Early last year, I bought the Mini 2 for super cheap off of eBay. Being a ground-based photographer (lol) for ten years, I quickly fell in love with my new flying camera. About a year later plus a bunch of revenue from stock drone clips (more on that later), I decided it was time to upgrade. Thus, I ended up with the Mini 3 Pro.
Why You Can Trust Me
Chance (that’s me) has been practicing photography for 10 years and has been a paid professional for most of it. I started casually experimenting with drones a couple years ago. After receiving my Part 107 commercial cert. and subsequently making money off my drone, I decided to reward myself with the Mini 3 Pro (read how I review/test gear).
In this review, I’ll be sharing my impressions and opinions of the DJI Mini 3 Pro, along with, of course, dozens of sample photos & videos. But first, here’s a quick summary. Let’s roll.
Pros:
- Ridiculously tiny/compact
- Easy to learn/hard to crash
- Super fast/good wind resistance
- Front/back/down collision sensors
- Beautiful footage & photos
Cons:
- Some design/usability quirks
- Discontinued, so expensive new
Verdict: The Mini 3 Pro is a downright incredible drone. However, it has been officially discontinued, so prices are inflated. I’d highly recommend just picking up the Mini 5 Pro instead as pretty much the same price (as of time of writing).
Size, Weight & Portability
First off, let’s talk about portability. If you’ve read any of my other stuff, you’ll know one of my most important rating factors is size/weight. As you might expect from a drone with the name “Mini”, the 3 Pro is in fact quite tiny.
When folded up, this thing is about the same horizontal dimensions as my phone, and it’s not very thick either! I picked up the official DJI Mini bag (thrifted it for a few bucks), and the drone fits in there along with the controller, three batteries, and the ND filter kit. Pretty crazy that ten years ago we used to all lug around giant DSLRs, now we have cameras that can fly that are also half the size. I love technology.
From a weight perspective, just like every other DJI Mini drone, the 3 Pro sits at 249g, meaning it’s just under the required weight to be registered with the FAA. With that said, commercial work requires a Part 107 cert. which in turn requires your drone to be registered, so I registered mine anyway. Keep in mind, also, that any attachments (such as a strobe for night ops) will also push it over the registration threshold.
Image Quality
Now, the fun part: let’s talk about images! The pictures that come out of this thing routinely blow my mind. Now, in the endless arms race of “best image quality”, you could make the argument that the Mini 3 Pro is “worse” than the Mavic 3 Pro, or Air 2s, but I genuinely cannot believe how great of pictures this little thing can take.
I don’t obsess over the specs too much (1/1.3″ sensor btw), but everything for the Mini 3 Pro looks good on paper… and, more importantly, it shows in practice. The only flaws that I personally noticed, when shooting RAW, anyway, is some corner softness and chromatic aberrations in intense lighting situations. Noticeable if you pixel peep, but not something I even think about or notice in 99% of situations.
The drone can also shoot 48MP images, but I’ve personally found it to usually not be worth it given the 4x file size. However, for professional/client work, I find myself using it sometimes.
Night/Low-Light
As for low-light performance, the Mini 3 Pro was touted as a massive improvement over my previous Mini 2, which is one of the biggest reasons why I decided to upgrade. The drone performs quite well when the sun sets. I’d say ISO1600 is when you start to see a bit of noise, and by ISO3200 it gets pretty rough.
As far as shutter speeds go, I found that, while the drone can shoot at 2 second speeds, there seems to be a moderate amount of motion blur depending on how windy it is. If it’s a completely still day, I’d say you can get away with taking a “long exposure”, but with even just a little bit of wind, you’re better off pushing up your ISO versus slowing down your shutter speed. Keeping the drone on auto is usually a safe bet.
I alluded to it earlier, but do note that there are restrictions and rules on night flying. As of the time of writing, the FAA no longer requires Part 107 certification for recreational night flights.
Please note that I am not a lawyer, I'm just a dude with a drone. Please double check any legalities for your specific city/state/country/solar system before flying.
They do, however, require your drone to be equipped with lights that are visible for at least 3 statute miles. I use this no-name brand from Amazon and it works great. Again, keep in mind that this will put your drone above 250g, which means it’ll need to be legally registered.
Panorama Modes
Next up, let’s talk panorama modes. The Mini 3 Pro comes equipped with 4 options: sphere, 180, wide-angle, and vertical. These all pretty much do what they sound like they’d do.
First off, the sphere takes the scene and makes it look like a little planet. It’s cute, but gimmicky and I’ve never seriously used it. 180 degree mode, as you might expect, takes a pretty standard-style ultrawide panorama.
Wide-angle pano is where it gets interesting. The drone will automatically photograph both the scene in front of itself plus a few frames “underneath”. This creates a look that is quite stark and, if you shoot the right angles, you can create a very dramatic perspective where everything looks exaggerated. I quite enjoy this one.
Finally, there’s vertical panorama mode. It takes a 180 degree (ish) images but vertically rather than horizontally. Speaking of vertical, yep, the drone can switch to true vertical shooting with the single tap of a button. I’m more of a horizontal enjoyer, as I don’t use TikTok/Shorts/IG, but I’ve used it extensively to photograph tall buildings, long winding roads, etc.
Video Performance
Video is where things start to get interesting. First off, let’s talk specs real quick: 4k 60fps, 150Mbits/s in D-Cinelike mode, 1080p 120fps for slow-motion. Pretty solid specs on paper, and in practice they’re just as good. My previous drone got me into doing stock video clips, and I’ve ramped my production up a lot thanks to the capabilities of this one. The Mini 3 Pro has nearly paid for itself already just in stock commissions.
I may make a video or write an article on stock in the future, so feel free to subscribe if you want to see more on that subject.
For daytime recording, quality is spectacular. The drone offers full manual control, but also produces nice results in auto (frankly, I use auto frequently). No complaints from me at all, and I should note that the Mini 3 Pro also supports ND filters (DJI makes a special kit) so that you can sync up your frame rate with your shutter speed. There are also off-brand ND filters if you want to save some money. I haven’t used these off-brand ones, but I’ve heard great things.
At night, I found that clips also look pretty nice. If you view them on a giant 4k TV, you could probably pick out some noise and imperfections, but on my 27″ 2k monitor, they look solid. On a small phone screen, they look Hollywood-level (ok, maybe that’s a strong claim). Here’s a video below of a night flight test that I shot in downtown Milwaukee (4k30fps, normal recording mode).
Hyperlapse Mode
The Mini 3 Pro also offers a fully automated hyperlapse mode and… it’s actually incredibly cool. You can do a still hyperlapse (where the drone doesn’t move), a mode where it circles around a subject, straight-flying “courselock”, and a custom waypoint mode.
The custom waypoint mode is really neat because you can fly around, set custom waypoints (this saves the gimbal angle and everything), and then set the drone to fly along that predetermined path. From there, you can also adjust the photo interval, length of the total video, etc.
By default, the drone will try to shoot and compile a 1080p video. If you switch it off auto, you can make it shoot 4k/RAW. I’ve found that manually “building” the hyperlapse myself in Davinci Resolve (or any post-processing program) produces way higher quality results than letting the drone “edit” everything together itself.
Ease of Use
Moving on, let’s talk about ease of use. The Mini series is generally marketed as “beginner” drones or “easy”, but the Pro moniker sort of flies in the face of that. Either way, I’ve found that the Mini 3 Pro is just as easy to fly as DJI’s previous iterations. In fact, with all the new automated features/obstacle avoidance (more on that in a minute), I’d argue is EASIER to fly than the previous non-pro versions.
If this is your first drone, initial setup is pretty easy. Download the DJI Fly app, sign your life away to their T&C, then plug your phone into the remote. From there, it’s about a 5 minute process of updates, pairing, etc. It’s super easy.
Controller
The controller itself is dead simple. If you’ve ever played any sort of FPS or flight sim, it’ll feel very familiar (“professional” heli pilot in Battlefield here). Do note that I’m talking about the basic phone-operated controller here. I have not purchased the DJI RC yet (the controller with the integrated screen, etc.), but I’m planning to do that soon and will update this review accordingly.
Either way, the controller is easy and logical. There’s a power button, return to home button, gimbal adjustment, a couple shortcuts to shoot pictures faster, and a mode switch for speeds (cine, normal, sport).
The thumbsticks on the joysticks are optional. You can unscrew them and they mount very nicely in the bottom of the controller. Initially I preferred to fly without thumbsticks, but I’ve grown fond of them lately as they allow for more precise and complex control (for “drags” and other careful motions during video).
“Smart” Features
Obstacle Avoidance
In the same vein, I’ve also found the obstacle avoidance to be incredibly reliable. Now, if you’re flying like an idiot, it won’t keep your drone safe, but for normal everyday operation, it might save you. The DJI Mini 3 Pro offers front, back, and downward obstacle sensors.
The only time I’ve thoroughly tested them was flying through an abandoned building. The drone acts very timid around walls, and will slow itself down substantially, though it appears as if you can still override and crash if you’re persistent enough.
It goes without saying that, at the end of the day, the obstacle avoidance system is no substitute for human attention. I’ve seen so many videos and read so many Amazon reviews of silly pilots taking off into a tree, or trying to max-speed fly around their house. Don’t be goofy, be safe.
Automated Modes
Thanks to these obstacle sensors, however, the drone does offer quite a few automated tracking features. These include anything from flying in a circle around a subject, to dramatic flybys, and even a mode where it can follow people, cars or animals!
To be entirely frank, I rarely use these. I’ve played around with them and had the drone follow my car, but most of these modes just don’t really work for what I like to shoot. I prefer fairly static/slow-moving flyovers of beautiful locations. I do, however, extensively use the “circle” mode.
Either way, here’s an awesome video I found that highlights the capabilities (and limitations) of active tracking. It’s really neat and I’d love to figure out more ways to integrate it into my projects in the future!
Battery Life
As far as battery life goes, DJI claims 34 minutes. In practice, I’ve found it closer to about 25 minutes, but it does depend heavily on what situation you’re flying in. On an ultra-windy day, I’ll be able to fly for barely 20 minutes. On a calm day, I’ll be able to fly for around 30+ minutes. If I’m mostly hovering and taking still shots, it’ll last a while, whereas if I’m zipping around in sport mode, it dies a lot quicker.
The drone charges via USB-C by default, but you can swap out the batteries. The official DJI multi-charger can charge 3 at once, but there are some competitive/cheaper off-brand options. I use the OEM one personally.
The Mini 3 Pro is offered with two different battery types. First, the standard battery which lasts “34” minutes, and then the Plus battery which DJI claims lasts 47 minutes. The Plus battery is a bit more expensive and, critically for hobbyists, it pushes the drone past the 250g registration limit. I have not personally used the Plus, but as I transition into more professional work, the idea of longer battery life is getting more appealing.
Range/Reliability
On the same subject as battery life, let’s talk about maximum range and reliability. This section is less “fact” and more “opinion”, as the maximum range (and thus “reliability”) of a UAS is determined heavily in part by the environment that you’re flying in.
The first thing to know is that the Mini 3 Pro has OccuSync3, which is a fancy marketing term for whatever magic allows the remote to connect to the drone at long range. This, on paper at least, should give it longer range than most of DJI’s previous offerings.
In my experience, I get a good two miles of “safe” performance in a suburban/semi-rural area (so very little interference, open skies, minimal WiFi/cellular interference). In the city, however, where I typically prefer to fly, it varies greatly. I’ve had some days where I can fly almost a mile into the tangle of apartment towers, and I’ve had some days where I’ll get signal drop in half a mile.
From my experience, the biggest detractors are, obviously, buildings and trees. These are obvious “blockers”, but what isn’t obvious are all the competing radio signals. Cellular, WiFi, etc. all have a very negative affect on range. When you’re in the middle of a dense urban environment, there’s thousands of invisible beams messing with your drone’s connection.
What is nice, however, is that if the drone has full signal loss, it’ll automatically attempt to fly back to your starting point. This isn’t foolproof, however, as it’ll cap at a certain height (400AGL is the legal limit in the States). Thus, if there’s a skyscraper in front of it, it may struggle to make it back, even with obstacle avoidance. So, moral of the story is, in a place with tall buildings, be careful and, of course, always keep your drone in line of sight.
Wind Resistance
Finally, let’s talk about speed, wind resistance, stability, etc. The Mini 3 Pro is officially rated for a maximum wind resistance of 24mph (10.7m/s). I’ve personally taken the drone out in 25mph winds with 35mph gusts and it has survived just fine. I’m not endorsing this risky behavior, for the record… 🙂
In extremely high winds, the battery drains substantially quicker and the footage isn’t quite as stable. During daytime shoots, I’ve noticed slight wobble in clips, especially when flying into a strong headwind. At night, if you’re shooting “long” exposures (anything over 1s), the jitteriness of the drone trying to stay in the air will likely make it difficult.
One major danger of flying in high wind is the drone not being able to fly against it. The drone caps out at around 35mph (16m/s) in sport mode so, if you have a wind that’s pushing against it that’s faster, you can, theoretically, suffer a “flyaway” where the drone goes wind surfing to it’s doom. Knock on wood, my drone hasn’t met a watery grave due to a rogue Lake Michigan wind gust yet, but I’m always extra cautious when flying in un-ideal conditions.
Conclusion
In case it’s not obvious, I love my Mini 3 Pro. However, before I wrap up this review, I want to go over whether or not I think it’s still a good value. As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, DJI has unfortunately discontinued this drone.
Due to this reason, the price for the Mini 3 Pro is incredibly inflated. I got lucky and bought mine used a while back for a steal, but even now the used prices on eBay seem to be spiking a bit. So, one option is to buy used and save a bit of money, but you forego the warranty/peace of mind.
Otherwise, I’d frankly suggest picking up the Mini 5 Pro as it is literally only a few dollars extra (as of time of writing) when buying brand new. It has pretty much everything the Mini 3 Pro offers but it’s newer, likely has a warranty, and is barely any more expensive. No matter what you pick, new or used, thank you for reading my 3000 words of drone ramblings. Have a great day!
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