Is this the expected DJI Mavic 4? The drone community is getting excited by a tweeted video frame showing a stickered drone by a bag which doesn't look quite like the DJI Air 3 or the Mavic 3 Pro, so conclusions are starting to be drawn.
The poster, Jasper Ellens, speculated that a "Public beta tester left his #mavic4" before adding "Could this be the widely desired 1 inch?"
But, wait, the Mavic 3 boasts a 4/3 sensor – bigger than 1-inch – so that would seem a step backward. What gives?
Public beta tester left his #mavic4 on the streets to be caught on video by a bystander. We see a air 3 like design but with a larger camera we recognize from the Mavic 3 pro. Could this be the widely desired 1 inch? I'll take a long shot: August 1st pic.twitter.com/OikebTGbMKJune 12, 2024
It seems there is a little confusion because there is a degree of desire to see a 1-inch image sensor in the DJI Air series of drones. The DJI Air 3 actually offers a smaller image sensor (but two of them) in comparison to its predecessor, and a 1-inch sensor would be seen as a desirable upgrade, at least by some, in that cetegory.
It's also true that the styling of the airframe in the image looks distinctly Air-like, though the camera block (in so far as it can be discerned) might be more like the bigger block on the Mavic 3 series drones.
Drone site DroneDJ reported on an apparently faked Air 3S leak a few weeks ago which wasn't corroborated by any good sources, but clearly has had tongues wagging, which might explain why people are thinking about a 3S (and Mavic 4 – the time would be about right too).
Ellens is, however, a better source historically, so perhaps he's alluding to the idea of a true 1-inch sensor, in the photography sense, as opposed to the video sense. Or, perhaps he means the secondary cameras will get 1-inch sensors which would actually be an upgrade.
A 1-inch sensor that is actually an inch across would be a very different size to what is called "1-inch" by the video industry, which is actually only 13.2 x 8.8 mm for historical reasons (half an inch on the long side) – as explained by my colleague in "Camera sensor sizes are stupid."
Ellens also seems to know something about a launch date – guessing August 1st.
Until then, we can content ourselves by checking the best DJI drones and the best camera drones and keeping an eye on any which, if any, might come up for a discount!
