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Green Dot of Death

bkushner

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Does anyone know if any filters help with the green lens flare people are seeing?
 
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I thought everyone knows about this. I don't have any current file with it as I've resorted to trying not to film or photograph when it's there..
 
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I thought everyone knows about this. I don't have any current file with it as I've resorted to trying not to film or photograph when it's there..
If you could describe it, might be helpful. Not aware of this with a drone, but am aware of issues with green lines in video that are green and known as "vertical smear". This is due to very strong light coming into the frame and the sensor is of a lower quality, so you see a green line that usually runs the distance of the frame. This is only in video. In still images, you will get lens flair, which is typically reflectivity within the elements in the lens bouncing very strong light back and forth between the lens elements. It can also be green.

Hope this helps.

Cordially,

Mark
 
If you could describe it, might be helpful. Not aware of this with a drone, but am aware of issues with green lines in video that are green and known as "vertical smear". This is due to very strong light coming into the frame and the sensor is of a lower quality, so you see a green line that usually runs the distance of the frame. This is only in video. In still images, you will get lens flair, which is typically reflectivity within the elements in the lens bouncing very strong light back and forth between the lens elements. It can also be green.

Hope this helps.

Cordially,

Mark
Here is an older thread. It begins with a video of mine with the green dot.
 
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Does anyone know if any filters help with the green lens flare people are seeing?
By now almost everyone knows what you mean.
A filter would only uniformly reduce brightness across the whole frame and wouldn't selectively remove the green dot.
Filters aren't the answer.
Not shooting directly into the sun is what works.
 
That's how you know that it is an M3 flying. Haven't seen such a pronounced coloured dot on any other Mavic drone. Sun flares, yes but..........
 
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There's nothing wrong with the camera. It's just the angle at which the light is hitting the lens. Change your angle, and it'll change your results. These are taken with the Canon EOS R and RF 24-105 lens. Sometimes you see the dot and sometimes you don't depending only on the angle.
 

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There's nothing wrong with the camera. It's just the angle at which the light is hitting the lens. Change your angle, and it'll change your results. These are taken with the Canon EOS R and RF 24-105 lens. Sometimes you see the dot and sometimes you don't depending only on the angle.
Try taking the same shots with a Mavic 3 then let us know what you think. We all know what lens flares are and how they are created. This is not the issue.

The issue is having a lens flare that looks extremely unnatural and unsightly. The green laser pointer dot is just straight up ugly and pronounced and compacted with none of the other redeeming features found in so many other lens flares.

 
Try taking the same shots with a Mavic 3 then let us know what you think. We all know what lens flares are and how they are created. This is not the issue.

The issue is having a lens flare that looks extremely unnatural and unsightly. The green laser pointer dot is just straight up ugly and pronounced and compacted with none of the other redeeming features found in so many other lens flares.

The latest update says it "Fixed issue: abnormal color appeared in some scenarios", so maybe that'll help.
 
It's a lens flare, plain and simple. The colour is due to the type of coating they have chosen to use on this new lens or possibly the make-up of the glass composition used. The dot should move around somewhat, if the flyer changes their angle to the sun. If the green dot stayed in one place the whole time, that would most likely be a sensor issue, of possible dead pixel.

If you watch a video of this green dot, you will undoubtedly see that it moves as the drone's angle to the sun changes which makes it an obvious sun flare. How it looks captured on film is determined by what shape the glass is on the camera front and the lenses used in the camera makeup, plus the lens coating colour.

You can think of it as a magnifying glass, when you move a magnifying glass up and down, close to the ground, you will see the spot or spots, change in shape and size. When you change your angle to the sun with your magnifying glass, the shape of those sunspots will alter. That is in fact, lens flare through that glass. That is how such a thing is created and the shape of the glass on the camera is what is focusing the spot at that size. When you look through a camera, especially when you see a movie showing this, you will see a number of lens flares in varying sizes running through the scene, as the camera pans across the sun. The number of flares you see are determined by the number of lens elements and filters in the overall lens make up.

If you were to take apart a standard zoom lens of a DSLR, you would see that the various lens elements all look somewhat like magnifying glasses and that's why you get these lens flares, when shooting into the sun at various angles. If you don't want them, then change you angle to the sun until these flares go away. Simple!
 
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Do you have an example? Is it a solid green line that runs vertically for the entire frame? Give a bit more information, please.

Cordially,

Mark
It's a double or single green dot/ lens flare that crosses the camera lens when the camera has the sun in it's field of view. I'm no film maker, but I sure wouldn't want this green dot showing up in all my footage every time my camera's field of view crosses with the sun either a little or a lot. From what I read DJI's lens flare is likely coming from the sun interacting with the sensor itself. I guess, when/ if a sun hood comes out, it might help. In the mean time people are just going to have to pay attention to the angle the drone is to the sun.
 
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Adding filters will only make flare worse because you are introducing yet another air gap and glass element that the light can reflect off of. If you are shooting directly into the sun or close to it without a hood, expect flare. Lens coatings from the factory can help with flare resistance, but that's not something you can add after the fact.

My $4,000+ DSLR lenses do exactly the same thing if I point them at the sun. Sometimes even a very slight change of shooting angle can get rid of it, you just need to be aware of it and deal with it.

In the example footage you posted you are literally flying straight into the sun, which is a worst-case scenario for any lens - the fact that you had as little flare as you did is actually quite remarkable. It's to be expected in those shooting conditions. Some people even like the look of flare and add it in post, but that is obviously subjective.
 
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A beautiful lens flare that you would be happy to see anywhere on your photos or footage.
lens-flare-photoshop-sunrise.jpg
An ugly lens flare that does not sit well at all and looks terrible, almost like a defect...
green-dot-on-iPhone-photo.jpg
Its that simple...

So how many people here would honestly prefer to have the second example overlaid and dancing around their Mavic 3 5K footage?

Its a laser pointer with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever.
 
A beautiful lens flare that you would be happy to see anywhere on your photos or footage.
View attachment 140200
An ugly lens flare that does not sit well at all and looks terrible, almost like a defect...
View attachment 140201
Its that simple...

So how many people here would honestly prefer to have the second example overlaid and dancing around their Mavic 3 5K footage?

Its a laser pointer with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever.
It is easier to edit out , so there is that. lol

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