2 Pro Infrared Converted Mavic 2 Pro - First images

[macfawlty]

Over the years, I've been fascinated by the look of infrared photography. A video appeared in my YouTube feed recently and I started researching. A few hours later, I'd packed up an older Canon 5D mkII to get it converted to a full spectrum infrared camera. A day later, wondering whether anyone does the same type of conversions for drones, I'd packed up my older Mavic 2 Pro that was sitting unused to get it converted as well. The company that does these conversions, Kolari Vision, is quite experienced and has a wealth of info on their website. I'm still figuring out the post-production editing for photos and video in Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve, so these my first sloppy attempt at photos. I captured A LOT of video (primarily video) from New Orleans, my part-time winter residence, that I'm in the process of editing. There are a variety of factors that affect the imagery in-camera; Light quality (harsh mid-day lighting is paradoxically the best), corrective filter used on front of the camera, etc. Kolari Vision provides 2 full sets (of 6 filters each), with different Nm values for different looks. The 2nd set are the same with 5-stop ND. In case you were wondering, there's also 2 'Hot Mirror' filters for a normal look. There is a way to make the sky blue, but I'll get to that later.

 

[waynorth]

Interesting. The first consumer drone converted to IR I have seen.
I have two DSLR-cameras converted, but maybe I should have it done on one of my drones....

 

[Dogpilot]

It is fun to do. Personally I did mine myself on a spare camera I scrounged. I did mine in full spectrum. It worked fine in 720nm but I had focus issues in other bands. It was a fun thing to use, IR images can be quite striking. I just could not use them professionally due to some issues in other bands, which I tend to favor for my geological studies. I would like to have tried it on a Mavic 3 Classic, but as most folks know, mess with the camera the drone goes into lockdown with errors. Sad, it would have been a better choice. M2P was far more lenient with fiddling with the hardware.

 

[macfawlty]

It is fun to do. Personally I did mine myself on a spare camera I scrounged. I did mine in full spectrum. It worked fine in 720nm but I had focus issues in other bands. It was a fun thing to use, IR images can be quite striking. I just could not use them professionally due to some issues in other bands, which I tend to favor for my geological studies. I would like to have tried it on a Mavic 3 Classic, but as most folks know, mess with the camera the drone goes into lockdown with errors. Sad, it would have been a better choice. M2P was far more lenient with fiddling with the hardware.

One of the reasons I did the drone conversion was I saw almost NO ONE on YouTube doing artistic aerial IR.

Yes, I’ve read about focus issues which is much less of an issue with Mirrorless or DSLRs with Live View.

Interesting observation about the M3C. I was thinking about doing the same on mine. I’ll have to ask Kolari Vision if they’ve had any reported issues. The post-production in LR and PS can be complicated to get specific looks in different filters. I most prefer the white foliage/blue sky look you can achieve using between 550nm and 720nm. This guy is the foremost YouTube expert on all things IR - Rob Shea Photography. I’ll be digging deep on his channel. I’ve yet to research working with IR video in DaVinci Resolve. I just don’t see many people doing IR video of an artistic nature.

Here’s a quick video edit I did of some night video with the converted M2P -

NOLA-BRIDGE-NIGHT

Shot with infrared converted Mavic 2 Pro. Music track: 'High Above' by INZO w/ Alina Renae.

vimeo.com

 

[macfawlty]

Interesting. The first consumer drone converted to IR I have seen.
I have two DSLR-cameras converted, but maybe I should have it done on one of my drones....

I assumed that no company even did such a thing. My camera conversion I did through LifePixel before I found the KolariVision website. I was impatient! While waiting to receive my Canon 5D mkII, but immediately after I took my first flight with the converted M2P, I bought a used converted Blackmagic Full Frame Cinema Camera 6k from the KolariVision website (yes, they have a wide variety of already converted cameras and drones). I have the earlier BMD 6k with the Super35 sensor that I bought when it first came out and used it for corporate work, but I'm totally addicted to full frame, so... I was on the fence for the last year about getting the full-frame version, but this sealed the deal. Always looking to expand my VERY long list of activities in retirement. KolariVision has a very deep knowledge base on their website, so dig in people. Stay tuned as I've been indexing my footage from my New Orleans visit and will have an edit soon.

 

[Dogpilot]

If you want the blue sky and golden foliage, try either the 47 or 47B filters. You can get them in gels, just cut them to size. Put them under the clear filter to hold them in place. I have converted a Nikon D800 and a Nikon V3 to full spectrum as well. Both work super well.

 

[PanoVolo]

Also converted DSLRs to IR in the past but never seen converted drones, great idea.

Looks like the lens worked fine, no hotspot issues

 

[macfawlty]

Also converted DSLRs to IR in the past but never seen converted drones, great idea.

Looks like the lens worked fine, no hotspot issues

I may have noticed a barely perceptible hotspot in some images. I did a lot of brush dodging in LR as the light wasn’t as bright as preferred at the time of day I was shooting. I was a bit indecisive on the filters as I’ve not had much time to fully test all of them. As you can see from this guide on the KolariVision website, it’s complicated - Choosing The Perfect Infrared Filter - Kolari Vision.

 

[AMann]

Ive been using my converted M2Pro to do false color IR vegetation mapping- the Kolari Vision IR Chrome filter is perfect for this. In the images below, the brighter the red, the more watered and healthy (photosynthetic) the plants are as chlorophyll reflects more near IR in the leaves. They also sell a DIY multispectral conversion kit for the M2P so the cost is nominal and it’s easy to do: The DJI Mavic 2 Pro DIY Full-Spectrum Conversion Guide – Kolari Vision

https://mavicpilots.com/direct-messages/multi-spectral-mavic.133292/

 

[macfawlty]

Ive been using my converted M2Pro to do false color IR vegetation mapping- the Kolari Vision IR Chrome filter is perfect for this. In the images below, the brighter the red, the more watered and healthy (photosynthetic) the plants are as chlorophyll reflects more near IR in the leaves. They also sell a DIY multispectral conversion kit for the M2P so the cost is nominal and it’s easy to do: The DJI Mavic 2 Pro DIY Full-Spectrum Conversion Guide – Kolari Vision

https://mavicpilots.com/direct-messages/multi-spectral-mavic.133292/

View attachment 180608View attachment 180609

Thanks for those. I was gonna contact them about purchasing their IR Chrome filter. I like the look. I only saw it as an add-on to a filter set. Yes, they do have guides for DIY, but decided I’d rather have them do it properly while I spend my time flying, filming and editing!

 

[AMann]

Thanks for those. I was gonna contact them about purchasing their IR Chrome filter. I like the look. I only saw it as an add-on to a filter set. Yes, they do have guides for DIY, but decided I’d rather have them do it properly while I spend my time flying, filming and editing!

I like the IR chrome and it really doesn’t need much post-processing to get that look. To be really accurate, white balance it on a really green bush. The conversion isn’t bad, the instructions are very good.

 

[CurtisRandall]

Woah I had no idea this was possible with drones! Very cool photography

 

[Capt KO]

Bought a used Phantom 4 Pro awhile ago that had a horrible picture, found out it was already set up as IR. Ended up trading the IR filter for a clear one for normal use. Wish I'd kept it now.

 

[dbuckles]

Over the years, I've been fascinated by the look of infrared photography. A video appeared in my YouTube feed recently and I started researching. A few hours later, I'd packed up an older Canon 5D mkII to get it converted to a full spectrum infrared camera. A day later, wondering whether anyone does the same type of conversions for drones, I'd packed up my older Mavic 2 Pro that was sitting unused to get it converted as well. The company that does these conversions, Kolari Vision, is quite experienced and has a wealth of info on their website. I'm still figuring out the post-production editing for photos and video in Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve, so these my first sloppy attempt at photos. I captured A LOT of video (primarily video) from New Orleans, my part-time winter residence, that I'm in the process of editing. There are a variety of factors that affect the imagery in-camera; Light quality (harsh mid-day lighting is paradoxically the best), corrective filter used on front of the camera, etc. Kolari Vision provides 2 full sets (of 6 filters each), with different Nm values for different looks. The 2nd set are the same with 5-stop ND. In case you were wondering, there's also 2 'Hot Mirror' filters for a normal look. There is a way to make the sky blue, but I'll get to that later.

View attachment 180604

View attachment 180605View attachment 180606

I’ve had a converted Mavic 2 pro from them since 2019. It is fun what you can do with a full spectrum camera and their IR filters.

 

[dbuckles]

That is very cool to know. I have the IR Chrome filter and the Kolari IR filter set is there any other vegetation index’s you can do with their IR filters? Do you have more info on using the IR Chrome for IR vegetation mapping?

Ive been using my converted M2Pro to do false color IR vegetation mapping- the Kolari Vision IR Chrome filter is perfect for this. In the images below, the brighter the red, the more watered and healthy (photosynthetic) the plants are as chlorophyll reflects more near IR in the leaves. They also sell a DIY multispectral conversion kit for the M2P so the cost is nominal and it’s easy to do: The DJI Mavic 2 Pro DIY Full-Spectrum Conversion Guide – Kolari Vision

https://mavicpilots.com/direct-messages/multi-spectral-mavic.133292/[/

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[AMann]

That is very cool to know. I have the IR Chrome filter and the Kolari IR filter set is there any other vegetation index’s you can do with their IR filters? Do you have more info on using the IR Chrome for IR vegetation mapping?

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I assume you’re talking about the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)? Kolari sells a blue NDVI filter that probably only passes Red and NIR wavelengths to allow you to supposedly do it, but you could use this filter as well as it will pass red and near infrared values but also passes blue, but one can turn off the blue by post-processing it.

To calculate the NDVI index from image band values, the formula is NDVI=(NIR-Red)/(NIR+Red). So if you create an image that mainly only has red and NIR bands showing, I think you could generate an index from it.

Measured transmission graph of Kolari IR Chrome

 

[macfawlty]

For those interested in experimenting with infrared photography and video, it turns out that buying or converting a Mavic is one of the cheapest way to do so. Converting a M2P is $325 and includes 2 sets of 6 filters each including the Hot Mirror filter for normal look. The 2nd set are 5 stop ND of the same. If you want to buy a used M2P already converted, it's $1,400. While they also sell Mavic 3 models and conversions, they apparently have yet to make a filter set for them, so at this time the M2P is the way to go. Converting your own camera to full spectrum is reasonable in cost, however, each circular filter is $120-$180 each, which is a lot if you want 3 or 4 different looks. You really need a Mirrorless or DSLR with Live View.

 

[GFields]

Awesome photos!