How are images supposed to be handled and extracted from the drone ??

[Gorlash]

This is another issue which should be clearly and thoroughly discussed in the user manual; all I can find is a passing comment about saving images/videos to internal storage or SD card. There is no discussion, that I can find, about what happens to the images after that.

I took a couple of images while out flying this afternoon. (I've also, accidentally, taken numerous pictures of my window blinds while experimenting indoors!!). I think the images are getting transferred to somewhere on my phone, automatically, which *may* be okay, but I'm not sure where they are going... I found them on my phone, but I'm not sure where they ended up at, because I made an error when subsequently plugging the phone into my PC!! As a result, I *do* find my images, mostly in tiny sizes, but don't know where the source directories were. I *want* them to be on the SD card on my phone, but don't know how to tell it that.

I also think that what I would *really* like, is for the images to stay on the 128GB SD card in the drone, and let me download them via the USB-C interface, directly to my PC... but I don't know if I can even do that ?? With the drone powered off, plugging into that port did nothing, and I'm hesitant to risk plugging in there with the drone powered ON, since nothing really discusses whether I can do that...

So what options do I have?? And is there a document, or FAQ, or anything, elsewhere, which discusses this critical topic thoroughly ???

 

[old man mavic]

This is another issue which should be clearly and thoroughly discussed in the user manual; all I can find is a passing comment about saving images/videos to internal storage or SD card. There is no discussion, that I can find, about what happens to the images after that.

I took a couple of images while out flying this afternoon. (I've also, accidentally, taken numerous pictures of my window blinds while experimenting indoors!!). I think the images are getting transferred to somewhere on my phone, automatically, which *may* be okay, but I'm not sure where they are going... I found them on my phone, but I'm not sure where they ended up at, because I made an error when subsequently plugging the phone into my PC!! As a result, I *do* find my images, mostly in tiny sizes, but don't know where the source directories were. I *want* them to be on the SD card on my phone, but don't know how to tell it that.

I also think that what I would *really* like, is for the images to stay on the 128GB SD card in the drone, and let me download them via the USB-C interface, directly to my PC... but I don't know if I can even do that ?? With the drone powered off, plugging into that port did nothing, and I'm hesitant to risk plugging in there with the drone powered ON, since nothing really discusses whether I can do that...

So what options do I have?? And is there a document, or FAQ, or anything, elsewhere, which discusses this critical topic thoroughly ???

all the images are on the SD card in the drone as long as you have selected the card as the destination place ,you can stop the images going to your screen device if you disable cache to device in settings in the app when you want to ,edit ,and save selected images or video on your computer then you remove the SD card from the drone and using a card reader transfer them to you desired storage area in your computer i store all my stuff on a remote 4TB digital hard drive

 

[Gorlash]

all the images are on the SD card in the drone as long as you have selected the card as the destination place ,you can stop the images going to your screen device if you disable cache to device in settings in the app when you want to ,edit ,and save selected images or video on your computer then you remove the SD card from the drone and using a card reader transfer them to you desired storage area in your computer i store all my stuff on a remote 4TB digital hard drive

Ahhhh... so *that* is what the cache options refer to?!?! I saw them earlier, but wasn't sure what they meant.

So I cannot download from the drone to PC using the USB-C interface??

 

[old man mavic]

Ahhhh... so *that* is what the cache options refer to?!?! I saw them earlier, but wasn't sure what they meant.

So I cannot download from the drone to PC using the USB-C interface??

you can do it that way if you want ,but i believe that the drone needs to be on during the transfer i find it easier to remove the card

 

[Gorlash]

Okay, that worked great, I just pulled the chip and indeed they are there, as I told them to be. Thanks.

With my normal cameras, I've always done as you say, just pull the chip and put it in my reader. With this micro chip, though, I thought it might be awkward... but in fact, it works fine.

Thank you again for the note on the cache setting; when I get everything hooked up again, I'll fix that.

 

[old man mavic]

Okay, that worked great, I just pulled the chip and indeed they are there, as I told them to be. Thanks.

With my normal cameras, I've always done as you say, just pull the chip and put it in my reader. With this micro chip, though, I thought it might be awkward... but in fact, it works fine.

Thank you again for the note on the cache setting; when I get everything hooked up again, I'll fix that.

'
just a couple of points you might be better using 64 gig cards ,to record on, that way you spread the chances of losing a lot of your stuff if the card gets damaged or corrupted and don't forget to format the card in the drone once you have downloaded your stuff before you use it again,that way you know you have enough space on the card

 

[Harold Morgan]

'
just a couple of points you might be better using 64 gig cards ,to record on, that way you spread the chances of losing a lot of your stuff if the card gets damaged or corrupted and don't forget to format the card in the drone once you have downloaded your stuff before you use it again,that way you know you have enough space on the card

Easier to simply plug in your USB cable and "move to computer". No need to format I have ever found.

 

[Dale D]

all the images are on the SD card in the drone as long as you have selected the card as the destination place ,you can stop the images going to your screen device if you disable cache to device in settings in the app when you want to ,edit ,and save selected images or video on your computer then you remove the SD card from the drone and using a card reader transfer them to you desired storage area in your computer i store all my stuff on a remote 4TB digital hard drive

Yes- disable the cache and save the memory of your phone or tablet. Write to the SD Card in your drone. To transfer the files to your computer, remove the SD card from the drone, put the SD card into an adapter card and insert into the card reader of your computer. Right click on the icon when it appears on your computer screen. Then open the DCM file. Open a new folder on your screen and name it. Then go through each of the DCM files- naming each file, and then dragging them into the new folder. Once the files are transferred to the folder, you can eject the card, remove the SD card rom its holder, and put the SD card back into the drone. Then, while the drone and the app are open, go to the camera settings, got to the gear icon, scroll down to the SD card, and FORMAT the SD card.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gorlash]

Easier to simply plug in your USB cable and "move to computer". No need to format I have ever found.

But I *will* need to have the drone powered up, in order for the USB interface to be accessible, yes??

 

[Dale D]

But I *will* need to have the drone powered up, in order for the USB interface to be accessible, yes??

Well, if you never format, how do you erase your card?

 

[Gorlash]

Well, if you never format, how do you erase your card?

When you do a 'file move' operation, with Windows Explorer, the file is removed from the source disk... if all files are moved each time you do this, there is *no* cumulative disk consumption on the source...

 

[nomakase]

Go to drone school.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

you can do it that way if you want ,but i believe that the drone needs to be on during the transfer i find it easier to remove the card

Yes, the drone needs to be on, but that is not a problem. And, in my humble opinion, it is the easier way to do it (at least at a macbook air), since this small card in a small slot at the back of the Mavic Air is not really compatible to the size of my fingers.

 

[Dale D]

When you do a 'file move' operation, with Windows Explorer, the file is removed from the source disk... if all files are moved each time you do this, there is *no* cumulative disk consumption on the source...

Aha!!!! I have switched over from a long time PC user to MAC about 2 years ago. Never going back. But in Mac, I have to re-format the SD card. I prefer to do it with the card in the drone and use the app for reformatting.

 

[4wd]

It's wise to format the card in the camera after you've downloaded what you want to keep.
You don't have to do it, but I don't understand the resistance to doing either.
You can do it in a few seconds while the Mavic is acquiring position.
The same is true of all cameras and cards really.
What you are shown as card contents is not everything on there - there are hidden items to do with indexing which are best regularly removed. Just deleting images doesn't do that.
This will reduce the chance of eventually having a corrupted card which can't be read or written to.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

It's wise to format the card in the camera after you've downloaded what you want to keep.
You don't have to do it, but I don't understand the resistance to doing either.
You can do it in a few seconds while the Mavic is acquiring position.
The same is true of all cameras and cards really.
What you are shown as card contents is not everything on there - there are hidden items to do with indexing which are best regularly removed. Just deleting images doesn't do that.
This will reduce the chance of eventually having a corrupted card which can't be read or written to.

I did this a few times and everytime, I had problems reading the card afterwards. Therefore, I do not format the card anymore, just download and delete.

 

[Dale D]

I did this a few times and everytime, I had problems reading the card afterwards. Therefore, I do not format the card anymore, just download and delete.

If I do not format my card, the numbering system continues to accumulate to 1000 and then returns to 0001. If you are doing anything that requires sequential numbering (timelapse) it will revert to a non-sequential numbering which always screws me up. I come from the school of re-formatting each and every time in my DSLR so I can have sequential numbering. Ergo, I format in the drone and on the screen (go to camera settings>gear icon>scroll down to SD card formatting>format). Takes exactly 30 seconds.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I do reformat with my dslr and normal video equipment, never had a problem there. Since formatting in the drone caused loss of footage (card was unreadable on several computer), I do not format the card in the drone.
For timelapse footage, I use the timestamp of the footage, this is independent of any numbering by the camera.

 

[chriscuk]

I found that the USB-C connection is actually really slow to transfer files. I think it's a USB-C shaped port but is actually usb2.0 gen speeds so copying a lot of files takes a long time at 35mb/sec vs the 100mb/sec the card in the computer will give.

Would have been nice if they allowed charging via the usb-c port considering lots of laptops / desktops can put out decent amounts of current over usb-C

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I still remember the speed in processing Data on my C64, can live with the USB-Speed