A couple of 12 months in the past, I owned a DJI Mini 2, which I bought and determined to get the Air 2S. This won’t be a comparability between the Mini 4 Professional and the Air 2S.
I liked the Mini 2 and will deliver it anyplace I went to create memorable footage.
Nonetheless, there have been options that I needed it had, and a number of other different pilots shared the identical thought. DJI tried introducing these options within the Mini 3 Professional, which was and remains to be an incredible launch.
However now DJI has knocked the Mini drone recreation out of the park with the brand new launch, the DJI Mini 4 Professional.
On this assessment, I’ll share extra about these drones, their similarities and variations, and why I favor the Mini 4 Professional over the Mini 2.
DJI Mini 4 Professional Overview
The DJI Mini 4 Professional is the newest launch from DJI and the final word Mini drone in the mean time.
Under is a spotlight of its options.
- Two flight time choices permit for a variety of actions and are longer than these of earlier drones.
- 360-degree impediment avoidance for safer flight.
- A follow-me characteristic for creating gorgeous footage of out of doors actions.
- Vertical taking pictures mode for creating high-quality portrait photographs.
- Weighs lower than 250 grams, making it very moveable.
- Superior clever flight modes for creating gorgeous footage with ease.
- Improved transmission system for higher efficiency for brief and long-range flights.
- D-Log and HLG functionality provide extra room for post-processing.
- 1/1.3-inch sensor dimension, an honest dimension for a drone of this dimension.
» MORE: DJI Mini 4 Professional Assessment (Is It Price to Improve?)
DJI Mini 2 Overview
The DJI Mini 2 was among the finest Mini drones for a very long time, providing a variety of options whereas sustaining an excellent weight.
Even with the discharge of the Mini 3 Professional and the Mini 4 Professional, beneath are the options that may nonetheless make this drone a very good choice.
- Excessive-quality most footage decision for a drone its dimension on the time of launch.
- Weight of lower than 250 grams for portability.
- RAW and JPEG footage choices relying on what you wish to do with the footage.
- Clever flight modes like Quickshots and Panoramas for creating cinematic photographs extra simply.
- OcuSync 2.0, which presents respectable connectivity for short-range flights.
- Fundamental security options like imaginative and prescient sensors, GPS, and computerized RTH to make sure a secure flight.
- Compatibility with third-party apps due to the SDK availability.
» MORE: DJI Mini 2 Assessment
Fast Verdict
The DJI Mini 4 Professional is the higher drone of the 2.
It combines all of the options we wished all the opposite Mini drones had.
These options embody ActiveTrack, Impediment Avoidance, Waypoints, a bigger sensor, and even added options like Vertical Capturing, Cruise Management, Waypoints, and Night time Mode.
The DJI Mini 4 Professional and the DJI Mini 2 goal the identical viewers: informal customers in search of a drone that may do extra with out spending 1000’s of {dollars}, however the Mini 4 Professional comes with much more options.
Whereas the Mini 4 Professional seems prefer it obliterates the DJI Mini 2, individuals with lower than $500 in search of their first drone may nonetheless use it.
But when it can save you up for the Mini 4 Professional, you’ll get far more to your {dollars}.
» MORE: DJI Mini 4 Professional – Preliminary Setup (Unboxing to First Flight with Video)
What are the variations?
DJI Mini 4 Professional vs. Mini 2: What’s new?
As talked about earlier, the DJI Mini 4 Professional is a way more upgraded model of the DJI Mini 2:
- Longer flight time – The DJI Mini 2 has an honest flight time, however the DJI Mini 4 Professional presents much more flight time with its two battery choices.
- Extra flight modes – The Mini 4 Professional packs much more clever flight modes, a few of which we beforehand solely noticed in additional superior drones just like the Mavic 3 collection drones.
- Upgraded flight modes – Apart from including new modes, the Mini 4 Professional additionally upgrades current ones.
- Bigger sensor – Whereas the scale distinction isn’t that giant, it nonetheless counts and exhibits that DJI could at some point add a fair greater sensor with out compromising the burden and design of the Mini drones.
- Vertical taking pictures mode – A characteristic we first noticed within the Mini 3 Professional, it takes Mini drones to a complete new degree, contemplating much more superior drones don’t include it.
» MORE: DJI Mini 4 Professional vs. Mavic 3 Sequence (Right here’s My Selection)
DJI Mini 4 Professional
DJI has been upgrading their Mini line drones for some time now, and launched in 2023, the DJI Mini 4 Professional is presently the head.
The Mini drones are designed to be compact, light-weight, and user-friendly, making them accessible to a broader viewers, together with newbies and leisure customers.
These drones attraction to customers who could not require the superior options present in DJI’s higher-end fashions however nonetheless desire a dependable and succesful drone for capturing aerial footage.
» MORE: Does DJI RC Professional Work with Air 3 (Answered)
The lowered weight and compact design additionally make these drones fall inside particular regulatory classes that will exempt them from extra stringent necessities in some areas.
DJI began with the DJI Mini drone in 2019, they usually have been on a relentless ascent. At its peak, the Mini 4 Professional presents probably the most options we now have seen in a drone.
DJI Mini 4 Professional (with DJI RC 2)
- 4K HDR Video Digicam
- Below 0.549lbs/249g
- 34 Minutes Flight Time
- 20 km Max Video Transmission Distance
- Omnidirectional Imaginative and prescient Sensing
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11/23/2023 05:56 pm GMT
DJI Mini 2
Launched in 2020, we may regard the DJi Mini 2 because the Toyota Corolla of Mini drones.
It was not the primary within the collection; it got here second, bettering on the options of the primary DJi Mini.
The digicam, flight options, security options, and ease of use are precisely what some drone customers are in search of in a drone.
And regardless of DJI releasing different drones, the DJI Mini 2 remains to be thought-about a really dependable drone and a workhorse.
DJI Mini 2
Ultralight and Foldable Drone Quadcopter, 3-Axis Gimbal with 4K Digicam, 12MP Picture, 31 Minutes Flight Time, OcuSync 2.0 10km HD Video Transmission, QuickShots, Grey.
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11/23/2023 02:26 pm GMT
Head-to-Head Comparability
Weight and Design
Winner: Tie
As highlighted a number of instances, DJI didn’t change the burden when upgrading these drones. They each weigh lower than 250 grams and have a foldable design.
Nonetheless, they did make the DJi Mini 4 Professional a number of inches bigger to accommodate the sensors and gimbal design, however not as massive because the Air 2S, Air 3, or the Mavic 3 drones.
However the remaining, together with the flight ergonomics like pace, are related. Each fashions shall be splendid in the event you prioritize a drone’s weight and portability.
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Picture and video recording
Winner: DJI Mini 4 Professional
All issues thought-about, you stand to get higher footage with the DJI Mini 4 Professional than you’d with the DJI Mini 2. Under are the primary the reason why.
- Sensor dimension – For starters, it has a bigger sensor (1/1.3) than the DJI Mini 2’s 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor. An even bigger sensor is all the time higher. It performs higher underneath low mild, offers you higher-quality footage, and provides you extra room for enhancing because it captures extra colours.
Regardless that each the Mini 2 and the Mini 4 Professional seize 12MP stills, the bigger sensor makes an enormous distinction within the high quality of footage you get. Nonetheless, the Mini 4 Professional additionally captures 48MP, which remains to be the 12MP enhanced by the Quadbayer method. There’s all the time a debate on whether or not the Quadbayer 48MP is healthier than the true 12MP, so that you’ll have to check them. I discovered the 12MP of a bigger sensor would suffice in lots of functions.
- Extra room for gimbal motion – The DJI Mini 2’s gimbal didn’t transfer sufficient to have the ability to take vertical photographs. And in the event you pressured it to, you’d discover some twitching. DJI modified the gimbal design with the DJI Mini 4 Professional, permitting it to maneuver even additional. This design change additionally allowed the gimbal to vary from panorama to portrait orientation to take vertical photographs.
- Vertical taking pictures – Talking of vertical taking pictures, one of many causes I received the Mini 2 is to create gorgeous footage of the locations I go to. Nonetheless, I usually needed to crop to put up on social media, which consumed time and typically lowered the footage high quality. With vertical taking pictures inbuilt, you’ll be able to shortly seize and share footage with out a lot enhancing.
- 10-bit D-Log M and HLG functionality – The DJI Mini 2 comes with the usual colour profile, which doesn’t offer you sufficient flexibility for post-processing duties like including new colours. DJI Mini 4 Professional modifications that by introducing HLG and D-Log M.
- Superior digicam options – The Mini 2 comes with 4K at 30fps, which is nice sufficient since most platforms deal with 25 to 30 fps. The Mini 4 Professional, alternatively, can shoot in 4K at 60fps HDR and 4K at 100fps. Many media productions use 60 fps, and if you’d like cinematic slow-motion footage, the 100 fps would turn out to be useful.
- Night time mode – One other characteristic that we solely noticed in additional superior drones, the Night time Mode reduces noise and adjusts the ISO mechanically to present you higher nighttime or low-light photographs. So that you not solely get a much bigger sensor however low-light imagery can also be enhanced.
As a lot as it’s possible you’ll be in search of a newbie drone, the newest technological developments have made it doable to suit extra superior options in smaller drones.
An even bigger sensor, higher footage, and extra digicam options make the Mini 4 Professional well worth the increased price.
» MORE: Digicam Expertise in Drones (Defined)
Third-party compatibility
Winner: DJI Mini 2
That is one purpose I nonetheless want I’d have saved the DJI Mini 2.
Whereas it didn’t have some options that some pilots needed, DJI launched SDK functionality, enabling it to work with third-party apps like Litchi.
I used Litchi to provoke Observe Me and Waypoints to create footage, which labored nice.
There are plenty of different options that you could possibly unlock with a third-party app.
Many of the options you wanted an SDK to unlock within the Mini 2 are actually constructed within the Mini 4 Professional, however in the event you can’t get the Mini 4 Professional, having the choice to unlock a number of the options helps.
It will likely be a while earlier than DJI releases the SDK for the Mini 4 Professional. And since they launched the Mini 3 Professional’s SDK nearly a 12 months later, we could not get it quickly.
Whereas the Mini 2 wins on this class, it lacks some security options that restrict how properly you’ll be able to make the most of the options you unlock.
If the SDK functionality is a deal breaker, contemplate the Mini 3 Professional, which isn’t as superior because the Mini 4 Professional however is a number of steps forward of the Mini 2.
» MORE: DJI Fly App Appropriate Units (& Troubleshooting)
Clever flight modes
Winner: DJI Mini 4 Professional
DJI went all in with the DJI Mini 4 Professional, including clever flight modes we had wished they might add however by no means thought doable.
The DJI Mini 2 solely got here with Quickshots and Panoramas.
The QuickShots characteristic lets you mechanically create footage in pre-built flight patterns akin to Helix, Dronie, Orbit, Circle, and Boomerang.
The Mini 4 Professional comes with Quickshots and Panoramas and the next further options:
- Cruise management – I used to be stunned to see this characteristic on the Mini 4 Professional and didn’t know I wanted it till I received to make use of it. This characteristic permits the drone to fly at a relentless pace repeatedly. In instances after I wish to keep a relentless pace for a shot, this characteristic is useful.
- Waypoints – This is among the options that one may unlock with a third-party app on the Mini 2. It lets you pre-program complicated maneuvers, which the drone will effectively execute. It additionally works nice when you could create a time-lapse of a characteristic taken on the similar angle however at totally different instances to showcase the progress.
- ActiveTrack 360 – DJI not solely added a comply with me characteristic, however they added a extra upgraded model that lets you observe the topic from any path. The Mini 3 Professional and even my Air 2S can’t try this.
- Mastershots – Mastershots works equally to Quickshots, however as a substitute of separating maneuvers like Dronie and Helix, it combines all of them into one shot, creating some dynamic footage in a single click on.
Whereas the Mini 2 excels in conserving issues handbook, the place it’s a must to execute many of the maneuvers your self, having them inbuilt makes issues simpler and much more correct, saving you time and battery life.
» MORE: Good Options in Drones (Defined for Newcomers)
Flight time
Winner: DJI Mini 4 Professional
The DJI Mini 2 got here with a 31-minute battery, which might go for about 25 minutes in precise use, which was nonetheless nice.
However the DJi Mini 4 Professional improves on that by introducing a 34-minute and 45-minute battery, although the latter is simply obtainable in choose areas.
You continue to get about 28 to 31 minutes of flight time in an precise flight, which is respectable.
And in case you are fortunate to be in areas the place the 45-minute battery is allowed, you get much more flight time.
Nonetheless, the latter makes the drone weigh greater than 250 grams, however that’s a compromise I’d be keen to accommodate.
» MORE: Drone Batteries (In-Depth Data)
Impediment avoidance
Winner: DJI Mini 4 Professional
Whilst you may unlock options like ActiveTrack and Waypoints on the DJI Mini 2 with third-party apps, one factor was nonetheless a difficulty: it lacked impediment avoidance.
This limits how properly you should utilize it because the complete level of computerized flight is the drone ought to be capable to keep away from obstacles by itself.
DJI modified all that by including 360-degree impediment sensors and an upgraded APAS system that makes avoiding the obstacles smoother.
This makes the clever modes extra sensible because you don’t have to fret about crashing into obstacles on the best way.
Nonetheless, exercising warning when flying in areas with obstacles is a good suggestion since these methods aren’t all the time 100% correct.
» MORE: Impediment Avoidance in DJI Drones (Defined for Newcomers)
Vary
Winner: DJI Mini 4 Professional
The DJi Mini 2 got here with OcuSync 2, which permits a variety of as much as 6.2 miles in optimum circumstances.
Nonetheless, this may be considerably lowered by interference from bushes, energy traces, cell towers, or another impediment.
When utilizing it in an open space for short-range flights, I by no means skilled many points with the vary, however all that may shortly change with the slightest quantity of interference.
The Mini 4 Professional introduces the OcuSync 4.0, which guarantees a variety of as much as 12 miles. This improved system comes with 6 antennas, an enormous improve from the OcuSync 2.0 that has two.
This, coupled with the upgraded {hardware} and software program, improves the drone’s efficiency in areas with obstacles and permits higher high quality transmission in additional opposed circumstances.
» MORE: Lengthy Vary Drones: Final Information
Controllers
Winner: DJI Mini 4 Professional
The DJI Mini 2 is simply appropriate with the DJI RC-N1, a really ergonomic controller the place you place a smartphone on the prime as a substitute of on the backside, as we noticed in earlier drones just like the Mavic 2 Professional.
Nonetheless, DJI has been upping their controller recreation too.
They began by introducing the DJI RC with the DJI Mini 3 Professional. The DJI RC has an inbuilt display screen, eliminating the necessity for smartphones and making deploying the drone a lot simpler.
With the Mini 4 Professional, they’ve launched the DJI RCN2, an improve to the RCN1, and the DJI RC 2, an improve to the DJI RC.
These controllers look related, however the newer variations have a number of design modifications, together with further antennas and compatibility with the brand new O4 system.
Sadly, these newer controllers aren’t appropriate with the DJI Mini 2.
» MORE: DJI RC 2 Assessment (Every thing You Must Know)
Conclusion
Having used each of those drones, I can affirm that the Mini 4 Professional is the Mini drone everybody needs they’d.
A greater digicam, extra clever flight modes, superior security options, longer flight time, and monitoring whereas nonetheless sustaining portability make it the proper drone for informal customers, newbies, and anybody in search of an reasonably priced drone to accompany them of their actions.
The Mini 2 nonetheless goes down as some of the dependable drones.
And in the event you don’t suppose you’ll use the Impediment Avoidance, vertical taking pictures, or another upgrades that include the Mini 4 Professional, otherwise you’re on a finances and might’t afford the Mini 4 Professional, the Mini 2 remains to be value a shot.
It’s also possible to go for the Mini 3, which is a little more costly than the Mini 2, and also you get the identical sensor dimension because the one within the Mini 4 Professional with out the opposite upgrades.
If you happen to already personal the Mini 2, the Mini 4 Professional is a worthy improve.
And in case you are available in the market for a mini drone and have the finances for it, the Mini 4 Professional remains to be your best option.
» MORE: DJI Mini 4 Professional vs. Air 3 (Right here’s My Selection)
