just picked up a mini 3 (not pro, just the regular one) and looking at all the accessories on amazon and honestly most of it looks like garbage but i dont really know what im looking at. like there are 50 different ND filter sets ranging from 15 dollars to 150 and i have no idea if the cheap ones are going to ruin my footage or if the expensive ones are just brand markup. same thing with cases, landing pads, all of it. been flying for about two weeks so still very new to all this. what did you guys actually end up buying that you use regularly vs stuff that just sits in a drawer

honestly for a beginner the only thing id say is actually necessary is extra batteries and maybe a charging hub so you can charge them all at once. everything else is kind of optional depending on what youre shooting. i bought a big landing pad and use it maybe 10% of the time, mostly just launch from my hand now. for NDs i went with Freewell and theyve been fine, not cheap but not insane either. the 15 dollar sets on amazon are hit or miss, some people swear by them but ive seen footage where you can tell the glass quality isnt great

two weeks in i wouldnt even worry about ND filters yet tbh. learn to fly it first and get comfortable with the app and the camera settings before you start adding variables. i wasted like 60 bucks on stuff in my first month that i never use. the one thing that actually matters early on is a decent bag or case to carry it around without paranoia, the drone itself is pretty tough but the gimbal cover always falls off mine at the worst times so something that keeps everything organized is nice