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- Jun 27, 2019
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I was flying over steep cliffs today with some mist/fog. My stills and video are soft -appears as if auto focus failed. I don't recall seeing a manual Focus Setting, but I could have missed it. Thinking perhaps I inadvertently toggled it? The fog was mostly above my flight path, but perhaps I had accumulated, moisture on the lens cover? I neglected to check that post flight, as we had to rush to get back from a remote area -as darkness set in. Perhaps the fog prevented the lens from focussing due to lack of contrast?. I did half shutter presses to focus on specific spots, but those shots were just as soft as the others. All stills at F2.8, ISO100, Shutter 120th. I don't usually shoot any lens wide open, perhaps F4 would have been sharper.
EDIT: Upon further review, just one of the videos appears sharp. It was taken closer to the top off the crags. So perhaps having less moisture particulate allowed for better focus. But some of the stills do not seem obscured by fog (which remained mostly above my flight path).
Also, the gimbal got stuck in the extreme downward position after a few minutes. Could not control gimbal to move upwards. I just tested at home, and normal movement is restored. I suspect either it somehow got stuck in the downward position, or perhaps moisture became a factor.
We were at remote crags which required a rugged hike to reach. Conditions were foggier than I had hoped, but extremely beautiful, and the images looked terrific on the Smart Controller screen. To capture dusk light, we had to hike out the dark, on steep rocky terrain. A letdown to put in the effort for failed images. There's a photo comp that I had hoped to enter which closes in 3 days. Probably won't have time to return in time. Very difficult to get poor photos in this magnificent setting, but I managed to achieve that. C'est la vie!
Any suggestions on the focus & stuck gimbal issues? (I typically suspect pilot error before other factors) Thanks.
EDIT: Upon further review, just one of the videos appears sharp. It was taken closer to the top off the crags. So perhaps having less moisture particulate allowed for better focus. But some of the stills do not seem obscured by fog (which remained mostly above my flight path).
Also, the gimbal got stuck in the extreme downward position after a few minutes. Could not control gimbal to move upwards. I just tested at home, and normal movement is restored. I suspect either it somehow got stuck in the downward position, or perhaps moisture became a factor.
We were at remote crags which required a rugged hike to reach. Conditions were foggier than I had hoped, but extremely beautiful, and the images looked terrific on the Smart Controller screen. To capture dusk light, we had to hike out the dark, on steep rocky terrain. A letdown to put in the effort for failed images. There's a photo comp that I had hoped to enter which closes in 3 days. Probably won't have time to return in time. Very difficult to get poor photos in this magnificent setting, but I managed to achieve that. C'est la vie!
Any suggestions on the focus & stuck gimbal issues? (I typically suspect pilot error before other factors) Thanks.
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