DJI has unveiled its new Mini 3 Pro drone which manages to squeeze in the latest features, extended flying time and camera quality in a unit that weighs less than 249g.
The ultra-light foldable drone is small enough to fit in your hand when its folded down and designed for users to take it anywhere with you – including on your travels.
And that’s why the 249g weight is so important because it means (according to CASA – the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority) you can fly within 5.5km of a controlled airport.
And weighing less than 250g means the DJI Mini 3 Pro drone doesn’t have to be registered.
There are similar regulations and policies in other parts of the world so you can legally fly without registration.
It has been quite a feat for DJI to improve the quality and performance of a drone of this size – and that’s exactly what we get with the DJI Mini 3 Pro.
If you compare the DJI Mini 3 Pro with the Mavic Air 2 (570g) it has a better camera, greater video transmission range, similar flight time, same safety sensor set-up and can match the video quality and image resolution.
The other 249g drone in DJI’s fleet is the Mini 2 but it has a shorter flight time than the Mini 3 Pro, no safety sensors and inferior video quality.
So you can appreciate what DJI has achieved with the Mini 3 Pro.
The design has changed for the Mini 3 Pro to give it a more aerodynamic body tilt when hovering, but it straightens out when flying forward to reduce wind resistance.
This reduction in wind drag not only improves performance but also make it more energy efficient.
This new design also allowed DJI to increase the propellor size and offer more propulsion efficiency.
Tech Guide has been flying the DJI Mini 3 Pro for a couple of weeks and we’re certainly impressed with the performance, the flight time, the multiple features and, of course, the stunning video and image quality.
The DJI Mini 3 Pro has a 1/1.3 CMOS sensor, larger pixels and an aperture ratio of f/1.7 – the result we found was excellent natural colour in the videos and images – even in low light.
The onboard camera can shoot 4K HDR video at 60 frames per second and 48-megapixel images in RAW format.
There is up to 2x zoom while shooting 4K, up to 3x in 2.7K and 4x in FHD.
There is also a slow-motion mode which shoots at 1080p./120fps.
Also onboard is a D-Cinelike colour mode which offers even more rich colour and detail in your images. HDR (high dynamic range) also comes in to play to offer even more highlights in the lighter and darker areas of the video and image.
We flew the DJI Mini 3 Pro off the Sydney coast and was impressed the video quality and colours.
DJI has also recognised the fact that people now consumer their video content in portrait mode – in other words – the shape of your smartphone screen on TikTok and Instagram – so the now there’s a True Vertical Shooting mode.
The re-engineered gimbal can now rotate 90 degrees, so your videos and images are ready to share on social media.
The re-designed gimbal can also shoot upwards from a low angle and straight down to give you even more options.
Active Track 4.0 allows users to track themselves or something else smoothly and accurately while MasterShot can offer great shots with a single tap.
The usual Quickshot modes are also available to you including dronie, helix, rocket, circle, boomerang and asteroid.
Now let’s talk safety – the DJI Mini 3 Pro has tri-directional sensors – front, behind and below – so it can save you from flying into an object like a tree or a wall.
It’s remarkable that this level of safety is available in a drone of this size.
The downside of a smaller drone like this is keeping a line of sight so it means you are unable to fly the DJI Mini 3 Pro too far away from you.
Being so small it’s easy to lose sight of it.
We used the DJI RC – which includes a bright built-in 5.5-inch display that was still crystal clear while shooting in direct sunlight.
This means we don’t need to hook up our smartphone or iPad to keep an eye on things.
The controller felt great in your hands – well balanced and easy to use.
On the battery side, the DJI Mini 3 Pro can fly for up to 34 minutes thanks to the energy and propulsion efficiencies of the new design. That’s plenty of time to capture some incredible videos and images.
We easily noticed the added flight time so when we set our alert when the battery reached 25 per cent, we’d already been flying for about 24 minutes – that was the flight time of previous models – so this offers even more time in the air which means more shooting time and the option to fly further to get that shot.
DJI will also be offering an Intelligent Flight Battery Plus – which weighs 40g more – but that takes flight time up to an impressive 47 minutes.
What that will also do is take the weight above 250g and the limits come back in place like not flying near controlled airports and the requirement to get it registered.
DJI Mini 3 Pro is available for pre-order today from store.dji.com and most authorized retail partners in several configurations with shipping starting by May 17.
DJI Mini 3 Pro is priced at $1,119 AUD and includes DJI RC-N1.
DJI Mini 3 Pro with the DJI RC with built-in screen is $1,299.
VERDICT
The DJI Mini 3 Pro might be one of the smallest drones the company as produced but it will rank as one of its biggest achievements to fit in so many features, next level performance, excellent camera quality and impressive flight time.