Hi, I am having this condensation and foggy problem inside the camera lens of the mavic mini, whenever I fly during the cold morning (3ºC at 780m altitude) this happens, leaving the captured image blurry and unusable. I am storing the drone in the combo case with silica gel already to avoid this kind of problems but no improvements so far. Usually after a certain period that I have stopped flying the lens returns to normal alone, but flying again has foggy.





I tried to take a picture of the condensation but only saw when I got home that was not with good quality, sorry.
I tried to circle around the condensation

Your pictures are out of focus so I can't tell much about them. Condensation is caused by moisture build up from somewhere though. Not sure if yours is a case of a small amount of moisture being inside the camera already and needs a way to evaporate out or if its being cause by temperature change like when a glass is pulled out of a cabinet at one temperature and a cold liquid is added to it the sudden temp change causes condensation to start forming on the outside of the glass. If it's the later, try letting the mini become "acclimated" before flying it. I maybe totally off the mark here, bet I would say there is either trapped moisture or sudden temp change is at play here.

Put drone in a plastic bag before you go into the cold, and wait 5 minutes before you open it, also if you can keep it cold while indoors, like in the fridge or whatever before you go out, you'll be good...

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try

Vehok Posted at 12-17 09:27
Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try

Please keep us updated as to your findings!! Never know when someone else maybe having the same issue!!

780M altitude may be an issue as well. 3 degrees Celsius? Maybe its colder at the altitude you are flying at causing the moisture to appear. Try putting it in a sack of rice.

Hi. Thank you for reaching out to DJI Forum. I will forward this concern/thread to our designated DJI support team for further attention. Thank you.

I never even notice the altitude!! Wow you were up there if that is correct!!!

JodyB Posted at 12-17 16:09
I never even notice the altitude!! Wow you were up there if that is correct!!!

he is living in a town at 780m altitude...

You can see the blur/opacity in left of the video, image not edited.

At start I thinked is the sunlight, but the blur do not disappear in shadows and has no light 'dislocation'. When I landed the drone I see in the left part inside the camera lens a little moisture point

https://youtu.be/p8vLtGA4k2o

JodyB Posted at 12-17 16:09
I never even notice the altitude!! Wow you were up there if that is correct!!!

780m is altitude at sea level, my town altitude. The drone flight altitude is 30 meters at max

Vehok Posted at 12-18 03:22
780m is altitude at sea level, my town altitude. The drone flight altitude is 30 meters at max

I started to say,WOW LOL!!

UweE Posted at 12-18 00:44
he is living in a town at 780m altitude...

I didn't think about that, but does make sense now that I'm actually using my brain, LOL!!

This is a common issue with all lenses and cameras.
Basically open your bag/case and allow the equipment to adapt to the new environment.
It happens in all sort of ways, going from warm to cold, from cold to warm, from dry to humid and vice versa.
I tend to record in caves and this happens all the time, one way to speed up the process is have the camera out while you gradually change the environment but of course this is nit always desirable.

Even leaving the drone at room temperature reappears inside the lens, it is very frustrating how can something that should be sealed have moisture inside? Just about any image I make of it is unusable

Vehok Posted at 12-30 09:55
Even leaving the drone at room temperature reappears inside the lens, it is very frustrating how can something that should be sealed have moisture inside? Just about any image I make of it is unusable

[view_image]

It is the opsite, not room temperature but exterior one.
I noticed this when getting out of car and recording within minutes, but in my case condensation went away after a few minutes.

A sealed enclosure creates just that, because the temperature inside is different than the environment surrounding it, is not a DJI issue because it happens with any lens.

InspektorGadjet is right. If it wasn't sealed, the moisture wouldn't stay like that. I think the camera has vent slots on the back side of the camera as well. I think that is why there have been suggestions of putting it into a back of rice. To draw the moisture out. And you want the mini to be acclimated. If it's cold outside, the mini needs to be cold, but the batteries need to be warm.

I also have a lens fog problem in the lens when I flew my mini for the first time today. The temp was -5 Celsius. What can I do?   I just received the drone from DJI on Jan 8 2020

Hello. There is a problem with condensate, when it dries, spots remain. Image in the fog. What to do? how to clean?

Vehok Posted at 2019-12-18 03:15
You can see the blur/opacity in left of the video, image not edited.

At start I thinked is the sunlight, but the blur do not disappear in shadows and has no light 'dislocation'. When I landed the drone I see in the left part inside the camera lens a little moisture point

Beautiful scenery. Yes, looks like condensation. If you cool the mini to ambient temp, don't do that with the battery.  Keep a battery at relatively warm temp so as not to shorten flight time.  Slide battery in just before flight.

Vehok Posted at 2019-12-30 09:56
[view_image]

[view_image]

Looks like significant frost on exterior of drone.  Definitely cool it down to outside temp before flying, but keep battery in a warmer place and plug it in when ready for takeoff.  Your problems are common to all photography and astronomy.  Many telescopes have fans to speed up temperature equalization.  Come to think of it you could use a small fan to speed up the process for the drone.  A small computer fan should do it.  Need to rig up a battery to power the fan.

JodyB Posted at 2019-12-17 09:30
Please keep us updated as to your findings!! Never know when someone else maybe having the same issue!!

im having the same problem.  I just got the mini today, I also have the air so I am familiar with how the photos are supposed to look. =(

You aren't going to beat it with rice or desiccants. It is the temp difference. It happens with my telescopes, I have to keep them heated above the dew point. Store the drone in a unheated place and the batteries int the house, like others have said.

I suspect lowering the temperature inside a bag won't avoid the saturation because the air inside is already saturated.

Somehow moisture got inside the camera unit which is normally sealed and is not affected by humidity, not even when the drone has had an unfortunate ditching.

Vehok Posted at 2019-12-30 09:55
Even leaving the drone at room temperature reappears inside the lens, it is very frustrating how can something that should be sealed have moisture inside? Just about any image I make of it is unusable

[view_image]

The camera isn’t sealed. I have sealed cameras and there is a lot involved in making a hermetically sealed camera. In any event, the warmer the air the more moisture it can contain. When the drone is inside your warm house, the humidity inside the camera is equal to inside the house. You take it out side and it cools down and that extra humidity becomes dew. It is all from taking it from a warm humid environment to a cold less humid environment.

Vehok Posted at 2019-12-30 09:55
Even leaving the drone at room temperature reappears inside the lens, it is very frustrating how can something that should be sealed have moisture inside? Just about any image I make of it is unusable

[view_image]

duplicate post

Deucalion Posted at 5-5 14:15
The camera isn’t sealed. I have sealed cameras and there is a lot involved in making a hermetically sealed camera. In any event, the warmer the air the more moisture it can contain. When the drone is inside your warm house, the humidity inside the camera is equal to inside the house. You take it out side and it cools down and that extra humidity becomes dew. It is all from taking it from a warm humid environment to a cold less humid environment.

I have strong evidence suggesting it is. Both from the Internet and from personal experience. Not sure it is completely air-tight... but that kind of humidity doesn't exactly look like airborne. That usually over-saturates in a fine mist on the colder walls, that looks more like rainy droplets.

I suspect it might be that particular camera not sealed enough, either from the back (cable loom entrance could be a valid culprit) or an incomplete adhesive seal around the front camera plate.

m80116 Posted at 5-5 15:29
I have strong evidence suggesting it is. Both from the Internet and from personal experience. Not sure it is completely air-tight... but that kind of humidity doesn't exactly look like airborne. That usually over-saturates in a fine mist on the colder walls, that looks more like rainy droplets.

I suspect it might be that particular camera not sealed enough, either from the back (cable loom entrance could be a valid culprit) or an incomplete adhesive seal around the front camera plate.

They have to be completely airtight to be sealed. Not going to get into diffusion, but it doesn't take long at all for the humidity to equalize if there is any opening. You can test it. Put your mini in a freezer. These users are also at the extremest of DJI specs. That spot on the inside of his camera window looks like my telescope. This would happen to any of our drones under the same circumstances.

Just bought the mavic mini. First battery of flight. Inside the camera lens, it fogged up. Just like others are saying. 66F inside, 56F outside. Thats not a huge difference in temp. What can I do to fix this issue?

Vehok Posted at 2019-12-30 09:56
[view_image]

[view_image]

Have the same problem

Just got my Mini 2 and it fogs up lol. Neither of my other drones does this! Mavic 2 pro, no issue! Same temp, same weather, same storage. The condensation inside the lens doesnt go away either. Considering sending this pos back already. None of my other Equipment, lenses, or drones fogs up like this.

Fjellmaen Posted at 1-7 06:42
Just got my Mini 2 and it fogs up lol. Neither of my other drones does this! Mavic 2 pro, no issue! Same temp, same weather, same storage. The condensation inside the lens doesnt go away either. Considering sending this pos back already. None of my other Equipment, lenses, or drones fogs up like this.

Well as a professional photographer I can assure you this is a well known issue with any lenses.
Is like a cold can of beer or coke, if you bring it out of the fridge, water droplets are created in the outside of the can... Same thing is happening with the mini, but the water in this case is inside, due to being warmer inside the lense than the environment surrounding the drone.

I am wondering like some other users have suggested' could it be down to the lens covering not being fully sealed, maybe a little break/hole in the seal could be causing this issue, the same could apply to some of the other users who have experienced the same thing especially if some have had a bit of a fall or knock on the lens.

Other than that, the only other way i think it could be happening could be down to the temperature as others have said, i too have to watch out for this menace lol when using my telescope, especially in the early hours of the morning when the sun is due for coming up, the morning dew can be a bit of a bugger i must admit.

It’s physics, my favorite.
Warm always goes to cold, always.
Warmer air holds moisture cold air not so much (dry skin in winter).

When you take the drone from a warm moist climate to a cold dry climate the warm moist air will go to the cooler air through the lens, the moisture can not penetrate the lens and collects on the inside.
If you go from cold to warm the higher temp moist air will go to the lens., Heat will pass through moisture will not, now you have moisture on the outside of the lens.

Glass of a cold beverage in warm moist air, higher temp air goes to cold glass, heat penetrates, moisture does not, glass sweats (moisture collects on outside).
It’s how a dehumidifier works.

You have moisture behind your lens you have to get rid of. One way is to place the drone in a vacuum and “boil” it off, lower pressure lower boiling point.
Put your drone in a bag with a desiccant, reason your drone came shipped with a desiccant pack in the box.

Don’t store your drone in warm moist air then go outside to a cooler temp.
I wouldn’t put it in the fridge, as soon as you take it out you can get moisture on the outside, although you can just wipe it off.

If the lens is completely dry inside, this should never happen.  Once you get some moisture/humidity inside the lens, it will be very difficult to get out because the lens assembly is nearly fully sealed.  Storing your drone in the fridge is not the answer and will probably cause more problems on warm days.  The only way to sort this out is to get the camera completely dry inside and keep it that way.  

Silica gel will do what you want but keeping a pack inside the case is useless.  Silica gel absorbs moisture from the air and becomes saturated after no more than a few hours when open and exposed to a normal indoor atmosphere.  You need to keep the drone sealed up with silica gel and will require either a steady supply of new, sealed, packs of silica gel or you need to buy some rechargeable gel and do some work to maintain it.  

I buy military surplus gel packs and heat them in an oven for about 4 hours to dry them out, then store them in a COMPLETELY airtight container until I need them.  You can regenerate them many many times until the bag falls apart, then put the material in a new fine mesh or cloth bag and keep going.  Indicating silica gel has some granules in it that turn from blue to pink when they have absorbed as much moisture as they can (there are other color changing variations but this is the most common).  

If you're serious about keeping your drone dry, buy some indicating gel, pour it in the bottom of an airtight container and store your drone in there, with a wire mesh shelf or something like that to keep the drone from getting granules in it.  Alternatively, you can put a fresh gel pack into a sealed plastic bag along with your drone.  I suppose you could put the entire storage case in the bag but that would require more gel as you'd be drying out any moisture in the case as well.

me to moisture dji mini 3, fuck...

avila Posted at 6-3 00:01
me to moisture dji mini 3, fuck...

Me to on Mini 3 Pro

Same problem on Mini 3 Pro, before used Mini 2, and don't have problems like this, Grumbleduke gave a correct description of the situation. This is a little frustrating, but I will try to experiment. Perhaps a slight change in my location affected this.
This pic after 3 minutes of flying...

It also happens with DSLR lenses as well.  When a lens is brought from a cold environment to a hot environment with high humidity, then sometimes it will also get this kind of condensation phenomena. A zoom lens needs to move, and even fixed focal length lenses need to move some lens elements to adjust focus... and thus air gets sucked in from the outside. I think the Mini 2 does not suffer as badly as its sensor is much smaller, and thus there is no need to adjust focus by moving the lens elements.

This kind of issues are pretty much not covered by the warranty. For example, people get this kind of condensation phenomena with their iPhones, DSLR lenses, and all they can do is to ship their equipment for service.

(You may want to google how the DSLR people handle/workaround this kind issue.)