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  • (whimsical music)

  • - Here's the thing,

  • I'm a bit torn.

  • DJI's Mini 2 has been one of my favorite drones.

  • They have the perfect balance

  • between good enough image quality,

  • fantastic portability, and decent price.

  • And every single time when somebody,

  • especially a new drone pilot ask me

  • which drone they should buy,

  • the answer is pretty much always the DJI's Mini 2.

  • So DJI recently announced the Mini 3 Pro

  • and made a very strong case

  • that this drone should be your next best hobbyist drone.

  • It has a bigger camera sensor, 4K60, HDR video,

  • larger aperture, 48 megapixel photos,

  • obstacle avoidance sensor.

  • It is jam packed with new features,

  • but it's also a lot more expensive than the Mini 2,

  • so why am I torn?

  • Well, my review process was really a mixed bag.

  • (energetic upbeat music)

  • Okay, quick disclaimer,

  • I didn't have any ND filters for this drone,

  • they're not part of the Fly More Pro Bundle.

  • So some clips do look a bit choppy.

  • And since this aperture goes down all the way to f/1.7,

  • my shutter speeds were highly wild,

  • wildly high.

  • Don't let that cloud your judgment

  • when you're looking at video quality here.

  • Got it? All right.

  • Let's get into it.

  • Starting with the hardware.

  • Compared to the Mini 2, the Mini 3 Pro

  • is just ever so slightly larger.

  • It's a bit longer, a bit taller and a bit wider when folded,

  • but you will notice it when it's unfolded.

  • The wingspan is much larger,

  • which means this drone is not quite as nimble

  • as the Mini 2.

  • And you can definitely feel the difference

  • in greater inertia when you're flying this drone.

  • It is a completely new design

  • and it still achieves that 249 grams of weight

  • when used with the standard 37-minute battery.

  • Although it does go over 250 grams of weight

  • when you're using the brand new, bigger $95 battery,

  • that gives you amazing 47 minutes of flight time,

  • but, but I've been having a lot of issues

  • with all those batteries.

  • So whenever I would switch to Sport Mode

  • and just fly for fun,

  • or I'm trying to get to the point of interest quickly,

  • I would get a battery load error.

  • Especially during windy conditions,

  • and when the drone needs to work extra hard

  • to keep itself balanced.

  • It either just comes to a full stop

  • or it starts losing altitude like in this clip

  • that you're watching right now.

  • It doesn't look as bad since the footage it stabilizes,

  • but it's very anxiety inducing,

  • just looking at your drone with naked eye,

  • just sort of doing its own thing.

  • So, okay.

  • I just heard back from DJI

  • and they say that what I've been doing

  • is flying under extreme wind conditions,

  • which I do admit, there were days

  • when it was extremely windy,

  • but there were also days when it wasn't as windy.

  • And just by flying drones for like 7 to 10 years now,

  • you sort of developed this like sixth sense

  • when you kind of know if it's too windy or not.

  • And more often than not,

  • I was getting the battery load error

  • in the flights that it didn't seem

  • like it was going to be too windy.

  • So to summarize,

  • yes, the Mini 3 Pro can handle high winds,

  • but the battery in the Mini 3 Pro might not be able to.

  • (lively upbeat music)

  • One new hardware thing are the obstacle sensors.

  • Mini 2 never had any,

  • but the Mini 3 Pro has a pair of front and at the bottom.

  • They create a tri-directional obstacle avoidance forward,

  • backwards, and below,

  • and open up options for autonomous flying.

  • Things like Hyperlapse, MasterShots,

  • ActiveTrack paired with APAS 4.0,

  • which means the drone can follow you around

  • and avoid trees and buildings and such.

  • But the thing you need to know about ActiveTrack

  • and APAS is that it does not work above 4K30.

  • And it also does not work in Portrait Mode,

  • which is a real bummer.

  • I personally rarely fly with sensors on,

  • but it is a good extra layer of protection,

  • most people really care for it.

  • It did successfully follow me

  • around walking into woods, backwards and forward,

  • but once I have switched to that profile Follow,

  • so it can follow me from the side.

  • It literally hit a tree like seconds later.

  • And this actually isn't my only crash

  • with the Mini 3 Pro.

  • While filming this ski lift right here.

  • I tilted my camera upwards

  • and that's when the drone just started

  • to descent slowly straight into the ground.

  • I wasn't able to stop it or change directions or anything.

  • I truly have no idea what happened here.

  • I shared the flight logs with DJI

  • and I will pin the comment as soon as I hear back.

  • Lastly, while I was sharing my flight logs with DJI,

  • I noticed yet another suspicious behavior

  • with the Mini 3 Pro.

  • While the drone was connected to my PC,

  • and it was extracting flight logs

  • with the DJI assistant app.

  • It started to overheat, just by having it running idle

  • and not in flight for longer periods of time.

  • It would start to overheat,

  • and it would eventually turn itself off.

  • So I talked to DJI about it.

  • And what they said is that

  • in order to achieve the 249 grams of weight,

  • they had to remove the internal fan from the Mini 3,

  • which does cost the chip to overheat when idle.

  • In flight, cooling is achieved with the help

  • from rear propellers to feed the air

  • into the set of holes right here.

  • DJI says, "There's nothing to worry about.

  • The internal thermometer will power off the drone

  • in order to avoid any further damage."

  • And it should have enough time for firmware updates,

  • wirelessly transfer photos using QuickTransfers,

  • but I still find this whole thing a bit awkward.

  • Okay.

  • I think it's time to move on and talk about the good stuff.

  • And that is image quality.

  • (dramatic upbeat music)

  • So compared to the previous Mini 2,

  • the leap in image quality is immediately evident

  • and is achieved through a number of things.

  • First, there's the larger sensor

  • and the larger f/1.7 aperture.

  • Larger sensor just helps with overall image clarity,

  • and larger aperture lets more light hit that sensor.

  • So your night images are looking a whole lot better.

  • Here, I'm flying the Mini 2 with it's 2.8 aperture,

  • and I have to keep my ISO at 3,200.

  • With the Mini 3, that number is closer to ISO 800.

  • That's a big difference between the two.

  • Mini 3 Pro also has dual native ISO,

  • so your night videos really do look great.

  • I mean, it's still a small sensor,

  • so you know, it looks good.

  • Also the Mini 2 never actually had Cinelike profiles.

  • So the Mini 3 just has a lot more detail

  • to work within post production, too.

  • Few other things that improve this drone

  • is that it can now film 4K60,

  • and it can film HDR video.

  • Just know that HDR video only works up to 4K30.

  • There is a slight improvement in video quality

  • while filming in HDR,

  • but it doesn't necessarily make me wanna choose 24

  • or 30 frames per second instead of 60.

  • I mostly shot in 60 because,

  • again, I didn't have ND filters.

  • And also lately I just been shooting

  • in 4K60 for my personal drone work.

  • And I didn't feel like I was missing out

  • by not having HDR on,

  • and I just kept filming in Cinelike profile.

  • Mini 2 never reached 4K60,

  • so I'm really pleased to see it here.

  • (energetic upbeat music)

  • And the last thing that really makes

  • this drone stand out is the ability to film vertical videos

  • and photos natively just by rotating its gimbal.

  • I love this feature so much.

  • I love being able to film a 9:16 ratio

  • instead of cropping regular 16:9 video.

  • Even when it comes to photos,

  • I love being able to take vertical photos natively.

  • Before the rotating nimble,

  • you would have to take three separate images

  • that DJI app would more or less be able

  • to stitch together correctly.

  • Plus it's just way easier and more fun to frame up

  • and compose your photos that way

  • instead of doing the three image stitching.

  • It's a different mindset and I missed it.

  • Also this way, you get that native wide-angle distortion,

  • just as Lance Scott intended.

  • Okay. I really like this feature.

  • Lastly, there's also Digital Zoom on this drone

  • except it also does not work in 4K60.

  • I don't love Digital Zoom,

  • but it does mean you could do fun things

  • like valley zoom clips

  • or help you locate other drones flying near you.

  • Hey there, drone buddy.

  • (lively upbeat music)

  • And when it comes to photos, I think they look really good.

  • Despite the large f/1.7 aperture.

  • There's really not a massive drop off in sharpness

  • even in the corner of the images.

  • It looks really nice.

  • JPEGs you get from the drone are sharp, rich, and vibrant.

  • You can take either 12 megapixel photos

  • or turn on the 48 megapixels photos.

  • And 12 megapixels photos look really good.

  • And honestly, I don't see a lot of improvements

  • when turning on the 48 megapixel ones.

  • It's actually quite the opposite.

  • So let's pixel peak.

  • So as you can see this example here,

  • the night photos actually show a little bit more noise

  • in the shadow here.

  • This next side by side photo reveals

  • a couple of things I wanna focus on.

  • First, I don't necessarily see a lot more detail

  • between the two.

  • Zooming in on the plants here on the side of the building,

  • these two photos look very similar to me.

  • Next, the two photos display colors differently.

  • The 12 megapixel ones lean more

  • towards the green hue,

  • and the 48 megapixel one leads more towards purple.

  • You can see it in the buildings in the back,

  • but you can definitely see it

  • on this road sidewalk down here.

  • I pick a cleaner photo over more pixels

  • any day of the week and Sunday.

  • I'm not using that.

  • Also just really enjoy editing raw photos

  • from the DJI drones, including this one.

  • Here's a challenging shot of the lifeguard chair

  • during a sunset.

  • But there's so much information to play with

  • for a nice clean edit.

  • And just to prove that point further,

  • I'm dragging the exposure slider back and forth.

  • Look how much you can get out of a single raw.

  • It is awesome.

  • (energetic upbeat music)

  • Okay, so this leaves us with one less thing to talk about

  • and that is the new DJI RC.

  • It's a remote controller with a built-in screen,

  • so you no longer have to use your phone.

  • It is a smaller version of DJI's RC Pro,

  • which itself is great,

  • but it's also super expensive

  • and fairly heavy to lug around for long time.

  • The screen isn't as bright.

  • And you will notice that if your use of the RC Pro.

  • The battery's fantastic I would charge it

  • every now and then, but it was never a point of worry.

  • I probably got around 30 or more flights

  • when I first charge him back to 100%.

  • But the only thing I think I was missing

  • is the physical back button.

  • The software itself was a bit slower.

  • So there's always a split second of doubt,

  • when you're wondering if you're actually press

  • the back button on the screen.

  • And what annoying thing is

  • that DJI is making the controller work only

  • with the Mini 3 Pro at launch.

  • And to make things even worse,

  • you won't be able to buy it as a standalone product.

  • I really hope that changes soon.

  • (energetic upbeat music)

  • And if you do decide to buy the bundle

  • with the DJI RC included, it'll cost you $909.

  • The bundle with the standard remote will cost you $759.

  • And DJI's doing something new this time around.

  • You can buy just a drone without any remotes,

  • if you happen to already have one.

  • That option would cost you $669.

  • And you can also add the $189 Fly More Kit,

  • which includes two extra batteries,

  • carrying case, more propellers, charging hub,

  • or you can get the $249 Fly More Pro Kit,

  • which gives you all the things above

  • except swaps the standard batteries with the extended ones.

  • So basically, you're looking at 30% increase in price

  • over the Mini 2 Fly More Combo, which still is $600.

  • And that seems to be the current trend with DJI drones.

  • Each one of them is becoming more and more expensive.

  • And I get it, you're getting a lot more

  • than you ever did with the Mini 2.

  • So you can sort of justify that price,

  • but it's no longer an entry-level drone.

  • But hey, this is the Mini 3 Pro.

  • Perhaps, we'll get a non-pro version next summer.

  • (energetic upbeat music)

  • Mini 2 was and still is an incredible drone

  • with great battery, portability, connectivity,

  • good enough image quality, and price.

  • And the Mini 3 Pro drastically improves

  • of one of those things, which is the image quality.

  • And it's probably the thing that I care about most.

  • So I am torn because I also need to trust my drone

  • that it's not gonna fall out this sky,

  • and a lot of the time during this review, I didn't.

  • I felt like something could go wrong.

  • Hopefully this issues could be addressed

  • before the drones started shipping to consumers this summer.

  • One time that I was flying,

  • it was so windy that I couldn't could not land the drone.

  • So what I did,

  • I just crashed it into the building on purpose. (chuckles)

  • And that was the only way I could land the drone.

  • But it's totally fine.

  • Which means that this drone is pretty robust.

  • Thanks for watching.

(whimsical music)

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B1 drone pro aperture image quality megapixel sensor

What I learned from 60 flights with DJI’s new drone

  • 85 4
    林宜悉 posted on 2022/03/25
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UK /ˌnesəˈserəli/

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