Help with weird horizontal lines / banding on mavic pro

[lagunamavic]

I've had my Mavic for about 3 months. Yesterday, these horizontal lines started showing up on some of my photos. (pic attached)

Of the 200+ photos I've taken in the last 48 hours, only about 5 have the horizontal lines, and they were all when the mavic was facing the same direction. This makes me skeptical it is a write issue with the SD card.

I took the Mavic out again today, and sure enough, a few of the photos had the lines.

I've been using this SD card for the past month: SanDisk Extreme PLUS 32GB microSDXC UHS-I/U3

The lines show up when viewing on my PC, and also on my iPhone, both within the DJI app and my photo gallery. Does not appear to be a codec issue.

Could this be a lighting issue? Or a shutter issue? Would you recommend contacting DJI about this (ugh, I shudder at the thought) - or what the hell should I try to rectify this?

Thanks for reading guys!

 

[trim]

I'm guessing it's the sun reflecting off of the props. Especially when it's in a certain direction

 

[Yoshizakura]

Usually it's a card reader problem. As you've tried viewing on several platforms it may not be this in your situation.
Does it happen in JPEG and RAW?
Have you tried a different reader ?

 

[lagunamavic]

Does it happen in JPEG and RAW? Have you tried a different reader ?

Yes. The lines are definitely being exposed / captured into the photo itself, and they show up across all platforms.

I'm wondering if it could be light reflecting from the props as Trim suggested, but it's just weird to me I've never seen them show up before the last two days. I have been flying over the water in similar lighting almost daily for 3 months.

 

[Xcel]

Yep that looks like prop reflections.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

I've had my Mavic for about 3 months. Yesterday, these horizontal lines started showing up on some of my photos. (pic attached)

Of the 200+ photos I've taken in the last 48 hours, only about 5 have the horizontal lines, and they were all when the mavic was facing the same direction. This makes me skeptical it is a write issue with the SD card.

I took the Mavic out again today, and sure enough, a few of the photos had the lines.

I've been using this SD card for the past month: SanDisk Extreme PLUS 32GB microSDXC UHS-I/U3

The lines show up when viewing on my PC, and also on my iPhone, both within the DJI app and my photo gallery. Does not appear to be a codec issue.

Could this be a lighting issue? Or a shutter issue? Would you recommend contacting DJI about this (ugh, I shudder at the thought) - or what the **** should I try to rectify this?

Thanks for reading guys!

Going off of what trim said ... but...

It's plausible that you may be getting shadows from the props on the lens, and then that of course strobes as the "rolling shutter" does its thing. The sun was slightly south of east at that time and you're heading south - so the shadow could fall on the front of the camera during the rolling shutter pass. This is confirmed by you saying "while in that direction."

 

[Brewsky666]

Try higher shutterspeed and see what happens. Me myself and I are not convinced about the props but I can be wrong (hopefully, because then you might have another problem...)

Happy Flying
Brewsky

 

[lagunamavic]

Try higher shutterspeed...
Brewsky

Pretty sure shutter speed was 1/3200s in that photo. I had settings on auto. I am definitely not a professional photographer but from the little I understand, that is pretty darn high already. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Alan, interesting theory. In today's photo with the horizontal lines, I was also facing south, though it was two hours later in the day and at another location.

I am skeptical about prop shadow, only because I've taken thousands of similar photos in the past without issue.

But man, I sure hope that is all it is.

 

[Yoshizakura]

Try slower shutter speeds. ND filters may help.

Take some shots while traveling backwards, then the props should be out of the way of the camera.

 

[melyash]

I am 99% convinced your seeing an shadow artifact from the props on your camera lens/sensor.

Ok, Here is a way to figure it out.
What was the RPM of the motor at that time?
Take that and Multiply by two two to get Blade Rate,
how many blades would pass by the lens in 1/3200th of a second?

If the numbers are close to the number of lines, It is a possibility.
Secondly, you can see that the lines are stronger on the left side, the side that is facing the sun, and fade out as they go to the right.... Why,
A. The prop would get get thinner as it goes to the tip, making the line disappear.
B. Correct me if I am wrong here, but normally the camera sensor is scanned left to right, so it will only record the darker bands when and where the sensor is scanned with the shadow from the Prop during that scan.

You could try setting up the shot again and vary the RPM by climbing and or descending and see if the number and spacing change. This would again support the Shadow Theory.


Or you could just throw a lens hood on it and be done with it.

 

[melyash]

Going off of what trim said ... but...

It's plausible that you may be getting shadows from the props on the lens, and then that of course strobes as the "rolling shutter" does its thing. The sun was slightly south of east at that time and you're heading south - so the shadow could fall on the front of the camera during the rolling shutter pass. This is confirmed by you saying "while in that direction."

View attachment 9726

This is my belief as well. See my post above to see why and how we can prove it.

 

[Brewsky666]

I really am curieus what the cause of the lines in the pictures is. I do not have the answer but i like to know. I hope someone will figure it out.

Happy Flying
Brewsky

 

[Oingo Boingo]

I've had my Mavic for about 3 months. Yesterday, these horizontal lines started showing up on some of my photos. (pic attached)

Of the 200+ photos I've taken in the last 48 hours, only about 5 have the horizontal lines, and they were all when the mavic was facing the same direction. This makes me skeptical it is a write issue with the SD card.

I took the Mavic out again today, and sure enough, a few of the photos had the lines.

I've been using this SD card for the past month: SanDisk Extreme PLUS 32GB microSDXC UHS-I/U3

The lines show up when viewing on my PC, and also on my iPhone, both within the DJI app and my photo gallery. Does not appear to be a codec issue.

Could this be a lighting issue? Or a shutter issue? Would you recommend contacting DJI about this (ugh, I shudder at the thought) - or what the **** should I try to rectify this?

Thanks for reading guys!

Thats prop shadow on ur pics. Get a lens hood and ure sorted

 

[lagunamavic]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I will do some more testing based on your thoughts and comments.

 

[Gary cato]

i get these but only if i have the camera/gimbal 30 degree tilt up switched on. Then i get prop shadows.

 

[melyash]

Put a lens shade on and or point it down sun see if they go away.

 

[Tom-Air]

Pretty sure shutter speed was 1/3200s in that photo. I had settings on auto. I am definitely not a professional photographer but from the little I understand, that is pretty darn high already. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Alan, interesting theory. In today's photo with the horizontal lines, I was also facing south, though it was two hours later in the day and at another location.

I am skeptical about prop shadow, only because I've taken thousands of similar photos in the past without issue.

But man, I sure hope that is all it is.

Does it also happen in video? Just curious is there a radio tower near by, I was thinking interfernce.

 

[naderiano]

I had the same issue and narrowed it down to prop shadow. Cheers/Nader