DJI MINI 3 Pro VS MINI 2 - Which One Should You Get?

In this video, we're going to go through the differences between the DJI Mini 2 and the DJI Mini 3 Pro. So whether you're looking for your first drone or you're thinking about upgrading from your 2, this video is going to go through all the differences between both of these drones. And my goal is to help you make a decision on if the 3 is worth it or if the 2 is still a super solid drone. All right, let's get into it. Now I want to show you two samples side by side of the exact same thing shot on both drones. So this is the DJI Mini 2 on the left side of the screen and this is the DJI Mini 3 on the right side of the screen. And I'm just using auto exposure with zero on the exposure value. And I'm just letting the camera decide what it thinks looks best. So now that you've seen both of these drones in the same settings side by side, I want to talk about eight differences that might make you choose the 3 over the 2. So the first major difference between the Mini 3 Pro and the Mini 2 is that they have different color profiles. So on the Mini 2, you only have standard color. And so when you're filming, you have a baked in look and you have dynamic range that has high contrast. And you could see from all of these examples, this is just straight out of camera. Now on the Mini 3, you have access to D-Cinelike. It's not a full log profile, but D-Cinelike does flatten out your image and pull out some of the saturation. And the benefit of using this profile allows you to preserve your highlights and preserve your shadows. So if you're in a scene like this and you have white puffy clouds up there, well on the Mini 2, those will turn bright white and they're going to be overexposed or your ground is going to turn black if you're exposing for the sky. But on the Mini 3 Pro, when you're exposing for a scene like this, well it's going to give you more room to edit your footage later so that you can see all of the clouds and see into the shadows. And so for someone who is newer to making videos, this might not be a feature that you care about because it's going to take more effort on the back end to actually color grade your footage. Now you could still do some color grading on the Mini 2 footage, you just aren't going to be able to preserve your highlights the same way. And so you're not going to have as much flexibility when it comes to the color grading side of working with the footage. Now, if you are new to color grading, I do have a course that breaks down everything you need to know about how to color grade footage and I'll include that in the description so you can check that out later. And one more thing when it comes to color is that the Mini 3 Pro has a 10-bit camera and the Mini 2 has a 8-bit camera. Now this only matters if you're going to be color grading. So on a 10-bit camera, you can see more gradation between colors whereas in an 8-bit, it's not as much gradation. So when you're color grading, the 8-bit image is going to break apart whereas the 10-bit, you're going to be able to push your colors around a little bit more and you're not going to have things like banding in the sky. And also with this, the Mini 2 shoots at 100 megabits per second whereas the Mini 3 shoots at 150 megabits per second. That's important because more data is going to give you a better looking image overall and it's going to give you more flexibility to color grade. But if you're someone who's just going to pull the images straight from camera, drop them in your timeline and then move on, well, none of this is really going to be that important. It's more on the professional side where you want to actually push your image a little bit more and you want to be able to create more cinematic looks by pushing your colors around and playing with your contrast. Now a big difference is that on the Mini 3, you have sensors. So if you're going to run into a tree, well, the Mini 3 is going to stop whereas the Mini 2, well, it's not going to stop. There's no sensors, there's no obstacle avoidance. So you're going to hit that tree. And it's just a little bit of peace of mind when you're flying to know that you're not going to run into something on the front or the back of the drone. Now there's no sensors side to side on the Mini 3. The only drone that has that is the Mavic 3. So you're going to have to get a much more expensive drone if you want side to side sensors, but front to back, you have it on the Mini 2. So you do have a peace of mind when you're out flying. And these have come in handy a lot when I'm in situations where I'm flying close to objects. Now, you don't need these sensors. You can fly the Mini 2 just fine. And as long as you have a clear line of sight and you're just paying attention to where you're at, you're not going to crash the drone. And so you just have to be a little bit more aware of what's going on on the Mini 2. You could still fly just fine without having these sensors. Now, one really good thing about having sensors on the Mini 3 is that this drone has active track, which basically means that the drone will follow you. So it will follow behind. It will fall off to the sides. It will follow in front. And the tracking does work really well. So if you are in a situation where you're a solo creator and you want to have the drone track and you don't want to push on the controller, well, you're going to want the Mini 3 and these sensors are going to help when you're tracking. So if you're flying and you're tracking yourself, you're not always going to see the drone because it might be right behind you. And so it's a good thing to have the sensors so that it doesn't run into something like a tree. But for me personally, I'm out shooting by myself all the time and the sensors on this drone makes it a lot easier to capture footage of myself when I'm doing things like hiking or mountain biking. Now with the design of the Mini 3 Pro, the gimbal's a little bit different, which allows the camera to rotate vertically. So if you're someone who does a lot of short form content like reels or TikToks or shorts, well, this is going to be super useful because you get the full use of the sensor and you're not having to crop in on your footage. Now, personally, I haven't been using the vertical feature that much because I don't do a whole lot of this style of content, but for creators that do, it's a super useful feature. Now, another big difference between these two drones is that the Mini 2 has a 12 megapixel camera and the Mini 3 Pro has a 48 megapixel camera. So on the Mini 3 Pro, your images and your footage is going to look cleaner and sharper than the Mini 2. Now, another big difference between both of these drones is the flight time. So with the standard battery that comes in the Mini 3 Pro and the battery that comes in the Mini 2, you're getting around 30 minutes of flight time. Now that's in ideal conditions. You're never actually going to get 30 minutes of flight time. It's going to be a little bit less than that because you have to take into account conditions, how you're flying, and also how much time you're leaving on the battery before you land. You can't land at zero. But the Mini 3 Pro has a new battery that's an extended battery. Now the drone is no longer under the 249 grams, but with this extended battery, you get 47 minutes of flight time in ideal conditions. Now, again, you're not going to get 47 minutes, but when I've been flying my Mini 3 Pro, I've been getting 30 plus minutes of flight time, which is huge. And it just makes it a little bit easier to fly with this drone because you can keep it in the air longer and you can set up your moves and you don't have to rush to bring it down. Now, the Mini 2 still has plenty of battery, but if you just want a little bit more battery, well, Mini 3 definitely has the advantage there. Now, one big difference for me is, well, the controllers that are available. So on the Mini 2, you basically just have the standard controller. Now you can get this same controller for the Mini 3 Pro, but there is a new RC that has a screen built in. And I found that this is just much more useful to use so that I don't have to connect my phone to the standard RC and it just keeps it all in one. Now, another big difference between both of these drones, the Mini 3 Pro has 4K 60 frames per second, whereas the Mini 2 only has 4K 30. Now, for me, I like to shoot in 60 frames per second so that I could slow down the footage and make my movements a little bit smoother. And when you're shooting in 4K 30, 24, 25, on the Mini 3 Pro, you have a high quality mode, which gives you some HDR quality, it has this internal processing happening where you could see a little bit better into the shadows. Now, both of these drones are super capable and there are some huge advantages to the Mini 3, but one of the biggest factors is gonna be price because these drones are priced differently. The Mini 3 is much more expensive. So if we're just talking about the drone without the Fly More kit or anything else, just the standard RC with both of these, well, the Mini 2 comes in around 450 and the Mini 3 Pro comes around 750. So you're talking about a $300 difference and that's for standard pack, one battery, controller without the screen, and that's your difference. Now, as soon as we get into the Fly More kit, which I suggest you get because you're gonna want more than one battery, you're gonna want all the other features that come with it, well, for the DJI Mini 2, that's $600. So that's still cheaper than the cheapest package of the Mini 3 Pro. But on the Mini 3 Pro with the Fly More kit, with the RC that has the screen built in, you're looking at over $1,100. So it is a much more expensive drone and ultimately that might be the deciding factor of which drone you wanna get. Both of them are very capable. I've taken the Mini 2 out on some pretty extreme adventures and it's performed super well and the footage looks great. You just have to be a little bit more aware of what you're doing and you have to fly completely manual. There's not a whole lot of ways to shoot automated besides the quick shots. The Mini 3 opens up a ton of possibilities by giving you active track, having sensors, and then obviously all the features that are packed into it. So if you need these features, if you need more color, if you need better bit depth, if you want a higher megapixel camera, well, Mini 3 is what you wanna go for. Personally, I'm gonna be using the Mini 3 because these are features that I like to use, but Mini 2 is still a very good drone. And next, if you wanna see how I use these drones to craft a story, make sure you check out this video right here. Goes through a bunch of different drone moves that I use when I'm telling a story. I'll see you on that video.