If you need a drone that can film in low light, the Evo Nano+ is one of the best choices and the difference is quite literally almost night and day.

When it was first released in January 2022, the Autel Evo Nano and Nano+ shook the prosumer drone category by introducing the first semi-professional sub 250g drone. Compared to the popular DJI Mini 2, the Nano+ offers a significantly larger camera sensor and the inclusion of obstacle avoidance sensors, which allows it to take better photos and videos and allows operators to fly more safely. The Evo Nano is slightly cheaper than the Nano+, with a less impressive camera, but it is still a significant upgrade over the DJI Mini 2 in many ways. The Nano+ is an appealing choice for users who want a compact drone that can take excellent photos and videos (including in low light), supports filming in H.265 LOG profiles, and is easy to fly.

Being significantly smaller and lighter, sub 250g drones have a number of advantages. They're easier to pack and usually don't need government registration. While the DJI Mini 2's camera was capable of taking decent photos and videos, it wasn't a professional tool. Demand quickly grew for a similarly sized drone with a better camera, obstacle avoidance, and overall less compromise. The Autel Evo Nano+ was the first drone to tap into this market, and for a few months, it's had a moment of glory.

But with the recent release of the DJI Mini 3, does the Nano+ still offer enough to stand out? If you prioritize filming in low light, want excellent video quality with minimal editing, and don't mind some half-baked smart features, then the answer is yes.

Not to be confused with the Evo Nano, the Nano+ looks nearly identical but is a more expensive upgrade that features a larger image sensor. The Nano+ starts at $949 while the Nano starts at $799.

This $150 upgrade swaps out the 1/2-inch F2.8 RYYB CMOS camera sensor found on the Nano for a 1/1.28-inch F1.9 RYYB CMOS sensor. The Nano+ is the better choice for night-time and low-light filming as the larger sensor allows more light in.

If you don't really plan on filming in low light, you'll have a very similar experience overall with similar features and identical flight performance. You can save a bit by choosing the cheaper Nano which still has more impressive specs than the older DJI Mini 2.

The Mini 2 was an appealing choice to hobbyists and beginners alike who wanted a fun and easy-to-fly camera drone but didn't mind missing out on some of the pro features that the larger DJI Air 2S and DJI Mavic series offered in favor of more compact size and cheaper price tag. With an f/2.8 1/2.3” CMOS sensor, the Mini 2 could shoot up to 4K@30fps.

But in addition to poor low-light performance, its biggest drawbacks were the lack of flat or LOG picture profiles, as well as not having obstacle avoidance sensors. The Nano+ addressed these last two issues, and when it first released, it was especially appealing.

Not to be outdone, DJI released the Mavic Mini 3 Pro about five months later in May 2022. Similar to the Evo Nano+, the Mini 3 Pro wants to be a "professional" choice for users who want a balance of size, features, and cost. Both drones want to overcome the limitations of the 250g weight limit by offering larger and more capable cameras, obstacle avoidance sensors, and other advanced features. So how do they compare?

The Autel Evo Nano+ shares many of the same hardware specifications as the DJI Mavic Mini 3, though there are a few notable differences.

Both the Mavic 3 Mini and Evo Nano+ share a similar design and size. Folded up, the Nano+ is slightly smaller, measuring 142 × 94 × 55mm, compared to the Mavic 3 Mini at 145 × 90 × 62mm. Unfolded, the Autel is slightly larger at 264 × 310 × 50mm vs 171 × 245 × 62mm. Autel offers several color choices of orange, red, gray, or white; while the Mini 3 is only available in gray.

On the one hand, a more subdued color like gray looks professional in my opinion compared to the orange on my Autel, however, I also found these brighter colors to be much easier to spot in the sky when trying to maintain line of sight when flying. I think it's time for DJI to offer more color choices with their drones.

The two drones share the same Level 5 wind resistance and have a max service ceiling of 4000m. The Nano+ can ascend about 1m/s faster in every mode, but is about 3m/s slower with its top speed. Top speed is usually more important, and while I infrequently like to fly at top speed, I usually do so to quickly get to a filming location. It's still plenty fast, but I was able to tell that it was slower. Aside from that, the controls and flight characteristics felt very similar to the Mavic Mini 3. If you have experience flying any of DJI's other drones, the Nano+ will be easy to adjust to.

The Nano+ uses the same Xbox One-looking black controller that they've used on many of their other models. It definitely feels well-built and good in hands, though it has room for improvement. For one, the controller is rather large. Granted it's overall not much larger compared to the DJI RC-N1, though in my opinion, that controller is a significant step-down compared to the controller of the DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Similar to the RC-N1, you will need to rely entirely on your connected phone's display in order to see any important information about your drone including speed, distance, battery percentage, and of course video transmission.

The controller has a fairly decent metal phone holder at the top, and it fit my chunky iPhone 13 Mini with its wallet case without issue, as well a larger Google Pixel 6 with a wallet case too. A continued oversight, however, is with its thumb sticks. They're great to fly with, but these removable sticks do not have a dedicated spot on the controller to store. Unlike with DJI's controllers which have a place to store the sticks, I am far more likely to lose Autel's.

The 2250mAh battery of the Nano+ provides about five minutes less flight time compared to the Mini 3's standard 2453mAh battery. This may seem insignificant, but often times it's these last five to ten minutes of flight that are most crucial to me, especially when it allows me to get a few more last shots before returning to land. I only own two standard batteries for my Mini 3, however, I find that to be plenty of time to capture everything I need.

The batteries slide in through the back of the Nano+. Because of the enclosed design, Autel has left itself with no room to develop a larger battery in the future. In contrast, the Mini 3 has a cut out on the bottom, with the battery itself actnig as part of the drone's body when inserted. As such, DJI is able to offer their larger Extended Plus battery which has a max flight time of 47 minutes. While these larger batteries are more expensive and push the Mini 3 above the sub-250 g mark, for some users the extended flight time is worth the extra weight.

I had one instance where the estimated battery life during a flight with the Nano+ seemed to wildly fluctuate. During my return home, the battery life went from an estimated seven minutes left to zero within only three minutes. My flight behavior was consistent, which leads me to believe that their estimations need to be tweaked. As the drone was descending its last few meters, the indicator showed that the battery was at 0% which I had never experienced before when flying a drone. Needless to say, this was a scary experience and I honestly thought that the drone was going to drop out of the sky before it could return home safely. I have since been very cautious flying the Nano+ and have been keeping a closer eye out in case something like that were to happen again. Unless you're flying at a slow or constant speed, consider the estimated battery life to be unreliable. Hopefully, this can be fixed with a future update.

While not quite as large as the 1" sensors found on the Mavic Air 2S and Evo Lite+, it's impressive how close these two brands have gotten especially considering the size and weight constraints.

The Nano+ has a slightly larger 1/1.28 sensor that can take photos up to 50 MP compared to the Mini 3 with a 1/1.3 sensor that can take 48 MP photos. In my quick side-by-side tests during the day, I wasn't able to discern much of a difference when filming in identical settings. Instead, I think these two drones seem to stand out more with their amount of image processing.

When filming in low light, it appears that Autel is applying some kind of magic processing. Noise reduction helps clean up the shadows and grain, and when pixel peeping, the Mavic 3 was noticeably "worse".

But beyond that, the Nano+ is able to capture significantly more detail and produces an overall brighter image without it looking digital or overdone. In a few nighttime side-by-side shots of the skyline and river, Autel manages to produce a much more pleasing image overall (above, Nano+; below, Mavic 3 Mini)

The Nano+ is able to show reflections and far more detail in the river and buildings in the distance, whereas with the DJI Mavic 3 Mini, it appears almost entirely black. This is thanks to the RYYB sensor which is claimed to capture up to 40% more light compared to a traditional RGB sensor (below, Nano+).

There is a lot of interesting science behind this new technology and in my tests, it appears to really make a difference. These were details that could not be seen or recovered by the Mavic 3 Mini even after editing.

I was genuinely very impressed. Despite its many shortcomings compared to the Mini 3, this is a significant area of strength. If you need a drone that can film in low light, the Evo Nano+ is hands down one of the best choices and the difference is almost night and day. If I primarily filmed in low light and had a budget of under $900, the Nano+ would be my drone of choice.

The Nano+ has a slightly wider FOV of 85° with an equivalent focal length of 23mm compared to DJI's 24mm. The Nano+ has a smaller minimum focus distance of 0.5m compared to 1m but also a slightly smaller f/1.9 sensor vs f/1.7 on the Mini 3.

Except for color balance, I was unable to notice an immediate difference in sensor quality for daytime shots. The Nano+ looks sharper and has more contrast by default compared to the Mini 3 which might not be ideal for capturing that cinematic look. The Mini 3 looks more natural to me, and it appears that Nano+ also has more of a purple cast to its image.

I know more recent firmware updates have been working to address this, however more needs to be done.

Both drones have an ISO range of 100-6400 and similar photo modes. Where the two drones really differ is in their video modes. Both can shoot 4K: 3840 × 2160 @ 24/25/30 fps, but the Mavic 3 Mini also supports 48 and 60 fps. 4K60 is my favorite mode to film in as it gives me the most resolution while also allowing me to slow my clips the clips to 50% if I want. Speaking of slow-motion, the Nano+ currently tops out at 1080p at 60fps whereas the Mini 3 Pro supports 1080p 120fps, which is significantly more useful for slowing down fast action.

Similarly, the Mini 3 Pro has a bitrate of up to 150MB/s and supports 10-bit color, while the Nano+ can only go up to 100 MB/s with 8-bit color. This means that the Mini 3 captures more information in its recordings which allows you to push your color grading further to really get the look you want or recover information in your highlights or shadows more easily before the image starts to break.

Another letdown is that LOG and HDR are currently only available in the Auto-Exposure mode, but not when shooting Pro. I would like to think Autel is working on updating this, but as it stands, this is a huge letdown. These modes are significantly crippled and at times unusable at night as Autel favors lowering the shutter speed below the standard double your frame rate rule in order to allow more light in. One of the main reasons filmmakers shoot in LOG is for the most control over their look.

Granted, the results at night when shooting in its standard or HDR modes are still incredibly impressive provided the drone is flown relatively slow. Again, as the drone does not maintain double its frame rate, you can easily get some nasty motion blur and jitter that can quickly ruin your clips if you're not careful. I found myself more impressed with Autel's standard HDR video look before editing, especially with the way they capture clouds and skies at night. While the Mini 3 is able to give me far more flexibility with editing overall, its night footage is significantly darker and less pleasing. If you want to capture beautiful footage to share straight away without editing, you won't be disappointed with the Nano+, but as a professional tool, DJI still has a commanding lead.

The Autel Sky app has a clean interface and provides decent customization, however, it still has a number of quirks.

I quickly found that it was rather confusing to access manual controls which are limited to shooting in Pro. I sometimes had to exit the Sky app and relaunch it in order for the Pro settings to be accessible.

I tend to adjust settings before hitting record, but another weird quirk I found is that your manual settings are frequently reverted to Auto or something completely different when the recording starts. I would then need to change my settings back again. More importantly, as mentioned earlier, ISO, Shutter, and Aperture are unavailable when filming in LOG or HDR.

While the Nano+ now has obstacle avoidance, it can only be enabled or disabled, with no further fine tuning. When activated, the Nano+ will slow down or stop when an obstacle is in its flight path, however, it lacks the ability to fly around automatically.

Likewise, with the Mini 3, if an obstacle such as myself or my narrow balcony is detected, I am still able to slowly "creep" closer until I can reach a safe landing location. In contrast, I would have to fly the Nano+ sideways, where its nonexistent side obstacle sensors couldn't detect me. Similarly, and also prominent on their larger Evo II, the Nano+ will randomly "detect" an obstacle, usually in the front, that isn't actually there. This was very concerning during my first few minutes of flying as I kept thinking there was a bird or something else near the drone.

Autel offers creative film modes including Rocket, Fade Away, Orbit, and Flick which automate the drone's flight to create cool video clips of your subject with just the touch of a button.

Subject tracking has been improved with recent updates, though it's still very hit or miss. With larger stationary objects like water towers, the Sky app was able to identify, and for the most part, continue to track the subject while taking quick shot videos.

Overall though, tracking was not reliable. When I attempted to track myself by dragging a box over myself, the drone would quickly lose me... even if I stood completely still. The Mavic 3 Mini never had these issues, and it further highlights how Autel's software still needs a lot of work.

The Mavic Mini 3 is able to track most objects, including moving ones like cars, boats, and people, without issue. If smart features are important to you, Autel still has room for improvement. One last "feature" that can be seen as a positive is that Autel does not have enforced geofencing. This means you can theoretically take off, fly, or land anywhere with the drone, without the app stopping you. While there are legal worries surrounding this, DJI currently does not give you this flexibility.

Similar to DJI, Autel offers a standard and premium bundle for the Nano+. The standard kit includes a total of three pairs of propellors, battery, charger, remote control, remote charging cable, and connectivity cables (Lightning, Micro-USB, USB-C). The premium bundle typically costs $1099 and includes an additional two propeller pairs, two spare batteries, a battery charging hub, and a shoulder bag.

DJI has managed to undercut Autel's regular bundle pricing with Mavic 3 Mini starting at $759 with the RC-N1 controller, or just $669 if you already have a compatible controller. DJI's Fly More Kit (which is roughly equivalent to the extras in Autel's premium bundle), costs $189. It's slightly more expensive than Autel's $150 upgrade to the premium bundle, but overall, the total package for a DJI Mini 3 with the Fly More Kit is still $150 cheaper at just $948.

While I rarely opt for the Fly More Kit with my DJI drones anymore, I like having that flexibility if I need it. Moreover, despite being newer to the market, DJI also has a number of other accessories including their chargers, batteries, ND filters, and controllers that are available to purchase separately. I opted to purchase the DJI RC which features a large and vibrant 5.5" HD touch screen that has made flying my Mavic 3 Mini so much more enjoyable. Additionally, Autel does not currently offer larger capacity batteries for longer flights, unlike DJI which has the Battery Plus with an incredible 47-minute flight time.

But no so fast! While the DJI offering is usually a good bit cheaper, Autel frequently runs deep sales up to 22% off—which ends up making their drones and bundles cheaper than DJI.

The Autel Evo Nano+ finds itself in an interesting spot. When it was first released, it had a significant edge over the DJI Mini 2 and was the best sub-250g you could buy. With the recent release of the Mini 3, the Nano+ now faces strong competition from a drone that has nearly identical specs but much more feature-rich software.

Where the Nano+ still manages to stand out is with its exceptional nighttime image quality, which truly could be the deciding factor for buying this drone. If Autel is able to continue to improve its firmware, they have the opportunity to really shift the balance in the drone market.

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Tech reviewer, YouTuber & video producer that specializes in pro camera & audio gear. When he's not out filming or editing, he's usually thinking of creative ideas for his next project. Reach out to say hello or discuss future opportunities!

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