This month marks the 1-year anniversary of the Mini 3 Professional, launched in Might of 2022.
With its launch got here the massive query: Is it well worth the improve from the Mini 2? As with every up to date DJI drone, many additionally questioned if the up to date Mini drone might dwell as much as all of the hype that got here related to it.
One 12 months later, we will say the Mini 3 Professional was not solely well worth the hype however can be an excellent drone for newbies, content material creators, vacationers, and anybody in between.
Would we nonetheless suggest it in 2023?
This text and the included YouTube video are a one-year evaluation of the Mini 3 Professional, aimed toward these considering shopping for a Mini 3 Professional some time after its preliminary launch. Along with this high-level evaluation of the Mini 3 Professional, we’ll additionally give our ideas on why the Mini 3 Professional is a drone to buy in 2023.
Made for the Plenty
One of many many causes the Mini 3 Professional is so profitable is that it doesn’t concentrate on simply one space of drone homeowners, whereas concurrently omitting others.
We’ll briefly take a look at a number of several types of drone homeowners that may get pleasure from utilizing the Mini 3 Professional.
Newcomers
Due to the Mini 3 Professionals’ dimension and weight, new drone homeowners are certain to search out the Mini 3 Professional to be a wonderful drone for his or her wants. The Mini 3 Professional is gentle and fairly agile, one thing these new to the pastime can and can recognize.
With its small dimension and comparatively quiet propellers (as a result of pitch of the props), the Mini 3 Professional just isn’t intimidating nor assuming in any way.
Upon taking it out of the field, one can confidently really feel like “I can fly this”, versus the emotions of trepidation many people Phantom homeowners might need had at unboxing the Phantom line for the primary time after which flying what appeared like an offended hoard of bees.
Furthermore, newbies don’t should cope with the added strain of registering the drone within the US, as it’s underneath 250g.
The Outdoor Kind
Persevering with alongside the strains of dimension and portability, those who mountain bike, hike, or do any sort of outside exercise and wish to movie themselves, will discover the Mini 3 Professional to be a wonderful companion of their gear bag or backpack.
Utilizing a DJI RC, the Mini 3 Professional is ready to deploy slightly shortly and effortlessly. That is oftentimes an enormous plus, as getting within the air within the least period of time would possibly imply the distinction between getting a terrific shot or lacking it altogether.
Moreover, with there being a tri-directional impediment avoidance system, the Mini 3 Professional is safer when flying round obstructions than any of its predecessors, though an omnidirectional system could be absolutely the most secure.
Relating to the avoidance system, the Mini 3 Professional additionally advantages from topic monitoring, one thing these filming themselves open air will profit from.
Social Media & Content material Creators
While you mix the scale, weight, sensors, and vertical taking pictures mode of the Mini 3 Professional, we’re left with a drone that’s fairly able to tackling many filming alternatives introduced by media content material creators.
Like the advantages talked about for the outside sorts, the Mini 3 Professional is well-suited for single-shooting content material creators in the very same methods:
- Light-weight and small footprint, for straightforward journey
- Tri-directional impediment sensing, for Focus Monitor, Highlight, and Energetic Monitor
- Tru vertical taking pictures permits posting to social media websites with out having to crop movies or photos
Professionals
Utilizing the Mini 3 Professional for skilled consumer work might closely rely on what business the Mini 3 Professional can be utilized in.
The Mini 3 Professional can be utilized in a number of conditions for consumer work. Nevertheless, it appears greatest suited as a dependable backup to a most important drone that may have a picture sensor bigger than the Mini 3 Professionals’ 1/1.3″ CMOS sensor.
As an illustration, our firm has, over the previous 12 months, used the Mini 3 Professional for exterior actual property shoots and lakefront imagery and the pictures had been fairly good.
These photos labored effectively, as a result of, for our actual property purchasers and a few of our purchasers in different industries, the pictures are being seen on smaller screens, largely cellular units.
For initiatives that require us to enlarge the photographs for print, we use drones with 1″ sensors.
» MORE: Can the DJI Mini 3 Professional Be Used Professionally?
Construct High quality
If you’re anticipating a rock-solid, bullet-proof drone, the Mini 3 Professional just isn’t that class of drone.
As a substitute, the Mini 3 Professional is constructed from light-weight plastic that, at first contact, might appear to be fairly low-cost. Nevertheless, this light-weight materials aids in preserving the Mini 3 Professional underneath the 250g weight threshold.
Though the Mini 3 Professional would possibly initially feel like a toy drone, upon shut inspection it’s put collectively actually properly, as one would count on from DJI.
For those who twist the drone in hand barely, whereas there may be minimal flexing, it’s not in any respect flimsy or low-cost feeling.
As a facet be aware, one of many issues I actually do like concerning the Mini 3 Professional, which could not appear to be an enormous deal at first, is the truth that in contrast to most of DJIs foldable drones, you possibly can fold/unfold the Mini 3 Professionals legs and arms in any sequence you prefer to, not simply the entrance first or rears first. This lets you get the drone up within the air barely sooner than earlier drones, with out actually pondering an excessive amount of about it.
Dimension & Weight
When one hears DJI Mini (insert mannequin quantity right here), it’s identified instantly that the drone goes to be small and light-weight.
Even with the entire developments added to this third iteration of the Mini line (bigger digital camera and added sensors), the Mini 3 Professionals weight remains to be underneath the 250g threshold.
If attachments are deliberate to be added to the Mini 3 Professional, akin to touchdown gear, propeller guards, and even the bigger capability Plus batteries, the Mini 3 Professional then goes over the 250g mark.
Within the US, many Mini homeowners attempt to keep underneath 250g in order keep away from having to register the drone, as drones underneath 250g don’t must be registered right here within the US.
There are two distinct conditions, nevertheless, the place the Mini 3 Professional would must be registered, these being:
- (As talked about) Including peripherals and/or Plus sized batteries, pushing the burden above 250g, and/or
- Utilizing the Mini 3 Professional for Industrial work, during which case you’d additionally must be Half 107 licensed
» MORE: DJI Mini 3 / Mini 3 Professional: Learn how to Register (Video)
WIND RESISTANCE
As a result of the Mini 3 Professional is a sub 250g drone, it does get pushed round fairly a bit in windy circumstances. Though the Mini 3 Professional is rated to fly safely in 24mph winds, warning is beneficial if doing so.
When it’s that windy out, the winds might drastically change in velocity and route, presumably making it troublesome to fly the drone again to your place, and even worse, inflicting the drone to crash into an individual or object.
With this mentioned, in decently windy circumstances, though the Mini 3 Professional does get blown round, due to the soundness of the 3-axis gimbal, video footage seems very easy and constant.
Battery Life
When the Mini 3 Professional was launched final Might, one of many big attracts was that it had 2 totally different capability batteries: a Customary 2453 mAh possibility and a Plus 3850 mAh possibility.
The Customary possibility battery, which additionally is available in a fly extra combo, has flight instances of as much as 34 minutes, whereas the Plus possibility, which additionally is available in a fly extra combo, boasts flight instances of as much as 47 minutes!
DJI Mini 3 Professional Fly Extra Equipment
Fly Extra Equipment contains two Clever Flight Batteries, a Two-Manner Charging Hub, information cable, shoulder bag, spare propellers, and screws.
We earn a fee when you make a purchase order, at no further price to you.
05/15/2023 01:59 am GMT
Whereas I’ve by no means been in a position to get flight instances of 34 minutes on an ordinary battery, or 47 minutes on the Plus battery, I can confidently say that with the Plus model of batteries, you possibly can certainly get fairly a little bit of flight time.
As a rule of thumb, for battery well being, I typically land between 25% and 30%. The time flying on the Plus battery possibility is so lengthy, I’m genuinely stunned it’s not time to land and alter the battery.
» MORE: Drone Battery Care (All You Must Know)
Imaginative and prescient Sensors
New to the Mini line of DJI drones are the tri-directional imaginative and prescient sensors discovered on the Mini 3 Professional: Entrance, Rear, and Backside.
With the sensors enabled, you’ve gotten 2 choices for impediment avoidance: Bypass and Brake.
- Bypass allows the Mini 3 Professional to scan the rapid space and select one of the simplest ways across the impediment.
- Brake stops the Mini 3 Professional from transferring ahead when it senses an object.
Moreover, you possibly can flip all impediment avoidance off, permitting one to fly the tiny drone near and between numerous obstructions and gaps.
Now that the Mini 3 Professional now has 2 new entrance and rear sensors, it will possibly get pleasure from most of the clever flight modes the Air 2, Air 2S, Mavic 2, and Mavic 3 strains profit from, akin to:
- Energetic Monitor
- Highlight
- POI (Level of Curiosity)
- Hyperlapse
- Grasp pictures
- Quickshots
» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Professional Clever Flight Modes (Defined for Newcomers)
DJI RC Controller
When the Mini 3 Professional was launched, the DJI RC distant controller was additionally launched.
Like the unique DJI Sensible Controller and the following DJI RC Professional, the DJI RC has an built-in 5.5″ display. Not like the higher-end DJI sensible controllers, with their 1000-nit screens, the DJI RC has a display brightness rated at 700 nits.
Though not as vibrant because the higher-end DJI RCs, the display on the DJI RC, for me within the vibrant Central Florida solar, has been a significantly better expertise than utilizing any of the iPhones, iPads, or Samsung tablets and telephones I personal.
Additionally, the display brightness is continuous, that means it by no means ever dims, irrespective of how sizzling the RC will get.
Photograph & Video High quality
The Mini 3 Professional sports activities a 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor, which isn’t solely bigger than the sensors in any prior DJI Mini drone however can be near double the scale of the sensor within the Mavic Air 2.
The Mini 3 Professional additionally has a large fastened aperture at f1.7, which permits it to absorb extra gentle than the f2.8 aperture many drones have, thus taking higher-quality low-light photos and movies.
With the Mini 3 Professional being out for a 12 months now, there are tons and tons of video footage and social media photographs on-line, taken with the Mini 3 Professional.
Wanting on the abundance of footage, one can moderately say with out objection that the Mini 3 Professional not solely takes glorious movies but additionally high-quality photographs.
Photographs
The Mini 3 Professional has a 12MP digital camera, just like many cell telephones available on the market right this moment, and takes glorious photographs.
What hobbyists and professionals alike will recognize is that the Mini 3 Professional takes each JPEG and RAW photos concurrently.
For these new to images, RAW picture recordsdata are particularly helpful as they seize far more picture data than JPEGs, permitting the top consumer the flexibility to actually edit the photographs to their liking.
» MORE: Drone Pictures: Newbie’s Information to Getting Began
There may be additionally an choice to shoot 48MP photographs. That is performed via some ingenious tips with the pixels within the Mini 3 Professionals digital camera. There are those who adore it and those who hate it. I’ve used this selection prior to now on actual property jobs and produced nice outcomes.
The Mini 3 Professional can be in a position to shoot in vertical mode, that means that the Mini 3 Professionals digital camera rotates 90 levels to take portrait-orientated photographs and movies. That is effectively suited to content material creators and those who publish usually to social media websites like Tik Tok and Instagram.
When taking pictures vertically, photos now not should be cropped bodily, that means that the picture is within the body and brought with no high quality misplaced as a consequence of in-post cropping.
When taking pictures vertically, the complete Mini 3 Professionals sensor is used, rendering the very best high quality photographs and movies.
Movies
The Mini 3 Professional can shoot video within the following resolutions and frames per second (FPS):
- 4K 24fps, 25fps, 30fps, 48fps, 50fps, and 60fps
- 2.7K 24fps, 25fps, 30fps, 48fps, 50fps, and 60fps
- 1080p 24fps, 25fps, 30fps, 48fps, 50fps, and 60fps
- Sluggish Movement – 1080p 120fps
COLOR PROFILES
The Mini 3 Professional has two colour profiles: Regular and D-Cinelike.
D-Cinelike is a DJI-specific, pretty flat video colour profile that, when chosen, the footage is recorded in 10-bit. 10-bit D-Cinelike is beneficial for these wanting probably the most flexibility when color-grading their footage.
The Regular profile is beneficial for these which can be content material with the in-camera colour and both don’t need to colour grade their footage or simply need to make minimal publicity and colour changes.
» MORE: Finest Video Settings for DJI Mini 3 Professional
Verdict
With a number of fashions of DJI drones popping out for the reason that launch of the Mini 3 Professional, particularly the Mini 3, Mavic 3 Basic, and Mavic 3 Professional, is the Mini 3 Professional nonetheless a viable buy in 2023?
Completely.
With the Mini 3 Professional being at an honest price-point, together with having many high-tiered specs, the Mini 3 Professional is a superb drone for newbies, seasoned hobbyists, and even professionals on the lookout for a terrific backup drone.
Additionally, for the reason that Mini 3 Professional is a 12 months previous on the time of this text, there are a lot of “near new situation” used Mini 3 Professionals for tons of of {dollars} lower than new pricing, making them a fair higher purchase in 2023.
