Difficult to see the phone's screen in daylight

[Dronenewbie8]

I just bought the Mavic 2 Pro. I’m currently using it with my Samsung S9 phone and in bright daylight find it almost impossible to clearly see what’s happening with the camera on the phone’s screen. I intend to get a 10 inch tablet and I suppose the hood. Can someone suggest any other solutions so I can clearly see the screen? Are the hoods effective? I understand the racing goggles are nice but I don’t think I want to get into all of that. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[msinger]

Another option would be to use a device that has a bright, non-reflective screen like the Smart Controller or CrystalSky.

 

[Mavicmaniac]

Is there a non reflective screen that can be applied to the phone or tablet?

 

[Congoblue]

Hoods do work quite well. You will never compete with sunlight for brightness, even with the Crystalsky. The s9 has a pretty bright screen (1130 nits according to the spec, Crystal Sky is 2000 nits), any tablet you get will be much worse, e.g. ipad 10.5 is only 600 nits, Huawei T5 just 340.

 

[Montana John]

I just bought the Mavic 2 Pro. I’m currently using it with my Samsung S9 phone and in bright daylight find it almost impossible to clearly see what’s happening with the camera on the phone’s screen. I intend to get a 10 inch tablet and I suppose the hood. Can someone suggest any other solutions so I can clearly see the screen? Are the hoods effective? I understand the racing goggles are nice but I don’t think I want to get into all of that. Thanks for any feedback.

I went all the way and got the bulky Hoodman. Works perfectly but with the disadvantage of difficulty in getting your fingers in quickly to do screen touch commands.

 

[LongRifle]

I use a Mini4 or my S9+ and don't usually have an issue with not seeing the screen. I fly with the sun to my back, so my entire torso effectively becomes my sunscreen. Unless you're standing on the equator at high noon this should keep the sun out of your screen.

 

[kitzy]

I use a Mini4 or my S9+ and don't usually have an issue with not seeing the screen. I fly with the sun to my back, so my entire torso effectively becomes my sunscreen. Unless you're standing on the equator at high noon this should keep the sun out of your screen.

This is usually good enough for me with my Pixel 3XL. But in bright sunny, snowy conditions, I'm screwed. Recently took a handful of shots hoping they were exposed correctly. They were all over exposed because the screen was so washed out. Mostly unrecoverable in post and unusable.

Just flew in similar conditions and had a hooded sweatshirt on. With the hood up I could hold it close enough to block alot of the brightness from my peripheral vision. That helped a lot.

 

[LongRifle]

This is usually good enough for me with my Pixel 3XL. But in bright sunny, snowy conditions, I'm screwed. Recently took a handful of shots hoping they were exposed correctly. They were all over exposed because the screen was so washed out. Mostly unrecoverable in post and unusable.

Just flew in similar conditions and had a hooded sweatshirt on. With the hood up I could hold it close enough to block alot of the brightness from my peripheral vision. That helped a lot.

I didn't account for snow as I've never flown in it. Sounds like one of those monitor sunscreens would alleviate your problem when flying in such bright conditions.

 

[Robbiekli]

I have a Mavic 2 Remote control for sale

 

[Numone]

I went all the way and got the bulky Hoodman. Works perfectly but with the disadvantage of difficulty in getting your fingers in quickly to do screen touch commands.

I use the Hoodman with the iPad too and it's great.

 

[Dronenewbie8]

I use a Mini4 or my S9+ and don't usually have an issue with not seeing the screen. I fly with the sun to my back, so my entire torso effectively becomes my sunscreen. Unless you're standing on the equator at high noon this should keep the sun out of your screen.

Haha, I'm in Singapore, right on the Equator. I'm new at this but don't the antenna have to be facing the drone which means you'd have to be facing the Sun if, for example, your flight is in that direction..?

 

[Numone]

Yeah, it does - always - and as for the sun well, that counts for the UK too during certain times of the day so I don't fly in that direction!

 

[GaryOC]

I was trying to solve the same issue and purchased a "SuperShieldz" soft screen protector for my iPad that reduces reflections. It does help some. Quite inexpensive so for the price it was OK. I'm thinking about ordering the smaller size for my iPhone too. There are other similar products and some probably work better than others. You can search on Amazon and read the various reviews to get an idea. I still do prefer to stand in the shade though or just turn my back to the sun whenever possible. Sometimes just stay inside my vehicle for shade.

 

[Thomas B]

I use the 7.5” Crystalsky and it’s great! I do add on my PolarPro hood often as it folds down to cover and protect the screen and it all still fits in my fitted hard case.

 

[Tbase]

This is usually good enough for me with my Pixel 3XL. But in bright sunny, snowy conditions, I'm screwed. Recently took a handful of shots hoping they were exposed correctly. They were all over exposed because the screen was so washed out. Mostly unrecoverable in post and unusable.

Just flew in similar conditions and had a hooded sweatshirt on. With the hood up I could hold it close enough to block alot of the brightness from my peripheral vision. That helped a lot.

If you were in manual exposure, try Auto when flying in those (bright, sunny, snowy) conditions. You'll just need to add some (+EV) bias otherwise the metering system will want to over compensate for what should actually look bright, making the snow look gray.

 

[AMann]

I just bought the Mavic 2 Pro. I’m currently using it with my Samsung S9 phone and in bright daylight find it almost impossible to clearly see what’s happening with the camera on the phone’s screen. I intend to get a 10 inch tablet and I suppose the hood. Can someone suggest any other solutions so I can clearly see the screen? Are the hoods effective? I understand the racing goggles are nice but I don’t think I want to get into all of that. Thanks for any feedback.

I use a Hoodman loope over my phone for temporary use when out in direct sunlight, they also have a Hoodman drone cover. Check by searching for Hoodman on Amazon.:

 

[Beowulf73]

I fly inside my car with external antennas. Solves many problems.

 

[LivinLarge]

I just bought the Mavic 2 Pro. I’m currently using it with my Samsung S9 phone and in bright daylight find it almost impossible to clearly see what’s happening with the camera on the phone’s screen. I intend to get a 10 inch tablet and I suppose the hood. Can someone suggest any other solutions so I can clearly see the screen? Are the hoods effective? I understand the racing goggles are nice but I don’t think I want to get into all of that. Thanks for any feedback.

Have you tried setting brightness to full and turning on adaptive brightness? This should be brighter than any regular tablet. If glare is a problem, you can add an anti-glare screen protector.

 

[Numone]

I fly inside my car with external antennas. Solves many problems.

So, how does that help your VLOS? Oh, hold on....

 

[Sixgun89]

Highest brightness, hood of some kind, anti reflective screen protector, and.....most importantly wear dark clothing or carry a dark apron you can put around your chest. Dark areas like forests are difficult to see, but controls and map are no problem. If you have sunglasses Or darkening glasses they have to go too.
Have fun in the sun! Nothing but slop here in the northeast USA! Yuk!!