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Do you think that your drone must keep lights on during recording?
681 15 2024-8-13
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Gino Saurre
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This is a very serious limitation and one that DJI has no answer for.

I just bought a Mini 3 (regular, not pro) and nowhere in the DJI drone advertising does it clearly state that the drone will not be able to record night video legally in Europe. You spend a lot of money on a drone only to be surprised that you will not be able to record legally at night... (at this point I'm glad I didn't spend over 1000 euros on the Mini 4 Pro and not be able to record at night legally)

So may be you'd like to take this quick survey to see if DJI is listening to us. The question is:

Do you think that your drone must keep lights ON during recording in order to make it legal at night?



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2024-8-13
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DJI Natalia
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Hi there, thank you for reaching and we truly understand your concern. We will consider this as a suggestion and your valuable feedback will be promptly forwarded to the relevant team for a thorough evaluation. We would like to assure you that we are committed to providing the best user experience.

Thank you for your continued support.
2024-8-14
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Gino Saurre
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DJI does not inform the consumer that the drone they are purchasing will not be able to record at night in accordance with European regulations, and that recording at night can expose them to a heavy fine and even a prison sentence of up to 3 months

All of this would be easy to solve by letting the owner of the drone decide whether or not to turn on the drone's status lights at the time of recording. But DJI must have some reason for voluntarily turning off these lights at the time of recording; a reason that it has not yet communicated to users.
2024-8-16
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Cathode Ray
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Gino Saurre Posted at 8-16 04:02
DJI does not inform the consumer that the drone they are purchasing will not be able to record at night in accordance with European regulations, and that recording at night can expose them to a heavy fine and even a prison sentence of up to 3 months

All of this would be easy to solve by letting the owner of the drone decide whether or not to turn on the drone's status lights at the time of recording. But DJI must have some reason for voluntarily turning off these lights at the time of recording; a reason that it has not yet communicated to users.

It's actually been discussed here before.  The reason is so that the lights don't interfere with the video.
Not sure the status lights would even be legal anyway.  They probably couldn't be seen at any real distance.
Go buy a couple of 3 mile certified drone strobes like the Firehouse strobes or similar, stick them on with some velcro, and boom, problem solved.
2024-8-16
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Gino Saurre
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Cathode Ray Posted at 8-16 21:34
It's actually been discussed here before.  The reason is so that the lights don't interfere with the video.
Not sure the status lights would even be legal anyway.  They probably couldn't be seen at any real distance.
Go buy a couple of 3 mile certified drone strobes like the Firehouse strobes or similar, stick them on with some velcro, and boom, problem solved.

I'm sorry you're answering a conversation about a topic you know so little about.

"The reason is so that the lights don't interfere with the video"

1. About the lights generating unwanted results in the video, anyone who has had a drone like the spark, which has 4 LEDs that are much stronger than the mini's, will tell you that this is not true. But in any case, let the user decide if the result is useful to them. DJI does not have to decide a priori for us.

"Not sure the status lights would even be legal anyway"

2. About whether the mini's lights are sufficient to be legal, of course they are. If before answering you read the regulations you are commenting on, you would see that it requires 2 lights, just like that, it does not talk about power, because the flight must be done in visual line... even if the drone is 10 meters away, you need a light at night.


Go buy a couple of 3 mile certified drone strobes like the Firehouse strobes or similar,

3. Again, if you read the regulations you are commenting on, you would know that it is prohibited to add unauthorized devices to the drone... also, the mini weighs 248 or 247 grams and any powerful light would exceed the 250 grams of the regulations.

I hope the information is useful to you
2024-8-17
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Yorkshire_Pud
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Tip: The post by the administrator or moderators shield
2024-8-17
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Yorkshire_Pud
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Gino Saurre Posted at 8-17 00:01
I'm sorry you're answering a conversation about a topic you know so little about.

"The reason is so that the lights don't interfere with the video"

Even if your beloved spark did not show colour cast other drones do.
This has already been pointed out to you elsewhere.

Besides the title of your thread and the actual question you posed are not jurisdiction specific i.e.
''Do you think that your drone must keep lights on during recording?''
and
''Do you think that your drone must keep lights ON during recording in order to make it legal at night?''

Perhaps, before you belittle someone for answering a world wide question, you should ask the correct, jurisdiction specfic, question and use an appropriate title!

I suppose you will say ''but I mentioned Europe in the text'', as far as I am aware there is no requirement for lights at night in the UK and the UK is in Europe, undoubtedly they assist with locating the drone but .......

Perhaps you should have cited the relevant jurisdition in both the thread's title and the actual question.
2024-8-17
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Gino Saurre
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Yorkshire_Pud Posted at 8-17 01:44
Even if your beloved spark did not show colour cast other drones do.
This has already been pointed out to you elsewhere.

It's so funny that you join a conversation where you have nothing to add, just to distort the topic. But thanks anyway for putting the post up again.

It doesn't matter the jurisdiction, the question is for every DJI drone owner around the world, who has the right to decide, whether or not the lights "on" during recording are useful for him.

Nowadays, particularly in the EU, flight to film a night scene, means exposing yourself to a fine of thousands of euros and even risking going to prison for up to 3 months...

If you like having a "locked" device you don't have to do anything... that's it... but if you want to have the freedom to legally record in the EU at night and decide for yourself, whether or not the result is useful to you... then you can vote here:

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=316483
2024-8-17
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Sean-bumble-bee
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Gino Saurre Posted at 8-17 03:09
It's so funny that you join a conversation where you have nothing to add, just to distort the topic. But thanks anyway for putting the post up again.

It doesn't matter the jurisdiction, the question is for every DJI drone owner around the world, who has the right to decide, whether or not the lights "on" during recording are useful for him.

"If you like having a "locked" device y........ then you can vote here: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=316483"

uum, just curious, why do you post a link in this thread TO THIS THREAD ?
2024-8-17
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Cathode Ray
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Gino Saurre Posted at 8-17 00:01
I'm sorry you're answering a conversation about a topic you know so little about.

"The reason is so that the lights don't interfere with the video"

Actually you're right.  As an American, the problems of rude, over regulated Europeans doesn't concern me in the slightest.  Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Your best bet would be to dutifully obey your regulations as they are, since it appears that they don't believe you have the common sense to fly drones with aftermarket parts, or fly safely at night safely.  To which I agree.

As far as DJI modifying the firmware to turn the lights back on as a user choice, I think they should not, and should leave it exactly as it is, and not encourage night flying of aircraft with unsafe lighting.  Those tiny lights are not enough for safe collision avoidance, and  that (anti collision) is the purpose of aircraft lights.  As a licensed pilot of manned aircraft with over 25 years, and hundreds of logged hours of experience, I know what the purpose of aircraft lighting is for.

So instead of wasting bandwidth begging companies like DJI to make potentially unsafe modifications to their products to suit your personal whims, perhaps you should stop whining and just learn how to follow the rules and keep your aircraft on the ground at night, and leave the night flying to those that are qualified and equipped to do so.

,
2024-8-17
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Gino Saurre
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Cathode Ray Posted at 8-17 07:26
Actually you're right.  As an American, the problems of rude, over regulated Europeans doesn't concern me in the slightest.  Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Your best bet would be to dutifully obey your regulations as they are, since it appears that they don't believe you have the common sense to fly drones with aftermarket parts, or fly safely at night safely.  To which I agree.

Yeah whatever...

There are many reasons of why it is essential to keep the lights "on" in the DJI Mini series drones while recording, especially at night.

Recording at night  without a light is illegal in EU and it's subject to fines of thousands of euros, confiscation of the drone and even imprisonment of up to 3 months.

In addition, flying a drone in the EU requires having a mandatory insurance policy, which, in order to be valid, requires that the flight be carried out in full compliance with current legislation. That is, if you were recording at night and your drone crashes, since the leds of the drone are "turned off" the insurance company will not cover this occurrence.. The same happens if you put an additional light on the drone, since this is prohibited by the regulations...

Flying a drone at night in the EU and recording with the lights off is similar to driving a car at night without lights... Totally illegal in the EU and dangerous anywhere in the world.

Maybe DJI should listen to your suggestion and warn consumers that (according to your crazy theory) their drones are not safe to fly at night..

The only certain thing is that users must be able to fly at night according to regulations and it is DJI's obligation to ensure this.
2024-8-17
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Gabriel Tallon
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Well in some countries in Europe, you're not allowed to fly at night anyways, whether you have a light or not, so it depends which country your in.
2024-8-19
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Gino Saurre
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Italy
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European Union.

There are many reasons of why it is essential to keep the lights "on" in the DJI Mini series drones while recording, especially at night.

Recording at night  without a light is illegal in the EU and it's subject to fines of thousands of euros, confiscation of the drone and even imprisonment of up to 3 months.

In addition, flying a drone in the EU requires having a mandatory insurance policy, which, in order to be valid, requires that the flight be carried out in full compliance with current legislation. That is, if you were recording at night and your drone crashes, since the leds of the drone are "turned off" the insurance company will not cover this occurrence.. The same happens if you put an additional light on the drone, since this is prohibited by the regulations...

Flying a drone at night in the EU and recording with the lights off is similar to driving a car at night without lights... Totally illegal in the EU and dangerous anywhere in the world.

2024-8-19
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DJI Natalia
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Gino Saurre Posted at 8-19 11:32
European Union.

There are many reasons of why it is essential to keep the lights "on" in the DJI Mini series drones while recording, especially at night.

Hi there, thank you for sharing this valuable information here with us and our DJI Forum user community. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

Keep us posted and thank you for your support!
2024-8-20
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Sean-bumble-bee
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Gino Saurre Posted at 8-19 11:32
European Union.

There are many reasons of why it is essential to keep the lights "on" in the DJI Mini series drones while recording, especially at night.

If you are so worried then don't fly at night, that way you won't be tempted to record at night without lights and you will be legally safe.

Just curious, since you seem to think you know it all, perhaps you can educate the rest of us.
What is the reasoning behind the legislation, to render the drone visible to others or to render the dron visible to the drone's pilot or both ?
2024-8-20
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Gino Saurre
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Yeah sure man, you're always right...

It's essential to be able to turn on the drone's lights during recording at night:

- It's safer to record at night
- In many countries it's illegal to record at night without a light "turned on" and depending on the country, it can lead to fines and even prison.
- Night recording as it is done today (without active light) in many countries invalidates the benefit of the mandatory insurance policy.
- The drone's lights don't interfere with the resulting video. There is a third-party app (whose use is against the regulations) but it can turn on the Mini's lights during recording. However, the use of a third-party app to fly our drone is also prohibited in some countries and invalidates the insurance policy. I'm just showing this for information: (Watch min 0:54)



Also, since there are apparently a lot of "users" who want to fly at night with the lights "turned off", Perhaps DJI can let the owner choose whether to turn them on or off themselves.
2024-8-20
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