Mini 5 Pro--getting tired of waiting

[Droning on and on...]

<250g DJI drones tend to be released yearly, but they reached the point of diminishing returns with the Mini 3 Pro.

Whenever the Mini 5 comes out it won't do anything that the 3 or the 4 can't.

How untrue.

I can think of half a dozen things easily that would trigger me to upgrade the 4pro.

The easiest is dual camera. That would be a no-brainer for me.

Don't bother with arguing whether it's possible or not. It is. It's simply a matter of engineering.

 

[Droning on and on...]

They are already within grams of the target 250g, so they can't make it heavier (meaning they probably can't add another lens / sensor) 8K is going to cause overheating problems (we're already dicing with danger at 4K60 on hot days on the M4P) and they can't add any more sensors than it already has ! Occusync 4 is already amazing, and way in excess of VLOS, so no point in adding anything there. It's already got RID for when that becomes necessary. What else could we want a drone that size to reasonably do ?! Perhaps they will find a way to boost its wind resistance somehow, but again, I suspect they already did what they could.

You might not be an engineer...

Everything above is possible, if at least one of the three legs of the engineering stool is unrestrained.

Some of the above is impractical, chiefly because the cost leg of the stool isn't unconstrained enough.

To give one example, the Mini could be made considerably lighter and stronger if certain materials could be used, but then few would be sold, at $2,500 drone-only

 

[Droning on and on...]

I wouldn't even get the Mini4 right now I'd get the Mini3 without hestitation. I suspect that the Mini5 will have "upgrades" like better obstacle avoidance and maybe "smarter" object tracking and things like that...maybe some new variation of the existing sensor. But as others have said the return on investment over something cheaper like the Mini3 is minimal.

Knowing nothing at all about what and if mini5, I can say with confidence if one does get released, it will have significant feature differences compelling enough to get people to buy it over the 4.

 

[Droning on and on...]

So the mini 4 is a great drone in itself. Why is it so much better than the Mini 3?

Full, spherical OA.

I have been unwilling to use the various tracking modes on DJI drones that did not have full OA. I do now with the mini 4P and Air 3, and have been happy (and impressed) with the OA performance, although it has it's limits and as the A3S shows, it can be improved a lot.

For the first time with both those drones I've been able to focus on the cinematography on a few occasions and get some nice footage, better than I could get worrying too much about flying.

 

[ryguy80]

How untrue.

I can think of half a dozen things easily that would trigger me to upgrade the 4pro.

The easiest is dual camera. That would be a no-brainer for me.

Don't bother with arguing whether it's possible or not. It is. It's simply a matter of engineering.

I don’t think the Mini series will get dual cameras because you’re cannibalizing sales on the Air series then.

With dual cameras also comes the challenge of keeping the drone under 250g.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The other controller modes create a dissonance as quads in GPS mode don't need to roll like a plane to maneuver, but it may come in handy for people that have a RC plane/copter background or in FPV manual mode.

Well, they don't need to, but they benefit just the same way as fixed-wing aircraft by coordinating turns. Without the proper amount of roll, the quad will "slide" around a turn rather than make as tight and controlled turn as is possible.

DJI started auto-coordinating turns some time ago, on the Air 2 IIRC, and it really messed up (and pissed off) many of us that were coordinating already.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I don’t think the Mini series will get dual cameras because you’re cannibalizing sales on the Air series then.

I agree with you.

But that wasn't the question

 

[asko]

I would like the dji mini 5 to have better battery chemistry. It would be good if it inserted a battery similar to the phone honor x9c, which has a silicon battery of 6600 mAh and weighs only 189 grams. It has more charging cycles.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I would like the dji mini 5 to have better battery chemistry. It would be good if it inserted a battery similar to the phone honor x9c, which has a silicon battery of 6600 mAh and weighs only 189 grams. It has more charging cycles.

Understand that the electrical requirements of a cell phone battery are very different from a drone battery. In particular, the high discharge current presents design challenges and trade-offs that affect capacity and cycle life.

 

[JD45]

I vote get the Mini 4 Pro now. It has become 'tried and tested' and pretty much all the early bugs are already gone.
It works really nicely, and it's difficult to see what the 5 might add that would make it significantly better.

They are already within grams of the target 250g, so they can't make it heavier (meaning they probably can't add another lens / sensor) 8K is going to cause overheating problems (we're already dicing with danger at 4K60 on hot days on the M4P) and they can't add any more sensors than it already has ! Occusync 4 is already amazing, and way in excess of VLOS, so no point in adding anything there. It's already got RID for when that becomes necessary. What else could we want a drone that size to reasonably do ?! Perhaps they will find a way to boost its wind resistance somehow, but again, I suspect they already did what they could.

Perhaps the only truly impressive thing they could come up with is an Obstacle Avoidance AI that is skydio-level, but with the existing or similar sensors.

Personally I like everything about the mini 4 pro, the only improvement that would push me towards the 5 is if they made it faster. I'd like to be able to have it track me at 50 mph on my motorcycle 🏍

 

[Black Diesel]

I own a Mini 3 Pro and I'm generally happy with it. The only thing that would get me to upgrade to a Mini 5 Pro is a better sensor. With that said, if they did put a 1" sensor in the Mini 5 Pro how much better would the IQ be over what I have in the Mini 3 Pro?

 

[TestPilot]

I own a Mini 3 Pro and I'm generally happy with it. The only thing that would get me to upgrade to a Mini 5 Pro is a better sensor. With that said, if they did put a 1" sensor in the Mini 5 Pro how much better would the IQ be over what I have in the Mini 3 Pro?

How about a 1 inch sensor with adjustable aperture? Just my dream, but that would mean a large camera and I think it's not possible for a drone that size.

 

[ryguy80]

With that said, if they did put a 1" sensor in the Mini 5 Pro how much better would the IQ be over what I have in the Mini 3 Pro?

You'll see improvements in low light performance (keeping the ISO down) and if you like to pixel peep.

 

[TestPilot]

I vote get the Mini 4 Pro now. It has become 'tried and tested' and pretty much all the early bugs are already gone.
It works really nicely, and it's difficult to see what the 5 might add that would make it significantly better.

They are already within grams of the target 250g, so they can't make it heavier (meaning they probably can't add another lens / sensor) 8K is going to cause overheating problems (we're already dicing with danger at 4K60 on hot days on the M4P) and they can't add any more sensors than it already has ! Occusync 4 is already amazing, and way in excess of VLOS, so no point in adding anything there. It's already got RID for when that becomes necessary. What else could we want a drone that size to reasonably do ?! Perhaps they will find a way to boost its wind resistance somehow, but again, I suspect they already did what they could.

Perhaps the only truly impressive thing they could come up with is an Obstacle Avoidance AI that is skydio-level, but with the existing or similar sensors.

Does the Mini 4 Pro come with in-App image (not video) adjustments, like Sharpening and Noise? I know the Mini 3 Pro has it, but I read somewhere that these features are still not on the Mini 4 Pro?....

 

[eEridani]

I'm getting tired of waiting for the Air 7; seriously, why can't DJI keep up with user demand.

120 grams; 2.7 hours flight per battery; runs on AAA cells; 50 km range with Occusync 7; 6x9 1200nit controller; and MSRP of $999 for a FlyMore kit.

I want it NOW!

 

[Black Diesel]

How about a 1 inch sensor with adjustable aperture? Just my dream, but that would mean a large camera and I think it's not possible for a drone that size.

That would be great, but I agree it might be wishful thinking to fit that into the small/lightweight package.

 

[Black Diesel]

You'll see improvements in low light performance (keeping the ISO down) and if you like to pixel peep.

I would hope for better dynamic range with the larger sensor as well. So a bigger sensor with better DR, resolution, and low light performance would move the needle for me to buy the mini 5 pro. Until then, I'm still happy with my old Mini 3 Pro.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Dual native ISO is the new tech on the block for increased dynamic range, found in some Quad Bayer sensors. This seems to be the direction DJI is going for increased sensitivity, rather than larger pixels.

This leads me to believe the 100MP sensor rumored for the Mavic 4 will be similar to the sensors in the Mini 4 Pro and Air 3/3S, Quad Bayer with 25/100MP resolution and dual native ISO in 25MP mode at 400/800 ISO yielding a 14 stop (or more) dynamic range.

 

[Droning on and on...]

How about a 1 inch sensor with adjustable aperture? Just my dream, but that would mean a large camera and I think it's not possible for a drone that size.

Resurrecting this thread...

Rumor is all over the place that a Mini 5 Pro is confirmed.

I'm betting the lion's share of the engineering is squeezing every gram out of the camera housing and gimbal design to get that Air 3S 1" sensor into it and staying below 250g overall.

Likely adding the A3 lidar too, and the no-GPS trace-back RTH feature as well.

And somehow, someway they'll squeeze just a little more flight time out of it, maybe another 5 minutes over the Mini 4P. Some combo of a little more efficient battery, motors, props, etc., although IMO flight duration is already longer than most flights that actually occur, so this is becoming a situation of diminishing returns.

 

[ryguy80]

Resurrecting this thread...

Rumor is all over the place that a Mini 5 Pro is confirmed.

I'm betting the lion's share of the engineering is squeezing every gram out of the camera housing and gimbal design to get that Air 3S 1" sensor into it and staying below 250g overall.

Likely adding the A3 lidar too, and the no-GPS trace-back RTH feature as well.

And somehow, someway they'll squeeze just a little more flight time out of it, maybe another 5 minutes over the Mini 4P. Some combo of a little more efficient battery, motors, props, etc., although IMO flight duration is already longer than most flights that actually occur, so this is becoming a situation of diminishing returns.

Yeah, I would like to see them squeeze every gram out of it to get a one-inch sensor. Not sure how much room they will have to play with outside of 360 obstacle avoidance.