Now We Know Everything About DJI Mini 3

The king of the sub-250g category

DJI Mini 3 is probably the most anticipated drone of this year 2022. With the release of Autel Evo Nano+, Autel Robotics has managed to steal the crown from DJI in the sub-250g category. Even though DJI Mini 2 is a great sub-250g drone, Autel Evo Nano+ is a much more advanced drone. Moreover, it’s a clear cut winner when it comes to the camera. DJI Mini 3 is poised to change this soon.

What we know about DJI Mini 3

Let’s clear the first thing. Despite all the photos, videos and spec speculations that we saw, DJI has not confirmed the Mini 3 drone yet! While the leaked material looks credible, it’s still not final.

The latest leaks, on which this blog post is based, comes from a Dutch retailer that created a listing for DJI Mini 3 drone. The listing reveals practically all the details about the DJI Mini 3 drone. Let’s dive in.

New design

If Mini 1 and Mini 2 looked practically the same, DJI Mini 3 comes with a new design. To me it looks uglier and I think many people find DJI Mini 3 uglier than the previous models. However, I understand that creaming in additional features requires new form.

Larger propellers and obstacle avoidance

The drone comes with larger props. This is quite logical as the drone will need more agility.

Possibility to extend flight time to 47 minutes

DJI Mini 3 will be the first sub-250g drone to offer a possibility to extend flight time from 34 minutes to 47 minutes by trading the drone weight. In other words, it will be possible to user a larger and heavier battery and achieve 47 minutes of flight. Obviously, the drone will go beyond the 250g limit but in many cases when the weight is not an issue, this is a great option to have.

Better camera with fast lens

The DJI Mini 3 will probably come with a 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor. Most likely the drone will have 48 or 50 megapixels for stills. This will be equal or better than that of Autel Evo Nano+. The drone will capture 4K/60fps video.

Poor low light performance is one of the weaknesses of Mini 2. No more. The drone will sport lens with f/1.7 aperture which means more light to the sensor. It’s pretty cool to see such a fast lense on a small drone.

Subject tracking and mastershots

DJI Mini 3 has the powerful trio of shooting tools: ActiveTrack 4.0, Spotlight 2.0, and Point of Interest 3.0. You can unleash your creative capabilities with DJI Mini 3.

Timelapse and panorama

Creating timelapse videos is as easy as a couple taps. So is capturing wide-angle, vertical and spherical panoramas.

Easy switching between landspace and portrait modes

Many (okay most) photos and videos shot on drones end on social media. For instagram, vertical images and especially videos work better. DJI has not missed this point. That’s why Mini 3 supports rotation of the camera for quickly changing between landscape and portrait modes. This new feature called True Vertical Shooting is possible thanks to the redesigned gimbal.

4x digital zoom

Why spend the battery and fly closer when you can simply zoom in? DJI Mini 3 features 4x digital zoom to explore far objects without actually flaying to them.

APAS 4.0 and Occysync 3

DJI Mini 3 takes flight capabilities to the next level.

First, Mini 3 features DJI’s Occusync 3 transmission system. This allows live feeds of 1080p/30fps at distances up to 12 km.

Second, the drone has APAS 4.0 - Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems.

Gimme DJI Mini 3

Ok, we now know the DJI Mini 3 is a cool tiny drone. The question is, when can we get it? There has been a lot of speculation in this respect as well. It is expected that DJI will announce the launch event sometime before the end of this month. Some rumors claimed the 28th of April. While it’s still possible, most likely the drone will not go in sales before the May 10 of this year. Stay tuned!