The old dogs among the forum members here may remember the good all times when all you had to do to turn a basic camera into an IR one was to access the bare sensor and very carefully, with a hot gun,  take out the very thin filter. The manipulation was one-direction though, making reverting to a normal camera impossible.

Does anyone know if there is a way to just unplug the present camera, and plug another tiny camera with the DIY-IR transformation done, meaning it is always possible to revert back to normal when needed ?

Thank you

Answering to myself... This guy just added a camera on the top of the MM, obviously hindering the battery life, but still, not so bad :

philgib Posted at 5-28 06:20
Answering to myself... This guy just added a camera on the top of the MM, obviously hindering the battery life, but still, not so bad :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iewxd4iiuG0

While his design is a little bulky, (you don't need the dvr on the drone) it could be packed smaller with just the weight of the camera+tx. I had no idea you could get thermal cameras this cheap, searching for wildlife or lost animals/people with something like this opens a whole world of possibilities.

Thanks for Sharing.

ABeardedItalian Posted at 5-28 06:31
While his design is a little bulky, (you don't need the dvr on the drone) it could be packed smaller with just the weight of the camera+tx. I had no idea you could get thermal cameras this cheap, searching for wildlife or lost animals/people with something like this opens a whole world of possibilities.

Thanks for Sharing.

Indeed, the issue here is that the extra weight will switch on the "payload" restriction and you won't be able anymore to fly high or far, just like when you add the DJI propeller protections.

I think we have to be realistic here... chances are the IR filter on the Mavic Mini camera is fused onto the sensor and cannot be removed without breaking it, the thermal camera is a cool idea... but not for a Mini. Lift to weigh ratio is too small and unfavorable, the Mavic Air 2 could be much better candite to carry that burden on top.