I've been using my mavic pro in Hawaii for several months. Now, without me having changed how I store the drone or where I fly it, every time I try to fly it condensation quickly forms inside the lens, making the camera unusable for video or photos. Also, the icon for going to the intelligent flight modes is gone, and I get a notice talking about toggling somewhere if i want to fly in a "non-p" mode. What's going on? What can I do about this? Any help greatly appreciated.
Condensation inside lens
- Thread starter Hiflyer808
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Exphantomflyer
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Condensation is normal if you move from a hot to a cold area such as outside Hawaii to inside an air conditioned hotel room, it’s best to give the Mavic a chance to cool down slowly.
Intelligent modes are activated in the app, can’t remember where as I don’t have the app open, it usually turns off if you have updated the AC firmware or the app.
Intelligent modes are activated in the app, can’t remember where as I don’t have the app open, it usually turns off if you have updated the AC firmware or the app.
Do you have the mode switch on the right side of the RC still on sport mode?
As far as the lens fog, I suffer from this too at certain temp/pressure/humidity combinations. It should clear as soon as it has had a change to balance out inside the camera. I let the camera adapt to the outside temperature for 10 minutes before putting in a fresh (warmed up if cold) battery. that solves it for me at least most of the times.
I hope you guys are right. I live here, not going from an air conditioned hotel room to outside. Same weather conditions as before when the condensation was not a problem. Regarding intelligent flight modes, it seems like something related to whatever caused the condensation disabled them, because when the condensation was first starting today, the icon was there and I was able to select active track. But then I couldn't draw a box around myself and the icon disappeared, and I couldn't even find the option to enable or disable flight modes.
Just speaking as a photographer...condensation ON a lens is not an issue....condensation IN a lens is trouble. Lenses should be and remain sealed. Moisture inside the lens elements is a problem that will lead to mold growth and big issues with image quality. I would have your system looked at by a professional and replace the lens if necessary. Once moisture gets inside a lens replacement is likely less expensive than remediation.
Is could be a leaky camera barrel lens. It can be replaced rather inexpensively. As was mentioned before if too much condensation gets in there it could corrode your camera barrel circuit board.
Well, I was all set to try and wipe the lens to verify whether the condensation was inside it, but this time, no condensation at all. The lack of intelligent flight modes was indeed because I had sport mode on with the side button, thanks Lake_Flyer! I hadn't ever used sport mode and I must have moved the side button by accident. Okay, here's hoping that the condensation can be avoided in the future by the techniques you guys mentioned. But if it does happen again I'll make sure to check if it's inside, that would not be good!
ICHOTT
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OK so the part everyone is referring to as the "lens" is not the focal lens. The camera body has a glass plate at the front that is not the lens. The lens is integrated into the camera itself and this is full sealed.
The condensation is inside the camera body and on the cover plate but not inside the lens.
Yes it should not happen but the sealing of the camera body is not perfect due to the cable lead in path opening at the back of the camera body. Any of you that have disassembled the camera to replace a broken gimbal or camera cable will understand this.
Changes in humidity and temperature will suck moist air in and out of the camera body as with every camera.
In climate areas where temperature and humidity are an issue you should treat it like any other camera. Store it in a nice dry place, use silica if you can or good old rice - which is cheap and always available - and in an airtight box. I use a simple plastic sandwich box with about an inch (25mm) of rice in the bottom.
Remember also that even a few metres height change in a flight changes the temperature and is enough to cause the condensation.
The condensation is inside the camera body and on the cover plate but not inside the lens.
Yes it should not happen but the sealing of the camera body is not perfect due to the cable lead in path opening at the back of the camera body. Any of you that have disassembled the camera to replace a broken gimbal or camera cable will understand this.
Changes in humidity and temperature will suck moist air in and out of the camera body as with every camera.
In climate areas where temperature and humidity are an issue you should treat it like any other camera. Store it in a nice dry place, use silica if you can or good old rice - which is cheap and always available - and in an airtight box. I use a simple plastic sandwich box with about an inch (25mm) of rice in the bottom.
Remember also that even a few metres height change in a flight changes the temperature and is enough to cause the condensation.
I tried everything and nothing was working. I live in Hawaii and have had this issue for about 6 months and it was getting worse. I tried putting my Mavic in the oven. My oven has a “Proof” setting, which is I think, for helping dough rise. It’s a low temp but not sure exactly what the temp is. Seems like it was around 100. I left it in the oven for 12 hours. I have been flying it all day and the problem seems to be gone! Sure better than sending it away for 2 months!
ICHOTT
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Have you tried just leaving it outside for a while, even a long while?
It’s being outside at ambient, ie the temp etc you’ll be flying in that will be most successful, so all your drone is equalised , body, lens etc what have you done in this Way?
The temperature where I store the Mavic, and the temp where I fly it are very similar. I tried leaving the drone out in ambient air for hours, I tried a hair dryer to heat the camera up, and nothing helped. I’ll try flying it in the next few days and I’ll post the results here.
I know this topic is old but it came in my search for a solution to this same problem that I had.
I live in Bali (i.e. massive humidity) and this has happened consistently for the last 2 months. But following the advice of others, the solution is to definitely leave the drone out in the ambient temperature at least 2 - 3 hours before shooting so that the air temp inside the lens can equalize with the air temp outside of it.
From having the lens fog up within minutes of flying to now having no condensation whatsoever after 20 min, this is has been the solution for me.
I feel like I have a new Mavic Pro again!
I live in Bali (i.e. massive humidity) and this has happened consistently for the last 2 months. But following the advice of others, the solution is to definitely leave the drone out in the ambient temperature at least 2 - 3 hours before shooting so that the air temp inside the lens can equalize with the air temp outside of it.
From having the lens fog up within minutes of flying to now having no condensation whatsoever after 20 min, this is has been the solution for me.
I feel like I have a new Mavic Pro again!
Hi, I live in Uruguay south América, here the weather is very wet, I had the same issue, the lens of the camera got foggy. The only way I Found to solve the issue, was to put it in a sealed container and 100 grams of silicagel inside a women nylon stocking.
From then I never got the foggy lens issue again.
From then I never got the foggy lens issue again.
AnythingReally
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Airexplorador Costa Rica
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Hi guys! I know this is an old post, but I'm having this exact issue right now. The weather here in Costa Rica has been insanely wet in the past few weeks, and I got the Mavic out for a flight every chance I got (when not raining of course). I had no idea this could happen just by being on a high humidity environment. It seems to me DJI should've done a better job at sealing that lens. I've been storing my nearly new drone in its hard case/backpack, and it hasn't been exposed to rain whatsoever. Still, now every time I fly it fogs inside, even though the weather has cleared.
I don't want to replace the camera - I would only if there's no other choice. So what I did today is, I set the drone out in the sun for a while, and tried again. It improved in the sense that the fogging took longer to occur, but it still happened (this morning the fogging happened by just turning the drone on, without even taking off).
My logic on this is that, if moisture managed to get inside the lens, it must be able to come out eventually by evaporation, even if it takes several days in the sun. Right? I also put the Mavic inside a sealed plastic bag with rice in it, for the night. Tomorrow I'll keep sun bathing it until the fogging no longer happens (hopefully).
I don't want to replace the camera - I would only if there's no other choice. So what I did today is, I set the drone out in the sun for a while, and tried again. It improved in the sense that the fogging took longer to occur, but it still happened (this morning the fogging happened by just turning the drone on, without even taking off).
My logic on this is that, if moisture managed to get inside the lens, it must be able to come out eventually by evaporation, even if it takes several days in the sun. Right? I also put the Mavic inside a sealed plastic bag with rice in it, for the night. Tomorrow I'll keep sun bathing it until the fogging no longer happens (hopefully).
Airexplorador Costa Rica
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Hey! I'm happy to report that the sun treatment worked to solve the condensation issue. I was feeling really disappointed with the video quality of my drone. The condensation had been happening for a while, I just didn't realize it, and it was destroying my footage. Now my videos look like they should! I hope my experience is helpful to somebody in the future.
KobeFlight1981
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Hi guys.
I ran across this problem very recently. Looked at this post and various others to see what it was about.. ?Especially with the one taking the lense apart... err nope, not unless it was absolutely necessary!
What I did take away was that the camera isn't sealed.. therefore, have anyone just hovered the drone until the condensation starts, point the camera down, left it hovering for about 30 -60 seconds, so the downdraft of the props equalize the temperature over the camera to get rid of the condensation?
Give it a go, let me know if it's works as this is what I do to get rid of my condensation build up from takeoff, works every time
I ran across this problem very recently. Looked at this post and various others to see what it was about.. ?Especially with the one taking the lense apart... err nope, not unless it was absolutely necessary!
What I did take away was that the camera isn't sealed.. therefore, have anyone just hovered the drone until the condensation starts, point the camera down, left it hovering for about 30 -60 seconds, so the downdraft of the props equalize the temperature over the camera to get rid of the condensation?
Give it a go, let me know if it's works as this is what I do to get rid of my condensation build up from takeoff, works every time
Interesting suggestion. I will try this also.Hi guys.
I ran across this problem very recently. Looked at this post and various others to see what it was about.. ?Especially with the one taking the lense apart... err nope, not unless it was absolutely necessary!
What I did take away was that the camera isn't sealed.. therefore, have anyone just hovered the drone until the condensation starts, point the camera down, left it hovering for about 30 -60 seconds, so the downdraft of the props equalize the temperature over the camera to get rid of the condensation?
Give it a go, let me know if it's works as this is what I do to get rid of my condensation build up from takeoff, works every time
The good old rice trick worked great, however you must be patient. To completely remove the humidity inside the lens, you must know that the entire process last between 48 to 72 hours. I myself used a ziplock bag airtight filled with 2/3 of a 1kg rice bag, then protected the drone inside a ladies stocking, placed it inside the ziplock bag, then place the ziplock bag with drone inside an airtight sandwich box with the rest of the rice inside. And it worked! Thanks for the tip!
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