so ive had the Mavic 3 Classic for about 8 months now and mostly been flying it in fields and parks near home, pretty boring stuff honestly. last weekend my partner and i drove down to the coast and i finally got to fly it somewhere actually worth filming and man the difference is just... yeah.

the wind was picking up a bit, maybe 15-18mph gusts coming off the water and i was honestly nervous about it at first but the thing just locked in like it was nothing. i had it hovering maybe 40m out over the water and it barely drifted. ActiveTrack was tracking my partner walking along the cliff path and it held her beautifully even when i was wrestling with the controller a bit in the wind.

one thing i did notice though ? battery drain was noticeably faster than in calm conditions. i knew this would happen but it was still a bit of a gut punch watching the percentage drop. ended up getting maybe 22 mins of actual useful flight out of each battery instead of the usual 28-30 i get at home.

anyone else fly coastal a lot? curious if there are any ND filter setups people swear by for that kind of bright overcast sky you get near the sea. i was using the ND16 from the fly more kit and it seemed okay but im not sure i nailed the exposure.

coastal flying is the best honestly, nothing beats it. yeah the battery hit in wind is real, i usually just plan for 20min flights max when its breezy and bring all 3 batteries. better to land with something left than push it.

for the overcast coastal light i usually reach for the ND8 or ND16 depending on how bright it is, the ND16 you had sounds right to me. the trick i found was to shoot in D-Log M if you havent already, gives you so much more room to work with the highlights over water ? the reflections can blow out so fast otherwise. takes a bit of getting used to in post but worth it once you get a LUT you like.

the wind resistance on that thing really is impressive, my old Mini 2 would have been all over the place in those conditions. glad you had a good trip, coastal footage is always gorgeous when you get it right. just remember to check local regs if you fly near the water regularly, some of those coastal areas have restricted zones that arent obvious on the map