Available today, the new DJI Mini 3 offers 4K HDR video and vertical shooting for a starting price of $469. It’s basically a downgraded version of the DJI Mini 3 Pro, eschewing crash avoidance and a few other features to achieve a $200 discount. Still, the price is a bit awkward.

Let’s list the DJI Mini 3’s notable features before we go any further. It offers 4K 30FPS (and 2.7K 60FPS) shooting with support for HDR and vertical video mode. Photographers can shoot 12MP images with this drone, and its flight time is rated at 38 minutes. Plus, if you’re a beginner, the DJI Mini 3 includes Auto Takeoff and several Return to Home (RTH) functions—basically, it’ll come home if your signal drops or if the battery gets too low.

These are some solid features for the price. Clearly, the DJI Mini 3 is an incremental upgrade to the Mini 2, which is a very capable 4K drone in its own right. But at a starting price of $469 (or $560 when bundled with DJI’s most basic remote), the Mini 3 might be a hard sell. After all, a fully-featured Mini 2 kit costs around $500 refurbished.

Also, the Mini 3 is missing a ton of the Mini 3 Pro’s best features. There aren’t any front or back obstacle avoidance sensors, the 48MP photo mode is missing, and it can’t record at 4K 60FPS. The Mini 3 also lacks DJI’s ActiveTrack, FocusTrack, Hyperlapse, and Timelapse modes, which are incredibly useful when shooting professional-quality video. (Oddly enough, DJI Mini 3 does support ActiveTrack with QuickShots, a shooting mode intended for social media content creation.)

The DJI Mini 3 looks like a great product, and I think that it’s a nice incremental upgrade to the Mini 2. It may be the perfect option for some buyers, including first-time pilots. But there are plenty of other options to choose from at this price, especially if you shop the aftermarket.

Source: DJI