When you fly your drone legally and respect all the rules and regulations, there’s nothing to worry about, right? Well, legally there isn’t, but there are always people who could ruin all the fun for you. Peter Owen recently had a very unpleasant experience, to say the least, while flying his DJI Mavic Mini. A group of vandals was throwing rocks at his drone and later threatened to “arrest” him if he didn’t delete the footage.
DJI “Mini SE” drone pops up at Walmart – but is it really a new product?
Spotted by OsitaLV, who posted an image to Twitter along with the question “The cheapest DJI drone ever?”, a new DJI drone appears to have popped up at Walmart. But is it really new? According to DroneDJ, no. It’s probably not. In fact, it just looks like a rebranded version of the original DJI Mavic Mini with the new Mavic Air 2 controller.
Despite OsitaLV’s question about it being “the cheapest DJI drone ever”, he didn’t mention a price, and no price appears on the listing on the Walmart website. While the controller is visibly different from that sold with the original Mavic Mini, the specs published at Walmart look pretty much identical.
FAA removes always-on Internet from Remote ID requirements when flying drones
The FAA released its ruling on Monday, December 28th, on Remote Identification (Remote ID) for drones and also a final rule on flights at night and over people. Their proposal was originally published in December 2019 and it appears to have gone through some changes, including removing the requirement that all drones essentially be connected to the Internet whenever they’re in the air.
While it is a long and complex document, an Executive Summary of the Final Rule provided by the FAA does break down the basics of how the system will work and the requirements for drone pilots throughout the USA.
Potential design flaw in the DJI Mavic Mini causes the propeller blades to hit the body
DJI’s Mavic Mini made big news when it was announced in October, especially given that it was something so small. But being small and lightweight is exactly the point of the Mavic mini, weighing in at a mere 249g – 1g below the minimum limit required by many of the world’s governments before the operator requires licensing and regulation.
It looks like the DJI Mavic Mini might have something of a design flaw, though. Under certain conditions, particularly during Sport mode, the propeller blades seem to be able to hit the body of the drone. User djiuser_JXraXHrZCs7w posted images to the DJI community website along with a written note about the problem.
Report: DJI to announce three new drones in 2020, the first one coming in February
Looks like Canon isn’t the only one on fire when it comes to announcing new gear in 2020 (at least judging from the rumors). After a long break, it seems that we’ll see as many as three new drones from DJI this year. And according to the reports, the first one could hit the market in February.
Tiffen has announced a new range of ND Filter Kits for the DJI Mavic Mini
One notable absence in the launch of the DJI Mavic Mini was a range of ND filters designed for the new drone. DJI has sets of their own branded filters for many of their products like the Osmo Pocket and Osmo Action as well as for drones including the Phantom 4, Mavic Pro and Mavic Air. But there is nothing for the Mavic Mini and no obvious way to attach filters, either.
Filter manufacturer Tiffen, however, has not been resting. They’ve now announced a new line of filter kits designed specifically for the DJI Mavic Mini which includes both straight NDs as well as ND polarizers.
This review of the DJI Mavic Mini focuses on its abilities as a filmmaking tool
Perhaps it’s just that the DJI Mavic Mini is an impressive little drone, or maybe it’s the beautiful scenic views of Glencoe reminding me of my own visit there a couple of weeks ago, but this is one of the most complete Mavic 2 reviews I’ve seen so far that’s specifically geared towards photographers and filmmakers.
In this review, the guys at Drone Film Guide put the Mavic Mini through its paces, to push its capabilities and really see what this tiny 249g drone can pull off. Drone Film Guide concentrates more on the filmmaking side of things and less on the tech side of drones. But whenever a new drone comes out, it needs to be tested to find out where its filmmaking limits are.
The DJI Mavic Mini is official – It weighs 249g, shoots 2.7K video and has 30min flight time
There have been rumours about the DJI Mavic Mini for a little while now and at least one of them appears to have been correct. DJI has today officially announced the new DJI Mavic Mini, a 249g gimbal that shoots 2.7K video from a camera mounted to a 3-axis gimbal and has a flight time of up to 30 minutes.
The DJI Mavic Mini appears to essentially be a DJI Spark successor. The DJI Spark is now showing as discontinued on various websites and isn’t even for sale on DJI’s own store anymore. But it’s ok, because the DJI Mavic Mini is substantially cheaper than the Spark was and it looks like a much more capable system.
DJI Mavic 3 may be announced in January, Mavic Mini at the end of this month
It’s being rumoured that DJI is getting ready to announce the Mavic 3 drone in January 2020. Drone DJ reports that they’ve received several rumours that all seem to back each other up in the last week or so. They also say that the recently reported Mavic Mini may be officially announced as soon as the end of this month.
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