No DJI D-Cinelike In MasterShots or QuickShots
Josh Diaz from Videos by Josh explains the big problem behind DJI’s most popular professional video drone.
Why, DJI Mini 3 Pro?
I had never flown a drone in my life.
But yet, it took me only a short time to realize a critical flaw with the DJI Mini 3 Pro.
The issue is that you can't film in the D-Cinelike color profile when using either MasterShots or QuickShots modes.
That's it.
Let me tell you why this is an issue.
Videos by Josh uses the DJI Mini 3 Pro to film the Wolseley neighborhood in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The problem explained
When I got into videography, drone video was something only high-end productions could afford.
So I thought, nah, this aspect of the business is not for me.
A few years later, drone videography became appealing as DJI phantoms flooded the market, providing a relatively cheap way to film 4K footage from the sky. But then came the restrictions, bans, and public paranoia around drones and how these little flying machines may be spying on all of us.
Once again, I looked at the potential of adding a drone to my video production business and said, I don't think this is for me.
But then came the DJI Mini 3 Pro, and I'm in love.
Videos by Josh uses the DJI Mini 3 Pro to film the 2023 Red River X Fair in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
DJI’s Best Miniature Drone
This miniature sub-250g drone is small enough to circumvent most regulations which limit where you can fly your drone while providing good quality 4k footage. It's easy to fly and has many modes and options that make it flexible and semi-assisted while flying. I particularly like that it can shoot 4K in the D-Cinelike color profile, making the footage easy to grade the footage alongside clips from other cameras.
But a drone that is easy to fly and being good at flying a drone is very different.
I very quickly realized that shooting high-quality drone footage was very difficult. After overcoming my crash anxiety, I tried to create some cool swooping, flying, panning, and, well, some incredible drone shots.
I sucked.
Most of my shots when I began were boring, consisting of just some basic movement.
However, when I bought the DJI Mini 3 Pro, one of its main selling points, the reasons I purchased the drone was for a few automated modes called MasterShots and QuickShots.
Videos by Josh uses the DJI Mini 3 Pro to film the town of Headingley, Manitoba.
DJI MasterShots & QuickShots
MasterShots allow you to select a subject using the camera on the drone. It will then tell the drone to execute several predetermined cinematic motions which it records as a single clip for you to edit later.
QuickShots is a very similar tool. It allows you to pick and execute individual moves one at a time.
After reading about these modes, I was in awe of this drone. Not only can I get great gradable drone footage, but the drone will essentially film it for me. Incredible time's we are living in!
It all sounded too good to be true, and that's because it was.
Restricted Functionality
The DJI Mini 3 Pro drone will let you record in its flexible D-Cinelike color mode when operating manually... but not in those modes. For MasterShots and QuickShots, the drone will automatically revert to the standard filming mode, drastically reducing the flexibility of the footage to be graded and match up with your other cameras.
I'm not going to lie when I learned that I was disappointed a few weeks after buying my drone. It's going to be incredibly difficult to include footage from this drone into my workflow if I want to continue using these modes.
If there is a silver lining around this story, though, all drone moves in MasterShots, and QuickShots are achievable when manually flying the drone.
And those modes in normal mode work great for a project where you don't care about color grading.
Final Thoughts
For a product with "Pro" in the name, I'm shocked that DJI would limit this feature, and I'm even more surprised that it hasn't come as a firmware update since the drone's release.
I guess I'm just going to have to get better at flying my drone, which, to be fair, isn't an unreasonable resolution.
But what do you think about DJI's limitation of the D-Cinelike color profile? Let me know in the comments, and I'll see you in the next video.
About Videos by Josh
Videos by Josh is a video production company owned and operated by filmmaker Josh Diaz. Videos by Josh provides video creation, video editing, drone videography, and post production animation to clients in and around Winnipeg, Manitoba.
