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

rmb

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I would like to get as many people involved in this discussion as possible as the internet is alive with these complaints and with our collective voices we can get this done and we all deserve better.

I know this is going to be hard for many of us as, like me you are probably so impressed with this little guy that a lot of us (like I said not everyone seems to be affected) are settling for a faulty product. And I get it. It is small, well built and is easier and more fun to fly than my p4. P4 Pro and Inspire 1, so how do you send something like that back? And if you’re like me, I ordered (and paid for it) on October 10th, but waited 50 plus days to get it (December 6th).

It also appears that some of the earlier shipments and video samples I saw (that originally sold me) seem… less than Phantom, but not by much. And as the old adage goes, “The best camera is always the one you have with you” I spend a lot of time in remote areas so I am ok with a little image sacrifice, but NOT what I am getting!

Ok so here it is and please chime in with observations and upload samples. The more proof we get the better chance we have of resolution.

A lot of us are having very serious focus and resolution issues with the Mavic. Regardless of how diligent we are on focusing (and YES we are taking the bubble off!) the image still seems very soft. So what I did was a close frame-by-frame analysis and in most cases each frame of the video looks more like a watercolor painting.

Here is a Dropbox link (Dropbox - Mavic Samples) to a folder that contains 4 short samples of video taken at 4096, 3840 and 1920 resolution. I also added the video named “Shot-Also-at-3840” that I originally shot that drove me to do a controlled test. Because in fairness the original subject matter of leafless trees is daunting detail for any camera much less this little guy and wanted to be fair. To that end my test consisted of something simpler. I did a hover in front of my house.

I have also provide representative frame grabs from each of the first 3 movies where you can clearly see the effect I am talking about. The 1920 video almost looks like a stylized posterize filter was put on in photoshop, and I believe that this is what is happening to all the videos just to a smaller extent.

PS. After sharing these samples with DJI that sent me an RMA within minutes and promised a new Mavic within 5 to 7 business days. I'll keep you all posted as to if this is lip-service or for real. Also if there is a moderator here or anyone that can get a DJI rep in this forum, PLEASE do!

PSS. So you know it is not me, here is another very capable guy on youtube showing the exact same "Water Color" issue.
 
Yes, sadly im having the same problem. my thread with examples is over here-
This photo quality aint good enough, don't you think?
I had a similar problem with my phantom vision 2 years ago. Same kind of optical problems. I returned it and the new one was much better. I've got pics from that fiasco if anyone is interested.
Looks like I'm gonna have to go for the whole return thing. Do they pay for the return postage as a matter of interest?
 
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Yes, sadly im having the same problem. my thread with examples is over here-
This photo quality aint good enough, don't you think?
I had a similar problem with my phantom vision 2 years ago. Same kind of optical problems. I returned it and the new one was much better. I've got pics from that fiasco if anyone is interested.
Looks like I'm gonna have to go for the whole return thing. Do they pay for the return postage as a matter of interest?
I got an email from UPS telling me that they will be sending me a table. I am hoping that it is a prepaid one. Again I will keep the group posted as this unravels for me.
 
You're not focusing, you're describing things like depth of field as if they were problems. It's not a GoPro, it's not a P4. You need to focus every time.
Sorry. Not sure. was that to me?
 
I have centre focus assigned to C1 however when I just spoke to DJI support they told me that this was infinite focus not focus on the subject in the centre of the frame so now I'm totally confused.. They told me not to use C1 centre focus but to tap to focus instead. Surely 'centre focus' means focus on the subject in the centre of the frame?
 
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I have centre focus assigned to C1 however when I just spoke to DJI support they told me that this was infinite focus not focus on the subject in the centre of the frame so now I'm totally confused.. They told me not to use C1 centre focus but to tap to focus instead. Surely 'centre focus' means focus on the subject in the centre of the frame?
Really" They told you that? Thats ridiculous! Thanks for sharing. And also If we keep getting feed this comment about focus being the culprit, (which I'm sure it is sometimes) I'm going to flip. a) I was diligent on "tap" focusing on a house, in a hover, from 30 feet away and b) Does this really look like a focus issue to anyone? Blow it up. It's a watercolor. Totally a sensor or compression issue. In fact I would say this image is a very well-focused watercolor. Sorry about the rant all, but geez.3-1920.jpg
 
There are 2 common problems:
- An area of the image, usually either the left or right third but can occasionally be "patches" that is clearly soft. Known manufacturing problem and DJI replaces the affected machines without discussion.
- An image that is sharp (detailed items anywhere in the image will be sharp) but the low-detailed areas are blotchy. This seems to always be down to user settings and appear with some picture profile / ISO combinations.
 
There are 2 common problems:
- An area of the image, usually either the left or right third but can occasionally be "patches" that is clearly soft. Known manufacturing problem and DJI replaces the affected machines without discussion.
- An image that is sharp (detailed items anywhere in the image will be sharp) but the low-detailed areas are blotchy. This seems to always be down to user settings and appear with some picture profile / ISO combinations.
Interesting. If it helps all videos were shot at 100 ISO at 2000th shutter.
 
Interesting. If it helps all videos were shot at 100 ISO at 2000th shutter.
Sorry I meant 200th no 2000th
 
Some sort of commonly available scene is needed like a white picket fence so that we can perform repeatable Modulation/Optical Transfer Function testing. That way we will all have a point of reference to determine if our systems are working correctly or not.
 
I'm having issues with poor picture quality. Video is fine but Still Images look totally awful
 
I've been just taking my pics from the vidieo and the pics loo, really good at least to me. I've never taken a actual pic. I just pause my vidieo playback and click take pictures from vidieo.
 
Some sort of commonly available scene is needed like a white picket fence so that we can perform repeatable Modulation/Optical Transfer Function testing. That way we will all have a point of reference to determine if our systems are working correctly or not.
I am having issues with still image quality as well. Do you have any pointers on how to set up camera for those of us not wishing to do any post processing
 
I have been racking my brain over the poor video quality especially in LOW LIGHT. I have tried manual settings as well as auto and at this point am beginning to think that the camera is DEFECTIVE. There is way too much noise and artifact the likes I have never seen on a DJI camera before. I have the INSPIRE 1 and have had Phantom 3 and 4. Shooting at 4K 24P and its really unusable here's a small sample of the shiny, noisy footage. Any and all helpful suggestions are welcome. I have attached 3 4k-24p frame grabs , full daylight and low light. It's baffling how bad the quality looks. Stills look fine but the video really poor quality.
 

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I have attached 3 4k-24p frame grabs
These look crud but mostly due to poor resizing you've done (why not post the actual 4K grabs?!), underexposure, and who knows what your settings were. If you want comments it would be nice to detail them.
 
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Here's the actual footage and I see the same thing that was described as popping. Excessive artifact, highlight really poor quality especially for 4K 4096 x 2160, 24fps. Even at low ISO 50-100 so normal/low gain should not be introducing this level of noise. I ran a test and shot the same scene manually from low ISO to Highest and the problem is there at every setting. Here's sample with varied exposure, over to under and you still see the artifact. Also not complaining about the Prop strobing as in this footage its also doing a 360 so prop shadow is not a continuous effect. Just look at the trees in the center.
 
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