Image quality seems off - Is it a Warranty Issue

[phaeton]

Hi all,

I've had my Mavic since November and have only been able to fly it sparingly over the winter due to the cold. It's starting to warm up now and I've had it out a bit more now. I'm still a newb and working out all of the features.

The one nagging issue is with regards to image quality. For video, it just seems that I can't get the same level of quality you see in some of the other posters video or people posting on YouTube. My video seems grainy and not that sharp. I've tried adjusting my settings to the recommended Art, -3, -1, -1 and do post-processing in Da Vinci Resolve. But I'm just not satisfied with the end results.

So my question is, have others seen the same issues (forgive me if there's oodle of threads on this already)? If so is it a matter of adjusting set-up properly or is it a hardware issue that needs to be resolved through warranty?

Thanks very much.

 

[4wd]

It won't look sharp with sharpness on -3, there's a LUT designed to work with -1, -3, -3
All on -1 or all on default is generally easier to work with.
II've noticed Mavic files often look pretty rough at editing stage but after rendering at correct settings the end result is better than the preview suggested.

 

[Daskid]

With the Mavic's current camera algorithm issues, I would stick to 000 or 100 unless there is a specific look you are aiming for below 000. We are all currently waiting for a fix and until that gets deployed, shooting at 000 would be ideal.

 

[DodgeP]

I just had my Mavic in Miami last week and I flew a lot. I'm pretty satisfied with the results. If you're using the Art Profile you'll need LUT's and more than just one. Do you have examples of the images/video that you're not happy with? For most of my clips in the following video I used the GH4 Cinelike D to Rec709 LUT at various opacity levels. I also have to use ColorFinale, Color Correction, Sharpening, Curves, etc... My photography background helps a lot in getting footage to look somewhat decent. My issue now is exercising more patience to get footage where I really want it. I'm always so ready to just post and publish footage that most of the time I don't take all the time I should to get videos right! My settings are ART at -1 -1 -1

 

[phaeton]

Thanks for the feedback, it's appreciated.

Nice video DodgeP. I like the production you've done there.

I had a chance a couple of days ago to take the Mavic out, and ran one of my Litchi missions I had set-up. I put a PP ND8-PL filter on, set the video to record at 4K (was filming at 1080p before) and went with D-Cinelike -2,-2,-2. Put the video through Resolve and got this:

Forgive the 90º rotation halfway through. I accidently hit the 5D button during the flight. So I'm happier with the result and I'll just need to spend some more time in post to get the best result possible. Looking forward to some spring colours hopefully soon.

 

[DodgeP]

Thanks for the feedback, it's appreciated.

Nice video DodgeP. I like the production you've done there.

I had a chance a couple of days ago to take the Mavic out, and ran one of my Litchi missions I had set-up. I put a PP ND8-PL filter on, set the video to record at 4K (was filming at 1080p before) and went with D-Cinelike -2,-2,-2. Put the video through Resolve and got this:

Forgive the 90º rotation halfway through. I accidently hit the 5D button during the flight. So I'm happier with the result and I'll just need to spend some more time in post to get the best result possible. Looking forward to some spring colours hopefully soon.

The flight is nice and smooth and looks good. The pullback and elevation raise once you got to the lake is pretty dope. From an exposure standpoint it looks a tad underexposed (but that may be what you're going for) and the tree tops looks a little mushy in some areas. From my experience I think -2 -2 -2 is a little too soft and when I used those settings I had footage that I couldn't recover some of the details from because of it.

I've never used Davinci even though I downloaded a trial version. I just know how to get through ColorFinale with ease so I stick with what I know. Post production is really another beast and is probably the most time consuming aspect of post production after shot selection. I bought Litchi before my Miami trip and didn't use it. I flew mostly manual in the vid I posted except for the lifeguard house, that was an POI setup.

 

[phaeton]

The flight is nice and smooth and looks good. The pullback and elevation raise once you got to the lake is pretty dope. From an exposure standpoint it looks a tad underexposed (but that may be what you're going for) and the tree tops looks a little mushy in some areas. From my experience I think -2 -2 -2 is a little too soft and when I used those settings I had footage that I couldn't recover some of the details from because of it.

I've never used Davinci even though I downloaded a trial version. I just know how to get through ColorFinale with ease so I stick with what I know. Post production is really another beast and is probably the most time consuming aspect of post production after shot selection. I bought Litchi before my Miami trip and didn't use it. I flew mostly manual in the vid I posted except for the lifeguard house, that was an POI setup.

Thanks for that, but all the credit goes to Litchi for the smooth transitions. I'm using it all of time now, as I found DJI Go to be crashing alot mid flight. The mission hub is excellent, in that you can plan your flights in advance and adjust where you want to focus.

I'll try dialling back my settings to -1,-1,-1. With regards to the "mushiness" in the trees, what do you think that is due to?

 

[DodgeP]

With regards to the "mushiness" in the trees, what do you think that is due to?

From my experience it's one of two things:

1) Your custom settings for Contrast and Sharpness are too low at -2
2) You shot in 1080 and not 2.7k or 4k (even though I read that you shot in 4k)

Bonus

- Not enough sharpening done in post production.
- Your scene is under exposed.

 

[phaeton]

Thanks for the tips.

I took another kick at the can on the weekend, running the same Litchi mission. I did the following:

1. Went with -1's across the board
2. Shot with a ND-16-PL filter
3. Set the shutter speed to 1/50 (was shooting at 4K 24 fps)
4. Found the sharpening tool in Resolve, so I went with a 0.46 sharpen.
5. I started from scratch with LUT and colour adjustments

It's getting better, but still some work to do. The shutter speed was to slow for the light conditions I think (over exposed). Probably should have went with the ND-32 filter.

If anyone wants to try their own post-processing to see what they can get, let me know and I'll provide the as shot MP4. Thanks.