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

Vroom66 · Feb 2, 2017

Wow. So it's unlikely to be the ND filter but you need to test changing one thing at a time to narrow it down. Can you do another without ND filter, won't matter if it's a bit overexposed, and then one with 1/400 and Cinelike? I use Cinelike too, am wondering if thats where the problem lies.

hifli · Feb 2, 2017

Vroom66 said:
Wow. So it's unlikely to be the ND filter but you need to test changing one thing at a time to narrow it down. Can you do another without ND filter, won't matter if it's a bit overexposed, and then one with 1/400 and Cinelike? I use Cinelike too, am wondering if thats where the problem lies.

Yepp, I deffo gonna try get that done tommorow as I had no battery left!

Savededa · Feb 2, 2017

So we have a watercolor effect for some people and then pretty much everybody shooting in raw format has a warm glow in the center of their screens and we're supposed to be accepting of this in a $1,000 UAV?

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JoshuaCarlton · Feb 2, 2017

That's exactly what I did as well, once I stopped using color profiles and just chose none, my footage was wayyyy better.

John Lo · Feb 2, 2017

JoshuaCarlton said:
That's exactly what I did as well, once I stopped using color profiles and just chose none, my footage was wayyyy better.

Yes, but it is also not good for color grading and other adjustments. Black has crushed and white can not be recovered in a high contrast scene.

pointblank · Feb 2, 2017

I only really started noticing this watercolor issue once I put my Polar Pro ND filters on, though it does happen (to a lesser extent) without them too. Lower shutter speeds and less light do seem to exacerbate the issue. Running Cinematic -1, -1, -1, though I need to run some tests with None and 0 or +1 for sharpness.

I hope we can find the cause or they can push out an updated firmware pronto, because my footage is almost useless in the meantime. (Increase the video bitrate to >60 Mbps, please DJI!)

JoshuaCarlton · Feb 2, 2017

John Lo said:
Yes, but it is also not good for color grading and other adjustments. Black has crushed and white can not be recovered in a high contrast scene.

You can still change the settings , like lowering the contrast and saturation.

John Lo · Feb 2, 2017

Savededa said:
So we have a watercolor effect for some people and then pretty much everybody shooting in raw format has a warm glow in the center of their screens and we're supposed to be accepting of this in a $1,000 UAV?

Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge using the MavicPilots app

We hv to live with it sometimes until Dji really be mercy.
Warm glow is really annoying but it can be fixed lucky.
Watercolor effect. You really can not give a hope on such a small sensor, low bitrate codec. even until now, Dji still not fix the jumping codec issue on every 30 frames which the issue has already happening since phantom 3.

John Lo · Feb 2, 2017

JoshuaCarlton said:
You can still change the settings , like lowering the contrast and saturation.

You are right. But I HV run through the none, art , d cinelike and d log profile with different custom value.
There is no detail improvement in dark area no matter the contrast value is (-1 to -3) on None picture profile. Very funny. Crush black remains black.

John Lo · Feb 2, 2017

And this is the setting I use eventually. Does anyone feel it is quite watercolor effect?

maikm · Feb 2, 2017

SrMi said:
4K has low bitrate (only 60Mbps, should be 100 Mbps as with P4 Pro)

60 Mbps is not a low bitrate for 4k30, really. The P4P needs 100 Mbps to accommodate for 4k with 60 fps.

60 Mbps is for example the upper end of what Vimeo recommends for 4k footage.

John Lo · Feb 2, 2017

maikm said:
60 Mbps is not a low bitrate for 4k30, really. The P4P needs 100 Mbps to accommodate for 4k with 60 fps.

60 Mbps is for example the upper end of what Vimeo recommends for 4k footage.

But Dji has done a very poor job on video codec optimization. Especially on tree leaves, water wave, it just cannot render beautifully in such a bitrate

Vroom66 · Feb 2, 2017

John Lo said:
And this is the setting I use eventually. Does anyone feel it is quite watercolor effect?

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No, that doesn't have any watercolour effect IMO

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John Lo · Feb 2, 2017

Vroom66 said:
No, that doesn't have any watercolour effect IMO

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Art mode sharpness +1 rest 0 4k 30p

razors · Feb 2, 2017

I have a question about Warranty.

If I purchased my unit through a dealer do I go to them for warranty or replacement or directly to DJI support?

photoboy · Feb 2, 2017

View attachment 5582 I can say that shutter speed or saturation or contrast or ND filters have nothing to do with the so called water color issue. Yes, slower shutter speeds causes blur/camera movement. This is a digital issue not mechanical. Im a photographer not a computer/program expert but DJI needs to look into the sharpening part of the cameras program as Focus /sharpening of the pixels seem to be this issue. Trees and fine line objects are where this shows up the most. Pixels are being re-mapped ??? I don’t know the terms but its all in the sharping…. If you want to see this for yourself Take the mavic and turn it on. Look at the image from the camera (record this ) focus on tress or something like a focusing chart. Go through all your settings -1 -2 -3 +1 +2 + 3 and so on with different styles and you will see in real time the changes. I would do this and post it but I don’t have time as Im already behind in my own editing here in the office due to spending too much time on this new toy/tool

………. Good LUCK ! DJI needs to do this test themselves ! and FIX IT Scream at DJI !

Ps if I was to bet ALL yes ALL Mavics have this issue…. Agin Im guessing here….. I guess I have a question Do any of you guys have this issue when your on a normal setting and everything is set too 000?

Update: Ok I did a small test ! The attached images are photos (jpg) with the two different extreme settings. I did shoot both in raw but as you know Raw files are just that raw! Files exactly as the camera see it with no corrections straight Red Green Blue color channels recorded without any compression. Jpgs are compressed files as you all know and record the extras like sharping /saturation/contrast etc…. As you see in the test images custom vers standard a big difference in the “water color effect” Due to sharping added or lack of I should say….. Again Im trying to figure this out… DJI should pay us for doing what they should have done before making these available ! Do they not test these things ?????

update #2 I did another test with +3 and without ND filter.
Note the first test (bottom image) was with ND 4 pl color pro cinema series

I should add that video looks same as Jpg files.

Strafe1 · Feb 2, 2017

John Lo said:
And this is the setting I use eventually. Does anyone feel it is quite watercolor effect?

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This looks great. I also shoot in Art 4k/30. Nice job!

photoboy · Feb 3, 2017

anyone else having these water color issues as I have spent the last three days trying to figure this crap out!? Benn on phone with DJI and they said they had never heard of this Issue! I was like WTF!

2nd2non · Feb 3, 2017

photoboy said:
anyone else having these water color issues as I have spent the last three days trying to figure this crap out!? Benn on phone with DJI and they said they had never heard of this Issue!

They told me the same thing. I've been through this with DJI on Phantom with stress cracks, brittle plastic on the remote, etc. unlike US companies, they don't admit to anything, no do recalls. You just need to state the issue and ask for an RMA. I just sent mine in for the watercolor issue. Several others have done the same and gotten it resolved.