Strobe Reflection

[DroneSketcher]

I see some people put a strobe on their drone to see it at greater distances.
Won't that show in your video footage when bouncing off nearby reflective surfaces?

Still waiting for my Mini 3 to arrive

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Most don't seem to have an issue with this, even those with FHT ARCV fitted facing forward.

I use FHT ARCII on my M1P legs (velcro) and just have them angled out a little . . . but with arm mounts that has strobes naturally pointing inwards, and front arm fitting you'd think they would be visible in video especially under certain conditions.

As you say, reflective surfaces, even plain walls if close enough.
But just as much dust, moisture in the air (fog, snowfall, etc).

With a mini size drone, I'd stick to ARCII / Dual sizes, or ViFly, larger is just getting way too bulky, if 4 fitted (arms) then weight too gets more noticeable in reduced flight time.

 

[SpitFire]

I just have my strobes facing the rear, also added highly reflective tape, none magnetic, works great.
Especially in the sun, I never fly beyond line of sight, only fly as far as I can see it.

 

[Lister]

I never fly beyond line of sight, only fly as far as I can see it.

The problem is finding it after you look up from the controller.Seen against complex backgrounds, it's nearly invisible more than a hundred feet out. I'd never fly without my belly mount Firehouse now.

I've never seen a reflection of my strobe and I highly doubt you'd ever see a reflection of the strobe in your video footage over anything but flying very low over water with the gimbal pointed down.

 

[Mike107]

I rarely see strobe flashes from Firehouse Arc V, and then it is generally really high humidity and in grey/low light.
Those strobes are pretty strong when fully charged, so you can sometimes see the flashes from a top-mounted light coming from reflective objects like car windows when you are more horizontal than above the objects. You can more often see reflected flashes from bottom-mounted lights, so that's something to consider if doing videography.

For the most part I find the FHT Arc V lensing to have limited disbursement of light in their low horizontal plane.
They are hell on wheels for very broad-broad beam applications like anti-collision uses, but probably not so much for hemispherical applications.

I am sure results will vary with light used, mounting location on a particular drone, etc.

 

[Lister]

For the most part I find the FHT Arc V lensing to have limited disbursement of light in their low horizontal plane.

True. Best viewing angle is from below. Clearly visible even on a sunny day, though. Impressive.

 

[Mike107]

I reached out to them and suggested adding fresnel lensing to the lens dome for better low and lateral/fore/aft presence.

He says it shouldn’t be hard and they’ll look into it. It would be cool if they managed it.