DJI Air 2S or Mini 3?

linuxya · Apr 20, 2022

What is your opinion on this?

Mostly 98% photography.
No sub 250gram drone regulation here.

Only few things that I like the Mini 3 as below,
- Portability & lightweight (easy to travel)
- Convenience of portable charging with power bank (new battery..maybe?)
- New cheaper 2450mAh spare batteries?

Much prefer DJI Air 2S, except for no portable battery charging. Perhaps, it is not important as I think, 1 location 1 battery? 3 batteries is fairly enough for 2.5 locations for photography purpose only?

Yaros · Apr 20, 2022

DJI Mini 3 is not released yet, I can't answer about the specs.
However I fly the Mavic Air 2 and 3 batteries are enough for 3 locations for me. I really recommend getting the fly more combo with the Air 2S!

old man mavic · Apr 20, 2022

firstly welcome to the forum
because you do not have to worry about the 250g regs ,and as @Yaros has said ,we dont know how the Mini3 is going to perform yet,then i would be inclined to go for the A 2s

Gagey52 · Apr 20, 2022

Welcome to the forum from the outback of Australia. Have to agree with OMM, don’t know the specs for the mini3. I’d go for the Air2, much better specs than any mini. Love to see any shots you take down there.
Regards

15PSI · Apr 20, 2022

Air2S. Great drone and larger than minis. Better flight characteristics- stable, wind resistance, power etc. Once the Mini 3 becomes available and proven, I will reassess my opinion at that time.

VenomXts · Apr 20, 2022

I do wonder which camera is technically better for photography... looking forward to the reviews.

DJI Mini 3 Pro drone European price leaks amid rumors of launch delay

We may just have to wait a little longer for DJI to add a new offering to the safest drone category weighing less than 249 grams.

dronedj.com

Eagle Eye 62 · Apr 20, 2022

linuxya said:
What is your opinion on this?

Mostly 98% photography.
No sub 250gram drone regulation here.

Only few things that I like the Mini 3 as below,
- Portability & lightweight (easy to travel)
- Convenience of portable charging with power bank (new battery..maybe?)
- New cheaper 2450mAh spare batteries?

Much prefer DJI Air 2S, except for no portable battery charging. Perhaps, it is not important as I think, 1 location 1 battery? 3 batteries is fairly enough for 2.5 locations for photography purpose only?

It's got a 1.1" sensor (newer and probably better thank the one in the Air2S. Also longer flight time and a higher Megapixel camera, I mean it isn't really a comparison. It's kinda like the Air2S and the Mini two had a baby!........

VenomXts · Apr 20, 2022

Eagle Eye 62 said:
It's got a 1.1" sensor (newer and probably better thank the one in the Air2S. Also longer flight time and a higher Megapixel camera, I mean it isn't really a comparison. It's kinda like the Air2S and the Mini two had a baby!........

And the baby can look up

vindibona1 · Apr 20, 2022

Like someone else said, we won't know all the facts until the Mini 3 is released. However, beyond that, we know that the fellows in UK and Europe (and other places outside the US) have some strict weight restrictions in many cases that require a sub 250 gram drone. Those of us who travel might have the same concerns. However, if I were going to replace my Mini 2 and didn't already have a Mavic 2 pro I'd probably be going for the Air2s- unless the Mini 3 had the same functional wind resistance and power of the Air2s. It appears that the pricing is going to be quite similar between these two drones. Obviously the Mini 3 will be more compact and easier to haul, but my experience says that for many the transportation isn't that big of a deal (anecdote alert).

Last June/July I went to the east coast for a wedding and family time. I'd thought about taking my Mini 2, but opted for the M2P. I traveled there with my full pack, but when I got there I was able to pack the drone, controller (nice and small and light) 3 batteries and filters into the M2 fly more bag and was perfectly comfortable walking around with it for over a week. The Air2s is under 600g while the M2p is 900g and still comfortable to carry. Consequently, if weight isn't an issue I think that package is definitely a consideration.

Might I pick up a Mini 3? I think it depends. If I did I would probably NOT sell my Mini 2, buy the option without the controller and buy an extra battery or two. There will be a 3rd party who will offer charging options for the batteries shortly. I don't know. I don't really have a need... but like a lot of folks I sometimes get GAS. Let's see how things play out.

Capt KO · Apr 21, 2022

There is a USB battery changer for A2s. Was discussed couple days ago for motorcycle with USB outlet. So is chargeable with battery pack in the field.

Wreckhunter · Apr 21, 2022

Eagle Eye 62 said:
It's got a 1.1" sensor (newer and probably better thank the one in the Air2S. Also longer flight time and a higher Megapixel camera, I mean it isn't really a comparison. It's kinda like the Air2S and the Mini two had a baby!........

Its not a sensor that is over 1",in fact it is smaller .77 to .8 of an inch.
The mini 3 pro will have a sensor that is 1/1.3,I know it looks weird but it is under an inch.
Check around and you will find that to be true.

Wreckhunter · Apr 21, 2022

Wreckhunter said:
Its not a sensor that is over 1",in fact it is smaller .77 to .8 of an inch.
The mini 3 pro will have a sensor that is 1/1.3,I know it looks weird but it is under an inch.
Check around and you will find that to be true.

And the camera is 48 mp done using a Quad Bayer filter of types so the actual mp count is
going to be much less than that,probably around 12 mp or so.However the camera probably
pretty close to the one in the autel nano+ mini drone is performing great.So i would
expect the camera in the mini 3 pro to be great as well.

Wreckhunter · Apr 21, 2022

VenomXts said:
And the baby can look up

Still unknown yet

Coskier · Apr 21, 2022

VenomXts said:
And the baby can look up

I haven't seen anything indicating that. All I have seen stated is that the camera can rotate 90 degrees to give a portrait orientation for pictures/ video, which is more suitable to mobile app formats. This is what has been meant by the statement of "vertical" in the descriptions I believe. Haven't seen anything to indicate the gimbal will allow for straight up shots.

EpicFlight · Apr 21, 2022

Wreckhunter said:
And the camera is 48 mp done using a Quad Bayer filter of types so the actual mp count is
going to be much less than that,probably around 12 mp or so.However the camera probably
pretty close to the one in the autel nano+ mini drone is performing great.So i would
expect the camera in the mini 3 pro to be great as well.

Most (all?) quad-bayer sensors can be read out at 4x the nominal resolution, and then create the full-resolution image with color processing. True increased resolution is gained at the sacrifice of greater noise and poorer low light performance.

So, a 12MP nominal QB sensor can produce 12MP images, or 48MP images,depending on how it's read out, and processing capability to convert the pixels to the proper color.

The 4 sub-pixel 12MP mode requires no correction, having 1R2G1B independent data per pixel.

Processing power is the reason the Mini 1 can not capture as high resolution video as the Mini 2, despite having the same physical sensor.

VenomXts · Apr 21, 2022

Coskier said:
I haven't seen anything indicating that. All I have seen stated is that the camera can rotate 90 degrees to give a portrait orientation for pictures/ video, which is more suitable to mobile app formats. This is what has been meant by the statement of "vertical" in the descriptions I believe. Haven't seen anything to indicate the gimbal will allow for straight up shots.

I have seen a few other things suggesting it can across other areas, but more importantly the picture of the drone from above pretty much guarantee's it. 90 degrees is 90 degrees and if they solved the issue with props for the the advertised function I don't see why you would not be able to rotate it up to get a 90 degree shot up...

Maybe im missing something and time will tell but I think this is a feature to make in unique as well...

I just wonder how it will do in wind... I was not impressed pano's on the m3 in wind since they failed a lot but I always associated that with he giant square camera taking the hit.

Wreckhunter · Apr 22, 2022

VenomXts said:
I have seen a few other things suggesting it can across other areas, but more importantly the picture of the drone from above pretty much guarantee's it. 90 degrees is 90 degrees and if they solved the issue with props for the the advertised function I don't see why you would not be able to rotate it up to get a 90 degree shot up...

Maybe im missing something and time will tell but I think this is a feature to make in unique as well...

I just wonder how it will do in wind... I was not impressed pano's on the m3 in wind since they failed a lot but I always associated that with he giant square camera taking the hit.

View attachment 147083

The 90 degrees is camera rotation from horizontal to vertical ,not straight up.unless they have not mentioned that in the specs.
I don't think a camera that points straight up is worth much anyway.So in the end 90 degrees is not 90 degrees anyway you look
at it.

test2000Anafi · Apr 22, 2022

They might limit it to 30 degrees as not to cannibalise their heavy old expensive drones. It would never tilt down under any circumstance, but this would be the only way to keep mavic 3 and lower owners happy. Then once air 3 releases, they can software unlock it or something

Ryant35 · Apr 23, 2022

I had a mini 2 before my Air 2S, the mini was much less stable in wind and a low slower.

jedi2155 · May 10, 2022

So I'm seriously debating if I want to return my Air 2S (last day to return is today) to get a Mini 3 Pro. What's everyone's thoughts on the matter. I need to make this decision today as its the last day to return my Air 2S. After doing the pro/cons list below I still feel that that the Air 2S is the better overall drone unless you really need that portability, gimble, flight time etc.

Mini 3 Pro benefits over the Air 2S:

+ Lighter & smaller which means less issues bringing to other countries during travel.

+ More compact charging battery station

+ Longer flight time (47 min vs. 34 min)

+ RC Smart Controller (less setup time means easy to randomly take out to fly, and I can still use my phone)

+ Higher res pictures (48mp quad bayer actual is 12 mp)

+ Better new generation gimbal range compared to Air 2S

+ Newer

I would consider the Mini 3 Pro + RC Controller ($909) + The Fly More Plus Combo ($249) so net price is $1158 before tax compared to $1039 for the Air 2S.

Air 2S benefits over the Mini 3 Pro:

Image Quality:

+ Better sensor 1" vs 0.769" for low light

+ Better Video (5.4k 30fps) and better actual MP (20 MP real)

+ Includes ND Filter

Flight:

+ Faster 19m/s vs 16 m/s speed, and 6 m/s vs 3 m/s in N mode

+ More Maneuverable (250 deg/s vs 130 on Mini 3 Pro, but can be adjusted to 250 deg via app)

+ Better obstacle avoidance quad vs. tri direction obstacle avoidance.

+ Downward Auxiliary Light

+ 5000 m vs 4000m ceiling height

+ ADS-B Transmitter which is useful when Remote ID is required next year.