Auto focus problem

[davedrone 178]

Just got in my Mavic 3 refurb. Sent it up at night with a lot of bright buildings. A few minutes in, it starts to focus hunt
in AF mode. Is this normal? My Mini 3 Pro has been replaced twice for auto focus issues. What's up DJI?

 

[Killowatt]

I read that some have had problems with focus when they start recording while still on the ground, and starting recording at hover or above helps. Hope this helps, I'm new.

 

[brett8883]

Just got in my Mavic 3 refurb. Sent it up at night with a lot of bright buildings. A few minutes in, it starts to focus hunt
in AF mode. Is this normal? My Mini 3 Pro has been replaced twice for auto focus issues. What's up DJI?

All cameras have trouble focusing in low light. Just switch to infinity focus mode and you’ll be set.

 

[Filmarik]

....Just switch to infinity focus mode and you’ll be set.

Excatly. For 99% of drone photos MF set to infinity is all you will ever need. With the main 24mm camera if you set the focus one bar below the infinity mark in MF everything will be sharp from about 6m to infinity. Unless you are going to shoot very close proximity subjects the above method will serve you well for majority of scenarios. The tele lens is a bit different of course. It has naturally lot less depth of field. I usually touch screen using AF method before recording and then switch to MF and press the record button.

 

[davedrone 178]

All cameras have trouble focusing in low light. Just switch to infinity focus mode and you’ll be set.

Thanx for the tip. My Mini 3 never has a focus problem under any circumstance, always sharp. My Mini 3 PRO has focus problems.

 

[brett8883]

Thanx for the tip. My Mini 3 never has a focus problem under any circumstance, always sharp. My Mini 3 PRO has focus problems.

I’m not sure why the mini 3 Pro has problems and not the mini 3, however, an explanation of why the focus on the Mini 3 is better in low light than the Mavic 3 is that the Mini 3 has a much brighter f/1.7 fixed aperture.

Even if you set the aperture on the Mavic 3 to its brightest setting of f/2.8 the mini 3 is still getting 3 times as much light in any given scenario. This has profound effect on the focusing ability.

To be honest, the only good reason for any of these drones to have adjustable focus is to focus on things that are very near the camera. For things more than like 20 feet away, infinity focus is all that is needed.