This week DJI has released the latest edition in its much vaunted drone lineup with the Mavic 3.

There are two new models in this series, with the Mavic 3 designed for enthusiasts and the Mavic 3 Cine aimed at professionals, although there is likely a Pro model somewhere in the works for the Chinese outfit.

In terms of improvements, DJI says it has made changes from tip to tail on this new range. One of the most important among these is the new 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera and 28x hybrid zoom camera that is on offer.

Added to this is omnidirectional obstacle sensors with a maximum 200 metre operating range, as well as redesigned batteries that provide up to 46 minutes of flight time. DJI adds that the newly upgraded hardware and software can process 5.1K video at 50 frames per second, along with support for 4K at 120fps for higher-quality video to capture slow-motion footage.

“DJI Mavic 3’s customized L2D-20c aerial camera embeds a professional-grade 4/3 CMOS sensor with a 24mm prime lens in a sleek and compact form. Rigorous Hasselblad standards for hardware performance and software algorithms allow it to shoot 20MP still images in 12-bit RAW format,” explains a press release for the new drone.

As for the aforementioned Mavic 3 Cine, it sports Apple ProRes 422 HQ encoding for better video processing and an internal 1TB SSD onboard for faster data storage speeds.

“To handle the large amounts of data from the ProRes codec and high frame rate videos, Mavic 3 Cine comes with a built-in 1TB SSD. For a smoother export experience, the new DJI 10Gbps Lightspeed Data Cable helps transfer large data files rapidly,” adds the company.

In terms of local pricing and availability, no details have been shared at the time of writing, but to give you an idea of cost, the Mavic 3 starts at $2 199 (~R33 637). In our experience though, you likely want to go for the Fly More bundle, despite battery life being improved on this model, which costs $2 999 (~R45 850).