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

[Pedro]

Just received a replacement Mavic from DJI, very disappointed that it was clearly a quite well used Mavic (some stickers still on, some not, those left on were tatty and worn, some other signs of use). The RHS OOF area is not apparent with this one and I think that focus peaking helped a lot, this had a little post but not much, 4K30 auto D Cinelike, 000 no ND, quite pleased so far for quite a dull day but that's only one flight.. I think bare tress will always be a difficulty for this sensor.

 

[RitterRunkel]

Thx to certain people to get this thread back on track.

This is not about general quality and capability of the Mavic. It's about a fault resulting in varying image detail/quality - even with the same Mavic in the same environment with the same settings.

 

[JPMavic]

Thx to certain people to get this thread back on track.

This is not about general quality and capability of the Mavic. It's about a fault resulting in varying image detail/quality - even with the same Mavic in the same environment with the same settings.

Absolutely right. This morning I filmed a walk through down a tree lined lane at about 6ft. Perfect definition, no mush. Reversed back down the same lane 10 minutes later and the image is appalling. The leaves on the trees had just melted into one unsalvageable mess. On the PC monitor you can almost track a great moving area where the image was simply breaking down. I hadn't even landed the thing. Just changed ISO from 100 > 200 as it was getting overcast and adjusted exposure. It was as if the entire operating system was just overwhelmed. There was quite a bit of low sun then cloud. May have been too much for the processor to deal with. There's something wrong with the way the thing is receiving and handling data. Almost as if there's a buffer being filled up which isn't automatically clearing the way it should and the only sure way of flushing it out is to reset.

 

[cardplayer71]

Absolutely right. This morning I filmed a walk through down a tree lined lane at about 6ft. Perfect definition, no mush. Reversed back down the same lane 10 minutes later and the image is appalling. The leaves on the trees had just melted into one unsalvageable mess. On the PC monitor you can almost track a great moving area where the image was simply breaking down. I hadn't even landed the thing. Just changed ISO from 100 > 200 as it was getting overcast and adjusted exposure. It was as if the entire operating system was just overwhelmed. There was quite a bit of low sun then cloud. May have been too much for the processor to deal with. There's something wrong with the way the thing is receiving and handling data. Almost as if there's a buffer being filled up which isn't automatically clearing the way it should and the only sure way of flushing it out is to reset.

Is the first video from a cold boot always good? I'm thinking that the software may be applying some kind of factor to a base value each time a filming is initiated. Perhaps it is applying it iteratively rather than resetting the base.

In other words, do the videos and/or photos get progressively worse during a session? How about rebooting the copter between shots, as opposed to trying to perform the NTSC/PAL reset hack?

 

[Kestrel]

If you don't mind me saying your statement that this attempt to sort this issue out amounts to nit picking & needless complaining isn't really very helpful & you've kindof high jacked what we're trying to achieve here. You may want to open up another thread if you'd like to discuss price points & expections etc.

No I haven't you can thank rob for that.

 

[devinkumar]

Just received a replacement Mavic from DJI, very disappointed that it was clearly a quite well used Mavic (some stickers still on, some not, those left on were tatty and worn, some other signs of use). The RHS OOF area is not apparent with this one and I think that focus peaking helped a lot, this had a little post but not much, 4K30 auto D Cinelike, 000 no ND, quite pleased so far for quite a dull day but that's only one flight.. I think bare tress will always be a difficulty for this sensor.

View attachment 7651

@Pedro is this a JPG straight from the camera? or was this taken as a raw DNG and then converted to JPG for uploading here?

I've never got my JPG's to look good, which I don't really care about since I shoot raw DNG, and those always look good. So definitely the issues for me are coming up when the software inside the camera is converting to a compressed form (either JPG or UHD video which are both compressed images). My raw DNG photos have never had a problem and have always looked fantastic.

 

[JPMavic]

Just received a replacement Mavic from DJI, very disappointed that it was clearly a quite well used Mavic (some stickers still on, some not, those left on were tatty and worn, some other signs of use). The RHS OOF area is not apparent with this one and I think that focus peaking helped a lot, this had a little post but not much, 4K30 auto D Cinelike, 000 no ND, quite pleased so far for quite a dull day but that's only one flight.. I think bare tress will always be a difficulty for this sensor.

Is the first video from a cold boot always good? I'm thinking that the software may be applying some kind of factor to a base value each time a filming is initiated. Perhaps it is applying it iteratively rather than resetting the base.

In other words, do the videos and/or photos get progressively worse during a session? How about rebooting the copter between shots, as opposed to trying to perform the NTSC/PAL reset hack?

Thx to certain people to get this thread back on track.

This is not about general quality and capability of the Mavic. It's about a fault resulting in varying image detail/quality - even with the same Mavic in the same environment with the same settings.

To illustrate. OK the lighting was different but these 2 screengrabs show the issue that my Mavic has. Happy with one of them, not so much the other.

 

[Pedro]

@Pedro is this a JPG straight from the camera? or was this taken as a raw DNG and then converted to JPG for uploading here?

I've never got my JPG's to look good, which I don't really care about since I shoot raw DNG, and those always look good. So definitely the issues for me are coming up when the software inside the camera is converting to a compressed form (either JPG or UHD video which are both compressed images). My raw DNG photos have never had a problem and have always looked fantastic.

Was taken as a raw..

 

[JPMavic]

This is like a red mask overlay i see when editing. What is that ??

This isn't the right thread for that question

 

[Fredo]

Hi all, i had the watercolor painting problem with my first Mavic. Talked with DJI, took mine for repair and sent me a new one. Did only few flights with my second Mavic, and today i went for some shots in a pretty village. And guess what... Watercolor painting effect is back ! And now i also have some colored artefact on houses roof. WTF !
I took 9Go of video with 3 batteries, in 1080p 50i/s D-log -1;0;0 no filters. They are all unusable !!!
Watercolor was not detectable on my phone when flew. But now on my computer screen it's absolutely horrible.
I loved the Mavic so much, and now i'm starting to be disappointed.

Here is a link to one of the video:
Dropbox - DJI_0002.MOV

I'm immediatly asking DJI to what the hell is that!

 

[JPMavic]

This is what I'm working on at the moment. I'm working on the principal that we accept that in its current form the Mavic isn't beefy enough to deal with 4k and there's also a glitch somewhere in the firmware. When it gets loaded up with too much to think about it becomes overwhelmed. So we need to give it as little work as possible to do and get the work done in post. Therefore firstly I've given up on trying to stick to 30fps/60th. For whatever reason the Mavic can't deal with it. Use the lowest ND filter you can get away with to keep the shutter speed below the thousands. I've also reduced my Art settings by one. Now shooting NTSC. 4k (3840). 30fps. Art. -2,-2,-1. So far so good. For my Mavic things have improved since I gave up trying to achieve 30 fps/ 60th. Still toggling NTSC/PAL/NTSC after every boot up and avoiding making any of the major camera adjustments during each cycle. Changing Exposures ok but stay away from adjusting ISO, frame rates, Etc. Very interested to hear if this works for any of you guys.

 

[cardplayer71]

This is what I'm working on at the moment. I'm working on the principal that we accept that in its current form the Mavic isn't beefy enough to deal with 4k and there's also a glitch somewhere in the firmware. When it gets loaded up with too much to think about it becomes overwhelmed. So we need to give it as little work as possible to do and get the work done in post. Therefore firstly I've given up on trying to stick to 30fps/60th. For whatever reason the Mavic can't deal with it. Use the lowest ND filter you can get away with to keep the shutter speed below the thousands. I've also reduced my Art settings by one. Now shooting NTSC. 4k (3840). 30fps. Art. -2,-2,-1. So far so good. For my Mavic things have improved since I gave up trying to achieve 30 fps/ 60th. Still toggling NTSC/PAL/NTSC after every boot up and avoiding making any of the major camera adjustments during each cycle. Changing Exposures ok but stay away from adjusting ISO, frame rates, Etc. Very interested to hear if this works for any of you guys.

I have been shooting 2.7k/30 as a result. I read on a different forum that it was less burdensome for the Mavic to downsample to 2.7k and encode that, rather than try to encode 4k. We know that the 1080p60 is unusable due to pixel binning. My 2.7k looks razor sharp most of the time.

 

[JPMavic]

I have been shooting 2.7k/30 as a result. I read on a different forum that it was less burdensome for the Mavic to downsample to 2.7k and encode that, rather than try to encode 4k. We know that the 1080p60 is unusable due to pixel binning. My 2.7k looks razor sharp most of the time.

I've not tried 2.7 as I've been trying to work out whats going on with 4. My thoughts are that it 4 is usable but only with certain conditions. The trick is not to overburden it. It shouldn't be so fragile but it's pretty obvious that there are issues in either the Firmware or software. We can only trust that DJI do monitor the 2 main forums, are collating all our different experiences and coming up with a fix. I wouldn't really expect them to confirm this or comment online because that would open up a can of worms for warranties Etc.

 

[Fredo]

that would open up a can of worms for warranties Etc

The problem is already knowed by DJI and they already take it under Warranty. Just ask for it and they will take your Mavic and give you a new one for free. But the new one will probably also have the issue. I don't know what they are waiting for talking truelly with their customers.

 

[Strafe1]

Hi all, i had the watercolor painting problem with my first Mavic. Talked with DJI, took mine for repair and sent me a new one. Did only few flights with my second Mavic, and today i went for some shots in a pretty village. And guess what... Watercolor painting effect is back ! And now i also have some colored artefact on houses roof. WTF !
I took 9Go of video with 3 batteries, in 1080p 50i/s D-log -1;0;0 no filters. They are all unusable !!!
Watercolor was not detectable on my phone when flew. But now on my computer screen it's absolutely horrible.
I loved the Mavic so much, and now i'm starting to be disappointed.

Here is a link to one of the video:
Dropbox - DJI_0002.MOV

I'm immediatly asking DJI to what the **** is that!

First of all, anything above 30fps is unusable, so bring your frame rate down to 24,25, or 30. Try shooting in 2.7 or 4k also. Put your settings in "soft" and any color profile you like. See if that helps!

 

[borislip]

The most important part seems to be FOCUS. The moment an area of the videp is out of focus - you get this. As simple as that. At any resolution, any frame rate.

 

[cardplayer71]

The most important part seems to be FOCUS. The moment an area of the videp is out of focus - you get this. As simple as that. At any resolution, any frame rate.

That is SPOT ON. This is another reason to disable continuous AF or just go manual.

 

[cardplayer71]

First of all, anything above 30fps is unusable, so bring your frame rate down to 24,25, or 30. Try shooting in 2.7 or 4k also. Put your settings in "soft" and any color profile you like. See if that helps!

This is so true! 30fps automatically cuts the load by 50%, and unless you want to slow-mo, 30fps is enough for anyone. 2.7K/30fps seems to be a sweet spot.

Let's all remember: this is a cell phone sensor in the sky. It's smaller than your pinky nail, so adjust expectations accordingly. It's not an SLR.

 

[JPMavic]

That is SPOT ON. This is another reason to disable continuous AF or just go manual.

The most important part seems to be FOCUS. The moment an area of the videp is out of focus - you get this. As simple as that. At any resolution, any frame rate.

Can you clarify? When you say ".... you get this". What do you get?

 

[cardplayer71]

Can you clarify? When you say ".... you get this". What do you get?

I cannot speak for @borislip but on mine, with the continous AF, it was as if the video would sort of blur/shimmer in an unsettling way. I ultimately determined it was focus hunting, so I just use a fixed focus now on all flights. For my use cases (personally), there is really no need for this camera to have shipped with a focus capability. I'm doing landscapes here, not portraits. I suppose if you want to have some kind of foreground interest, with the background defocused, such as a rock formation, a lighthouse top, or whatever, it's OK, but 99.9% of the time it seems to cause more problems than it solves, for the large majority of users.

Also, the rest of it is just plain, vanilla noise reduction and compression artifacts. I prefer less NR and just do it in post with a proper tool than burden the Mavic with this job.