DJI Mini 2 ultra portable design and 4K camera
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Nov 7, 2020
For people who want to get into drones but don't want to deal with the hassle of registering their tiny flying cameras, DJI's Mavic Mini was an nearly ideal solution. As such, it terms of withstanding the elements, the DJI Mini 2 is a bit more robust than its forbearer, which was one of the drawbacks it suffered from. Well now DJI has announced the Mini 2, a lightweight drone that's just as small and featherweight, but with the added ability to shoot 4K video and RAW images.
It also features the same 249g weight as the Mavic Mini, which was a big selling point as it helped to negotiate some of the aviation restrictions that impact the use of drones.
According to the company, "DJI Mini 2 was made to be fun to fly, simple to operate, and safe for everyday use, whether that is daily life or an exciting adventure". The Mini 2 also features a 2x lossless zoom (that goes up to 4x when combined with digital zoom), giving you even more flexibility to get closer to faraway subjects. Photographers will also appreciate the option to shoot in RAW now, something the original didn't offer. Further, the maximum transmission range between the drone and the controller has been extended to 10 kilometers. Usually, this also means that you can expect the video stream to remain steady over greater distances as well. And given how small this thing is, at these distances, it is very likely. The new drone also sees a bump to its video resolution, now up to 4K at 30 frames per second at a 100Mbps bitrate, up from the 2.7K, 25/30p @ 40Mbps video it shot before. It's not much, but we'll take it.
Most everything else seems to be the same as before. It weighs 249 grams, which means that users won't need to register this drone with the FAA.
And as an extra ideal touch, you can also set the drone's front LED light to one of a number of colours, adding a bit of a personal touch. The 2-year plan provides 3 replacement units in 2 years and extends the original warranty period by one more year. So it's still a little tiresome to look at, but that doesn't matter so much - although it might have been nice to have some of the design details found on the Air line to give it a visual distinction to the drone it replaces. From Dronie, Helix, Rocket, Circle, and Boomerang QuickShot modes, each is quick and you can set a limit of 40 to 120 ft for some modes, depending on where you're shooting. Notably, QuickTransfer, Enhanced Photo, and Trimmed Download - of which the names are pretty much the same.
In short, if you were drawn to the Mavic Mini for its size or price, but turned off by the lack of 4K or the less reliable WiFi transmission, then the Mavic Mini 2 will be an easy choice.
