Have you flown your Mavic Air at night?

[fsdaaerwrf]

I have some ideas for interesting night shots but I wonder what problems may arise. Obviously you have to look for potential obstacles while there is still light. But what other problems may come up? Does takeoff and landing work properly or are there any components of the navigation system that rely on visual input? Obstacle avoidance maybe?

 

[BSauce955]

I have some ideas for interesting night shots but I wonder what problems may arise. Obviously you have to look for potential obstacles while there is still light. But what other problems may come up? Does takeoff and landing work properly or are there any components of the navigation system that rely on visual input? Obstacle avoidance maybe?

Obstacle avoidance doesn't work at night so yes. Some people have also reported issues while landing as the drone can't "see" where the ground is so it lands hard. Some have reported that this issue is solved by turning on the landing light before landing. Not sure as I've never flown in the night so far but that's because I never had a drone with good low-light capabilities or really a reason.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

If the VPS system does not work ( probable) it is likely that positioning will not be as stable as it is when the VPS does work.

 

[StantonZ]

I have flown a bit at night with a strobe and used the landing light to aid in landing.
The problem (for me at least) isn't so much that it's difficult to fly in the dark...it's that the camera just doesn't function well in low lux conditions (not that I expected otherwise).

 

[Droniac]

Obstacle avoidance doesn't work at night so yes. Some people have also reported issues while landing as the drone can't "see" where the ground is so it lands hard. Some have reported that this issue is solved by turning on the landing light before landing. Not sure as I've never flown in the night so far but that's because I never had a drone with good low-light capabilities or really a reason.

It’s awesome. Otherworldly. Just add water and I’m a duck in … rain. I dig it. Lots of orientation lights I’ll admit. Godspeed, Droniac

 

[Droniac]

Clarify: i have M2P. But I thought it applicable to the post. Thanks.

 

[Rchawks]

I have a MA2 and have done it about 6 times. I have the spotlight set to auto and never had a problem with landing.

 

[eEridani]

I've logged about an hour at night. Using a tri-color strobe mounted above the battery on an Air 2. The tri-color was essential for maintaining control - the factory leds were just too dim at a 500' distance to be useful for control (and a camera showing black is also not useful).

Take-offs and landings were non-events. I used the downlight to help position the drone above me, then dropped the drone to my landing pad, did a fine adjust, and poof, on the ground. Tried an auto-landing, too; I had to intervene as it was off a couple feet. Used three batteries, landed a half dozen times for practice, and the worst of it was the flashing strobe - avert your vision before you turn the strobe on.

 

[fsdaaerwrf]

Take-offs and landings were non-events. I used the downlight to help position the drone above me, then dropped the drone to my landing pad, did a fine adjust, and poof, on the ground. Tried an auto-landing, too; I had to intervene as it was off a couple feet. Used three batteries, landed a half dozen times for practice, and the worst of it was the flashing strobe - avert your vision before you turn the strobe on.

Manual landing definitely seems to be safer. I guess I have to try next time I have the opportunity in a good area.

 

[Dave Maine]

Have done a lot of night flights with MA in freezing temperatures. No significant problems other than to my fingertips.

 

[tlswift58]

MA2 - fly at night sometimes. Get all the applicable warning about sensors / etc - but not issues landing in the dark. Landing light does come on about 15 feet above ground and lands fine.

Gotten very mixed results in pic / video modes due to varying levels of darkness when flying. My last flight pushed ISO to 3200 and there was a ton of grain at that level. Video at 1x was not too bad, but pushing it further towards 2x - you could see the grain quite well. Would not even try 3-4x as it would look like I was flying in snowstorm from past testing.

 

[Dave Maine]

Pushing the ISO past 640 creates unacceptable imagery for me. The newer sensors in the new drones will help that I hope. The old DJI sensors are awful at high ISOs