Brand New AF Issues

[Lister]

AF worked fine until re-start from a months long hibernation. AF now seems borked. Pix are WAY out of focus.

With a blurry image, if I tap on AF button, the focus changes to sharp and then immediately reverts to blurry. If I long press on AF, I get the MF scale, and I can get it to focus, but only with the focus set in mid-range. Setting it to the "mountains" icon results in total blur.

If I land and hand carry the drone, AF seems to work fine. It's when it's in flight that I see this problem,

Any advice?

Does this behaviour have anything to do with what frame rate you're shooting at?

 

[Felix le Chat]

AF worked fine until re-start from a months long hibernation. AF now seems borked. Pix are WAY out of focus.

With a blurry image, if I tap on AF button, the focus changes to sharp and then immediately reverts to blurry. If I long press on AF, I get the MF scale, and I can get it to focus, but only with the focus set in mid-range. Setting it to the "mountains" icon results in total blur.

If I land and hand carry the drone, AF seems to work fine. It's when it's in flight that I see this problem,

Any advice?

Does this behaviour have anything to do with what frame rate you're shooting at?

What light conditions are you testing the AF in?
Are you using a strong ND filter? (ND32/64 and higher)
Has the camera had any knocks or bangs?

I've recently noticed my mini 3 pro focus hunting for no good reason. The only time I've seen this happen with my other drones is when the ambient light is lower than normal or when there's a strong ND fitted, which will play Hob with autofocus on my mav 2's when light levels drop suddenly (bright, sunny day with scudding cloud).

Worst case scenario: the AF module has gone on the Fritz and needs to be replaced.

 

[MS Coast]

AF worked fine until re-start from a months long hibernation. AF now seems borked. Pix are WAY out of focus.

With a blurry image, if I tap on AF button, the focus changes to sharp and then immediately reverts to blurry. If I long press on AF, I get the MF scale, and I can get it to focus, but only with the focus set in mid-range. Setting it to the "mountains" icon results in total blur.

If I land and hand carry the drone, AF seems to work fine. It's when it's in flight that I see this problem,

Any advice?

Does this behaviour have anything to do with what frame rate you're shooting at?

Frame rate should have no effect on focusing.

Does the problem occur in both video and photo mode? Does the problem occur when the motors are spinning at idle, not in flight? With and without zooming?

 

[Lister]

No zoom invoked. Will test your other excellent suggestions. I think same in photo mode as video mode.

 

[Lister]

Still can't get AF to work. Communicating with DJI, who say "send us some pictures", so I did.

 

[Lister]

UPDATE

DJI support said "send it in for repair" and emailed me a shipping label.

Soon after that, full AF function returned and the camera system continues to work perfectly. I think the aircraft decided that it didn't want to get shipped across Canada .

Who knows what happened? All I really care about is that it's working again.

Miraculously, DJI has relaxed the "Authorization Zone" rules for my location. I can now fly in my own yard without texting China before every flight.

This in a yard that's 15 acres of alfalfa and never a plane in sight.

 

[Lister]

AF has failed again. Off it goes to DJI. : (

 

[Lister]

After testing your product, DJI has determined to provide you with free repair service. The repair is expected to be finished within 3 to 6 business days, after which the product will be sent back to you. Thank you for choosing DJI.

Gotta love it. The drone is two years old. Also, DJI paid for two-way shipping right across Canada.

They replaced the GPS & IMU Module. Why that affected AF performance is a mystery.