BEST DJI DRONE 2024? (Mini 4 Pro / Air 3 / Mavic 3 Pro)

In full agreement. Reason why I upgraded to Air 3 from mini 3Pro. Love it, especially the telephoto lens. Parallax effect is superb.

Great view as always. I have a question, what are you using as a mic stand for your DJI mic? I know you mentioned it in one of your videos, but I don't have the patience to watch through them all😁. Thanks and Happy New Year!

Great review as usual Stewart

The DJI Air 3 is my drone of year for the 2023. The new 3X camera is a game changer for me, and puts in another class above the Mini 4 Pro. And the Air 3 flies better and longer than the M4P, and I don't really need the 7X camera on that drone, because of the lower image quality. Great video Stewart, thanks for sharing. Happy New Year.

Always enjoy the reviews brother.

Good comparison video Stewart. I still have the Mavic 2 Pro with the Smart controller and the Mini 3 Pro.

👍👍👍

Air 3 is the middle ground in everything.
Price on the mavic it’s just too expensive and mini is to toyish in terms of materials to be honest.

Did my research, tested the 3, felt the materials of each and Air3 was the best for me.

Compact sized, 2 cams, superb flight time, strong materials, amazing features, and with recent updates we have all the mini4pro good stuff.

No brainer.

I have waited long for the mavic 3 pro, now time to wait for the Air 3s..patience for me have always paid off🎄as i wait for the upcoming Air 3s, I’m going to get a 135mm nikon Plena lens for my portraiture.

Great to see a shout out to the M2pro, still a great machine. Next drone purchase will be the mini 4pro because I need to bring some fun/hassle-free flying back into my life. I would like to grab that Mavic 3 pro but don't get enough commercial work to justify the cost so will stick with Mavic 2 pro for now. Regarding vertical, did the first mavic pro not have vertical or was that just for photos?

we're still using our Mavic 2 Pro. Honestly I still feel like its one of the best drones you can get. I've not been blown away by the Mavic 3 despite its much higher price

I have Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Pro and Mini 4 Pro. All are fantastic but after trying out the Mavic 3 Pro, I am selling the older Mavic 3. I'll keep the Mini 4 Pro for light and risky destination travel purposes and Mavic 3 Pro for other destinations.

Air 3 for me! The 70 mm camera is great and that thing can handle a lot of wind. Took it out in the storm yesterday and it handles it perfect. And even in hard wind the flight time is impressive 👏

This is great information for someone who wants to know more about the best DJI drones. Thanks for sharing this. I am planing to buy my 1st drone it might be DJI mini 4 pro but I am still confused if i should go with DJI air 3. your suggestion are welcomed.

I just picked up a mavic 3 for 750 bucks. 😊

My photo on mini 4 pro don’t seem to work to well and be tad grainy what the settings u have or have a video on what settings I need?

I alway enjoy watching your videos , I have a Air 3 and it's a keeper. In the real world most people use auto and some buy filters and don't even know what D-Log is. When these owners upload their videos and review them they wonder why their video don't look like reviewers videos and that is because reviewers have recorded their video in D-Log and edited in D-Log. It would be nice if the reviewers identified their video as D-Log so viewers are properly informed. The same goes for manufactures of drones and cameras.

I still have the amazing Mavic 2 Pro but I'm looking for a backup drone and the mini 4 pro looks like a good second drone. Very helpful, thanks.

always good commentary! happy new year!!

I wish more people would discuss low light night videography

I have a mini 4 pro and I’m thinking of picking up a used Avata in 2024

No doubt~ The Air 3 is the most value added model will suit all the pilots such as the beginner, the senior hobbyist and the pro level pilot and so on~ The variable aperture was not the main issue, there're just only the 24mm wide angle lens equip with the variable aperture on the Mavic 3 Pro, but not all the tele lenses has, so this still limited the performance of the Mavic 3 Pro~ The cheaper Air 3 just using the ND filters could slove the problems easily, of course by the judgement of the pilot who observing the situation of the flying environment before flying high and away~ I'd love my Air 3 very much, the 04 transmission strength is amazing, even my Air 3 flying over the skyscrapers and the signal was blocked, but I could still control it~ this is crazy~

I have a Mini3Pro and a Mavic 2Pro. I don’t do any close to trees or ‘things I might hit’ photos personally.
The mini is great for flying carefully near but the Hasselblad camera on the 2Pro is so unbelievably sharp!

I already have the mini 3 pro and have found it to be excellent, there are lots of new features on the mini 4 pro such as omnidirectional sensing that don't really affect me (I use the drone for examining rocky outcrops and landforms - I'm a geologist), however the 70mm zoom is very enticing for getting more detail on rock structures, that used to require an abseil and mark 1 eyeball and I am very drawn to the Air 3, but the issue as you have correctly identified is variable aperture, as you come close into an outcrop you inevitably come into different lighting conditions. The Mavic 3 pro doesn't actually help with that as the variable aperture is only on the main camera, not the telephoto lenses so thats a no from me, if the Air 3 had variable aperture on both cameras it would be perfect, but I don't think that will ever happen as that would move it into the Mavic 3 pro territory. So Whist I'm tempted by by the Air 3, I think the mini 3 pro will surfice for now and I'll await the next round of upgrades and see what they bring.

And it is the DJI Mini 2 SE I use the most!😁

Hi Stewart, maybe an inappropriate question. I just bought the air 3 and with that the freewell split ND filters. I'm no videographer whatsoever. But what would the best split ND filter be for UK / Dutch weather to keep on for most circumstances. I mainly fly in sunny weather. Kind regards Peter

I have a question what is the best drone under a 100 dollars that I can fly inside and outside that fast and can do a lot of cool tricks and I don’t really care about the best camera just one that I can use for fun with 3 batteries

mad!? why yes.

I’ll have to say Mavic 3. But not the pro one. Sub 250 might be important, but so is sub 900. The pro is simply too heavy which puts it in the C2 category. Since there is a huge difference between C1 and C2 drones in Europe, I’ll stick to the old one.

But I do love those 890g. It’s so stable in the air, in all kinds of wind conditions - and the Norwegian west coast is always windy.😊

And unlike you Steward, manual aperture is so imported that I’ll have to choose it over the Air3 (I’d love to have the Air 3 second camera instead of my old 7x though…)

Thank you for this nice and helpful comparison video. I am very happy to have chosen the Mini 4 Pro with the RC2. To stay below 250g is worth the downsides for me...

it will be interesting to see the spec of the air 3s when dji release it

Would it be possible to get access to some raw footage at their highest D-Log settings from each of the three drones from you? I’d love to compare how flexible each one is with color grading

Agree 100%. I struggled with the decision to buy Air 3 or M3P to get the 70mm lens. My drones are for my business so I have to do a cost /benefit analysis to purchase. I just couldn't justify the M3P at the end of the day. I've been using ISO (generally no more than 400) to help with shutter speed for motion blur. Estimate the ND filter (favor a little on the dark side) then adjust ISO if need be. I do miss the adjustable aperture though. If it's critical for the job I'll use the M2P. Sold one but still have one. 😊
Cheers! Ken

Love my air 3, was tempted to get a pro 4 to partner it but will stick with the 3 pro… great video and merry Xmas 👍🏻

If I can keep my Mini 4 and not kill it after a couple of years, then I will buy one of the Big Boy Mavics. I have to prove to the other half that I won't kill any more.

BTW, I keep thinking that you are a Game Show hoast on "Blankety Blank" with that mic
🤣

I have the 3 pro, thus its the winner :) Jk great video

I still can't justify the price of 3 Pro where none of its cameras matches the other, the 70mm at least...

Great video my friend! I have all 3 of these and find myself always reaching for the Air 3. It's just a stellar all around aircraft. EDIT: I will add that the split ND filters from Freewell really give it another bump up.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, S&A