The DJI Fly app is a well-balanced combination of simple to use, but powerful enough to offer depth to more experienced fliers. DJI’s reliable stabilization has become as synonymous with the brand as the shades of grey that adorn all its consumer products, and we’re here for all of it.

The drone’s battery isn’t the only cell worth talking about. The Mini 2’s 5,200mAh controller battery is huge, lasts for ages and takes a couple of hours to power up. It also charges your phone while connected. As for the transmission tech, the Mini 2 doesn't rely on Wi-Fi communication. With OcuSync 2.0, dual-frequency transmission automatically alternates between channels to prevent signal interference between the remote and drone. DJI claims connectivity up to 10km (6.21 miles). While that's impressive, it is important to keep the drone within your visual line of sight at all times.Finally, there are three different options for creating a panorama. "Sphere", which resembles a tiny planet, captures twenty-six images. "180º" captures seven images for a landscape perspective while wide captures a 3x3 tile consisting of nine images. Unlike the Mavic Air 2, there isn't an option to create a vertical panorama.

The bump in video resolution from 2.7K to 4K is welcome. Sure, technically, there’s no reason we can think of that 4K capture wasn’t built into last year's model, but in well-lit scenes, the extra recorded pixels mean more scope for zooms and crops. Tested with a production model DJI Mini 2 SE in a controlled environment. Actual experience may vary depending on the environment, usage, and firmware version. The original Mavic Mini could only capture up to 2.7K/30p footage at 40 Mbps. The Mini 2 now allows you to record in resolutions up to 4K/30p, 2.7K/30p, and 1080p/60p at 100 Mbps. You can also zoom in on subjects while recording. Both 4K and 2.7K allow up to 2X zooming, and 1080p resolution allows you to hone in on a subject up to 4X, though the quality only remains lossless at 2X zoom.

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Vision positioning requires non-reflective, discernable surfaces, and adequate lighting. Available at altitudes from 0.5-30 m. The vertical and horizontal positioning accuracy is within ±0.1 m. The app is also where you can tap into the front LED’s RGB spectrum, giving the DJI Mini 2 a gaming laptop vibe. Handy when flying with multiple drones, it makes identifying yours a doddle, and you can switch out the RGB mode across breathing, rainbow, and solid too.

As you'd expect with such a small sensor, this isn't a drone for shooting in gloomy conditions. The Mini 2's video struggles when the sun drops, though its photos bear up a bit better. Its propensity to underexpose slightly also compounds middling performance in dimly lit scenes. In turn, we’d recommend keeping flights to bright and beautiful days when possible. Finally, the app opens up manual photo shooting with an optional shutter speed of up to four seconds for photos and 1/60 seconds for video, and a max ISO of 3200 across both modes. DJI Mini 2 review: features and performance Digital zooming is limited to about 2x if you’re shooting in 4K, though you can get usable 3x footage at 1080p. As soon as the light drops, though, so too does the Mini 2’s usable zoom range. Casual drone flyers won’t need to venture beyond the main interface. There’s a take-off and land button (which is also on the controller), a map shortcut in the bottom left, a shutter release button on the right as well as a mode switcher, gallery shortcut and a toggle between manual photo and video. The system still produces just .MP4, so it’s really for people who don’t expect to be grading (and the results do look good enough to share). In that spirit, DJI have also added digital zoom, which can be quite handy. It means you can operate further from the kids, and up to 2x (from a possible 4x) in 1080P it isn’t even lossy, though 2x at 4K is as far as it’ll go. If you prefer to get something without cropping in post, or even just to practice a shot before reverting to shooting in 4K at 1x, you might be grateful for this.

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I was impressed with the original Mavic Mini and am even more delighted with the upgrades that the Mini 2 boasts. The updated motors really make all the difference as far as general noise and acceleration are concerned. Lately, it's been windy where I live, and the drone handled gusts quite well, delivering smooth footage and crisp images. With a video transmission of up to 10km, the Mini 2 boosts its range by 150% when compared to the original. We would love to be able to say we pushed it to its limits, but unlike our experiences with the Mavic Mini, in the same Drone-safe area, we couldn’t legally fly high or far enough to get the connection to waver on the Mini 2, which is pretty great going. DJI Mini 2 review: DJI Fly App Raw images are a bit flatter, color-wise, and retain more data. They're what you'll want to use if you want to fine-tune the look of your images, but it does mean you'll need to take some time to edit them before sharing. As happy as I am to see Raw added for serious photographers, it would be nice to include more tools those who want to add some artistic flair to their aerials when capturing ready-to-share JPGs. The camera has a 24mm angle focal length with support for 2x and 3x digital zoom. The 2x looks close to lossless to me, and I wouldn't be surprised if the drone is simply cropping into its Type 1/2.3 CMOS sensor; the Mini 2 SE's camera sensor has 4K worth of pixels after all. The 3x punch-in mode looks a little soft to my eye but is still usable. Out-of-camera JPGs match the standard profile in look, but don't leave a lot of room to edit