I received the DJI Mavic Mini fly more combo set last week. So now I’m trying to figure out – is it a tool or a toy?
I’m sure there are some of you who got caught by the beautiful sceneries of wintery Latvia, but I am also sure that many of you are here because you’re wondering if the DJI Mavic Mini is any good for taking photographs? To answer you in short – yes it is. Not in a way photographers are used to taking photos though. It’s way simpler than that. As a camera, it lacks most of the functionality we’re used to. Just press the button, that’s literary it. Yes, you can make the picture look lighter or darker, and then again, that’s about it. The photos are JPEGs only, ready to use, perfectly sharp and detailed files. There’s a thing I never cared about, the white balance, have it on AUTO on all my cameras, shoot in RAW (NEF) and adjust it in postprocessing, so I usually get a sequence of similarly balanced files. Not here though. Here you make a shot, WB applied. Few degrees left, a different WB applied, and so you get a sequence of JPEG files, many of them balanced differently and you need to adjust the balance for each of them. Then again, just get the Mavic Mini up in the air, press the button, hear the click on your remote and consider it done.
Since the dynamic range is not what I’m used to, the zebra for blown-out highlights comes in handy (you can turn it darker, remember?). Yes, I know it’s not meant for professional photographers, but you just have to admire the small size and lightness of it. Yes, I will definitely be having it in my camera bag for most of my destination weddings. So be sure to expect tons of aerial shots of Villas and Chateaus in coming wedding season.
The video – it’s nice.
An update on the video quality: It was nice. Then it got wobbly, just as described all ower forums, then I re-calibrated the gimball and updated firmware and it’s all ok now.
As a drone, it’s small and light, so it fights the wind fiercely, but it fights it. Some video guys my want something “smoother”, well, you’ll need something heavier then, like DJI Mavic 2 Pro. But for photos, it doesn’t matter.
To be honest, I’m not an expert in drones at all, I consider myself (and some might say am regarded as) an expert when it comes to wedding photography, so I’m looking to use this machine as a tool for adding some angles to my creative work and effectively replace the step ladder that I never have.
That’s it, it just works. If you’re enjoying my views on cameras, here’s what I think of Nikon Z6.
Enjoy the gallery below, if you have any questions about my experience flying the DJI Mavic Mini, post them below.
Well spotted, these few photographs have been taken a few days ago.
So the girl in red is my wife, Inese, she’s the fab one who retouches all the photographs. And the guy in blue is me, pretending the sand is dry.
