DJI Mini 4 Professional vs. Mini 3 Professional (Right here’s My Selection) – Droneblog

Contains:

• 2 x Plus Clever Battery
• 3-Battery Charging Hub
• USB-C Cable
• 12 screws
• 8 Spare props
• Shoulder Bag

{Hardware} Specs

Mini 4 Professional

Mini 3 Professional

» MORE: DJI Mavic 3 Professional vs. Mini 3 Professional (Right here’s My Selection)

Design

Contemplating the Mini 4 Professional is the subsequent mannequin within the Mini Professional line, its design principally follows the aesthetics of the Mini 3 Professional.

Each the Mini 4 Professional and Mini 3 Professional are quadcopter foldable designs made common by the unique 2016 Mavic Professional which has since been steadily replicated by the likes of Autel Robotics and Hubson.

Each drones are constituted of light-weight plastic and will initially really feel low-cost and toylike to those that have by no means flown a Mini DJI drone earlier than.

As soon as taken to the air, although, the Mini 4 Professional and three Professional really feel something however low-cost.

Due to the light-weight supplies used, one of many predominant standout design options of the Mini 3 Professional and 4 Professional must be that they’re totally succesful pro-level drones below 250g.

That is necessary to many, as, in the US, they don’t have to be registered with the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) if flying strictly for leisure use .

Drone pilots in different nations likewise fare properly from the Mini 3 Professional and 4 Professional being below 250g, because of these nations’ regulatory mandates.

» MORE: Can I Fly a Drone Underneath 250g Wherever I Need?

Amazingly, each Minis have a lot new tech packed into such a small and light-weight body.

When talking of recent tech on the Minis, the Mini 3 Professional was the primary Mini DJI drone to have impediment avoidance onboard, whereas nonetheless retaining a really tiny footprint, in comparison with bigger drones.

That is one thing that has likewise carried over to the Mini 4 Professional, although vastly expanded and improved, as we’ll contact on shortly.

With impediment avoidance, each drones profit by having the ability to carry out many sought-after autonomous features, extra particularly Energetic Monitor.

Wanting outdoors of the load of those Mini drones is the aforementioned tiny kind issue. Each the Mini 3 Professional and Mini 4 Professional can simply match within the palm of a hand.

This manner issue is good as each drones are excellent for vacationers and out of doors fans who wish to doc their travels and adventures whereas packing as mild as potential.

A design resolution that I completely love with the Mini 3 Professional and 4 Professional, as seen within the Mavic 3 sequence and DJI Air 3, is the SD card slot being within the rear of the drone.

Beforehand, DJIs advanced-level and prosumer foldable drones had the SD card slot tucked alongside the aspect of the drone’s physique, lined by the legs and arms of the drones.

Whereas it solely took just a few extra seconds to unfold the drone’s legs and arms to take away the SD card, it was inconvenient having to take action repeatedly.

Now this can be a factor of the previous and extremely appreciated.

» MORE: DJI Mavic 3 Professional Assessment (I’ve NEVER flown a drone that I loved a lot)

Design Variations

Whereas the Mini 3 Professional and Mini 4 Professional each make the most of a lot of the identical design, there are just a few notable bodily variations.

Mini 4 Professional

Weight: Underneath 249 g
Dimensions:
Folded (with out propellers): 148×94×64 mm (L×W×H)
Unfolded (with propellers): 298×373×101 mm (L×W×H)

A notable design change on the Mini 4 Professional is the return to its foldable Mavic-like roots with the addition of the entrance arm touchdown gear.

As we’ll speak extra about shortly, the touchdown gear has been readded to this iteration of the Mini line to accommodate the extra antennas wanted for the brand new OcuSync 4 video transmission system.

I personally was a fan of the elimination of the touchdown gear on the Mini 3 Professional, for causes I’ll contact on within the Mini 3 Professional part beneath.

For a lot of, although, the return of the touchdown gear is a optimistic addition, as many have talked about the Mini 4 Professional is rather more secure when touchdown.

As somebody who hand-catches every little thing (even the bigger Mavic 3 Professional and beforehand the Phantom 4 Professional), the touchdown gear just isn’t a necessity for me.

One other notable design distinction is the look of the entrance and rear visible sensors.

Whereas not a drastic design change they do look extra smooth and streamlined, giving the Mini 4 Professional a slight Air 3 look.

» MORE: DJI Mini 4 Professional – Preliminary Setup (Unboxing to First Flight with Video)

Mini 3 Professional

Weight: Underneath 249 g
Dimensions:
Folded (with out propellers): 145×90×62 mm (L×W×H)
Unfolded (with out propellers): 171×245×62 mm (L×W×H)
Unfolded (with propellers): 251×362×70 mm (L×W×H)

The Mini 3 Professional broke away from the usual Mavic sequence look when the entrance touchdown gear was eliminated. This drastically modified the look of the Mini 3 Professional solely, because the Mini 3 added the touchdown gear.

The elimination of the touchdown gear had two speedy advantages.

The first is there isn’t a longer a selected folding and unfolding sequence that must be adopted. The legs and arms of Mini 3 Professional might be folded/unfolded in any order, making for faster launches.

Secondly, eradicating the touchdown gear has additionally eliminated an added level for objects like wires, strains, and branches to get caught up on if the Mini 3 Professional, sadly, passes by and even via these objects.

Granted, the Mini 3 Professional would in all probability crash if the props hit these, nonetheless, many have reported that sans the touchdown gear, their 3 Execs have averted getting caught up.

» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Professional – How one can Activate and Set Up (Defined for Rookies)

Flight Efficiency

As each the Mini 4 Professional and three Professional are nearly equivalent in design, apart from just a few minor exterior modifications/additions, they each fly nearly identically, which is a good factor.

What makes each Mini drones so common within the drone neighborhood is that they’re quite simple to select up and fly for drone newcomers, and are enjoyable to fly and succesful for fans and professionals alike.

As has been the case for all of DJI’s newer drones, the EXP settings throughout the DJI Fly app might be modified if the flight controls aren’t to your expectation or liking, which lets you simply tailor the controls to the way in which you fly, whether or not this be easily and managed or quick and aggressively.

Though the Mini Execs have comparatively small motors and propellers, in comparison with the bigger Air 3 and Mavic 3 sequence, they will journey at speeds as much as 35/36 mph when in sport mode.

These speeds are appreciated, particularly when touring from one taking pictures location to the subsequent earlier than the batteries die.

One thing I proceed to be impressed with is how properly each Minis can deal with wind, contemplating their light-weight development.

When taking side-by-side comparability pictures for this text, it was fairly windy by the lake I shot at (gusts round 15mph).

Regardless of this truth, I used to be capable of put each the Mini 4 Professional and Mini 3 Professional up in comparatively shut proximity to one another, they usually stayed of their relative hover spots throughout taking pictures, solely shifting a few inches in any course throughout the gusts.

It is because each Minis are rated for 23 mph winds (Stage 5) and when in excessive wind gusts do a superb (although not an excessively distinctive) job at staying in place when filming.

Regardless, it needs to be remembered that the drones are below 250 g, so they are going to be affected by the wind.

In larger gusts, it’s advisable to keep away from flying out too far, particularly over water, as with the decrease energy of the motors, there could possibly be problem returning house earlier than the batteries run out.

» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Professional and Climate

Battery Associated

Battery life is a kind of areas the place, for a very long time, we had been used to only coping with depressing flight instances.

The bigger Mavic sequence broke that barrier for DJI drones some time again with the discharge of the 46-minute flight-timed Mavic 3, bringing us out of 30-minute flight instances.

With the discharge of the Mini 3 Professional, DJI Mini drones had been pulled out of the battery darkish ages, the place barely half-hour of flight time was the norm, and pushed into the excessive 30s and even as much as the mid to excessive 40s, with the Mini 3 clocking in at a most 51 minutes of flight time.

These flight instances are all potential as a result of Mini 3 Professional and 4 Professional each using precisely the identical Normal and Plus battery choices.

That’s proper. When you have a Mini 3 Professional with both battery possibility, these will work within the Mini 4 Professional and visa versa.

If utilizing the Normal battery model, each Mini Execs will stay below the 250 g threshold.

Nonetheless, If opting to go together with the upper capability, longer life Plus battery choices, the load of each drones might be pushed previous the 250 g mark, thus requiring each to be registered with the FAA if inside the US.

Beneath are the flight instances of the Mini 3 Professional and Mini 4 Professional, using each battery choices.

» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Professional Battery – All You Must Know

Impediment Avoidance

A highly regarded subject of late is a drone’s skill to scan the setting and use impediment avoidance sensors to bypass these.

Earlier than the Mini 3 Professional, a lot of these methods had been solely seen and applied in rather more costly prosumer and enterprise-level drones.

DJI has, with the discharge of the Mini 3 Professional again in Might 2022, introduced these capabilities into the arms of on a regular basis hobbyists and even freshmen, utilizing sub 250 g drones, just like the Mini 3 Professional.

Impediment avoidance hasn’t simply confirmed so as to add a degree of security when flying for varied people but in addition permits for the usage of extra autonomous flight modes, equivalent to monitoring topics and filming varied factors of curiosity with out operator stick enter.

Mini 4 Professional

Just like the modern Mini 3 Professional bringing impediment avoidance to DJI mini drones, the Mini 4 Professional likewise has confirmed to innovate in bringing full 360-degree impediment avoidance sensors to a mini drone.

The Mini 4 Professional has omnidirectional sensors that means it’s lined in all instructions:

• Entrance
• Again
• High
• Backside
• Sides

These sensors are an enormous deal in that they add 360-degree safety towards obstacles within the Mini 4 Execs flight path.

That is one thing newbie pilots will vastly recognize. Nonetheless, even with such a system, it’s suggested by no means to wholly depend on it, because the Mini 4 Professional may not detect all obstacles in its path because of varied components.

Moreover, having omnidirectional sensing implies that the Mini 4 Professional can carry out superior topic monitoring, one thing Skydio had beforehand perfected.

The Mini 4 Professional is now a viable contender on this house, with the addition of the modern lively monitor 360.

» MORE: Impediment Avoidance in DJI Drones (Defined for Rookies)

Mini 3 Professional

The Mini 3 Professional was the primary DJI Mini drone to incorporate impediment avoidance, which on the time was fairly spectacular, contemplating this had been executed all whereas protecting the Mini 3 Professional below the 250 g candy spot.

The Mini 3 Professional has 3-way impediment avoidance:

• Frontward
• Backward
• Downward

Though the Mini 4 Professional has omnidirectional impediment sensing, it ought to be famous that the 3-way impediment sensing system within the Mini 3 Professional remains to be fairly spectacular as it’s current in such a small, light-weight bundle.

This 3-way system permits these new to flying drones to have the ability to choose up the Mini 3 Professional and confidently fly realizing there’s a diploma of safety from environmental obstacles.

Due to these three sensors, the Mini 3 Professional can likewise use lots of the lively monitor features discovered within the Mini 4 Professional.

As a result of the Mini 3 Professional doesn’t have 360-degree safety, it doesn’t have all of the superior lively monitor features the Mini 4 Professional does, particularly Energetic Monitor 360, which permits topic monitoring from all sides.

» MORE: What Are Downward Imaginative and prescient Sensors in Drones? (Defined for Rookies)

OcuSync

OcuSync is the DJI proprietary transmission system that communicates between the distant management and the drone. This technique has totally developed over time beginning with O1 and is at the moment at O4 (OcuSync 4).

On-line you might even see people boasting how far their drone can fly with (insert new OcuSync model right here) onboard their drone.

The necessary factor in regards to the OcuSync transmission system just isn’t how far any explicit drone can fly with it, however quite how robust the sign is between the drone and RC, protecting a dependable sign in interference-dense places.

Mini 4 Professional (OcuSync 4.0)

The upgraded Ocusync 4.0 transmission system allows the Mini 4 Professional to stream video from the drones to both the brand new DJI RC 2 or RC-N2 distant controller at 1080p/60fps, whereas that is 1080p/30fps with OcuSync 3 on the Mini 3 Professional.

Moreover, as a result of upgraded O4 transmission system, DJI advertises that the Mini 4 Execs transmission distance is now 12.4 miles (20 km), on a a lot improved and stronger sign.

Due to the brand new transmission system, as famous and talked about earlier, the DJI RC 2 distant controller now has 2 extra exterior antennas, just like those discovered on the dearer DJI RC Professional.

» MORE: Why Can Drone Indicators Go for Miles? (Whereas My House Wi-Fi Can’t)

Mini 3 Professional (OcuSync 3.0)

The Mini 3 Professional is operating on the barely older OcuSync 3.0 video transmission system, which may transmit video indicators as much as a most vary of 7.45 miles (12km).

The transmission sign helps 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz frequency bands which continues to offer very robust and dependable anti-interference even in 2023.

Which means that the sign is stronger and cleaner, enabling one to fly in city areas or areas with excessive interference, equivalent to in a downtown setting or extremely populated city areas confidently.

Distant Controllers

Regarding the distant controllers every model of the Mini Professional can fly varies drastically, though they appear nearly equivalent (within the case of the RC-N1 and RC-N2).

Mini 4 Professional

With the brand new OcuSync 4 transmission system onboard the Mini 4 Professional, modifications wanted to be made relating to what distant controllers will work with the brand new system.

As with the Air 3, the Mini 4 Professional is at the moment capable of work solely with the next RCs:

As of this text’s writing, the Mini 4 Professional just isn’t backward suitable, so it is not going to work with any of the earlier OcuSync 3 distant controllers, together with the well-built and skilled DJI RC Professional.

Time will inform if DJI offers this compatibility or makes a more recent OcuSync 4 model of the DJI RC Professional.

Because it stands, each iterations of the Mini 4 Professional’s distant controllers work completely with the Mini 4 Professional and are well-built.

Mini 3 Professional

The Mini 3 Professional is perhaps the older of the 2 Mini Professional fashions, however with age comes the power for it to work with extra distant controller choices.

Presently, the Mini 3 Professional works with the next RCs:

All three of those distant controllers use the OcuSync 3 transmission system and have been doing so for a few years now, flawlessly (with the DJI RC having been launched in 2022).

As totally tried and examined controllers, these three RCs, just like the newer O4-based controllers, are well-built and carry out admirably.

Digicam Specs

Digicam Efficiency

The Mini 3 Professional and 4 Professional each use 12 MP, 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensors with a hard and fast aperture at f/1.7, permitting them to soak up extra mild than drones with customary f/2.8 apertures, thus taking higher low-light footage and movies.

Beneath are two examples of each the Mini 4 Professional and Mini 3 Professional taking pictures a sundown inside ft of one another, throughout the identical time.

Though the enhancing is barely different between the 2, each took nice evening-time images.

One thing you’ll inevitably see in each Mini Execs is that when not taking pictures in night time mode, there might be noticeable noise within the shadows, which might be cleaned up in an editor like Lightroom.

Each drones have the choice to shoot 48MP images, utilizing quad-bayer know-how. 

The images shot on this mode do look good, though on the Mini 3 Professional, the 48 MP possibility just isn’t current when taking pictures Burst, AEB (Auto Publicity Bracketing), or Timed pictures like it’s within the Mini 4 Professional, as seen above within the 12 MP AEB photograph instance.

Being “Professional” degree superior drones, the Mini 4 Professional and Mini 3 Professional not solely take RAW images (within the .DNG format) however take each JPEG and RAW photos concurrently.

Carried over from the Mini 3 Professional to the Mini 4 Professional is Vertical Mode, the place the digital camera bodily rotates 90 levels to take portrait-orientated images and movies, which is properly fitted to content material creators and people who put up commonly to social media.

» MORE: How one can Produce Vertical Content material with a Drone (That Isn’t the Mini 3)

The largest distinction in digital camera efficiency between the Mini 4 Professional and the Mini 3 Professional comes within the video division.

The Mini 3 Professional can shoot a most video decision of 4k 60fps, with gradual movement in 1080p at 120fps.

It will probably additionally shoot video in two shade profiles: Regular and 10-bit D-Cinelike, which is helpful for these wanting extra flexibility when color-grading their footage.

The Mini 4 Professional, alternatively, can shoot a most video decision of 4k 100fps, with gradual movement in 1080p at 200fps, which, up till now, has been extraordinary in a Mini drone.

The Mini 4 Professional additionally shoots video in two shade profiles: Regular and 10-bit D-Log M/HLG.

When viewing the totally edited and color-graded footage from both of those drones, it’s laborious to inform they had been taken from such small units.

The footage out of each rivals bigger, dearer drones within the DJI line.

» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Professional Digicam Settings (Defined for Rookies)

Total DJI-Listed Variations

Beneath is a full itemizing of the “upgrades” the Mini 4 Professional has over the Mini 3 Professional. The record is definitely slightly longer than anticipated.

• Omnidirectional impediment sensing
• 4k 60fps HDR video with 10-bit D-Log M
• DJI O4 FHD Digital Video Transmission System
• Energetic Monitor 360, Waypoint Flight, Superior RTH, Cruise Management
• New picture processing platform
• HDR video upgraded from 4k 30 fps to 4k 60 fps
• Low movement upgraded from 1080p to 4k

My Selection

If I had been to exit at present and resolve between getting the Mini 3 Professional or a brand new Mini 4 Professional, I might undoubtedly select the DJI Mini 4 Professional.

The Mini 4 Professional advantages from a lot of the new DJI know-how seen in each the Mavic 3 Professional and Air 3, having been launched in 2023.

Not solely this, the worth distinction between the Mini 3 Professional and Mini 4 Professional just isn’t very drastic, that means you would get the perfect know-how and {hardware} in a Mini Professional drone (Mini 4 Professional) with out paying rather more for it over the worth of a 2022 model (Mini 3 Professional).

» MORE: DJI Air 3 Rookies Information (Step-by-Step Information)

Do you have to improve from the Mini 3 Professional?

If you have already got a DJI Mini 3 Professional, it’s good to contemplate what are you seeking to do with the Mini 4 Professional that you just can not already do with the Mini 3 Professional.

Whereas each the Mini 4 Professional and Mini 3 Professional take the identical decision images, the Mini 4 Professional does have:

• Omnidirectional impediment avoidance
• Ocusync 4.0
• D-Log M image profile
• 4k 100fps video
• Superior Clever Flight Modes – Energetic Monitor 360, Waypoint Flight, Superior RTH, Cruise Management

On the flip aspect of this, nonetheless, if you happen to at the moment personal a DJI RC Professional controller, it is not going to work with the Mini 4 Professional.

If you wish to proceed utilizing the RC Professional with a Mini drone, then upgrading to the Mini 4 Professional will render the RC out of date upon upgrading, except DJI has some future plan for this.

Because it stands now, for a lot of Mini 3 Professional homeowners, shifting to the Mini 4 Professional could be extra of a lateral aspect grade than an precise improve.

» MORE: DJI Fly App (The whole lot You Must Know)