Verdict
While not as well - fit out as its pricier Pro cousin , the Mini 3 is an excellent entry - level drone that delivers a lot for its low price . It ’s easy to fly , pouch - sized , has unbelievable battery life and its television camera performs better than anything else in this price range . Another splendid dawdler from DJI .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
2022’sDJI Mini 3 Prowas jolly much the perfect compact drone , deliver strong camera performance alongside a hearty barrage fire aliveness , excellent obstacle shunning and a sub-250 g weight that think of it flew free of the rigorous restriction placed on large modeling . If it had a impuissance , it was perhaps that it was priced just out of reach for the entry - level consumer – someone who might be curious about laggard and aeriform photography , but not curious enough to drop over £ 700 on their first quadcopter .
record the new DJI Mini 3 , a decided non - Pro variant of its predecessor with a few features neglect or pared back but much of the same advantage – plus a importantly more low-priced asking Mary Leontyne Price of £ 519 . Could it be the ideal drone for a first - clock time circular ?
Pricing
There are several editions of this drone to choose from , all priced otherwise :
Design and Build Quality
The Mini 3 looks almost identical to the Mini 3 Pro and is virtually the same size and weight unit as its exchange premium predecessor . When folded , the Mini 3 is just 148 x 90 x 62 millimeter – low enough to fit into a coat pocket – and its sub-249 g exercising weight scarce registry when being carried .
That weight is a key part of its charm , and not just for portability grounds . It also intend that , under UK legal philosophy , it falls into a category of drone pipe that can be flown in public spot and within 50 metre of ( and above mathematical group of ) “ unaware ” people . Any drone over 250 gramme is subject to heavy restrictions in this respect , so possessor of the Mini 3 can aviate in a lot of spots other drone users wo n’t be capable to go . The drone is made of lean charge plate and , while it ’s well - constructed , you ’ll need to treat it with some care when carrying it around . DJI supplies a pop - on top to keep the rather frail camera and gimbal chemical mechanism protected , and the Fly More Combo packet also includes a well - appoint shoulder joint bag with padded sections for the droning , its controller , extra batteries and other accessories . The Mini 3 has a USB - C port and microSD slot ( indorse cards up to 256 GB ) on the back to handle file , data file transfer and storehouse . Underneath these sit the removeable rechargeable assault and battery , which indicates its remaining electrical capacity via four light-green lights .
There are two controllers available for the Mini 3 : the DJI RC - N1 ( a cheaper option which connect to your smartphone via a cable ) and the DJI RC ( which has its own software program and 5.5 - inch touch screen build - in ) . Having used both , I find out the RC to be less fiddly and a major lineament - of - life upgrade over the RC - N1 as it requires no fumbling with cables and leaves your phone free for , er , steady speech sound stuff and nonsense , but if you ’re operating on a tight budget then the RC - N1 does the job absolutely ok .
Flight performance
When I took the Mini 3 out for its maid flight of steps , the first major differences between it and the Mini 3 Pro became patent . While the Pro has detector confront the front and back to ensure the drone can “ see ” and avoid obstacle around it , here you get only downward - facing sensor to help stability and landing . That signify you have to be a little more careful when wing , as a mellow - speed hit with a tree , lamp post or wall can be somewhat fatal for a lightweight drone like this .
gratefully the Mini 3 , like most DJI models , is beautifully reactive and easy to vanish . There ’s no perceptible delay between the twin - peg controls and the dawdler ’s reactions , and the DJI O2 transmission ( the 720p live feed between the drone camera and the controller ’s concealment ) is clear-cut and stable too – at least at normal control reach . DJI take the maximum control kitchen stove is 6 km in the UK , and while that might well be true in perfect conditions , it ’s certainly illegal for a even user to put that to the trial run ( trailer laws body politic you necessitate to be in visual range of mountains of your drone at all times ) .
escape hurrying is nippy at up to 16 m/s in windless conditions , while wind electric resistance is astonishingly good for such a lilliputian , lightweight quadcopter at 10.7 m/s ( or 24 mph ) . Flying it on the windy English coast , I seldom found it to observably struggle against the wind , and it was well-chosen to hover in place without being buffeted about .
One svelte advantage it has over the Mini 3 Pro is stamp battery life : up to 38 minutes of flight of steps time on a full charge as opposed to the Mini 3 Pro ’s 34 minute . In reality you ’ll be catch a little less with both drones , but I still find it to be excellent .
You also get DJI ’s standard automatic take - off , landing place and return - to - home alternative through the app and controller , as well as a handful of automated shot mode that take control of the drone for some creative manoeuvres . Unfortunately there ’s none of the software - ground Active Track tracking that DJI include with the Mini 3 Pro and its bigger drones , so if you need to Mini 3 to follow and film you while you ’re bicycle , running or swimming , you ’ll have to enlist in an actual person to control it .
Camera performance
The DJI Mini 3 ’s camera is certainly a downgrade from the Mini 3 Pro ’s , but it is n’t at all disappointing for an entranceway - tier drone . The two drone ’ sensors are the same physical size , but while the Mini 3 Pro is able take 48 - megapixel still photos and capture 4 K video at up to 60fps , the Mini 3 is limited to 12 - megapixel still and its 4 kelvin snip can only be record at 24/25/30fps ( it can enter up to 60fps at 2.7 K and Full HD resolutions , however ) .
I happen photos to look adequate at full resolution , with the ability to spud RAW certainly welcome when it comes to unlock more depth and dynamical stove ( the sample shot you see here were all captivate in RAW DNG and tweak in Lightroom ) . With that said , there ’s some sharpness drop - off in the corners of images , and with only 12 megapixels to act as with there ’s very small oscilloscope for graze in – something that would n’t be an issue when shooting with the Mini 3 Pro .
Video option are limited too – the Mini 3 ca n’t shoot using the H.265 codec or the savorless D - Log or D - Cinelike profiles for easy color scoring , for instance – but that ’s also to be expected on a budget model and , as with distillery , the calibre is impressive for the price . The 4 atomic number 19 sample time here are all straight out of the television camera with no colour discipline , and I think they ’re neat : sharp , particular - productive and quite exonerated for an overcast wintertime ’s day . The ISO grasp of 100 - 3200 means you’re able to also catch satisfactory downcast - twinkle footage at twilight and even at dark ( as long as there ’s some ambient inflammation in swordplay ) .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
With its low monetary value , light weight , honorable character photographic camera and excellent battery life the DJI Mini 3 is the idealistic introduction - level drone for first timers .
The Mini 3 Pro offer a mess more in full term of trajectory safety and camera capability ; if you ’re a little more demanding image calibre - wise it ’s deserving the superfluous money .
Final Thoughts
Affordable lagger have previously come with armfuls of caveat and failing , most often terrible photographic camera public presentation , dodgy flying capabilities and meagre battery lifetime . None of these criticisms could be levelled at the DJI Mini 3 , as its cock-a-hoop drawback is that it is n’t quite as splendid as the ( much pricier ) Mini Pro 3 .
As a camera reader and video enthusiast I ’d personally flump for the Mini Pro 3 as my go - to small-scale drone , down to its spectacular camera tone , but the Mini 3 offers almost as much for almost £ 200 less . If you ’re taking your first steps into the world of television camera radio-controlled aircraft , you could n’t ask for a better basic poser than this .
Trusted Score
How we test
We exhaustively test photographic camera drones with hours of flight time , as well as capturing sample photos and telecasting . We ’ll always recount you what we find and we never , ever accept money to review a Cartesian product .
FAQs
The DJI Mini 3 weighs just unsure of 249 grams .
Full Specs
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