ok so ive been saving up for a while and im finally at the point where i can pull the trigger on one of these two and i just... keep going in circles. every time i think ive made up my mind i watch another youtube video and flip again.

little background: i mostly do landscape stuff, some hiking trips, occasional family vacation footage. nothing professional, this is purely a hobby for me. i had a mini 2 before and sold it a while back which i kind of regret but thats a whole other thing.

the air 3 feels like the obvious upgrade in terms of raw capability, dual cameras are genuinely appealing and the omnidirectional obstacle avoidance actually works well from what ive seen. but the mini 4 pro is no joke either and the under 250g thing still matters to me even if the rules in my area are pretty relaxed. plus the price difference is real money.

has anyone actually used both of these back to back? not just spec sheets, i mean actually flown them in similar conditions and noticed a real difference in footage quality? thats the part i cant find a straight answer on.

i had the mini 4 pro for about 6 months and then my buddy got the air 3 and we did a whole afternoon just flying the same spots and comparing. honest take? for landscape work the footage difference is smaller than you'd think at like normal viewing distances. the air 3 has a slight edge in dynamic range from what we could tell, especially in tricky lighting, but it wasn't this massive jaw-dropping difference.

where the air 3 genuinely won was the medium tele lens. for hiking stuff where you cant always get close to what you want to shoot, that second camera is actually super useful and not just a gimmick. the mini 4 pro's obstacle avoidance is solid in normal use but the air 3's is just more complete, more confident feeling when you're flying around trees and stuff.

that said i kept my mini 4 pro because the weight thing actually matters when you're packing a bag for a long hike. the air 3 isn't huge but you notice it. so it kind of depends on how you're actually using it day to day honestly.

just got the mini 4 pro last month as my first real drone so take this for what its worth but im really happy with it. the footage looks incredible to me and the fly more combo made the price feel more reasonable. i cant compare it to the air 3 personally but the sub 250g thing gave me a lot less anxiety about where i could fly while i was still learning the rules and everything.