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Condensation on the lens.

jpedersm

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Guys I have had my Mavic for about 2 weeks now and loving it. Last night it was our last home football game of the year. It was between 40 and 50 degrees. I put the Mavic up about 5 minutes into the flight the lens had some condensation light fog on it. I put it up today for a few minutes and the lens looks good again, but how do you guys avoid this going from a car or house to the outdoors when it is cool or cold out?
 
Let the Mavic sit outside in the colder temps for 10 or 15 minutes - allowing the body of the craft to equalize with the outside temperature.

[Edit] - but keep your batteries warm until you're ready to fly.
 
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^^ This ^^ Time is your friend. They also make anti-fog compounds for camera lenses -- I've not tried this but maybe others have experience on how well the compounds work (or don't!)
 
Condensation happens when the lens is colder than the air. So keeping it in a cold room or air conditioned car may cause it to mist up when you fly it in warm humid air. Or flying at height and then descending could cause it. Ambient air temperature drops at about 2 degrees centigrade per thousand feet.
 
What about fog on the inside of the lens? The past couple of days it has become "foggy" a short time after takeoff, no special weather conditions, a nice day. just out of the bag, nothing outr of the ordinary first flight of the day.

DJI want me to send the aircraft to them to have a look. We use the MP daily and can not afford to wait for 15 days. This aircraft has never crashed into anything, the call centre at DJI like to play that card a lot by the sounds of it, and they repeat the same script over and over, can't seem to answer non scripted queries. These forums have done a much better job of that.
 
This has been happening to be recently as well, and its very frustrating

Last few times I've been out with the drone, the lens has started to fog over inside the lens after about 5/10 mins flight time

I contacted DJi online and they seem to have standard response which is send it to us for repair, even though it's only a few month old

I've attached some photos of how it looks
IMG_20171029_153400.jpg screen_361558c353d09add_1509291783146.jpg thumb_297ce87a050f45de_1508692020000.jpg
 
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That's the exact same issue. So far a PL lens has kept it in the air and focused on the task at hand.

Going to try the Silica gell that came with it, stick it in the gimball cover over night, and see if this helps!

If not I need to find a clear lens. simples.

Screw waiting three weeks for DJI to fix their issue! I think, when it it something like this that has happened to a batch of them they need to be sending out a drone to be used in lew of this one. We use this every day and can not afford even a day grounded.

I wouldn't mind but for the price we have paid for the kit it should be a gold service if it goes wrong. I have had some pleasureable expierences with the Mavic, but some very frustrating ones as well. Our future needs, reccomendations, and business with the company are in question with this lack of service for their design issue.

Seems many have the same issue!
 
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Condensation is a problem when moving between temperatures is a problem for all photographic gear and the Mavic is just a flying camera. I try to store my cameras and lenses in a dry bag using silica gel and give equipment time to reach the temperature of its surroundings before opening the bag. This is as important moving in from the cold to a warm room as it is moving from a warm room to the cold. So, keep your Mavic in a dry bag, let it reach the temperature of the surroundings before opening the bag. But keep your batteries warm!
 
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The Silica gell worked a charm! There must be a way condensation can get into the lens unit, considering it can be removed from it. I remember the other day low cloud came in while I was out and a video was interrupted by it, I didn't fly for long, but it must have been enough to let some water vapour in, enough to cause condensation in the first place. As the camera is designed to withstand winds and temperatures experienced at altitude without fogging on the way down i am still wondering how this has happened all of a sudden. The same weather happened flying the P4 and there were no repercussions, so it must be a mavic specific issue. It is a small camera, bless it.

The portability is top (OK, It's no spark) and it is well balanced in many respects. Handles wind, takes great shots, quiet, smaller prices. I guess you have to expect one or two minor qualms. The poor night quality and no full focus shots have been the only things I dislike about the MP, and the over demanding Go4 app. If this was not such an easy thing to solve I would be fuming and probably getting a refund and going to a private vendor who can make one with IR sensors on and whatnot.
 
I have a number of Silica gel bags in my drone case as suggested above.
 
and today that went out the window on the first flight. the issue is back. :mad:

Does anyone know if there is a place to get a clear lens filter without the uv filter? the cp affects the negative file and we depend on that for comparisons.
 
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