Published on January 16th, 2023

Those who know me are aware that I’ve been talking about getting a drone for ages! Years, in fact. Put off by the many restrictions and rules that went hand in hand with owning and flying a drone, my biggest concern was that I just wouldn’t use it enough.

I thought that it would be mostly unused, sitting on a shelf gathering dust, but when DJI announced the Mini 3 Pro, the time was finally right to jump in and place the order. Having now owned the Mini 3 Pro for around 5 or 6 months, I thought I would share my thoughts from the point of view of a landscape photographer owning his very first drone.

WHY DID I CHOOSE THE DJI MINI 3 PRO?

To answer that question, I guess I need to answer another question first. What had previously stopped me from buying a drone, and why did I believe it wouldn’t get much use?

In short, the drones with the most freedom to fly and the least restrictions were not good enough when it came to photography (in my opinion). If I wanted DJI’s crème de la crème in terms of consumer drone photography, I could have opted for the Mavic Pro, but living here in the Southeast of England, there are so many restrictions and built-up areas, I felt I would be constantly frustrated by the lack of opportunities to fly and would have to travel far and wide to get the most use out of a drone like that.

The DJI Mini line of drones is perfect in terms of form factor as with a sub 250g take-off weight, I could fly almost anywhere as long as I wasn’t in restricted airspace, but the original Mini and Mini 2 fell short with regards to the camera. Either because of a lack of RAW format support in the first iteration, or just sensor size and what I had read about the general image quality. If video was my priority, I would have jumped in far earlier, but to get high-quality photos that I could edit and print at a reasonable size, the Mini and Mini 2 were not quite good enough.

So, when the Mini 3 and its improved, larger image sensor was announced, the time was right to make the jump.

The image above was taken along the East Sussex coast shortly after the Mini 3 Pro was delivered. It’s not an original composition but it allowed me to practice flying and composing photos. Along with traditional landscape and cityscape photos, I also hope to use the drone to build a body of work that features more abstract shapes and textures.

The two photos below were taken above a forest in East Sussex. It’s a place I’ve been photographing for a few years, and it was nice to add some alternative viewpoints to the body of work I’ve been building over that time. By-laws prevent me from taking off from within the forest boundary due to livestock grazing, so I had to take off from the side of a public road and stay high to avoid breaking any rules and scaring the animals in the forest. Thankfully the Mini 3 is much quieter than its predecessors, which helps avoid scaring any animals below.

I just want to confirm at this point that this blog post is in no way a technical review, I won’t be deep diving into the drone specs, nor will I be comparing the drone to any others as being the first and only drone I have ever owned (or even flown), that would be a little difficult. This is just me sharing my opinion and showing some of the photos I’ve taken along the way.

WHAT DJI MINI 3 PRO PACKAGE DID I BUY, AND HOW MUCH DID IT COST?

With the plethora of new features added since the Mini 2, DJI added the Pro label to the Mini 3’s name. With Tri-Directional Obstacle Sensing, 4K HDR Video, true vertical shooting, real-time obstacle avoidance, and much more, they were probably justified in doing so. However, with the word “Pro” added to the name came an inevitable price hike from £419 for the Mini 2 to £709 for the Mini 3 Pro (without the RC remote). Personally, I feel these extra features more than justify the bump in cost, but opinions may vary on that point.

With the desire to fly longer than circa 30 minutes (I did say this wouldn’t be a technical review), I opted for the Mini 3 Pro with the DJI RC Remote, along with the extra fly more kit giving me some extra batteries, tripling my flight time. Although around £150 more, the DJI RC Remote with its built-in screen appealed to me as it meant I didn’t need to use my phone in order to fly.

Altogether, (Mini 3 Pro with RC remote £859, the Fly more kit £159, and 1 Yr. Care Refresh £75) I spent a total of £1,093. Far from an inexpensive purchase, especially as I had never even used a drone before, but when compared to the other options and features I wanted, I was certain this was the right choice for me.

These photos were taken on an early morning flight in London. Conditions were perfect for taking some atmospheric photos and although the City of London restrictions prevented me from flying any further west, I still managed to get the drone in the air and take a few photos from the eastern side of Tower Bridge.

THE DJI MINI 3 PRO: A GREAT FIRST DRONE FOR LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHERS