DJI Mini 3 Review: Palm-Sized Powerhouse 

Worth When Reviewed

From $469. Mannequin reviewed $858

Greatest Costs Right now: DJI Mini 3

When DJI launched the Mini 2 again in 2020, it addressed a number of the criticisms levelled on the unique Mini. However it nonetheless lacked some options that will have been fascinating equivalent to ActiveTrack, which permits the drone to comply with a topic – an individual or automobile, for instance – whereas flying mechanically.

Then, DJI launched the Mini 3 Professional which had all of the bells and whistles, however got here at a fairly steep price.

Now, although, the corporate has added a extra inexpensive choice: the Mini 3.

It’s related in some ways to the Mini 3 Professional, but in addition lacks a few of its greatest options. And that’s comprehensible: there must be a purpose to nonetheless purchase the Professional.

The query is, do you have to purchase a Mini 3 or not? And that’s a query you’ll be capable to reply by the point you’ve learn the remainder of this evaluate.

Options & design

• Weighs <249g
• As much as 38 minutes of flight time with ultra-light battery
• Appropriate with RC-N1 and DJI-RC remotes

Facet by facet, it’s not straightforward to see the variations between the Mini 3, its predecessor (the Mini 2) and its massive brother, the Mini 3 Professional.

All have the identical kind issue with fold-up arms, a three-axis gimbal that retains the digital camera regular and a battery that slots into the rear.

Jim Martin / Foundry

All weight lower than the essential 250g threshold, which implies they’re exempt from registration in some elements of the world, and in these the place it does nonetheless must be registered, exempt from pilot exams.

You possibly can fly all three drones way more freely than heavier ones, nearer to folks and buildings and over folks.

It’s essential to know and comply with the principles in your space, although.

Jim Martin / Foundry

The Mini 3 makes use of the identical batteries because the Professional however can fly for longer: as much as 38 minutes when utilizing the usual battery. In some locations, together with Australia, you should buy a ‘Plus’ battery that extends flying time to 1 minutes, but it surely’s heavier and means the Mini 3 not counts as a sub-249g drone.

Identical to the Professional, you’ll be able to fly it with the RC-N1 distant, which requires a smartphone, or the dearer DJI RC, which has a built-in display screen and doesn’t want a separate cellphone.

DJI additionally sells the Mini 3 by itself, should you occur to have already got a appropriate distant.

Lacking options

Importantly, the Mini 3 doesn’t have the impediment sensors of the Professional, which implies it’s very like the Mini 2 and received’t cease earlier than crashing right into a tree or the rest.

Jim Martin / Foundry

The opposite main distinction is that it has no monitoring capabilities, so can not lock onto a topic and comply with them just like the Professional can.

It doesn’t have any computerized flying modes in any respect – no Hyperlapse or MasterShots – and may solely carry out a choice of what DJI calls QuickShots. These are computerized, and may circle round you, fly straight up, fly away from you, boomerang away after which again, and corkscrew round you.

These are useful for fast clips to share on social media, however for every thing else, you’ll must pilot and management the place the digital camera factors manually.

The Asteroid QuickShot mode, oddly, isn’t current, simply because it isn’t on the Mini 2.

One other distinction is that the Mini 3 makes use of the lesser O2 video transmission system. This offers a 720p video feed at 30 frames per second as much as 10km away, although in lots of nations you need to fly with the drone in line of sight, so these lengthy ranges aren’t significantly related anyway.

And whereas the digital camera is identical because the Mini 3 Professional’s, its capabilities are curtailed.

Jim Martin / Foundry

There’s no choice to document video in D-Cinelike, which Execs use to allow them to post-process footage, and no choice to shoot at 10-bit.

You wouldn’t count on these on an entry-level drone, however it’s a disgrace that DJI has additionally restricted body price to 30fps at 4K, and 60fps at 2.7K and beneath. This implies no slo-mo. And with out Hyperlapse, meaning you’ll be able to’t actually get any slowed-down or speeded-up footage from the Mini 3 except you ‘faux’ it in a video editor afterwards. And there’s a restrict to how a lot you’ll be able to sluggish it down even should you drop down from 4K so you’ll be able to choose 60fps.

Efficiency

Aside from impediment avoidance, flying the Mini 3 is precisely the identical because the Mini 3 Professional. It’s comparatively quiet and hovers nicely when it has picked up a superb variety of satellites.

It’s simply as fast and manoeuvrable, and has the identical Cinematic, Regular and Sport modes, and the identical wind resistance. You received’t need to fly it on very windy days, however for a light-weight drone, it handles even pretty robust winds nicely, and higher than the Mini 2 does.

Jim Martin / Foundry

It’s reassuring, too that the return-to-home perform will mechanically kick in when there’s solely simply sufficient energy to fly again to the house level, or if the sign from the distant management is ever misplaced. You can even have interaction it manually utilizing a button on the distant, or within the app.

In the event you do lose observe of it, or crash it and may’t see the place it landed, the ‘discover my drone’ perform makes it beep pretty loudly that can assist you.

In fact, the one function the Mini 3 shares with the Professional however is missing from the Mini 2 (and all different earlier Mini fashions) is vertical capturing. Within the app or utilizing a button on the distant, you’ll be able to rotate the gimbal so the digital camera sits vertically, which is what you want if you wish to document vertical video and never lose a great deal of decision.

It’s helpful for a similar purpose when taking portrait pictures, too, though the automated panorama creation on the Mini 2 means it may possibly maintain its personal for vertical pictures because it merely takes a number of and stitches them collectively, resulting in even greater decision.

Listed here are some pictures I took on the Mini 3. It doesn’t can help you entry the complete 48Mp mode, however you’ll be able to shoot in JPEG + RAW concurrently.

Jim Martin / Foundry

Jim Martin / Foundry

Jim Martin / Foundry

Jim Martin / Foundry

Sadly, the panorama modes didn’t work for me: all I discovered have been the person pictures in a Panorama folder on the microSD card, however no precise panoramic photograph. This appears to be all the way down to testing utilizing early software program and {hardware}.

The digital camera has autofocus, however there’s a restrict to how shut it may possibly focus. In the event you’re attempting to take pictures of individuals or objects up shut, they may find yourself blurred. You possibly can faucet on the display screen to give attention to a particular space, however the distant has a half-press for focus lock as nicely.

With nearly an identical video specs to the Mini 2, you would possibly surprise if there’s any level in spending extra on the Mini 3 when the older, cheaper drone can even document 4K at 30fps, has the identical most bitrate of 100Mbps, provides the identical ranges of digital zoom and data in the identical H.264/MP4 format.

The distinction is that the Mini 3’s digital camera has a bigger sensor and a lens with an even bigger f/1.7 aperture. What this implies is it may possibly seize extra gentle than the Mini 2’s digital camera, which in flip means higher high quality video – cleaner, crisper and with higher colors – and an analogous enhance in high quality in low gentle, making night time pictures and movies sharper and extra detailed.

I didn’t have a Mini 2 to seize any comparability pictures, however listed here are a few pictures taken at night time on the Mini 3:

Jim Martin / Foundry

Jim Martin / Foundry

Plus, the Mini 3 can document HDR at its prime decision, however the Mini 2 doesn’t supply HDR in any respect.

Don’t overlook, too, that the Mini 2 can not shoot vertically just like the Mini 3 can, and it’s price noting that QuickShots are supported within the Mini 3’s vertical mode.

One other distinction is that the Mini 3’s gimbal can rotate upwards by 60°, which is much more than the Mini 2’s 20°, and it may possibly additionally transfer additional in different instructions, which implies video is extra secure even in greater winds.

As I stated in my Mini 3 Professional evaluate, you’ll want to know what you’re doing and benefit from the D-Log capturing mode to get the very best high quality out of it.

The actual fact the Mini 3 removes these choices means it’s a lot less complicated to make use of: you simply select the decision and body price and hit the document button. As a facet be aware, it’s irritating that the default video mode is 1080p, so the very first thing you’ll need to do is modify the settings when your first fly the Mini 3. The decision for QuickShots must be set individually: you would possibly in any other case assume you’d already completed it, and surprise why they didn’t look nearly as good as your common 4K footage.

One factor I observed when flying the Mini 3 at night time was that the LEDs, that are solely on the entrance arms, are nearly invisible except it’s dealing with you, they usually flash so slowly that it may be fairly tough to maintain tabs on it towards a darkish sky.

Worth & availability

You should purchase a Mini 3 for $469 / £439, which sounds low cost, however that’s the drone solely, with no distant.

With the RC-N1 (the identical distant you get with the Mini 2), it prices $559/£519, or $110/£100 greater than the Mini 2.

You possibly can as a substitute go for the DJI RC, beneath, which could be very handy in comparison with utilizing your cellphone, however this prices $699/£669.

Jim Martin / Foundry

Then there are Fly Extra bundles, once more with the choice of each distant controls. These include a complete of three batteries, a charger that holds all three, plus a carry bag that holds the drone, distant and batteries.

With the RC-N1, that prices $718/£768, and with the DJI RC prices $858/£828.

You should purchase all of those from DJI immediately, however you’ll additionally discover them at different retailers for precisely the identical costs.

For various choices, learn our roundup of the most effective drones.

Verdict

The Mini 3 could also be a comparatively massive enchancment over the Mini 2, but it surely comes at the next value. With the RC-N1 distant, it’s much more costly, which is able to little question trigger some to resolve to save lots of their cash and go for a Mini 2 as a substitute.

It’s not clear how lengthy DJI will maintain the Mini 2 in its vary, however on the time of writing, there have been some tempting reductions on the Mini 2 and Mini 2 Fly Extra bundles that made it much more interesting.

It’ll be some time earlier than there are any offers on the Mini 3 however if you’d like 4K HDR video, the power to shoot vertically, and have longer flying time, all with out paying an excellent greater value for a Mini 3 Professional, then DJI’s latest sub-250g drone provides a terrific all-round package deal.

In fact, should you can afford extra, the Mini 3 Professional is a way more succesful drone and is definitely price it.