Losing patience with mavic

[LivinLarge]

Have a look and see what you think.

Its really obvious in this one, others not so much but every image just looks off.

Id love nothing more than it to be something I'm doing wrong that I can fix.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

That looks pretty awful especially the lower right hand corner. There seems to be enough light that you should be able to get a sharp image. This looks only sharp in the center, and not very good there. What settings were you using?

 

[Callum]

That looks pretty awful especially the lower right hand corner. There seems to be enough light that you should be able to get a sharp image. This looks only sharp in the center, and not very good there. What settings were you using?

That image was shot in auto I believe with centre focus.

Another day, Auto but had ND8 filter on at the time.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Ill try upload a video later

 

[Callum]

Think this must be faulty.

Been through all my footage on 4K tv and there is not one video properly focused and everything looks terrible.

All shot in 2.7k, manual, 1/60 shutter, 100-200 iso, d-cine, 1,0,0. 0,0,0 or 1,-1,-1.
Some shot in auto with no filters as a test.

I've wasted enough time with it and it's just making me angry thinking about it.

Have contacted retailer I bought it from just over a month ago, hopefully they have a solution otherwise it's going back to DJI and getting sold when fixed.

 

[Ron_Dog]

I'd be happy with that.
Light does make all the difference. Starting to think that's my issue with a smaller sensor.

Where do you live? That's crazy how flat the horizon is, don't see that often here.

I live in South Eastern Illinois!

 

[Mako79]

Are you using focus peaking?
Or
Maybe its your content or subject matter.

 

[dewster]

I know the feeling. The camera and fragile gimbal are the Achilles heel of an excellent craft.

 

[Callum]

Are you using focus peaking?
Or
Maybe its your content or subject matter.

Yes using focus peaking. Focus looks reasonable on iPad mini 4 display, it's not untill I get home and pull videos off SD I notice they are not quite right.


Going to try another reset then calibrate gimble and IMU, have seen that work for a few people.

Surely it shouldn't be this hard to get a decent photo or video. Something must be wrong.

 

[CuaC]

I've seen all the pictures and videos over here, and I will try the +1,-1,-1 option, as it seems much better.

However I must say I've been struggling with image quality the last few days as I was flying near home (lots of trees with lots of leaves) and I see that the poor quality on the tree leaves I'm getting is something you're all getting too on those pictures/videos that otherwise look good.

It looks like the mavic simply can't compress properly images that have a lot of details (such as those leaves) It works great on open fields, blue skies and clouds where you have continuous patterns, but once you get to a super complex image the compression just messes up everything. It seems that the transfer rate for the image is simply not good enough.

 

[gustofusion]

My rule for flying generally is,

• Fly on days with low or no wind
• When Sky is blue and there are small puffy white clouds
• Don't expect good vibrant colors when the sky is grey and overcast
• Keep the sun to the rear of the Mavics camera
• Fly with a 13-15 degree downward camera angle
• ND Filter 16 is usually good enough for normal bright sunny days
• Focus peaking on normal
• Pause then focus then press record. Do not focus while moving
• Over exposure warning on "Zebras"
• Dial shutter speed so there is just a mild hint of zebra displayed
• Manual camera settings to avoid auto exposure changing the brightness of the scene
• Watch the clouds shadows in the scenes, they can mute the colors in the video, wait till they pass and colors will be more vivid.

 

[FASTFJR]

It looks like the mavic simply can't compress properly images that have a lot of details (such as those leaves) It works great on open fields, blue skies and clouds where you have continuous patterns, but once you get to a super complex image the compression just messes up everything. It seems that the transfer rate for the image is simply not good enough.

Everyone needs to remember the camera on the Mavic is a good general use camera, no more no less. Unless someone can strap a better camera on it like the one from the Phantom 4 Pro with a 1 inch sensor that is never going to change. Yes you can get more out of it by having perfect manual settings and post color correction. I dealt with the focus issue early on and my first Mavic went back.

Know the limitations and learn how to get the best out of it or step up to a better system

 

[Ron_Dog]

These were shot without any processing.I might add, that when I'm using my iPad Air2 I can see the screen a lot better. This helps with the focus issues for me!

 

[Callum]

Everyone needs to remember the camera on the Mavic is a good general use camera, no more no less. Unless someone can strap a better camera on it like the one from the Phantom 4 Pro with a 1 inch sensor that is never going to change. Yes you can get more out of it by having perfect manual settings and post color correction. I dealt with the focus issue early on and my first Mavic went back.

Know the limitations and learn how to get the best out of it or step up to a better system

That's true although it's trying to work out whether your mavics faulty or just limitations that is the problem.

So many reports of people having Mavics replaced due to focus or image quality issues plants a seed of doubt from the offset.

Your first mavic which was replaced, what was the focus issue? Was it the complete image or one side?

 

[CuaC]

These were shot without any processing.I might add, that when I'm using my iPad Air2 I can see the screen a lot better. This helps with the focus issues for me!View attachment 25296View attachment 25297

Great example on the tree leaves problem (I guess that's the JPEG too which makes it even worse)

But look at the crops I made over your pic:

If you see the naked tree it's "ok". Not supersharp, not super clean, but we could say acceptable.

Then trees in the background which are obviously not so detailed due to distance aren't that bad either. Not good, but let's say ok for what we have.

Then you get to the leaves in the first trees... and there it goes! Atrocious effect probably due to a combination of noise reduction and compression.

I mean... ok, we have a flying camera, a really tiny flying camera, but I also have a teeny-tiny (smaller I'd say, as my phone is quite flat...) camera on my cellphone and it works waaaay better than this.

 

[FASTFJR]

That's true although it's trying to work out whether your mavics faulty or just limitations that is the problem.

So many reports of people having Mavics replaced due to focus or image quality issues plants a seed of doubt from the offset.

Your first mavic which was replaced, what was the focus issue? Was it the complete image or one side?

My first Mavic early last spring had an overall focus problem. I fooled around with it for 2 weeks before I sent it back to B&H, they replaced it no questions ask. Mavic two did not have any issues with the focus. I sold it in the fall only because I was still getting better video from my P3P. I just ordered the new white Mavic last week only because I need something very portable for an up coming two week trip.

 

[FASTFJR]

I mean... ok, we have a flying camera, a really tiny flying camera, but I also have a teeny-tiny (smaller I'd say, as my phone is quite flat...) camera on my cellphone and it works waaaay better than this.

And their you have it. The Mavic platform is very nice, however its only good as its weakest link, which is the camera. Its a good system for a hobbyist, if you want a better system your going to have to go to a different system

 

[Anthony]

I think there are two problems here ..

1 expectation of the Mavic camera is to Hi IMO it's not a pro camera out of the box.

2 This is only really going to be fixed ( if fixed is the correct word as it's not really broken ) with an upgraded camera that will only come with Mavic V2 next year or whenever it is coming.

 

[FASTFJR]

I think there are two problems here ..

1 expectation of the Mavic camera is to Hi IMO it's not a pro camera out of the box.

2 This is only really going to be fixed ( if fixed is the correct word as it's not really broken ) with an upgraded camera that will only come with Mavic V2 next year or whenever it is coming.

Its still amazing what DJI has done in under 5 years. I bought the Phantom 1 in February 2013, no camera, no gimbal, I think the flight time was about 7 minutes. OMG it was fantastic! before that I had hand built two UAV's It had a static mount for my Go Pro 2? Less than a year later the P2 came out, you could buy a gimbal to put on it, first two axis then three

 

[Anthony]

Its still amazing what DJI has done in under 5 years. I bought the Phantom 1 in February 2013, no camera, no gimbal, I think the flight time was about 7 minutes. OMG it was fantastic! before that I had hand built two UAV's It had a static mount for my Go Pro 2? Less than a year later the P2 came out, you could buy a gimbal to put on it, first two axis then three

Don't get me wrong here .... I'm not complaining at all the Mavic is an amazing drone IMO and for what I use it for ( hobby flying ) it is perfect.

However if people want Pro video and Pro photos I honestly belive this will only be possible with a camera upgrade.

 

[Cslucas34]

I think my mavic takes decent stills and great video. One thing I have learned is that using JPG format always results in “mushy” photos compared to the raw images. At first the raw images look terrible until you post produce them (develop on the app I use). I do mine on my iPad Pro. I think D-log has worked well for what I do and my clients have no complaints thus far.

 

[Hotelone]

I think my mavic takes decent stills and great video. One thing I have learned is that using JPG format always results in “mushy” photos compared to the raw images. At first the raw images look terrible until you post produce them (develop on the app I use). I do mine on my iPad Pro. I think D-log has worked well for what I do and my clients have no complaints thus far.

What app do you use on your iPad?