now that the mini 3 has been released is the mini 2 still worth it or which
one of these drones should you buy if you're looking to buy a new drone
hey my name's jake and i create content here to help solo creators on the go so i test and
review lots of drones cameras lenses filmmaking equipment here in alaska and i give you tips
and tutorials on how to use them so if that's something interests you consider subscribing
today i'm going to break down the differences between the mini 2 and the mini 3 to help you make
a decision on which one you should buy if you're looking for a new drone or if you're thinking of
upgrading from the mini 2 to the mini 3 watching this video will definitely help you decide
when it comes to video quality both of these drones shoot fantastic 4k video but the mini
3 definitely takes the lead because it shoots up to 4k 60 it also shoots in 10-bit d cine-like so
it gives you a lot more space to color grade and a lot more room to color create 10-bit video is much
more color-gradable you get a lot more ability to push and pull the colors in post but you also
get 1080p up to 120 frames a second for slow motion now it's not amazing it definitely sort
of looks kind of pillowy and not super sharp but you do get slow motion whereas the mini
2 is limited to 2.7k 60 frames a second or 1080p 60 frames a second this you can the mini 3 you
can get a full on 120 frames a second slow motion and of course another big upgrade that the mini 3
makes is if you produce content for reals tik tok youtube shorts anything in vertical video format
this actually has full true vertical video by flipping the gimbal 90 degrees or the camera
90 degrees on the gimbal so you get true vertical video full on quality whereas with the mini 2 you
end up having to crop in and just sort of reframe things in post which is not terrible because
let's face it most vertical video is like 1080p at the most most of it's actually 720 but being that
you get the full quality 4k image out of this for vertical video it definitely ends up giving you
sharper vertical video in the long run another big difference between these two drones is the sensor
size the mini 2 has a 1 over 2.3 inch sensor and the mini 3 has a 1 over 1.3 inch sensor that means
that the mini 3 has a much larger sensor and it performs much better in low light situations so if
you film a lot in low light situations the mini 3 is going to be a massive step up over the mini 2.
not to say the mini 2 does terribly it's just you're much more limited in how low a light you
can shoot and really like shortly after sunset it starts to fall apart pretty much anything
over iso 400 you really can't use whereas this up to iso 800 is certainly usable iso 1600
it starts to fall apart a little bit but you can also uh adjust that a little bit with some noise
reduction but another big difference in low light video and photo is that the mini 3 has a aperture
of 1.7 whereas this has an aperture of 2.4 i believe what that means is the mini 3 is letting
in a lot more light in low light situations than the mini 2 is so the mini 3 is by far the winner
in low light but that's really only if you film a lot like after sunset or in low light situations
at night and one more area in the image department or in the filming department that the mini 3 sets
itself apart in is you can do hyper lapses with the mini 3 whereas you cannot do hyper lapses
with the mini 2. also in the video modes a big difference between these two drones which also
ties into their speed is that the mini 3 can up tilt the gimbal up to 60 degrees the mini 2 cannot
up tilt the gimbal especially if you're flying in sport mode it will constantly be dropping the
gimbal down but it also happens in normal mode if you happen to hit a good gust of wind and
the drone has to compensate by pitching forward harder you'll see the gimbal drop down where the
mini 3 because it can uphill the gimbal so far 60 degrees you will have none of those problems
photo quality these drones are also quite different the mini 2 will shoot 12 megapixel
photos which are nice they're actually really detailed maybe a touch over sharpen but they
have lots of detail and a decent amount of dynamic range not the most amazing but not bad
they also will shoot panoramas spherical photos it'll shoot ultra wide photos which is what
you're seeing here and uh overall for photos the mini 2 does do a good job but the mini 3
is a very big upgrade a very big step up in that it shoots 12 megapixel photos but it also shoots
48 megapixel photos now don't think that these 48 megapixels photos are the same
thing as if you have a large format camera or a large sensor camera like a
full frame camera with 48 megapixels they're not but they are very good
and they do give you better quality the mini 3 will also do the spherical photos the panoramas
the ultrawide photos and also do vertical panoramas if you want to which is pretty nice
intelligent flight modes is another way that these two drones set themselves apart quite a bit
the mini 2 does have some intelligent flight modes or quick shots really so you can do circle droney
boomerang rocket that's pretty much it it does give you sort of an ability to capture footage
of yourself but you can't really be moving because it won't track you or follow you through a shot
unless you use some of the third-party apps the mini 3 on the other hand will do active track it
will follow you through both from the back and from the side it will do it from the front to a
limited degree but i've had limited success on how well it active tracks from the front or how long
it will active track me from the front and it also includes lots of quick shot modes where you can do
the same thing circle boomerang droning asteroid which is one that the mini 3 has the mini 2 does
not but also the mini 3 includes master shots which is essentially where the drone does a bunch
of pre-programmed flight paths what you're seeing here uh obviously sped up and then we'll edit
those down for you or you can use the full 4k file the full-on two-minute flight path and edit those
as you would like to but also because this does have active track it will follow you through those
shots a little bit better than the mini 2 does now all the quick shots of the master shots tend
to want you to stay in one position whereas active track will actually follow you through so you can
have it active track you around uh while you're moving and the drone will actually follow you
around the big reason that the mini 3 has active track and master shots and some of those other
more intelligent flight modes and the mini two does not is the mini three has
obstacle avoidance in three directions so it has it forward rearward and down there's
no side obstacle avoidance so if you're flying sideways you definitely need to be careful but
it does have obstacle avoidance in those three directions and that makes it possible for it
to active track you through situations much more safely the drone will pick flight paths
through so long as it can see all the obstacles it'll do a pretty good job of finding a path
through or around or over obstacles or it will break if you have the settings set for it to
break before it hits something the mini 2 has none of that and thus it's 100 dependent on you
to be able to fly it correctly without wrecking into something when you're trying to do anything
now just because this doesn't have active track doesn't mean you can't get good shots
of yourself doing stuff i've used this a lot to do that as you can see here the problem
is that it's pretty obvious in most shots that you're holding the controller and trying to fly
the drone while you're also trying to do stuff so your head's down you'll get the controller screen
but you can still get some footage of yourself in location walking hiking whatever
top speed wind handling battery life is another place where the mini 3 definitely sets itself
apart from the mini 2 for the mini 2 you will get dji says 31 minutes of flight time i find more 26
minutes 27 minutes depending on how you're flying or or what you're flying in the conditions you're
flying in is about accurate now that being said uh that's plenty of time to capture a lot of good
footage and if you have a fly more kit with three batteries that gives you almost an hour and a half
of flight time which is plenty where the mini 3 comes with the standard battery that keeps it
under 249 grams also will give you 31 minutes of flight time same thing about 26 27 minutes
and also depending on the conditions you fly in where they do differ is if you get the larger
or extended flight time batteries they're not available everywhere but if you can get
them then that will give you up to 47 minutes dji says that means more realistically about 38
minutes uh because there's always some reserve making sure you can get home and land and stuff
like that the top speed for the mini 2 that i've been able to get is about 32 to 35 ish
miles an hour but that's highly dependent on the wind and the conditions that i'm flying in and
it will ascend and descend up to about 12 maybe 13 miles an hour depending again on conditions
where the mini 3 will hit 36 miles or a little above 36 miles an hour pretty consistently
and fly consistently that way even in fairly windy conditions but it also ascends and descends a
little bit faster at about 13 13 and a half miles an hour and so this is just a little faster and
a little sportier and because of that the mini 3 also will handle handle slightly higher winds than
the mini 2. so if you're in more windy conditions or areas where you're going to be fighting the
weather the wind a little bit more then the mini 3 is definitely the better drone for you another
thing to consider is the size while both of these drones do fall under the 249 gram limit that most
regulation bodies have in the world on drones and whether or not you have to register them etc
if you're not doing commercial stuff at least here in the us if you're doing anything commercial you
still have to register the drone but because they both fall under 249 grams it does make
it a little easier to travel with and a little easier to work with regulations in most countries
however the mini 3 is definitely a little bit larger than the mini 2 when it's unfolded and it's
a tiny bit larger even when it's folded up also the batteries on the mini three are larger and
so they take up more space whether or not they're the 249 gram batteries or the larger batteries the
extended flight time batteries they do just take up more space now the positive is that both these
drones can be recharged via usbc either in the battery holder that comes with the flybar kits
or just directly through the drone one more thing that has does have to do with the batteries and
the power is the way you turn them on on the mini 2 it's underneath here so it's a little weird you
turn it on press double press hold the second press whereas the mini 3 it's on top it's just
much easier and because the mini 3 has a rear mounted battery that slides in there's no door
it just slides in whereas the mini two you have this little gate flap cover that you've got to
lift up and pull the battery in and out with and of course one of the big considerations is price
the mini 2 starts at 450 right about and the mini three starts at 670 dollars uh that might
vary a little bit depending on sales and stuff like that but the mini three definitely more
expensive i think you get what you pay for but it is more expensive whereas the mini 2 is still one
of the best deals for the performance you get out of this little tiny drone if you want to stay with
the really small drone factor but that pricing for the dji mini 3 does not include the remote so
that's assuming you already have this standard dji remote which does come with the mini 2. so if you
want to get this i believe it's right around 700 to get the standard remote with the mini 3. now
if you want to buy the the mini 3 with this smart remote the little rc dj rc which is fantastic and
i absolutely love it this puts the price of the mini three up to 900 or a little over 900 and
then if you have the fly more kit on top of that you're pushing 1250 ish 1100 something dollars
which is getting pretty expensive for a little drone whereas with the mini 2 uh you're still
down around 700 i believe or 600 something dollars for the mini 2 plus the fly more kit both of these
drones are fantastic drones it can be used to get great video great photos wherever you are
traveling doing whatever you do but i still think the mini 2 is probably the best beginner drone on
the market just because of the price you're not putting that much money up into the air and at
risk and it's much cheaper to repair than the mini three however if you know that you want to use a
drone for business if you know you want higher quality video or photo or you want to work with
stuff in sunset or after sunset you want better low-light footage or if you do things like
outdoor stuff or you know you're going to want to track yourself mountain biking or kayaking
or walking up into the mountains then the mini 3 obviously is the better choice for that regardless
of what drone you buy you're going to want to watch this video here to see the seven moves
that every drone pilot should know to get great footage i'll see you over in that video cheers