The new DJI Mini 3 Pro drone has many advantages. It has the performance chops of the more powerful DJI Air 2S, and yet it weighs in at less than 249g, the same as the consumer level Mini 1 and 2.
This new drone will give both professional and casual content creators additional ways to capture photos and videos.
Here are the 5 top tips when using the latest drone.
Tip 1: Make full use of the Vertical/Portrait Orientation
There are a lot of times when there are beautiful waterfalls or buildings that look good in vertical orientation, and the drone cannot rotate the camera to shoot in portrait.
Usually, that would mean sacrificing image quality by cropping the image or having photos and videos in landscape orientation which is not ideal. We could use software such as Topaz’s Gigapixel AI to increase the resolution, but most of the extra details are more guesswork rather than based on reality.
Besides, shooting vertical means content creators can upload the videos directly to Instagram Stories, YouTube shorts and TikTok.
Tip 2: Buy the Bigger ‘Plus’ Battery
DJI offers consumers to buy extra batteries for the Mini 3 Pro with two options – the standard battery that keeps the 249g weight or the Plus battery with the larger capacity.
A drone that can fly 20mins with the standard battery is long enough to shoot introduction, flybys, and B-rolls.
You will need the larger 3850mAh battery if you are into hyper-lapse/time-lapse videography that can stretch the flying time closer to the 30min mark and record longer hyper-lapse footage but it may mean you have to register the drone before flying.
Tip 3: Bring A Card Reader Along
The Mini 3 Pro is paired with two types of controllers – the RC-N1 and the RC, with the latter sporting a 5.5-inch screen. A controller with a screen means lesser time preparing the smartphone and drone for flight.
That would also mean there is an additional step to downloading the photos and videos from the drone to the smartphone for quick editing before sharing online. Since Android smartphone can use SD card readers to read and save files, using it to transfer files from the drone is much faster and easier.
Of course, you could just download it straight from the drone using the DJI Fly app, but that means more battery power is used on the ground rather than flying.
Tip 4: Charge the Batteries with a 100W Power Bank
I can charge the batteries via the USB port on the charging hub but what most people won’t know is that a power bank can be used for this purpose.
Just make sure you buy the 100W power bank that can charge laptops and has a rating of less than 100Wh for you to bring on board the plane for your travels.
Tip 5: Get the ND filters For A More Cinematic Footage
There is always this subtle difference when you view cinematic footages that gives it that slight blur, important especially when you fly the drone over landscapes.
That blur actually helps to make the video more natural without that sharp look you get to see in electronic shops showcasing the latest 4K TVs.
The problem with small consumer drones is that there is no aperture control to slow down the shutter speed so you have to use a ND filter with the drone.
Get a set of ND8, ND16, ND32 and ND64 drone filters which should be enough for most uses. For example, an ND32 filter will cause the drone to shoot at 1/60 (or twice the speed of the video capture at 30fps) rather than 1/2000 of a second.
