What is suitable for photogrammetry? DJI Mini 2 or Mini 3?
Not least because of the low weight of 249g and the associated legal simplifications, the "little ones" from DJI are very popular. Long flight times, good images, well-functioning collision protection, the third generation of the Mini comes up with a solid range of functions that is unparalleled in this class. Therefore, the decision for a Mini 3 Pro should actually be easy. But there are also a few small downsides:
First of all the price: Here DJI has increased a lot, so with UAS, suitable RC and a FlyMoreKit you can quickly exceed €1.000. The predecessors were more suitable for the small purse at around €500. You might think that an Air 2S or something similar is almost worth it here? Almost, because with 595g MTOM it is no longer in the desirable sub250 class.
Another and for us surveyors much more important point is the missing SDK. SDK stands for software ddevelopment kit, i.e. interfaces to intervene in the fate of the drone. SKDs allow third-party software/apps, such as Litchi, DroneDeploy, UgCS, Maven, and many more, to process data from the UAS and "give orders" to it. For example, these apps offer flight planning modes that are sometimes essential for photogrammetry. Achieving the necessary overlap in manual flight during an overflight is extremely difficult if not impossible.
In contrast to the Mini3, there is just this SDK for the predecessor drones and so comfortable flight planning can be designed. For this reason it might be interesting to use one of the predecessors.
But when using the Mini for mapping, it is fundamentally important to turn various "adjusting screws" in the entire workflow in order to achieve an audit-proof result.
We are happy to advise you on this and how you can achieve a result with the Mini 3: 089 427422 0
