DJI Mavic Mini Review
Hey folks, welcome back. We’ve been filming many videos flying the drone for a few weeks, now gone through all the pros and the cons of the drone and DJI Mavic Mini review is all about since it was released.
The drone market has been quite chaotic, first all those confusions about the laws and regulations including ourselves to the government’s threatening with changing laws and lowering weights and all that and sceptical, people are saying there’s no real improvement.
Others arguing about the camera quality, few people are complaining about the drone for not having anti-collision sensors, well one thing is for sure and that it has taken the drone world by storm. and that’s why we got the DJI Mavic Mini Review for you.
Overview
First of all, for a better understanding what are you getting for 399 bucks or euros well a super capable drone replacing DJI spec drone the spark, which by the way you can’t get any more on the store in most of the countries and the DJI Mavic Mini also includes the controller, remember that the Spark controller was 149 bucks that you had to pay extra.
DJI Mavic Mini films in 2.7K, the release of the Mavic mini can be called a replacement of the spark, literally, they have improved a few things such as the video resolution and they have deleted stuff like the gesture controls that nobody ever used.
The gap between the spark and Mavic air wasn’t that big so DJI engineers had to improve the drone but without killing the Navigator and this is the reason why they couldn’t include 4k despite both drones having the same sensor size, but this one does not have collision sensors, anti-collision sets are at a few other specs.
3 Axis Gimbal
For me one of the greatest improvements and people haven’t been really talking about it too much is that the drone has a 3 axis gimbal, the spark had only a 2 axis gimbal and the difference is pretty big to me and the footage this way looks way more stable and at this point.
We’ve never done it before but we strongly recommend if you’re purchasing the DJI Mavic Mini, pay those extra 100 bucks, because you’re getting two more extra bats and spare props and eventually you’re going to use them. We’re recommending getting the DJI carry case for just 39 bucks at least for the first year just in case it’ll make you save some money definitely.
Crash Test
Just for DJI Mavic Mini Review, we have done a lot of crash tests on DJI drones and unfortunately this is the first drone that actually broke, of course for the price and the size was much higher than this. We’re talking about a drone that weighs less than 250 grams, it can’t really include super hard and heavy pieces and you know that’s why it’s a much more flexible drone, which in part is also good to absorb better the impacts.
Video Quality
let’s talk now a little bit about the camera as I mentioned on the review, I expected a way more cheaper quality, look overall a bit like a smartphone video but I’m super surprised that the quality is really decent. There were some people complaining about the footage being too sharp but you know that’s not something we haven’t seen in DJI drones before actually.
I’m pretty sure if well filmed and properly added, a Mavic 2 zoom footage and the Mavic Mini footage side by side and most people won’t even see a difference, I mean what do you expect for the price think about the technology DJI has put included in this 399 bucks drone, don’t expect it to film like a Phantom or a Mavic Pro, but for most YouTube videos or filming with your friends or going once a year for hiking in the mountains, it’s more than enough.
If you’re filming in Japan with your Sony A7 3R of course it’s not the right zoom for your video but, if that’s not your case this drone is enough. The sensor size is exactly the same as in the Navigator this is why we know that the drone could film in 4k but DJI decided to limit it to 2.7 K which again is enough for YouTube and I don’t think they will be raising it up 4k any time.
Mavic Mini Battery Life
I’m pretty sure we have tested the battery also and it got up to 28 minutes which is brutal now, of course depending on how you film it will also increase the flying time, but 25 minutes more or less you have more than enough battery to film two or three locations and if you are buying a Mavic Mini Fly More Combo, you get those extra two battery makes it a super interesting drug for traveling. You can use the Micro USB type charger to charge it.
DJI Fly App
DJI app, the DJI fly app got even simpler and which is always good for the video transmission in full HD, and also they have included those shots that nobody ever uses like a rocket shot and all that. The video editor that puts transitions on your videos and if you have no idea about video editing or you just bought it wrong for fun, it may help you to not lose your time in editing and sharing videos instantly. I believe they have to be there but I’d love to see in the end, the percentage of people really using that.
Outer Mode
Now a few things that annoyed me and I don’t like too much is the video being only an outer mode, it was already like that on the spark and again in order to ask the Mavic air is a more premium version and you have to limit the smaller version eight bits, the problem is, of course, you get blown skies and if you’re doing a 3-axis shot like flying, you know forward and up and tilting the camera up or down in most cases you’ll screw the shot because the light will change and even the white balance will also change.
I understand for beginners DJI rather has that manual option in order to make everything more simple and dividing, people film manually accidentally, and then watching their footage will badly expose and getting all depressed.
Fly Range
What about the Mavic Mini fly range you won’t get too many trouble, if you’re filming in an open area, that’s true landscapes with no buildings in between you and the drone, you’ll have way more distance than you really need in order to get good footage, that’s for sure however things change when there are buildings or interferences.
We’ve had quite a few problems when shooting in a city as the Mavic Mini flies in a Wi-Fi parameter signal which doesn’t have features like other deterrence, which means chances of losing the image transmission are pretty high. The question is, is there any brand out there that is capable of releasing a drone with those specs for that price, I believe there’s no.
DJI is always a step ahead and knows exactly what to release and when to do it, in order not only to hype the products but also to kill the competence. We had the Sky View hyper which seems to have been lowered drastically, other brands are now trying to get into more specific areas of terminus like the Sky do, indeed with a drone that follows you incredibly and is meant to be a revolution, but hey for 399 bucks what do you really expect.
It all comes down to what you want your drone to be capable of doing, the DJI Mavic Mini is the perfect drone for beginners or even maybe as a second backup drone, if your aim is to film a few things in a year with some friends or traveling alone, guys you can go for this drone. I hope this DJI Mavic Mini Review would help you guys before you go to own this bird.
Please share your Dji Mavic Mini experience with us below in the comment box.
You can buy your DJI Mavic Mini on Amazon: USA / UK / India
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