The Last Flight

[Josh Dye]

Hi everyone,

This is from last weekend when I went up to Tahoe to catch the Milky Way over some spots that I hadn't seen shot before. The original plan for this trip was to hit the composition pictured here on Saturday night and then hit a different spot Sunday night but, things didn't go according to plan.

Like I normally do in Tahoe to really bring out the blues in the water, I used my drone to light paint with Lume Cubes attached to the legs from above. After shooting this shot, my cousin and I moved to a different composition and I put in a new fully charged battery in the drone. We got our shot at this new comp, but as I was landing the drone the battery popped out just enough to cause the drone to turn off and fall out of the sky landing right on a rock. The drone parts went flying in every direction, but hey, the Lume Cubes survived! It was literally 10 seconds away from being back on the ground before it sadly crashed. Very tough to watch it fall out of the sky knowing I couldn't do anything about it but my drone and I definitely had a good run.

Here is the only good shot from the evening. In my opinion, the shot was not worth losing the drone over .

Ten 20-second single exposures stacked for noise reduction

 

[Ben Egbert]

You have a very pretty sky here

 

[AlanLichty]

Beautiful sky and you did get some nice illumination before the drone's demise. I love the hues in the water.

Bummer about the drone. Was it insured?

 

[Josh Dye]

You have a very pretty sky here

Thanks Ben!

 

[Josh Dye]

Beautiful sky and you did get some nice illumination before the drone's demise. I love the hues in the water.

Bummer about the drone. Was it insured?

Thank you Alan. Sadly it was not. But the drone was older anyways so it’s a good excuse to save and buy a new one!

 

[JimFox]

Hey Josh,

So sorry to hear about your drone! It's one thing to have it crash a distance away, but to have it just 10 seconds from home to then crash right in your face is always kind of haunting.

Your image is really nice, and you light paint it so delicately. I really like the way you light paint. Are you flying across an area to light paint, or are you flying high enough up that the light from the lume cube just spreads out over the ground/water area?

Lake Tahoe is one place I haven't captured the Milky Way at, I need to see if I can add it into the rotation next year.

 

[TimMc]

Josh, great last picture. I have had similar problems with a Mavic Air. The battery bulged as it got hot until it disconnects and drops the drone. The good news is , at least with the mini pro 3, the battery design changed so bulging will not disconnect the battery.

 

[Josh Dye]

Hey Josh,

So sorry to hear about your drone! It's one thing to have it crash a distance away, but to have it just 10 seconds from home to then crash right in your face is always kind of haunting.

Your image is really nice, and you light paint it so delicately. I really like the way you light paint. Are you flying across an area to light paint, or are you flying high enough up that the light from the lume cube just spreads out over the ground/water area?

Lake Tahoe is one place I haven't captured the Milky Way at, I need to see if I can add it into the rotation next year.

Yeah it was definitely tough to watch it just fall like that especially with it being so close to landing. For these shots I just have the drone hover in one location high enough to allow the light to spread across the whole scene. Definitely put Lake Tahoe on the list for some photos! There’s always something to photograph up there!

 

[Josh Dye]

Josh, great last picture. I have had similar problems with a Mavic Air. The battery bulged as it got hot until it disconnects and drops the drone. The good news is , at least with the mini pro 3, the battery design changed so bulging will not disconnect the battery.

Thanks Tim. Ah so DJI is definitely aware of the problem then. When I picked up the drone the battery was like a ball because it overheated. Hopefully they continue to fix this issue in the future.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Bummer about the drone. Nice image however.

 

[AlanLichty]

Thanks Tim. Ah so DJI is definitely aware of the problem then. When I picked up the drone the battery was like a ball because it overheated. Hopefully they continue to fix this issue in the future.

A bit off-topic from your nice image of the MW and the lake but how old was the drone in question? One suggestion I see a lot in the various drone forums is to never leave your batteries in the charger once they are charged. but do make sure you charge them before trying to use them after any length of disuse. They are programmed to intentionally discharge as they sit to prolong their life and to decrease the likelihood of a runaway lithium fire.

 

[Josh Dye]

A bit off-topic from your nice image of the MW and the lake but how old was the drone in question? One suggestion I see a lot in the various drone forums is to never leave your batteries in the charger once they are charged. but do make sure you charge them before trying to use them after any length of disuse. They are programmed to intentionally discharge as they sit to prolong their life and to decrease the likelihood of a runaway lithium fire.

The drone itself was almost 5 years old! The batteries on the other hand are only a couple of years old. I think the one that ballooned was actually less than a year old. I’ve always unplugged the batteries once charged and I’ll top them off before I head out to shoot. These are older phantom 4 batteries so it’s possible they could just be older tech too. Bummer either way.

 

[MonikaC]

That's a great swan song, Josh.

 

[BlackRockArt]

Hi everyone,

This is from last weekend when I went up to Tahoe to catch the Milky Way over some spots that I hadn't seen shot before. The original plan for this trip was to hit the composition pictured here on Saturday night and then hit a different spot Sunday night but, things didn't go according to plan.

Like I normally do in Tahoe to really bring out the blues in the water, I used my drone to light paint with Lume Cubes attached to the legs from above. After shooting this shot, my cousin and I moved to a different composition and I put in a new fully charged battery in the drone. We got our shot at this new comp, but as I was landing the drone the battery popped out just enough to cause the drone to turn off and fall out of the sky landing right on a rock. The drone parts went flying in every direction, but hey, the Lume Cubes survived! It was literally 10 seconds away from being back on the ground before it sadly crashed. Very tough to watch it fall out of the sky knowing I couldn't do anything about it but my drone and I definitely had a good run.

Here is the only good shot from the evening. In my opinion, the shot was not worth losing the drone over .

Ten 20-second single exposures stacked for noise reduction

View attachment 51981

Josh, great shot .

Also, I am sorry about your drone. When I was looking at the LLL options, I considered the Lume Cube briefly, however the weight is a non-starter. I don't know of your drone model, gotta watch out for the strap, weight, dimension. I use Firehouse LED light, it'sa tiny one, I felt more comfortable with it flying.

Oliver