MA2 Sharpness setting?

eldelrado · Oct 16, 2020

Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has heard or seen anything about the possibility of a sharpness setting coming to the MA2? I'm very impressed how DJI has been building out the DJI Fly app for the MA2, but I'm praying for a sharpness setting. If there was a way to disable or vary sharpness levels I guarantee footage quality would go through the roof if you know how to post process. I find using D-CINELIKE doesn't look very good because we're manipulating pre-sharpened footage, If we were able to grade, and then sharpen the footage would much better than what's currently possible. If I am not mistaken the OG air had a sharpness and contrast setting. Anyway, just wanted to stir conversation around this topic to see if anyone has heard anything.

Thomas B · Oct 16, 2020

eldelrado said:
Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has heard or seen anything about the possibility of a sharpness setting coming to the MA2? I'm very impressed how DJI has been building out the DJI Fly app for the MA2, but I'm praying for a sharpness setting. If there was a way to disable or vary sharpness levels I guarantee footage quality would go through the roof if you know how to post process. I find using D-CINELIKE doesn't look very good because we're manipulating pre-sharpened footage, If we were able to grade, and then sharpen the footage would much better than what's currently possible. If I am not mistaken the OG air had a sharpness and contrast setting. Anyway, just wanted to stir conversation around this topic to see if anyone has heard anything.

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.

someone will like be along shortly with answers. You colugo to the DJI site and dL the full online only manual which you should have anyway.

eldelrado · Oct 16, 2020

Thomas B said:
Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.

someone will like be along shortly with answers. You could go to the DJI site and dL the full online only manual which you should have anyway.

I don't think this is currently a feature offered on the MA2 so I don't think I'll find it in the manual. I just find it sad because the original mavic air has it and the 2 doesn't.
Thanks for the warm welcome!

Macinfo · Oct 16, 2020

Perhaps having that as you capture photos and video would be handy, though I feel that the output I am seeing from the MA2 is quite sharp if properly exposed.. Though I would think that you can always enhance this in post if you have the right software...

eldelrado · Oct 16, 2020

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Macinfo said:
Perhaps having that as you capture photos and video would be handy, though I feel that the output I am seeing from the MA2 is quite sharp if properly exposed.. Though I would think that you can always enhance this in post if you have the right software...

I agree, MA2 footage is extremely sharp, but this sharpness is because DJI applies sharpness automatically. The footage you get out of the MA2 has already been sharpened. What I'm saying is we should be able to turn this DJI sharpness on and off because in my opinion the footage is over sharpened, and sharpening in a post program like Premiere would be wayyyyy better than DJI's. The mavic air 1 has this setting, and the 2 doesn't.

Macinfo · Oct 16, 2020

eldelrado said:
This iss

I agree, MA2 footage is extremely sharp, but this sharpness is because DJI applies sharpness automatically. The footage you get out of the MA2 has already been sharpened. What I'm saying is we should be able to turn this DJI sharpness on and off because in my opinion the footage is over sharpened, and sharpening in a post program like Premiere would be wayyyyy better than DJI's. The mavic air 1 has this setting, and the 2 doesn't.

I see what you mean, though I am not sure how much you can really improve it... would have to see some examples side by side to see if there is a big enough difference to really want a setting to control sharpness on the MA2. Assuming it's something that can be adjusted completely in software.

Pappy · Oct 16, 2020

eldelrado said:
I find using D-CINELIKE doesn't look very good because we're manipulating pre-sharpened footage

Isn't that the whole point of recording in D-CINELIKE mode as it has minimal processing that you apply later in post?

If DJI doesn't add video adjustments you may find the LItchi app will meet your needs once DJI releases the MA2 SDK so that Litichi can then support it in the app. I have seen some videos on YouTube for the beta release of the Mavic MIni and they are showing manual video adjustments for saturation, contrast, and sharpness. LItchi has also integrated their Waypoints into the app for the Mini as well. I anticipate Litchi will integrate all of the capabilities that are in the MA2 SDK in the same way they have for the Mini. So if a feature is missing in the Fly app I would check out Litichi sometime around Q1 2021.

volition · Jan 16, 2021

There is a thread requesting on the dji forums.

I just made a thread hoping others on this forum might go over and add their support

Help please - feature request for Sharpness & contrast settings

Hi guys, The MA2 sharpens it’s images somewhat. More then I like. However it doesn’t have a way of dialing that back. You can always add sharpening in post but softening never really works. Now obviously I think the default settings should stay as is, but I’d love a feature to dial it back...

mavicpilots.com

chanson · Jan 16, 2021

Someone please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong, but for video wouldn't you be able to effect the 'sharpness' or 'smoothness' with a combination of Frame Rate, Shutter Speed and ND filters? Conventional wisdom tends to have it that video looks best to human eyes when the shutter speed is roughly 2x the frame rate. Shutter speeds faster than that can often give a crisp, more sharpened look (may be good for action things like a soccer game), and slower shutter speeds may blur the image just a bit (could be good for an effect like maybe a moving stream).

The DJI drones without ND filters on bright days will tend to require faster shutter speeds to properly expose the footage and this can result in what is perceived as over sharpening. Using an ND filter (like ND16) on a bright day can force the shutter speed down and give a smoother look.

There may be other issues going on that relate to this original post, but exploring these 'settings' may be helpful.

Thanks!
Chris

volition · Jan 16, 2021

chanson said:
Someone please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong, but for video wouldn't you be able to effect the 'sharpness' or 'smoothness' with a combination of Frame Rate, Shutter Speed and ND filters? Conventional wisdom tends to have it that video looks best to human eyes when the shutter speed is roughly 2x the frame rate. Shutter speeds faster than that can often give a crisp, more sharpened look (may be good for action things like a soccer game), and slower shutter speeds may blur the image just a bit (could be good for an effect like maybe a moving stream).

The DJI drones without ND filters on bright days will tend to require faster shutter speeds to properly expose the footage and this can result in what is perceived as over sharpening. Using an ND filter (like ND16) on a bright day can force the shutter speed down and give a smoother look.

There may be other issues going on that relate to this original post, but exploring these 'settings' may be helpful.

Thanks!
Chris

Hey Chris,

What you are talking about is mainly effecting the “motion blur”, especially when talking about ND filters . That’s all they exist for (or if it’s so bright and a camera doesn’t have a fast enough shutter speed to expose correctly).

The MA2 has a sharpness algorithm hard coded into it. The maths is really cool in finding edges in images, easier then you imagine yet still really complicated. Basically it bumps up the contrast on the edges it detects and this gives a sharpening effect. As it doesn’t alter other parts of the image. Like tracing over edges with a pen I suppose. This cannot be undone. Most people like it that way anyway, but for me it makes it harder to match the footage from my cameras if editing together.

A setting would allow me to choose the amount of sharpening in the editing software.

Phillip Bloom explains and shows it here -

I love his reviews/videos he has real technical knowledge of cameras,( totally verified) has a great eye for detail and explains his views really clearly.