar transmitter designed by RIS with the GBT. The radar transmitter delivers up to 700 watts of output power at 13.9 GHz. The transmitter sent radar waves to the moon's surface, and the echoes were received by the NRAO's ten 25m VLBA antennas. The resulting image shows the Tycho crater on the lunar surface with an impressive 5m resolution.

'It's pretty amazing what we've been able to capture so far, using less power than a common household appliance,' said Patrick Taylor, radar division head for GBO and NRAO.

'A Synthetic Aperture Radar image of the Moon’s Tycho Crater, showing 5-meter resolution detail.' Image credit: Raytheon Technologies.

The flagship system in the works will be much more powerful, with a 500 kilowatt, Ku-band (13.7 GHz) radar system. It will use the existing VLBA array and a future Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) as its receivers. The proposed high-power system will offer 'nearly 1,000 times the output power and several times the waveform bandwidth (up to 600 MHz),' delivering even better resolving performance.

Image credit: Raytheon Technologies

The system will do much more than allow scientists to image and study different celestial bodies, it will also be a critical part of a planetary defense system. The radar system will be able to detect, track and characterize objects that may threaten Earth. During testing, Taylor said the team located a km-sized asteroid more than 2M km from Earth. An asteroid of that size could devastate the planet. The next-generation radar system could detect objects smaller and further away, potentially providing critical information to support NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.

Concerning astronomy, the GBT's enhanced radar system will deliver data at higher resolutions and wavelengths than were previously impossible. Between those impressive capabilities and the ability to help defend Earth against potential threats, the next-generation radar system promises to enhance planetary science and planetary defense alike.

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Flying the DJI Mavic 3 Cine in Cornwall, England to shoot the landscape at low and later at high tide. I am using the DJI RC-N1 Remote to control the drone. Photo credit: Lee Pullen

I have been using the DJI Mavic 3 Cine for one year now. I rely on drones to capture video and stills of natural landscapes for my Science & Symphony Films that are presented in concert halls around the world. Having used this drone for professional work for some time, I've rounded up a number of features I think are great, and some issues I've encountered that need improvement.

Note: just as I was finishing this article DJI released two major firmware updates (v1.000.1000 being the latest as of writing) that not only addressed the issues I mention below, but added some superb new features. I'll mention the beneficial impacts of the firmware updates as I go.

Motivation

One of the films I'm working on, Moontides, is about the most extreme lunar tides on Earth. A drone can provide a unique point of view on how dramatically a landscape can change in just six hours – going from low to high tide and vice versa. For this film I visited the Cornish coast of England and the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada. The photography was done around the full moon since during full and new moon the Sun and Moon are aligned with our planet, producing more extreme tides.

The second film, Liquify, follows water from mountain tops and glaciers all the way to the ocean. For this film I visited the southern coast of Iceland since within a relatively short driving distance you can see mountain tops, rivers, waterfalls, glaciers, lagoons and coastlines.

For both films I used the Mavic 3 Cine for my aerial footage.

Two (cropped) panoramas showing the rising tide at Mousehole, Cornwall, UK. The panoramas were shot 6 hours apart.

When the Mavic 3 Cine was announced, three things quickly motivated me to purchase it: its compact size, its long battery life and its internal SSD memory. The first two of these features turned out to be everything I'd imagined, but the third proved to be annoying at times – until just recently when my issues were addressed with firmware updates.

Compact size

One of the Mavic 3 attributes I really enjoy is how compact it is, yet without sacrificing image quality. When folded, the Cine is only 22 cm × 9.6 cm × 9 cm (8.7 in x 3.8 in x 3.6 in).

What's good:

The drone and accessories fit nicely in its carrying bag (included with the Combo package), which easily fits into my camera backpack. The fact that I can combine the Mavic 3 Cine with other photo gear in one backpack is a big plus for me.

Long battery life

The Mavic Cine 3 uses a fairly a compact Intelligent Flight Battery (capacity: 5,000 mAh). At 336g (11.9 oz), this battery makes up more than a third of the drone takeoff weight of 899g (31.7 oz). That tells you how light the drone itself is! In order to avoid stopping my workflow during the day, I charge three batteries in the Battery Charging Hub overnight. Each takes approximately 1.6 hours to charge. You get the Hub with the Combo package.

What's good:

The Mavic Cine 3's maximum flight time of 46 minutes has changed the way I work. With the flight times of 30 minutes or less on earlier models, I found that by the time I was getting the shots I needed I had to turn around and land the drone to change the battery. With the Mavic 3 I find myself satisfied with the shots I have obtained only to discover that I have 20 more minutes or so of flight time left. This allows me to be more creative and experimental.

Internal SSD

In addition to a slot for microSD cards, the Cine model includes an internal 1 TB SSD with approximately 935 GB of available space. This large capacity is particularly beneficial when shooting video using the high-quality Apple ProRes 422 codec.

What's good:

• The 1 TB SSD allows me to shoot approximately 3.75 hours of 4K/30p ProRes 422 video, plenty for one day's work. Alternatively, it can store 2.5 hours of ProRes 422 HQ, 15.5 hours of H.264, and 20.25 hours of H.265 30 fps video.
• When plugged in to a computer, the Mavic 3 Cine's SSD automatically mounts as an external drive, with transfer speeds of up to 0.80 GB/s. When connected, the battery inside the drone will start to charge as well.

What needs improvement:

• On more than one occasion, the DJI Fly app warned me in mid-flight that the drive was highly fragmented and that it needed to be reformatted. While I was still allowed to capture video, this error interfered with shooting panoramas. I explained to DJI customer support that this warning has come up several times even when the drive is less than half full. They had no immediate solution but asked me to send them the drone for service.

After the firmware updates:

• Prior to the latest firmware update, any microSD card in the Mavic 3 Cine would also mount on my computer but I could only browse its content, not copy the files. Now, just like with the SSD, I can drag-and-drop its content to my computer.

Outside of these three primary benefits to my workflow, the DJI Mavic 3 Cine has a lot of useful modes and features that have made it extremely useful.

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine

The Mavic 3 Cine features three flight modes with different maximum flight speeds: Cine (5 m/s), Normal (15 m/s) and Sport (19 m/s). Other settings let you cap the speeds at which the camera tilts (pitch) and pans (yaw). For example, the amount of time the drone takes to pan 360 degrees can be as long as 45 seconds and as short as 1 second! It gives you two gimbal modes, one to keep the gimbal fixed on the horizontal, the other to have it stick to the orientation of the drone for a first-person view.

Although the dedicated remote controller is very bright, the sky can be very bright as well. I found that by placing a dark jacket over my head and controller I could focus better on the screen and on all the independent flying and gimbal controls. Sitting down and placing the control on my lap also helps me, and if I cannot cover my head then I try to find an open and shaded area where I can sit down. An assistant keeps the drone within sight for me while I concentrate on the flying.

Below is one of my first flights of the DJI Mavic 3 Cine while capping the speed of the drone and the gimbal. Following are my thoughts on piloting it.

Flying the Mavic 3 manually in Cine Mode (5 m/s max. speed). 5.1K 50fps 10-bit D-Log video color-graded with the DJI Mavic 3 LUT. Mousehole, Cornwall, UK

What's good:

• The gimbal speed control and the flight modes with their corresponding maximum speeds help me maintain a smooth flight path and avoid abrupt changes in motion, which can ruin the cinematic shots I want to get.
• Although I usually shoot with the gimbal aligned with the horizon (Follow Mode), I like the option of having the gimbal follow the movement of the drone (First-Person View or FPV).
• Not once in my year of flying did I need to calibrate the Mavic 3 Cine's gimbal because of misalignment with the horizon.

What I felt needed improvement:

• When you turn left or right in FPV Mode the gimbal follows the movement of the drone gradually, but when you stop turning the gimbal falls back to the horizontal position abruptly. This behavior makes the FPV Mode useless when trying to achieve cinematic results.

After the firmware updates:

• DJI addressed the issue with the gimbal returning too abruptly to the horizontal position in FPV mode. Now, the camera comes out of a turn smoothly, making this mode useful for achieving cinematic shots.

• Note that DJI has renamed the section where you set maximum speeds to the not-so-obvious name of Gain and Expo Tuning.

Intelligent Flight Modes

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine at different times to show the contrast between high and low tides at a location experiencing extreme lunar tides. Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada.

FocusTrack

DJI has a feature it calls FocusTrack, which can lock on a subject and fly while keeping the subject – either stationary or moving – in the frame. Depending on the mode, there are a lot of parameters pilots can choose from.

When shooting Moontides, I ventured to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada. There I wanted to capture the beautiful and interesting sea stacks – large columns of rock that are cut off from the shoreline by erosion. To fly around one of these stacks while keeping it in the frame was a breeze with the Spotlight mode. I was able to change drone altitude, distance to the subject, and position of the stack in the frame in a smooth and seamless way.

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine around a sea stack (or flower pot) using Spotlight to keep my subject in the frame. Notice how the Mavic 3 did not lose track of the subject even when it was momentarily blocked by tall trees. Nova Scotia, Canada.

What's good:

• I have used all FocusTrack modes successfully and have been very impressed with the way ActiveTrack smoothly avoids obstacles by either flying over, under or around them with the help of DJI's Advanced Pilot Assistance System 5.0.
• The mode I have used the most is Spotlight, since it provides the perfect combination of flying manually around a subject while automatically keeping the subject in the frame.

Flying the Mavic 3 Cine around the same sea stack as above but during high tide. Notice how dramatically the landscape has changed. Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hyperlapse Modes

The Mavic 3 allows you to shoot hyperlapse videos. These are timelapse sequences shot with the camera in motion – either while you fly freely or by using one of a series of pre-programmed maneuvers: Circle, Course Lock, and Waypoints.

Circle works like Point of Interest; Course Lock lets you set the direction of flight in a straight line while giving you independent control of the direction of the camera; and Waypoints flies the drone and orients the camera according to a pre-determined path you set up using up to five drone positions.

What's good:

• The availability of Cruise Control (see below) lets you maintain a constant speed and achieve smoother videos.
• All individual frames are saved as RAW or JPEG.
• The drone will automatically generate a timelapse video from the image sequence.

What needs improvement:

• When using Intelligent Modes, neither shooting 5.1K video nor shooting in 10-bit D-Log are available. This wasn't a dealbreaker for me, but the latter was a sorely missed feature since for me color-grading is crucial to achieve a consistent look in my video productions.

After the firmware updates:

• The firmware updates fixed an issue with hyperlapse mode where the app would freeze the screen after each shot, giving the illusion that you had lost connection with the drone. Now the live video is free of interruptions while shooting hyperlapse sequences.

Cruise Control and Waypoint Flight

Two major features were added in the latest firmware updates. The first one, Cruise Control, lets you set a constant speed while you fly the drone and control the gimbal. This feature helps us to obtain cinematic footage by avoiding accidental, unwanted changes in speed. Cruise Control can not only maintain a constant speed but also a constant yaw motion.

You can set one of the customizable buttons of the remote controller to enable, disable, and update Cruise Control while in flight. Beware: if you are changing elevation while setting Cruise Control, a constant elevation motion will also be set, possibly resulting in unintended consequences.

The second firmware update added true Waypoint Flight (i.e., not just in hyperlapse mode), something I was sorely missing when I started writing this article. This feature provides the ability to program flight parameters (e.g., altitude, speed, lens zoom, hovering time, camera action, and either heading and gimbal tilt or Point of Interest), after which the drone flies smoothly from one waypoint (GPS location) to the next.

For my first Waypoint test flight I flew to six points, hovered, and decided what to do next. On my my second test flight I flew continuously and added 22 waypoints in mid-flight by pressing the C1 button. Once you are done setting the flight path, you can go into each individual waypoint and edit its parameters.

The app lets you save a waypoint track as a Flight Plan, that you can fly again and/or edit later. If you need the drone to follow a specific path and a specific set of actions, you can test the flight path and tweak it until you are absolutely satisfied with it. You can also choose the drone action at the end of the flight path (for example, hover, return-to-home) and in the case of losing signal.

I wish Waypoint flight had been available when I was photographing the lunar tides for my film. This feature would have let me photograph the same landscape from the exact same point at low and high tide, whereupon I could have cross-dissolved from one scene to the other or presented them as a split screen.

I was very curious to see how accurately the Mavic 3 Cine could repeat a Waypoint flight, so right after I saved my first test flight, I commanded the drone to re-fly this 6-waypoint flight of almost one minute duration. Below you can see that the accuracy of the Waypoint Flight Path is limited only by the accuracy of the GPS. The results are so impressive that I can't wait until my next opportunity to photograph the lunar tides!

Test of how accurately one can recreate a Flight Path using Waypoints. Top left and right: two recreations of a saved Waypoint flight. Bottom left: the flight path shown on the DJI Fly app map. Bottom right: the recreated path stacked in Difference Mode to better compare them. Notice how similar the two paths are.

Panoramas

Most of the photos I take with drones are shot as panoramas since I love the wide vistas an aerial point of view provides. Since you get all the individual shots (in DNG RAW or JPEG) besides the stitched panorama (in JPEG) you have plenty of options afterwards.

The Mavic 3 Cine offers four kinds of panoramas: Vertical, Wide, 180 Degrees, and Spherical. Vertical shoots 3 photos in 3.5 seconds to cover approximately 128 degrees vertically. Wide shoots 9 photos in 14 seconds to cover almost 180 degrees horizontally. 180 Degrees shoots 21 photos in 33 seconds to cover more than 180 degrees horizontally, and Spherical shoots 25 photos in 40 seconds to cover 360 degrees horizontally and 125 degrees vertically—from the nadir to 35 degrees above the horizon.

Wide panorama composed of 9 photos shot in Auto Exposure Mode and stitched in Adobe Lightroom. F2.8, ISO 100. Höfn, Iceland.

Most of the panoramas I shoot with the Mavic 3 Cine are Spherical – as long as I have time and battery charge – and I use either Adobe Lightroom or PTGui to select all or a subset of the images to provide the field of view that I need. Another advantage of Spherical panoramas is that in post I can choose the orientation (yaw) of the final image.

What's good:

• The Mavic 3 automatically stitches the photos (a process that takes from 11 to 40 seconds depending on the type of panorama) and lets me preview the result while still in the air.

What needs improvement:

• When my unit shot panoramas in the Wide format a subset of the photos were tilted with respect to horizon, resulting in warped panoramas. DJI customer support had no immediate solution and asked me to send the drone for service; this was the second issue that they needed to troubleshoot for me.

Spherical panorama composed of 25 photos shot in Auto Exposure Mode and stitched in PTGui with a 'tiny planet' projection. F2.8, ISO 100. Jökulsárlón, Iceland.

DJI RC-N1 Remote Controller

The Mavic 3 Cine was my first drone with a dedicated remote control and I have no interest in going back to a control that requires the cumbersome setup of a smartphone. The RC-N1 remote controller's internal rechargeable battery can be charged in 90 minutes (via a 15V USB charger) and operates the controller for 3 hours. The last two firmware updates, v04.17.0800 and v04.17.0300, should get you a stable experience with only one bug I noticed.

What's good:

• The RC-N1 features a bright 1920 x 1080 14cm (5.5") screen in a fairly compact and ergonomically designed controller.
• Many features available on the app via touchscreen can also be accessed directly via 4 programmable custom buttons and 2 dials. I have programmed these to control gimbal behavior and access camera exposure settings. For example, by pressing the C1 button I can instantly point the camera downward to either explore my location or take photos from straight above.
• The controller makes it easy to take screenshots and record the screen.

The one bug:

• When I open the DJI Fly app while the the controller is in Cine Mode, the app erroneously shows that the Mode switch is set to Normal. In order to set it to Cine I have to switch it to Normal and then to Cine again. This is clearly a bug and I hope DJI resolves it in the future.

Is the Mavic 3 Cine a good drone for pros?

The answer to this question when I started writing this article was: 'almost.' The DJI Mavic 3 Cine is the drone I have enjoyed using the most. I'm very happy with the image quality, and the ability to shoot in D-Log ProRes 422 is definitely a plus for me. Its APAS 5.0 system is very impressive and I like how its smooth avoidance results in videos that can be used in professional productions.

With DJI's recent addition of the feature that I was missing the most, Waypoints, plus Cruise Control, I have changed my answer to: 'definitely.' I am very pleased with how DJI has rolled our new features for the Mavic 3 Cine. Yes, it would it have been better to get all these features from the start, especially for my films. But it's better than the alternative of never getting them at all. Keep them coming, DJI!

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