Like every tech user I was looking at the other drones that were available the Mavic 3 was always floating around that big Hasselblad camera oh so tempting but the price moved it out of my league.  Then the lovely people at DJI released the details of a new drone, very lightweight, 48mp RAW shooting, 4k video and the ability to rotate the camera into portrait mode.

With a variety of purchasing options and a fly more kit this drone would be available for under £1000 which with all its tech is a bargain.

I ordered one, due to its popularity its shipping date kept getting pushed back so I cancelled and re-ordered from Very.co.uk instead, who promised delivery in 3 - 4 days, and they did indeed deliver.

There are a couple of options for a controller on this drone, the RC-N1 which is the more traditional style where you plug your mobile phone in to use as a screen or the DJI-RC which is self contained with a built in screen.  TO save a few pound I went for the RC-N1 but added the fly more kit to the order instead.

First impressions were, its very light, its a little bigger than the Mini SE and it looks chunkier. But it still felt solid, the controller is well laid out and comfortable.

Its still under 249g meaning you can fly just about anywhere except Nuclear power stations, airports and tightly packed crowds.  Folded up it will fit into a jacket pocket.  Flight time is around 30 minutes but this will depend on external factors like how much you manoeuvre the drone but more on the wind conditions at the time.

If you've flown a DJI drone before the controls haven't changed, there are a couple of new icons (portrait mode, zoom) and very beneficial information from the anti collision sensors on the drone.  However the menu options become a little more in depth, as the drone has so much more to offer you have more in the way of options to tweak for you personal preference, although leaving them as standard will cause no issues.

OK so on to the important bit and the reason you buy a drone like this, the camera.  OK this is a very very good camera, leaving out all the trick bits you have a 48MP camera capable of producing RAW (NEF) files, the image above is a jpeg right off the memory card.  The detail, colour, sharpness are all easily better than the best smart phone camera, will beat point and shoot cameras and match what I could get out of a Pro Digital SLR a few years ago.  the camera is astounding.  Add into this it also does 4k 60fps video, HDR video, 1080p 120fps slow motion, will generate wide angle, 180 and 360 degree panoramic shots itself, and these are multiple images stitched together not a crop, yes no need for Photoshop etc to stick them together.  It will also do burst mode and HDR again generated in drone. have a look at the Workington gallery up to number 92 are taken with the Mini 3 Pro, the rest with the Mini SE.

This is not the limit of what the Mini 3 Pro has in its box of tricks either,  it has many features usually found on a much more expensive drone, 3 way obstacle avoidance, APAS 4.0 (Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems 4.0) or obstacle avoidance built in, the drone either stops or will navigate around obstacles. Vertical shooting, shoot portrait if you want by rotating the camera no cropping or clipping.  

Then add in the automated video features:

Mastershots - select a target and let the drone sort it out, panning, zooms, overflights it will decide what to do and you have a few choices in there to help.

FocusTrack - A variety of ways to lock on and video your target from tracking to following to keeping the target in focus and in frame while you fly around.

Hyperlapse - Timelapse from the drone, either stationary or moving, its very very impressive - HERE

Digital Zoom - up to 4x digital zoom, very handy if you are trying to video wildlife.

For such a small lightweight and, in the grand scheme of drones, cheap package it has nearly everything you could want in a drone, a 30 minute flight time, great camera, excellent features and won't break the bank.

It does have a couple of minor niggles though, the obstacle avoidance works in front, above, below and behind meaning that you can fly sideways into an object, although as a default sideways flight is disabled.  The second is the instruction booklet its good but doesn't go into the details for what the video settings are and how you can change them. All in all though it has to be a 10/10 rating.

I've always found the idea of having a drone interesting but the trade off between decent quality and price put a half decent one out of my league.  But, as you all know in the world of technology things move along very quickly indeed and better products become cheaper.

SO I bought a DJI Mini SE with its Fly more kit.  All in all I got the drone, controller, 3 batteries, hard case, cables, charger and a few spare propeller blades for around £350.

All in all packed away into the hard case its about the same size as your average rectangular tupperware box or a deep takeaway container.  its pretty light, fairly sturdy and feels like it will take a knock.

The drone itself comes in at 249g with battery and memory card in place making it fall happily into the C1/C0 category.

The drone itself folds up into a fairly compact size, it will go into a big patch pocket.

Specification wise, on a calm day with gentle flying you can get a good amount of flight time out of the batteries, 30 minutes claimed, but that drops off a little if you are moving about a lot or its battling high winds.  Controls are easy, if you aren't physically inputting movements it will just hover where you last left it.  Low battery alarm or loss of signal will prompt an automatic return to where it took off, be warned that there is a little play in this so if you don't have a big area you will want to land manually.

Specs, with a stabilised 3 axis gimbal mounted camera it will provide very good results taking either stills or video in 2.7k, all you need is a smartphone, check the DJI site for compatibility, and the DJI Fly App.  The App may cause you some difficulty as it is not available on Googleplay, so I had to download and sideload it onto my Huawei P40 (as it has no access to Google anyway not a big issue for me).

From an initial whiz about I have found that it is easy to fly, connection works very easily, quality of images is very very good, so is Video have a look HERE for a load of images around Workington.  

There are a couple of down sides, signal range isn't brilliant, and the more signal noise you have the worse that is, still flying 4 -500 hundred metres away is achievable and you should keep it in sight at all times anyway.  at winds over 25mph it struggles a little and you may lose the automatic return home function and lastly flying it near the harbour really really annoys the seagulls, I chose discretion and brought it home rather than risk it.

There are some automatic video features built in, Rocket, Dronie, Circle and Helix all work fairly well but you need to have something that the drone can lock onto which can be a little hit and miss, however switching into "Cinematic" flight mode you can easily mange Dronie and Rocket manually.

All in all this drone is worth every penny, yes there are cheaper out there and there are definitely much more expensive out there but as a good quality starter drone I think this is worth every penny.

UPDATE.

Workington Sunset I've had the Mini SE a few weeks now and have discovered that it is a very good, flexible, robust drone.  With it being light I have discovered, the hard way, that if things go terribly wrong it will bounce rather than splat.  From about 60 ft I clipped a building it bounced down the wall and landed. After a change of propellers I was back up and flying again with a minimum of fuss, always carry spare rotor blades :).

I now have had this out around Workington, Egremont and Keswick, it has performed brilliantly, the automatic return to base feature on low battery or loss of signal work wonderfully well and takes a bit of weight off.  The camera is very good, lack of RAW output is a little annoying, and the video is also very good but can be a little jittery if you move quickly at its highest settings, moving to 1080p at 60 fps gives a smoother response.  

For the price bracket, at the bargain end of the drone market, its a worthwhile purchase, its a good starter can produce very nice results and is easy to fly, 60ft buildings not withstanding!  But, as a photographer, I quickly realised that I wanted more on the camera front.  I will be keeping this drone though, what it does it does do well, and its always good to have a backup if needed.

Curwen Hall WorkingtonThe remains of Curwen Hall in Workington viewed from directly above.