so ive had the Air 3 for about 8 months now and honestly love it, no complaints really. but i keep seeing the Air 3S pop up everywhere and the main thing people keep pointing to is the 1 inch sensor and the low light performance. problem is i mostly fly on weekends, nothing professional, just landscapes and the occasional family trip video thing.

my question is whether anyone who actually made the switch feels like its a genuine step up in day to day use or if its one of those specs-on-paper upgrades that you dont really notice unless youre pixel peeping on a big monitor. the price difference isnt small and im not made of money lol. curious what people actually think who fly both

honestly? for casual use probably not worth it. i flew the Air 3 for a while before getting the 3S and yeah the low light is noticeably better but like... how often are you actually shooting in low light conditions on a weekend trip. the Air 3 footage still looks great and unless you're grading heavily in post you're probably not going to care. save the money or put it toward ND filters or a better bag or something

I actually made the jump about two months ago and I think it depends on what you shoot. For me the difference showed up more than I expected ? I do a lot of early morning flights where the light is still pretty soft and the 3S handles that really well without the noise getting gross. but if youre flying midday landscapes in good light the Air 3 is genuinely fine. I dont think you NEED to upgrade, but if you can find a good deal on a used one or sell your Air 3 for decent resale value it might make the math work better than you think