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Am I expecting too much from the lens?

agour

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Nov 22, 2016
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I sent my first mavic back due to bad focus problems (really soft on left edges).

I got my new mavic today, and it's pretty similar. However I changed the focus point and the softness didn't move. I need to try focusing in different areas tomorrow to see if it changes the sharpness on the left hand edge.

Am I expecting the mavic to perform too much in the edges? I anticipate the corners being less sharp.. but if you look at the left hand edge it is significaly worse than the right!

I have a funny feeling that I might have to RMA my second mavic.

Oh and I calibrated the IMU and updated the firmware before flight.

Cheers!
 

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Nope, your focus plane is off. Looks like you will have to send it in again. There is no calibration or software fix for this. Just sounds like bad luck to me. I had to send mine in, and I got lucky with my replacement. Hopefully they can do something to increase turnaround.

And dont go through chat. Call them directly and just keep asking for a supervisor. First level isnt worth crap.
 
I don't think your softness problem is the sensor itself, but it's the optics or the mounting area behind the sensor. It's a ridiculously tight tolerance to get the sensor chip perfectly square with the optics, and stay there.

While it's unfortunate, I think your samples are probably within DJI's tolerances for the Mavic, and in the end it is up to you to decide if it's a deal-breaker, or if it's worth cycling through the RMA process again.

Even on a DSLR, you may have some softness in one corner or another. There are forums with this exact question about $3000 lenses, asking big vendors like B&H Photo what their policies are about "getting a good copy" of a lens.
 
Don't forget the assistant tool you can use with a computer has a focus calibration tool if you aren't happy.
Most viewers aren't going to notice slight softness at the side or corners especially if your video is good enough to keep them distracted ;)
 
Nope, your focus plane is off. Looks like you will have to send it in again. There is no calibration or software fix for this. Just sounds like bad luck to me. I had to send mine in, and I got lucky with my replacement. Hopefully they can do something to increase turnaround.

And dont go through chat. Call them directly and just keep asking for a supervisor. First level isnt worth crap.
Yup.. that's what I was unfortunately thinking!

This time I'll send it to DJI directly, rather than back to the reseller. Hopefully when they fix it, they will test it to make sure it's fine (rather than gamble on a new one)


Yeah I know what you mean Halley.. Likely the sensor and glass being ever so slightly out of alignment, I need to do some more tests tomorrow to test properly. I'm not convinced that they would be within tolerance to be honest.


4wd - thanks, I'll have a look tomorrow! Don't think it'll fix it.. but it's a nice feature to know about
 
I'm not convinced that they would be within tolerance to be honest.

Well, here's my thinking: design tolerances are based around return-for-defect rates, not just defect rates. For an Inspire, every damned customer is damned picky about the perfection of a high price point camera whose purpose is professional-grade image capture, and there's only X thousand of them produced, so this flaw would not be within tolerance. The owners would pitch a fit. For a Mavic, where the only part of it that is professional is the name "Mavic Pro," where the vast majority are first-time drone buyers who are blown away by the flying performance and portability, and the price point is within the discretionary (toy) spending range, there's a bit more latitude to expect that most people would not return their unit for one soft corner.

Again, you're absolutely the customer and it's your right to expect quality for your money. Return it!
 
Yup.. that's what I was unfortunately thinking!

This time I'll send it to DJI directly, rather than back to the reseller. Hopefully when they fix it, they will test it to make sure it's fine (rather than gamble on a new one)

Whoa! Did the reseller attempt to fix it themselves? Are they an authorized service center or did they possibly forward it onto DJI themselves?
 
Yeah good point halley! I imagine 90% of people wouldn't notice this..
Though I feel the price point still allows for me to send it back ;)

The biggest shame is that I'm going away in a week and I really wanted to take it.. Think I might just take it, then return it after I get back. The warranty is a year, so manufacturing defects should be covered for that entire duration surely...

Chippie- no, I think they just sent it back as faulty. They never mentioned anything about trying to repair it, and I received a brand new unit today.
 
So I ran a test today - I hovered the drone about 200ft up, pointed the camera straight down, and took a few shots.

Centre focus, and one with focus set in each corner.

The focus didn't make any difference to the sharpness (unlike my last mavic), but the left is definitely softer than the right hand side. Maybe not as much as I originally thought.. but definitely slightly softer. I need to look at the images on my PC screen to check properly.


Does anyone have some raw files they could share with me, to compare corner sharpness?
 
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