Video quality help please

[Kiteman1]

Hi Guys,

I have a mavic pro which i have had for 2 weeks. All my footage that has foliage (trees grass etc) comes out almost unwatchable. It shimmers a lot and it looks like the lens is trying to expose all the time. I have contacted the retailer that i bought it from and he says that it is normal that "that the only camera that won’t shimmer on trees grass and water is the Phantom 4 Pro.". This doesn't sound right to me. Any advise would be helpful.

 

[shvncrvn]

Try dropping your digital sharpness in the picture settings to -3

 

[HueJorgan]

is the footage you are watching on the phone (cached video) or off the SD card?

the phone footage is not as good as the SD card footage.

Also if you ARE watching the footage off the SD card, and have edited it and stuff it could be the codec you are rendering it with in your editing package, I had this exact same issue with my P3P footage once rendered looked dreadful, upped the sample rate/bitrate worked a treat

also you could fiddle with the sharpness setting one the drone as mentioned above

 

[Kilrah]

List all your camera settings.

If you shoot framerates >30fps that will happen.

 

[4wd]

Try dropping your digital sharpness in the picture settings to -3

This would stop the shimmering but it will go smudgey especially in lower light.
The default none setting can work well but is strong on sharpness and contrast and saturation as they want it to look good with no editing.
D-Cinelike gives a more natural look and try the custom settings -1 -1 -1 but you will often want to add back a touch more contrast and saturation later.

It makes a lot of difference how you view the footage too, recording at 4K and viewing on a smaller screen may or may not look good. The 2.7K can look better with some set ups.
There's a lot of things you can try but it is capable of very nice video.

 

[Kiteman1]

Its the same strait from the SD Card. I use FCP X for editing - seems to get worse in the editing.

Settings are :
4k 24frames
video format MOV
PAL
White balance sunny

 

[raybanner]

You're not alone. A few of us have this problem. Check these threads with full "untouched" examples straight out of the SD card:

Video quality issues (washed out/oil painting effects) :(

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

Video Quality Issues

 

[Kiteman1]

here is part of the video at 720p

 

[Kilrah]

That's clearly resizing artifacts. Post the original, unprocessed file for comments. That way we can tell you if it's OK or not, and if it is you'll know the problem is introduced somewhere in your workflow.

 

[Dmbrody]

Over sharpening causes the flickering and most of the issues your seeing on foliage and grass.

If your going to shoot at 24 fps, you should consider getting an ND filter so you can slow down the shutter speed. Left on Auto, the Mavic will pick a shutter speed that is too fast. The result is hard to describe, but it's too "active" and "jerky." Combine that with a video shot at 24 fps and it's gonna look rough, like a series of images in a slide show, rather than smooth video.

If your shooting 24fps, you want a shutter speed of 1/50,1/60, or 1/80. If shooting 30fps, go for 1/60,1/80, or 1/100. The faster shutter speeds will increase sharpness, but as you can see, you don't want too much of that. The general rule is to have your shutter speed double your frame rate, but that's an old hangover from film days called the 180 rule. You can still get motion blur if you go more than 2x frame rate.

Anyway, with the right ND filter, you should be able to get a well exposed shot using a slower shutter speed. Put on an ND, pick a low ISO (400 or less), set your shutter speed to double or slightly more than double your frame rate, and then fly around to see if things look over or under exposed. Use the histogram. If the image is too dark or to light you can play with your shutter speed, or land and switch ND filters.

Hope this helps.

 

[4wding]

I saw the same thing with my first video. Since then I've dropped the sharpness a little but also make sure I lock the white balance and exposure. Now I dont seem to have any issues.

First video with issues:

Latest video with no issues:

 

[Kiteman1]

Thanks guys for the advise will try all the suggestions and see if i can get better results.
I notice that if i shoot in 2.7k and then export the video from FCPX as a 1080 movie that the flickering and stuff gets worse - is there anyway of exporting it without getting the quality to get worse. I have seen some videos on Youtube where the video is shot at 4k and even when it is loaded to youtube and compressed the quality of the video is still perfect.

 

[4wding]

I use FCPX and find that going from 2.7k to 1080 actually improves things.

Have a go at doing some filming with totally standard settings, no changes from the defaults and see if this helps.

Also try taking some photos, using JPG and RAW and make sure the RAW shots are nice and sharp just to make sure you dont have a sensor issue.

 

[djorgen]

Check this chart guys. Its for P3P/A but as both P3P/A, P4 and Mavic all use the same sensor (more or less) and the same resolutions and bitrates, this probably is correct for Mavic too. Look at bitrate/pixel on the right side; 4K clearly struggles, 2.7K is a bit better, while 1080 using 30 fps is clearly the best, with 0.64 bits/pixel. A high resolution is fine and all, but if there's few bits to draw each pixel the end video result will be so so.

The main difference is the >30 fps 1080 video on the Mavic, which is poor. The P3 and P4 1080 60 fps video is much better.

 

[Barny19]

Try dropping your digital sharpness in the picture settings to -3

hi I'm having the same issues!! where is the digital sharpness setting? thanks

 

[Barny19]

Hi Guys,

I have a mavic pro which i have had for 2 weeks. All my footage that has foliage (trees grass etc) comes out almost unwatchable. It shimmers a lot and it looks like the lens is trying to expose all the time. I have contacted the retailer that i bought it from and he says that it is normal that "that the only camera that won’t shimmer on trees grass and water is the Phantom 4 Pro.". This doesn't sound right to me. Any advise would be helpful.

I'm in the same boat!! DJI said to return it but I'm not convinced it will come back any better!!

 

[4wding]

hi I'm having the same issues!! where is the digital sharpness setting? thanks

The working theory is that setting the sharpness to +1 is the way to go as it turns off the noise reduction which is what is causing these issues. Find this under the video settings section.

 

[4wding]

I'm in the same boat!! DJI said to return it but I'm not convinced it will come back any better!!

Some people have sent theirs back as there are actually some faulty units. Try setting the sharpness to +1 first though as this will turn off noise reduction and should work a whole let better.

 

[Barny19]

Some people have sent theirs back as there are actually some faulty units. Try setting the sharpness to +1 first though as this will turn off noise reduction and should work a whole let better.

I'm also having problems with it stuttering/choppiness as I'm panning and with vertical lines flickering!

 

[4wding]

I'm also having problems with it stuttering/choppiness as I'm panning and with vertical lines flickering!

Stuttering is usually related to shutter speed - if you are filming in bright light then neutral density filters are the answer.