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

Res89 · Jan 27, 2017

IslandSpark said:
do you use ND filters?

I do have them but it has been too dull outside to use them recently, so none of my footage is with the filters so far.

JoshuaCarlton · Jan 27, 2017

I have had good results with starting out with the Mavic in 1080 and using the zoom to manually focus, then leave the focus set and switch to 4k 30. Gives a nice fixed focus that remains constant.

sosmaverick · Jan 27, 2017

Strafe1 said:
I like it, even though the aliasing is present. Could not be used for pro use, but I think its great for personal use. If you look for problems, they will be found. If you follow the eye of the camera and the photographers intended message, it is beautiful. You did a nice job of fixing as well. The RAW file I saw looked very serviceable.

Hey was this aimed at my footage? if so what do you mean good job fixing? I only uploaded the RAW. The reason I bought the Mavic however was for stills, was never that interested in video and I think regarding its size you can get some decent shots. Here a couple of stills that are finalised... (I can't talk in experience about the film footage, that's why i'm trying to understand what it can do in that space?)

JoshuaCarlton · Jan 27, 2017

sosmaverick said:
Hey was this aimed at my footage? if so what do you mean good job fixing? I only uploaded the RAW. The reason I bought the Mavic however was for stills, was never that interested in video and I think regarding its size you can get some decent shots. Here a couple of stills that are finalised... (I can't talk in experience about the film footage, that's why i'm trying to understand what it can do in that space?)

View attachment 5077 View attachment 5078 View attachment 5077 View attachment 5078 View attachment 5079 View attachment 5077

Wow! These were shot with Mavic? They are absolutely beautiful! I am guessing raw?

Strafe1 · Jan 27, 2017

sosmaverick said:
Hey was this aimed at my footage? if so what do you mean good job fixing? I only uploaded the RAW. The reason I bought the Mavic however was for stills, was never that interested in video and I think regarding its size you can get some decent shots. Here a couple of stills that are finalised... (I can't talk in experience about the film footage, that's why i'm trying to understand what it can do in that space?)

View attachment 5077 View attachment 5078 View attachment 5077 View attachment 5078 View attachment 5079 View attachment 5077

I meant to type "filming", not fixing! Your stills look great. I too, have had great success shooting RAW pics and post processing. I think your Mavic is good to go!

Skold · Jan 27, 2017

I believe DJI put out a LOT of duds that have this problem. I've been reading about experiences and sharing mine on the other forums and am convinced that myself and MANY have this problem. It is unacceptable to me and I bet DJI is trying to keep the frequency of duds being produced a super secret to avoid a mass recall. As a long time DJI owner, I am pissed at this Mavic release.

jaro · Jan 27, 2017

Hi guys,

I've just ended with long tests of my watercolor issue on Mavic. Also spoken to DJI support.
I've prepared indoor test scene with continous studio lighting, so I can achieve ISO100 and shutter between 100 and 200.
Multiple combinations of settings done, also upon recommendation of the support.

Conclusions:
for watercolor effect responsible is the Custom setting of the picture - as stated previously by AyeYo:
set to -2/-1/-1 reproduces watercolor in video/JPEG
set to -1/-1/-1 doesn't reproduce visible watercolor video/JPG

of course RAW stills are perfect.
It seems to be compression issue related to sharpness setting, not depending of light conditions

Question: is this issue recoverable by any repair/exchange by DJI or not worth to bother?
IMHO pro device (even for prosumer market) shouldn't have such issues at all.

sosmaverick · Jan 27, 2017

Strafe1 said:
I meant to type "filming", not fixing! Your stills look great. I too, have had great success shooting RAW pics and post processing. I think your Mavic is good to go!

Ahh that makes sense.. thanks for your help, I'm thinking my mavic is one of the better ones without any of this flat watercolour issue. Now time to try and perfect the settings for filming.

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

sosmaverick · Jan 27, 2017

JoshuaCarlton said:
Wow! These were shot with Mavic? They are absolutely beautiful! I am guessing raw?

Thanks man, appreciate it. Yes these are all shot with the mavic, always in raw and Lightroom post work. If you're ever interested, I publish my work online (www.thesoulofadventure.com) or alternatively also on Instagram (@samiosmith)

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

xnull · Jan 27, 2017

I think I might have another defective unit with focus issues in the bottom right corner. I spoke with DJI and they asked me to reset everything to factory settings and take a new video. That didn't change anything, check the video link below. Just opened a new case and now waiting on my shipping label. I am worried they'll pin this on a small crash that I had when I flew it indoors second day after delivery. I have had this drone for 9 days now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxb-bjpO13Y

Fonejacker · Jan 28, 2017

So what was the outcome of watercolour stills? My video's seem to be ok but I do get watercolour images.... I have -1 -1 -1 setting... and these are JPEG unedited.

Fonejacker · Jan 28, 2017

Do I need to take it back to DJI?

Is this the same for all Mavic's?

magnil · Jan 28, 2017

Fonejacker said:
Do I need to take it back to DJI?

Is this the same for all Mavic's?

Try settings sharpness to 0 or +1, has helped others but not me

Manfrenjensen · Jan 28, 2017

Fonejacker said:
So what was the outcome of watercolour stills? My video's seem to be ok but I do get watercolour images.... I have -1 -1 -1 setting... and these are JPEG unedited.View attachment 5195

My jpegs looks the same. But the raw files, although not great, look MUCH better. Have you tried that? If you want, I can upload a two files that are the same shot (one jpeg, one raw) for comparison.

Fonejacker · Jan 28, 2017

Manfrenjensen said:
My jpegs looks the same. But the raw files, although not great, look MUCH better. Have you tried that? If you want, I can upload a two files that are the same shot (one jpeg, one raw) for comparison.

please do. I'm getting the same on my video footage as well.

Manfrenjensen · Jan 28, 2017

It didn't allow me to upload the raw file (.dng). So opened the raw file in photoshop and, without any other modifications, saved it as a jpeg.
So, in other words, one image is the jpeg as created directly by the mavic. The other was originally created as raw by the mavic, but converted to jpeg by photoshop. It's easy to see that the details in the trees are much better... although still disappointing.

Fonejacker · Jan 28, 2017

See, for me, I'd be happy with the below. So all of this solves stills... but whats the fix for video? Is it as simple as dialling up the sharpness?

maikm · Jan 28, 2017

Manfrenjensen said:
although still disappointing.

So, how are you disappointed with this?

First, you know that this is a 1/2.3" sensor like consumer point-and-shoot cameras have, right? Don't expect too much from it. However, you can get quite some quality out of it, but you will have to put a little more work into developing those raw photos, and learn how to do that. You can't expect the best results from just running it through with default settings for everything.

It's the same with high-end DSLRs, by the way, just that the baseline quality is higher. Still, to get the most out of it, you have to use RAW and learn how to edit those.

Manfrenjensen · Jan 28, 2017

maikm said:
So, how are you disappointed with this?

First, you know that this is a 1/2.3" sensor like consumer point-and-shoot cameras have, right? Don't expect too much from it. However, you can get quite some quality out of it, but you will have to put a little more work into developing those raw photos, and learn how to do that. You can't expect the best results from just running it through with default settings for everything.

It's the same with high-end DSLRs, by the way, just that the baseline quality is higher. Still, to get the most out of it, you have to use RAW and learn how to edit those.

Well.. this is my first drone and yeah, I'm used to a DSLR. But seeing all of the amazing footage on YouTube, etc. I guess I just had unrealistic expectations. And you're right though... considering the size of the thing, it's impressive.

Manfrenjensen · Jan 28, 2017

Fonejacker said:
See, for me, I'd be happy with the below. So all of this solves stills... but whats the fix for video? Is it as simple as dialling up the sharpness?

I tried uploading a video for you to see, but it doesn't let me. I'm curious if it's much better than what you're seeing on yours. The only time I've noticed the 'watercolor' effect in my video is when it wasn't focused.