The 2020 DJI Mavic Mini Review and Test

The DJI Mavic Mini is the lightest truly premium drone around. It’s relatively affordable
compared to DJI’s other quadcopters, and while it doesn’t do quite as much - there’s no 4K
video capture or object tracking, its pros outweigh its cons tenfold - it fits in a large pocket,
doesn’t need to be registered with your local aviation authorities, has great battery life and
captures sensationally smooth footage without costing the earth.

Its smart, compact design and extensive feature-set all make it a one-of-a-kind balance of
portability, convenience, and affordability. While we do have a wishlist after spending some
time with it – 4K video and object tracking, it’s still one of the easiest drones to recommend,
and is yet another example of DJI raising the bar.

* See the DJI Mavic Mini in Action

The DJI Mavic Mini weighs just 249g, which means it’s one of the few video-centric camera
drones that doesn’t need to be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK, or the
Federal Aviation Administration in the US. It’s also DJI’s lightest, most affordable drone, fits
in a large pocket and has a range of up to 2.5 miles.

History dictates DJI makes quality products as a rule, and on paper, the Mavic Mini is no
exception with its 3-axis mechanically stabilized gimbal ensuring footage from its 12MP
camera looks incredibly well held together.

There are some buts though – there’s no 4K capture support here; instead, the Mavic Mini’s
footage caps out at 2.7K, just like the DJI Osmo Pocket. Object tracking is also absent, so it
won’t replace a Mavic Air or Mavic Pro 2 if you’re a solo sky shooter in need of a ‘follow
me’ mode.

If, however, you’re after something more portable and affordable that still bears DJI’s mark of
quality, then on paper, this could be your ideal drone.

Price
The Mavic Mini is available now with a starting price of US$399 / £369 / AUS$599. That
gets you the drone, a battery and a controller.

If you can stretch to DJI’s Fly More bundle, which costs a bit, you also get a 360-degree
propellor-guard, two more batteries (three in total) and a battery charging dock, which
doubles up as a power bank. We would absolutely recommend you stump up a bit more
money for the extra battery life alone. Small drones generally have very short flight times, but
at 30 minutes, the DJI Mavic Mini is ahead of the pack. With the Fly More bundle, that time
climbs to 90 minutes given the additional batteries, which is incredibly handy when out and
about.

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Design and controller
The Mavic Mini looks a lot like other DJI products and drones. Its design is relatively neutral
with its light grey finish, reminiscent of the DJI Osmo Action and Osmo Mobile 3. It sports
pivoting arms that collapse this quadcopter into a compact bit of kit.and the dark grey
propellors and port locations also make sense.

The Mini’s micro SD card slot is exposed at the back, for example, making it hot-swappable -
much more convenient than that of the Parrot ANAFI, which is stowed under the battery.
There’s also a micro USB port alongside it, which charges the drone, unlike that of the Mavic
Air. The 2400mAh battery slots in under a door above these.

On the front, the camera is guarded by a removable plastic shield, and at the base are LED
battery indicators and a button to power it on. There aren’t any object avoidance sensors
around the sides, which would have been handy, but the sensors at the base do a good job of
ensuring smooth landings.

To fly the DJI Mavic Mini, both it and the controller have to be powered up and connected,
and your Android or iOS smartphone needs to be running the DJI Fly app and plugged into
the controller.

The drone ships with all the wires you’ll need to get off the ground - Lightning, micro USB
and USB-C, and while it’s a bit fiddly to get everything plugged in and secured, once done,
we never had any connectivity issues when flying the Mavic Mini.

It’s also a breeze to navigate the drone; the controller is ergonomic, its screw-on joysticks are
comfortable and intuitive to maneuver, and the app also gives you the option to customize
what the left and right joysticks do.

Weighing 249g when in-flight, each battery weighs around 100g, while the Mavic Mini itself
weighs 150g - this weight was hit by DJI employing a hollow plastic construction that has
been fleshed out by foam. While this might not sound premium, the Mavic Mini manages to
avoid feeling overly fragile.

DJI Mavic Mini photos

With its 12MP 1/2.3” sensor, the DJI Mavic Mini packs similar imaging credentials to the
Osmo Pocket, however, its aperture is narrower at f/2.8 by contrast to f/2 - handy for a gimbal
flying closer to the sun than a handheld camera.

It captures stills at the full 12MP resolution, and there’s a manual mode within the app, so you
can keep the shutter open for as long as 4 seconds and ramp the ISO up to 3200. That said,
there’s no override when it comes to image quality for video at this stage.

Stills look decent in daylight, and passable in low light, but terrible in the dead of night. If you
can dive into manual mode, you can help things along, but in the air, you still can’t keep the
shutter open for too long, so you’ll be shooting at max ISO, which introduces a lot of noise
and post-processing.
When the light is right, however, shots are detailed, colors are punchy and dynamic range is
fair. We would have loved to have seen RAW capture within the app, and a few more
granular controls over contrast and saturation too, but even without these, as an entry-point to
12MP aerial photography, the Mavic Mini is off to a flying start.

DJI Mavic Mini video capture

Footage shot on the Mini is captured at a maximum resolution of 2.7K at 30fps. If you want to
slow things down and shoot at 60fps, you’ll have to drop the resolution to 1080p.

Within the DJI Fly app, three shooting modes are available: Position, CineSmooth, and
Sports. Position is the default mode, CineSmooth slows down the drone and increases break
time, while Sports mode tears through the sky, not to mention the battery too.

As with photos, colors are punchy in video captured by the Mini, and the footage looks
graded, ready to be shared out in a heartbeat. In turn, if you don’t want to edit your footage
too much, the Mavic Mini is a dream.

While DJI’s Osmo Action offers a cinema-style profile to flatten things out, however, there’s
no control over the look of video captured on the Mini. That’s going to put off some
filmmakers, as will the lack of 4K capture, and 2.7K 60fps slow-motion recording. Our
footage could have done with a flatter color profile, reduced exposure or an ND filter on a
couple of occasions.

In our time with the Mavic Mini, we ended up shooting in CineSmooth at 2.7K for the most
part, and were amazed by just how good it was at keeping mid-air video capture so stable. In
fact, this stabilization means you can use the Mini as a fantastic gimbal-stabilized steady cam
when you’re stuck in a no-fly zone or are in a pinch; you can see example footage in the
below video at 02:05.

Video footage shot with DJI Mavic Mini drone, showing its different features and modes

Another reason to stick to CineSmooth and more specifically, away from Sports mode, is that
slight stabilization artifacts creep in when tearing through the sky at full pelt. Additionally,
changing direction abruptly results in a marked judder - the only instance of the Mini’s gimbal
unable to handle instability with anything less than elegance and grace.

QuickShots, as introduced on the Mavic Air, have made a return. These are pre-defined flight
paths that pan around or away from a subject for a timed, dynamic clip - you can see an
example in the above video at 03:20 and they’re brilliant.

Unlike some drones, actually flying the Mini is a beautiful experience. It’s responsive, and if
it disconnects with the controller, which happened a couple of times at around 60 meters
distance in an area with multiple WiFi connections, it will return home. If you can find a clear
spot without much ambient network activity, the Mini can fly as far as 2.5 miles away, and it
handled gusty conditions fantastically; that’s incredibly impressive given this little drone’s
size and weight.
Our Verdict
Its smart, compact design and extensive feature-set all make it a one-of-a-kind balance of
portability, convenience, and affordability. While we do have a wishlist after spending some
time with it – 4K video and object tracking, it’s still one of the easiest drones to recommend,
and is yet another example of DJI raising the bar.

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