First day with Mini 4 Pro. Returning it tomorrow.

[tlyons]

Here is some video from my Mini 4 Pro

I don't know if it helps, but I just looked through a several Mini 3 Pro (not 4 but very similar lens and sensor) 360 panoramas on bright days (a big set of stills that would include every relative angle to the sun and then stitched) and didn't see anything like the kind of yuck in your Youtube video. There was flare but not like that.

Maybe contamination on the lens? Maybe poor lens assembly? It might be worth trying another unit if you really want one.

 

[hedbonker]

Neutral Density filters do nothing more than decrease the amount of light reaching the camera sensor. They do not effect the quality of the image in anyway. They do not saturate or effect color balance at all. It is to reduce f-stops when you have a fixed aperature.

Absolutely true. Unless you buy cheap ND - Cheap ND will cause issues like color shifts etc.

 

[RuudF]

Neutral Density filters do nothing more than decrease the amount of light reaching the camera sensor. They do not effect the quality of the image in anyway. They do not saturate or effect color balance at all. It is to reduce f-stops when you have a fixed aperature.

Yes, baddog....absolutely correct....and also there exists something like collateral damage.
Or in this case a side effect of putting the ND filter on...comparable to putting sunglasses on.
A little bit less bright light will pass through the lens, thus causing a slight reduction of flare.
Every little bit helps, and this maybe just enough to save the footage.
If you never take the shot...you will always loose.
Ruud

 

[Meta4]

Or in this case a side effect of putting the ND filter on...comparable to putting sunglasses on.
A little bit less bright light will pass through the lens, thus causing a slight reduction of flare.
Every little bit helps, and this maybe just enough to save the footage.

As someone said back in post #10, an ND filter wouldn't help at all.
It would uniformly reduce the light passing through to the sensor across the whole frame.
That would force a slower shutter speed to maintain proper exposure.
It wouldn't selectively reduce flare but leave everything untouched, because that's not how ND filters work.
You end up with something that looks exactly the same.
The subject, background and the flare wouldn't appear any different.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I'm bummed. Already sold my Mini 3 pro. The Mini 4 Pro has (at least mine did) an unbelievable amount of flare when it is angled anywhere near the sun. I have the FPV, Avata, Mavic Air, Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Pro and none of them exhibit the kind of extreme flare this does. I flew it and followed up with a flight with my Mavic 3 Pro and it was a world of difference. I am confident it would have been the same with my Mini 3 as I NEVER saw the kind of excessive flair I did with the Mini 4. So sad. Pics later perhaps but I won't keep this and if I asked for an exchange it would probably put me past the return time so it has to go back entirely.

I'm surprised no-one has come up with a solution like this. Use them with my mav 2's and they work well.

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB104FSXNjaK1RjSZKzq6xVwXXaq/Mavic-2-Zoom-Pro-Gimbal-Camera-Lens-Hood-Cover-Sun-Shade-Anti-glare-Gimbal-Camera-Protector.jpg

 

[Droning on and on...]

Curious why they're not full coverage like typical lens hoods... probably because the corners don't matter optically, so save cost with less material?

 

[Meta4]

Curious why they're not full coverage like typical lens hoods... probably because the corners don't matter optically, so save cost with less material?

It's because if you didn’t have the corners cut out you would actually see the lens hood in the image at wide angles.
But a lens hood won't help except to block the sun from hitting your lens when it's just outside teh field of view.
If you can see the sun in the image, no lens hood will help at all.
DJI wideangle lenses are already recessed into the camera housing and this probably gives all the protection needed anyway.

 

[tlyons]

Curious why they're not full coverage like typical lens hoods... probably because the corners don't matter optically, so save cost with less material?

It's a petal style lens hood. Usually, FOV is wider side to side and the side lobes are smaller to not be in view. The corners of rectangular sensor will have the largest extent and hence the widest angle. In a DSLR/ILC you can usually rotate it 90 degrees anyway.
For a drone, the limiting factor is the end stop cal when turned on; the cam goes through a full range of motion and you don't want to bump the body. I imagine you could power up first and then mount the hood but I dislike touching the gimbal when the positioning motors are powered up.

When winter comes, I plan to either design one or find a design to 3d print to experiment with. There is not a lot of room left by the gimbal cal so I am skeptical it would really fit.

 

[jimlips]

This got me motivated to get up early and get some morning sun shots over near the river. I've compared flaring among the Mini 3 Pro, the Mini 4 Pro, and the Air 3 (both lenses). Here is the video:

If you don't have the minute and 45 seconds to view, here are my comments:

I see no difference between the Mini 3 Pro and the Mini 4 Pro. The only way to test this is to have two pilots and position the drones very close to each other. I was alone, so I had to do each drone separately.

The Air 3 is the obvious winner.

I think you are going to get flare when the sun (or any bright light) is hitting the lens directly. The only way to remove it entirely is to not shoot into the sun, and don't let the sun illuminate the lenses. As others have said, a hood would help.

 

[tlyons]

This got me motivated to get up early and get some morning sun shots over near the river. I've compared flaring among the Mini 3 Pro, the Mini 4 Pro, and the Air 3 (both lenses). Here is the video:

If you don't have the minute and 45 seconds to view, here are my comments:

I see no difference between the Mini 3 Pro and the Mini 4 Pro. The only way to test this is to have two pilots and position the drones very close to each other. I was alone, so I had to do each drone separately.

The Air 3 is the obvious winner.

I think you are going to get flare when the sun (or any bright light) is hitting the lens directly. The only way to remove it entirely is to not shoot into the sun, and don't let the sun illuminate the lenses. As others have said, a hood would help.

Thanks for posting, but the test is somewhat flawed. Yes, every lens will flare when pointed into the sun including very expensive large ones. A large FOV lens is more susceptible or at least more difficult to shroud with a hood. The problem with the examples from the Mini 4 Pro is that there is significant flare when the sun is off angle. At ~0:04. in your video the sun is not yet in view but distracting flare is already starting to appear. Unfortunately (unless I missed it) the only example you rotate like that is the Mini 4 Pro.

I only have a Mini 3 Pro so I can't do it, but a decent experiment would be to launch each drone in a location where there are obvious features on the horizon to identify the angle. Fly above the tree line and slowly rotate through a full 360 and observe at what angle the flare starts. An alternative is to overlay a compass heading on the video but curiosly, I have never seen a DJI video with a data overlay. You could also test makeshift lens hoods the same way. A more controlled experiment might be the same test but with a bright street light.

Thanks again.

 

[dmcgrew]

All cameras and lenses have flares when you shoot directly or nearly directly into the sun. I shoot with a Sony A7R5 and Sony G Master lenses.. they all flare. If you don't want flare, don't shoot into the sun.

 

[RogerDH]

Curious why they're not full coverage like typical lens hoods... probably because the corners don't matter optically, so save cost with less material?

I had something similar for my Mini and found it to be pretty useless to stop flares -- they're too short. If you look at this photo, sunlight can get in from the same angle as this photo view, which would be well outside the camera's angle of view.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

Absolutely true. Unless you buy cheap ND - Cheap ND will cause issues like color shifts etc.

Would like to point out that an ND of the type sold for use on these drone can increase lens flare, as they have no shroud at all.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

I'm surprised no-one has come up with a solution like this. Use them with my mav 2's and they work well.

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB104FSXNjaK1RjSZKzq6xVwXXaq/Mavic-2-Zoom-Pro-Gimbal-Camera-Lens-Hood-Cover-Sun-Shade-Anti-glare-Gimbal-Camera-Protector.jpg

They have, I have one for my Mini 2 and one for my Mini 3 Pro

 

[NightFlightAlright]

Curious why they're not full coverage like typical lens hoods... probably because the corners don't matter optically, so save cost with less material?

The corners matter very much optically— the camera is gimballed and moves, and the corner cut outs prevent vignetting of the image.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

This got me motivated to get up early and get some morning sun shots over near the river. I've compared flaring among the Mini 3 Pro, the Mini 4 Pro, and the Air 3 (both lenses). Here is the video:

If you don't have the minute and 45 seconds to view, here are my comments:

I see no difference between the Mini 3 Pro and the Mini 4 Pro. The only way to test this is to have two pilots and position the drones very close to each other. I was alone, so I had to do each drone separately.

The Air 3 is the obvious winner.

I think you are going to get flare when the sun (or any bright light) is hitting the lens directly. The only way to remove it entirely is to not shoot into the sun, and don't let the sun illuminate the lenses. As others have said, a hood would help.

The funny thing is that there are post production filters that intentionally add lens flare… pretty sure JJ Abrams would prefer the minis here LOL…

I’d say the 70mm on the air was the worst… the mini 3 and 4 were “almost” like the cinematic flares, but still a bit too “wide” or overall in coverage…. The cool cinema style lens flares you get with a giant Panavision lens has a lot of detail and specificity… the Air was more like an overall flashing, which is probably easier to remove in post…

 

[BetterBizWorks]

I'm bummed. Already sold my Mini 3 pro. The Mini 4 Pro has (at least mine did) an unbelievable amount of flare when it is angled anywhere near the sun. I have the FPV, Avata, Mavic Air, Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Pro and none of them exhibit the kind of extreme flare this does. I flew it and followed up with a flight with my Mavic 3 Pro and it was a world of difference. I am confident it would have been the same with my Mini 3 as I NEVER saw the kind of excessive flair I did with the Mini 4. So sad. Pics later perhaps but I won't keep this and if I asked for an exchange it would probably put me past the return time so it has to go back entirely.

Any resolve on the repair. Curious if it was a fluke.

 

[mavicpilotsnumpty]

These kinds of posts make me unsure if I really want to sell my Mini 3 Pro and "upgrade" to the Mini 4.

But the problem is we don't know if these reports are anomalies or the norm. But how does one find out for sure if it's just one unfortunate user? Most times it's usually only those users who have problems that will report them here so the data will be skewed. Most people don't create threads just to say "I tested it and it works as expected".

Luckily I'm just in the talking phase of finding a buyer for my M3P so I can still back out of the sale.

The Air3 is still a viable option for me at this point. My plan was that I was going to keep my Mini 3 and get the Air3 so I had the updated features (360 OA, better camera, waypoints) but I also had a mini drone for traveling.

Now I have to decide to stick to the original plan or just get the mini 4 as my only drone.

Why not just do a poll. Find out the good and the bad..

 

[Pawpaw Woody]

I'm bummed. Already sold my Mini 3 pro. The Mini 4 Pro has (at least mine did) an unbelievable amount of flare when it is angled anywhere near the sun. I have the FPV, Avata, Mavic Air, Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Pro and none of them exhibit the kind of extreme flare this does. I flew it and followed up with a flight with my Mavic 3 Pro and it was a world of difference. I am confident it would have been the same with my Mini 3 as I NEVER saw the kind of excessive flair I did with the Mini 4. So sad. Pics later perhaps but I won't keep this and if I asked for an exchange it would probably put me past the return time so it has to go back entirely.

Try a Polarizing filter

 

[davedrone 178]

The sun sets much lower now so that might be part of the problem. Good luck