Just discovered why Avata 2 videos and photos aren't being seen by image/video editors and similar apps when you connect either the drone directly via usb, or take its microSD card out and put it in a reader. This is a regression from old Avata (and from any other DJI drone or action cam as far as I know) and needs to be fixed in aircraft firmware update.

There's this standard called DCF (Design rule for Camera File system - JEITA CP-3461) which strictly defines in its specification the subfolder and file naming scheme of items inside DCIM folder so that software (including DJI-recommended LightCut) and hardware using the standard knows it's a card with camera media and can load it automatically.

Anyway, the structure needs to be like this:
DCIM
--XXXAAAAA (where XXX is a number between 100 and 999)
----AAAAYYYY.MP4 (where YYYY is a number between 0001 and 9999)

(A's are either uppercase alphanumeric characters or underscores in both cases)

...

Instead, Avata 2's file system structure is like this:
DCIM
--DJI_001 (wrong, should be something like "100MEDIA" just like old Avata or Goggles use, or could be "100_DJI_" or even "100AVATA")
----DJI_20240429000106_0001_D.MP4 (wrong, should be something like "DJI_0001.MP4", again, like with old Avata. Goggles use "DJIG0001.MP4" and that is also fine)

...

DJI representatives, please forward this to your technical staff and tell them to read DCF standard specifications and/or to revert filesystem naming structure to the way it was on old Avata. Thank you.

And thanks to user airmark1 who made me finally investigate this. See their thread listing this issue as one of two issues they have with importing media from Avata 2: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=311638 (and help them out with their second issue of QuickTransfer not working is possible)

We appreciate your thorough feedback. This will be forwarded to the relevant team for evaluation. This will surely help us optimize and improve our products. Any news and updates will be announced on the DJI official website. Have a nice day.

Hey fichek,

Thats a good point!

Did you notice the timestamp issue? Maybe the two things have something to do with each other!?
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=311575

AlSo-Fotografie Posted at 4-29 23:46
Hey fichek,

Thats a good point!

I haven’t noticed that, but I’ve seen files “created” date from other DJI devices be wrong sometimes and what usually fixes it is connecting to DJI app and letting it sync time. Times definitely need to be removed from file names though, it’s redundant info and it doesn’t fit into DCF spec.

DJI Tony Posted at 4-29 21:53
We appreciate your thorough feedback. This will be forwarded to the relevant team for evaluation. This will surely help us optimize and improve our products. Any news and updates will be announced on the DJI official website. Have a nice day.

Thank you Tony.

I can't import files directly to iOS Photos on my MacBook from the Avata 2 micro SD card or internal storage. Tried on other Mac's too and the same result - 'no photos'. The workaround is to import the files from Finder to Photos or import directly to iMovies which recognises the files. No problem importing to my iPhone - it's just iOS Photos on iMac's and MacBooks that seems to be the issue. I luckily researched the issue when it happened as very close to returning the drone until I realised that it is a ubiquitous issue between DJI's latest drones and Apple due to the length or code used in the file names.

A J Posted at 4-30 02:46
I can't import files directly to iOS Photos on my MacBook from the Avata 2 micro SD card or internal storage. Tried on other Mac's too and the same result - 'no photos'. The workaround is to import the files from Finder to Photos or import directly to iMovies which recognises the files. No problem importing to my iPhone - it's just iOS Photos on iMac's and MacBooks that seems to be the issue. I luckily researched the issue when it happened as very close to returning the drone until I realised that it is a ubiquitous issue between DJI's latest drones and Apple due to the length or code used in the file names.

It's not just Apple, any app on any platform (even LightCut on iOS *or* Android) will not recognise any media with the current naming scheme.

If you go into Finder on macOS or Files on iOS and change the "DJI_001" folder name to "100MEDIA", and you change all files to be named like "DJI_0001", you will see Photos/Image Capture/FCPX instantly load the media. So yeah, they just need to fix the naming scheme and it will work just like it does with Avata 1.

Btw are you saying this issue is also present on some other new DJI drone?

fichek Posted at 4-30 03:13
It's not just Apple, any app on any platform (even LightCut on iOS *or* Android) will not recognise any media with the current naming scheme.

If you go into Finder on macOS or Files on iOS and change the "DJI_001" folder name to "100MEDIA", and you change all files to be named like "DJI_0001", you will see Photos/Image Capture/FCPX instantly load the media. So yeah, they just need to fix the naming scheme and it will work just like it does with Avata 1.

I recall reading somewhere that the Mavic Air 3 is also affected

A J Posted at 4-30 06:09
I recall reading somewhere that the Mavic Air 3 is also affected

Thanks, will check with someone who has one. Also gonna check with someone who has a Mini 4 Pro since that was released between Air 3 and Avata 2.

fichek Posted at 4-30 06:18
Thanks, will check with someone who has one. Also gonna check with someone who has a Mini 4 Pro since that was released between Air 3 and Avata 2.

May be something to do with O4?

A J Posted at 4-30 07:47
May be something to do with O4?

I don’t see how transmission and file naming scheme could be related in any way tbh

fichek Posted at 4-30 08:00
I don’t see how transmission and file naming scheme could be related in any way tbh

God knows lol - I remember my Mavic Pro Platinum disconnecting from my iphone because the phone wasn't on the latest apple firmware. I have come across many bizarre little glitches with these things over the years. Refresh in assistant 2 is usually the answer you get to solving all the problems or calibrate everything until everyone said not to calibrate anything. So nothing surprises me in this game - the illogical is often the answer.

DJI Tony Posted at 4-29 21:53
We appreciate your thorough feedback. This will be forwarded to the relevant team for evaluation. This will surely help us optimize and improve our products. Any news and updates will be announced on the DJI official website. Have a nice day.

Hi Tony. It appears this regression originated with Air 3 and has been pulled into later projects like Mini 4 Pro and now Avata 2 so please take a look at all the recent models and make sure they all properly support DCF spec too. Thank you!

fichek Posted at 4-30 11:15
Hi Tony. It appears this regression originated with Air 3 and has been pulled into later projects like Mini 4 Pro and now Avata 2 so please take a look at all the recent models and make sure they all properly support DCF spec too. Thank you!

Thank you. This is noted. I will also forward this to the relevant team to handle. We appreciate your valued support.

DJI Tony Posted at 5-1 02:38
Thank you. This is noted. I will also forward this to the relevant team to handle. We appreciate your valued support.

Thanks Tony. I just realised that Osmo Pocket 3 has the same problem, even slightly more complex as that camera lets you customise subfolder names under the main "DCIM" folder, in the format DJI_001_XYZ (where XYZ is customizable part). This feature could still be kept while respecting DCF spec, by making subfolder names start with a number (100-999) and then add 5 customisable uppercase letters/underscores (and default to "MEDIA").

fichek Posted at 5-1 18:34
Thanks Tony. I just realised that Osmo Pocket 3 has the same problem, even slightly more complex as that camera lets you customise subfolder names under the main "DCIM" folder, in the format DJI_001_XYZ (where XYZ is customizable part). This feature could still be kept while respecting DCF spec, by making subfolder names start with a number (100-999) and then add 5 customisable uppercase letters/underscores (and default to "MEDIA").

Thank you very much for the added information. This will surely help. I have already forwarded this. Have a nice day.