Does Mavic Shoot Video or Watercolor Paintings? Don’t settle. Get Involved!

[jjmucker]

Is this a hardware issue though?
As sometimes it's really great.

 

[photoboy]

Well, Guys I can report this as Im going to start another thread but I almost had a bad situation happen! I have it all on video too. I was testing (AGAIN) while waiting for a client to show up today and wasn’t flying no more than 20ft in front of house and got battery low warning and had 3 min left then all of a sudden its starts freaking out could not control it started to go up and turning I had to keep the stick down as it did seem to stop from ascending higher the controls were sporadic in controlling got it low enough to grab it by the belly (super dangerous as one of the blades nicked me no cut as when you grab it it goes ape shet crazy finally I was trying to cut it off to shut the motors off but didn’t do it like normal. I was freaking out as I almost had a free hair cut then it finally died. Let me say I need to change my undies after that ! be careful !

 

[peros550]

Hey guys, I need your advice. I have uploaded a short video.

First half of the video is taken today, It was a sunny day. I see no issues.
Second half is taken also today during afternoon, when sun had started to set.
At second half, I am changing exposure compensation values. Pay attention to the trees. Is that the watercolor issue?

 

[RitterRunkel]

At second half, I am changing exposure compensation values. Pay attention to the trees. Is that the watercolor issue?

I think so. There is always kind of a threshold in luminance of pixels where NR is applied ... dark regions more than bright regions. If you change exposure to brighten up the critical image regions, they should get detail again - and vice versa. I think that is what we see here.

What was your sharpening set to?

 

[peros550]

All 0,0,0s and Color style none. Forgot to add that morning video was shot at 4K 25fps, after NTSC>PAL. Afternoon video was shot at 2.7K at 25fps. What really puzzles me is that in the morning the result was crystal clear but in the afternoon the watercolor issue seemed to occur.

 

[2nd2non]

Is this a hardware issue though?
As sometimes it's really great.

All I know is 1) everyone doesn't have the issue, and 2) my second mavic no longer had the intermittent muddy looking image issue on None-0,0,0.
I think there are other issues also, so make sure you're clear on your issue statement. Nonetheless, it's not uncommon for multiple units to have issues coming from DJI. I had similar problems with my P3P. The first one was perfect, but then I lost it in a canyon. My next three never compared so I just moved on to inspire and haven't looked back. Was hoping the mavic might be good as a vacation/casual camera drone, but seems like it's another mass-produced, manufacturing QA control mess!

 

[trflux]

I got my Mavic 2 days ago and somehow also think mine might be affected by the watercolor effect. I still have a few days to return it and get reimbursed. I already had one before that I returned after 1 day because the gimbal was defective.

Raw photos look quite good actually. But video quite soft in comparison

So here is a link to a video i shot earlier on. It was with custom 0 0 0 and Log

Maybe you could take a look and tell me your opinion if you think it is affected or not.

Here's the video:

Dropbox - DJI_0001.mp4

Thanks everyone,

T

 

[jjmucker]

I got my Mavic 2 days ago and somehow also think mine might be affected by the watercolor effect. I still have a few days to return it and get reimbursed. I already had one before that I returned after 1 day because the gimbal was defective.

Raw photos look quite good actually. But video quite soft in comparison

So here is a link to a video i shot earlier on. It was with custom 0 0 0 and Log

Maybe you could take a look and tell me your opinion if you think it is affected or not.

Here's the video:

Dropbox - DJI_0001.mp4

Thanks everyone,

T

To me that looks great and thats what i'd expect to see from the Mavic's camera. Thats its capablilities. Thats sharp throughout, yes, you can see some "mush" around some tree's etc but imo thats the limitation of this camera, but i'd be happy if i could produce this everytime i switch my Mavic on. You can also see "grain" when panning down, again, thats the limitations of this camera.

PS - Switch off auto exposure

 

[photoboy]

I got my Mavic 2 days ago and somehow also think mine might be affected by the watercolor effect. I still have a few days to return it and get reimbursed. I already had one before that I returned after 1 day because the gimbal was defective.

Raw photos look quite good actually. But video quite soft in comparison

So here is a link to a video i shot earlier on. It was with custom 0 0 0 and Log

Maybe you could take a look and tell me your opinion if you think it is affected or not.

Here's the video:

Dropbox - DJI_0001.mp4

Thanks everyone,

T

I can see it and NO thats not what you can or supposed to expect from the mavic as it looks like you had the sharping +1 or +2 but you say its +0 I also saw a lot of misquote artifacts . Curious to see if you switched to pal how much difference you would see as this is what u should be getting as it gives the mavic a cold reset when going from NTSC to PAL and back. That footage should have been a lot more cleaner and crisp if you ask me…. thats my .02 also I could really tell at the 1:42 mark the homes in the back area had no detail and the land was too solid lots of water coloring….

 

[Strafe1]

I got my Mavic 2 days ago and somehow also think mine might be affected by the watercolor effect. I still have a few days to return it and get reimbursed. I already had one before that I returned after 1 day because the gimbal was defective.

Raw photos look quite good actually. But video quite soft in comparison

So here is a link to a video i shot earlier on. It was with custom 0 0 0 and Log

Maybe you could take a look and tell me your opinion if you think it is affected or not.

Here's the video:

Dropbox - DJI_0001.mp4

Thanks everyone,

T

I also like yours and I think your Mavic is OK. Just fine tune your exposure settings, watch your ISO, use ND filters on bright days, and I think you will be good to go. Autofocus was playing with you a bit too, but it was sharp once it settled.

 

[photoboy]

GUYS this is not OK !!!!!! SORRY Need to scream here a little to get the attention as this has major water color issue going on. This kind of overlooking and settling is not ok as this is why DJI thinks they don’t have an issue …. Yes, you have to look for it but it can be much better. DO the NTSC to PAL switch 4k 24p and compare ! : )

 

[Strafe1]

When I look through this video segment, without magnification, I don't notice the gross watercolor effect most are posting on this thread. When I grab various video stills from the scene above, I get some that look pretty good considering the long distance and opaque nature of the areas indicated by the arrows. When the camera is refocusing, it gets muddy in those areas when looked at closely, like the above example. The flat pasture, hazy horizon, and distant landscape shouldn't be the focus, or the measure of this video in my opinion. The refocusing likely contributed as well as the ops video settings. It's obvious there are many flaws in the Mavic camera system, and @photoboy probably has a more professional eye for this than most, considering his signature. Could it be better? Yes. Do you have to look for it? YES. It doesn't jump out at you or dominate the video by any means at all. And it doesn't look MAJOR to me. If you look for something wrong, I believe you will always find it.
My humble opinion can be summarized as follows: If you don't have a defective unit, the Mavic is a high tech marvel that flies unbelievably great, is extremely well made, takes really good video, and is only $999. Think about that. If you have the obvious camera defect that some appear to have, return in and get a replacement unit as others have done. If it's just plain unacceptable regardless, perhaps consider a professional camera drone. $999 !!!!!!!
Op, what do you think of your video?

 

[photoboy]

When I look through this video segment, without magnification, I don't notice the gross watercolor effect most are posting on this thread. When I grab various video stills from the scene above, I get some that look pretty good considering the long distance and opaque nature of the areas indicated by the arrows. When the camera is refocusing, it gets muddy in those areas when looked at closely, like the above example. The flat pasture, hazy horizon, and distant landscape shouldn't be the focus, or the measure of this video in my opinion. The refocusing likely contributed as well as the ops video settings. It's obvious there are many flaws in the Mavic camera system, and @photoboy probably has a more professional eye for this than most, considering his signature. Could it be better? Yes. Do you have to look for it? YES. It doesn't jump out at you or dominate the video by any means at all. And it doesn't look MAJOR to me. If you look for something wrong, I believe you will always find it.
My humble opinion can be summarized as follows: If you don't have a defective unit, the Mavic is a high tech marvel that flies unbelievably great, is extremely well made, takes really good video, and is only $999. Think about that. If you have the obvious camera defect that some appear to have, return in and get a replacement unit as others have done. If it's just plain unacceptable regardless, perhaps consider a professional camera drone. $999 !!!!!!!
Op, what do you think of your video?

If you saw the comparison after switching ( HARD reset as per DJI) I bet you would change your tune ! It’s a simple flaw that DJI can fix It’s TOO MUCH NR being added to the video profile!!!!!!!! This has nothing to do with the price of the camera as the footage thats shown above and all of my footage and HUNDREDS of others should look a lot better. You can be satisfied with just ok or give a rats b-hind but some of us strive for perfection as I personally can say this kind of GARBAGE that is coming out of these cameras is not what DJI has for examples online or shows us to persuade us to buy their stuff ! COME on GUYS if no one spoke up just think what it would be like. Noting wrong with perfection and voicing an educated thought or advice…..

just look at the difference before and after switching (hard reset from NTSC TO PAL) problem is you have to keep doing the hard reset each time you fly and shut off the camera it will not keep the setting! View attachment 6610View attachment 6610

 

[frikovc]

I have same issue as photoboy and others.. issue is that it is difficult to detect when it happens on mobile screen. I experienced the start of video was ok (manual exposure) but soon as I did a manual exposure adjustment and/or refocus it generated very muddy video in same recording. The problem is that this sometimes happens - very often to me but sometimes the image is also crisp and good quality. I have latest firmware, and images taken are from footage when drone was hovering without movement.

What is worrying even more is that issue starts partially - part of image is ok, then suddenly some parts (mostly darker ones as far as seen) gets muddy in same recording. Next recording/clip is fully muddy as images above.

On mobile screen I get 720p stream that is crisp without this issue - I think would noticed it - but then this same clip is muddy in original file on sd card.

photoboy is correct with stating this should be FIXED immediately. It has nothing to do with small sensor and it is most likely software glitch.
I opened issue on DJI. Please all owners of mavic if you experienced this issue at least one time open issue with DJI to get their attention.

I am going on 2 month trip to New Zealand - I practically bought mavic for this trip... and now there are such bad issues with camera and it is beyond 14 days to get refund. If DJI will not do something in short I will open paypal refund - issue and hope for the best.

I still hope they fix this as it is most probably software glitch - but it has to be reported to them.

 

[jjmucker]

I shoot PAL.
So you're saying switching from PAL to NTSC then back to PAL is a current "fix" for this at the moment. Does that reset the watercolour effect?

 

[frikovc]

I also shoot PAL @25, I will test this switch today in afternoon.
How long does the fix/workaround work - per charge/battery or worse per recording or exposure adjustment?
What video setting do you use that fix is working (4k? d-log -1-1-1?) or it doesnt matter as long as switch is applied?

I did test photo capture. And all images are ok, nice and crisp - so issue is only in video as far as I encountered it. On this note what is recommended setting for image captures (RAW, d-log -1-1-1) - I am experienced in post image adjustments in lightroom - I want to capture image that will give me as much space as possible in post?

 

[Owen Manderfield]

I stumbled on this PAL/NTSC "fix" a week or so ago and posted it here. Several other users reported it working initially for them.

I flew 5 batteries yesterday in harsh winter sunlight around trees with massive amounts of dark twig detail to record - and I have no reoccurrence of the "Watercolour Painting" issue at all. Both the video and stills (including RAW) are all great - proving that, when working properly, the Mavis's camera and encoding hardware can produce excellent results.

It is a true testament to the DJI engineers that they can produce such professional results in an amazingly portable and affordable package that even a drone "newbie" like me can operate successfully.

BUT - as we might expect from a first generation of a new technology (folding drones) it is suffering from some teething issues. (Customer service aside). Some are minor (incorrect speed shown), some are annoying (software crashes & disconnects) - but some are very serious.

When my Mavic developed the Watercolour issue it wasn't annoying, it was unusable as a photographic platform. I don't mean disappointing quality, mine was unusable. Video & stills were so horribly digitally mutilated even when downsized to 720.

After my PAL/NTSC reset - it appears the over-processing problem goes away - at least for a while anyway. Therefore it is not a hardware, setup or user error - it is a software problem.

Now that is good news for both us as punters and DJI as well as it is fixable without a recall. A software update costs DJI very little to distribute- but if the GPU needed replacing.....

Now some people may only have a minor issue with there Mavics- others major. But I'm afraid there is a serous issue for some. In my view DJI "should" issue a statement acknowledging the issue, say they are working on a future software update to correct it , and maybe offer the NTSC/PAL switch as temporary solution.

The more people who report it will make it easier for the been counters at DJI to allocate the funds needed to develop the software fix.

Then all us early adopters will just have to wait.


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

 

[jjmucker]

I stumbled on the "fix" a week or so ago and posted it here. Several other users reported it working initially for them.

I flew 5 batteries yesterday in harsh winter sunlight around trees with massive amounts of dark twig detail to record - and I have no reoccurrence of the "Watercolour Painting" issue at all. The video and stills including RAW are all great - proving that when, working properly, the Mavis's camera and encoding can produce excellent results.

It is a true testament to the DJI engineers that they can produce such professional results in an amazingly portable and affordable package that even a drone "newbie" like me can operate successfully.

BUT - as we might expect from a first generation of a new technology (folding drones) it is suffering from some teething issues. (Customer service aside). Some are minor (incorrect speed shown), some are annoying (software crashes & disconnects) - but some are very serious.

When my Mavic developed the Watercolour issue it wasn't annoying, it was unusable as a photographic platform. I don't mean disappointing quality, mine was unusable. Video & stills were so horribly digitally mutilated even when downsized to 720.

After my PAL/NTSC reset - it appears the over-processing problem goes away at least for a while. Therefore it is not a hardware, setup or user error - it is a software problem.

Now that is good news for both us as punters and DJI as well as it is fixable without a recall. A software update costs DJI very little to distribute- but if the GPU needed replacing.....

Now some people may only have a minor issue- others major. But I'm afraid there is a serous issue for some. DJI "should" issue a statement acknowledging the issue, say they are working on a future software update to correct it , and maybe offer the NTSC/PAL temporary solution.

Then all us early adopters will just have to wait.


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

So the fix right now is, just to be safe, after each flight, reset from PAL to NTSC and back to PAL before flight? Is that all thats required. I guess the good thing about that, and not an actual camera reset, all your settings stay the same

 

[Owen Manderfield]

For me (but others may have different experience) a single PAL/NTSC switch has fixed the issue and I have flown about 2.5 hours since and it hasn't come back. Both in bright and dull conditions and in the cold using DJI Go and Litchi .

Basically try it and see. Check your video after each battery and rest if necessary . The trouble is, in the field on a small screen its hard to see.


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

 

[jjmucker]

Yes from now on i'll just do this reset every time before i take off, it takes seconds and if it works for now i'll be happy. Not ideal but at least its a start eh