Rodney Campbell's Blog

Circles Within Circles

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/500 sec at f/1.7, ISO 130

Emerge

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/250 sec at f/1.7, ISO 110

Very long shadows emerge as we approach the edge of day

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the new DJI RC controller for the Mini 3 Pro

Before getting the new drone I was aghast at the size of the two remote controller options. Either the “old” style (DJI RC-N1) where it had no screen. Where you attached your mobile phone running the DJI app as the screen for the controller. Or the new style DJI RC with the built in screen and app. Both of these controllers were so huge and heavy compared and to the very compact older style controllers. For example the one which comes with my DJI Mavic 2 Pro

The new controllers for the Mini 3 Pro (DJI RC-N1 or DJI RC) are both quite a bit larger than the drone itself. It’s also heavier (390g for the DJI RC) than the drone it’s controlling (249g). Not so enticing since the whole point of getting this drone is for something super compact and light. And the drone is (very compact and light), not so much it’s controller…

That said… now that I’ve used my DJI RC (the one with the built in screen) for half a dozen flights… I’m enjoying using it more and more. Having a dedicated controller without having to fumble with my phone and an app is nice

I’ve yet to actually travel with the drone. Pack it in my camera bag with the rest of my normal camera gear and hiking with it and so on. So time will tell whether I think the size/weight tradeoff is worth it…

Vertical Panorama

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/15 sec at f/1.7, ISO 560 x 3 Frames

The new DJI Mini 3 Pro has the ability to shoot vertical frames. Where it rotates the camera 90˚ on the gimbal so it natively shoots vertically

This is great for visualising vertical framing and taking vertical frames. It means you no longer have to crop the horizontal shots afterwards to get a vertical shot. It also means you don’t necessarily have to use DJI’s built in 3 frame vertical panorama mode

The first shot above is done with the 3 frame panorama mode. I don’t particularly like this feature because it puts the horizon in the middle. I’d prefer it include more downward facing frames. I’ve stitched the frames in Lightroom and processed the result rather than using the DJI pano JPEG output

The second shot below is a vertical frame. In this case it’s a 5 shot HDR with the frames taken at 2/3rd EV increments. Again I’ve merged and processed the frames in Lightroom

Either way I think it did a remarkably good job – especially straight into the rising sun

Personally I wish the DJI Mini 3 Pro’s sensor was a 3:2 aspect ratio rather than it’s 4:3. But I guess you can’t have everything 🙂

Vertical Frame

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/15 sec at f/1.7, ISO 260 x 5 Frames

The Upside Down

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/320 sec at f/1.7, ISO 100

So many interesting patterns, shapes, lines and symmetries

Monopoly

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/200 sec at f/1.7, ISO 110

Repeated structural patterns with some very late afternoon light heading towards sunset

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.