DJI Air 3 holiday update improves safety, battery, camera features

Just in time for the festive season, DJI has released a huge firmware update for the Air 3 dual-camera drone. The fresh software package comes with a bunch of new features and handy improvements across the board.

You can now update your Air 3 aircraft firmware to v01.00.10.00, while the remote controller firmware can be brought up to v02.00.03.00 for DJI RC 2 and v01.00.06.00 for DJI RC-N2. The DJI Fly app, meanwhile, can be updated to v1.12.4. Here’s what the new firmware brings to the table:

• Adds Auto mode for ActiveShots 360
• Adds Vision Assist
• Adds digital zoom for 12MP photo mode
• Adds Vision Positioning and Obstacle Sensing switch
• Adds Sphere Panorama for the medium telecamera
• Adds support for front arm LED settings in the EASA member states and the UK
• Adds support to make camera parameter settings unaffected by firmware updates. But note that this function will only work if the aircraft firmware is v01.00.06.00 or above before an update occurs
• Optimizes battery auto-discharge strategy
• Fixes some known issues

Also read: DJI Mini 4 Pro gains ton of new features, FPV compatibility

Digging deeper with improvements in the camera and shooting modes, the new Auto mode for ActiveShots 360 enables the DJI Air 3 drone to go beyond just tracking a subject from a certain distance and altitude.

In the manual mode of ActiveShots 360, you can customize the route from multiple directions and use the manual wheel to achieve cinematic camera movements like circling, pulling in, and pulling away. But in the new Auto mode, all you have to do is frame the subject, and your Air 3 will automatically plan and execute the flight route. Even during dynamic shots, it will intelligently switch between multiple perspectives and camera movements.

Additionally, you can now leverage digital zoom on the 24mm wide-angle lens, as long as you have the camera set to 12MP photo mode. Further adding to the options of creative photos is the ability to capture panoramic photos with the 3x camera.

Coming to the new safety elements of this firmware update, you should know that Vision Assist is a feature that will help you anticipate obstacles in every direction during a flight. There are several scenarios where this capability can come in handy and you can read about them in a detailed post here.

Moreover, you now have the ability to disable the downward-facing sensor on the Air 3. This may prove useful in situations where you require a swift landing, such as when flying from a boat or a moving vehicle. Happy flying!

Read more: New DJI RC 2 firmware simplifies export of screen recordings