okay so ive been going back and forth on this for like two weeks now and i cant make up my mind. currently flying a mini 2 which i love but im ready to upgrade and the two obvious choices seem to be the mini 3 pro or the air 3. the price gap is like $300-400 depending on where you buy and what combo you get.

main stuff i shoot is landscape and some casual travel footage, nothing super serious, not selling anything just want nicer quality for personal stuff and maybe youtube eventually. does the air 3 sensor actually make a noticeable difference for that kind of shooting or am i just paying for specs ill never use

also the obstacle avoidance on the air 3 being omnidirectional vs the mini 3 ? does that matter as much as DJI makes it sound? ive never really had a crash from OA not being there but i also mostly fly in pretty open spots

honestly the sensor difference does show up, especially in lower light situations or when you push the colors in post. i had a mini 3 pro for about 8 months and switched to the air 3 and the dynamic range improvement is real, not like night and day but definitely noticeable when you're grading the footage. that said if you're mostly doing sunny day landscapes the mini 3 pro is genuinely excellent and you'd probably be happy with it.

the omnidirectional OA thing ? i thought it was marketing fluff too until i flew in some tight tree spots and it saved me twice in one afternoon. depends totally on where you fly though. open fields, coastal stuff, probably doesnt matter much at all.

im in the same boat lol, been staring at both of these for weeks. one thing i didnt see mentioned much is the air 3 battery life is noticeably better in real world flying, like you actually get close to what they advertise which is kind of rare for DJI. probably not the deciding factor but worth knowing i guess