Mavic 2 Footage Has Gotten Worse

[maxapeters]

Hello All,

I just wanted to jump on here and compare two screengrabs from footage I shot at the same waterfall 4 months apart. I don't know what happened to my Mavic 2 Pro in those 4 months, but the footage went from crisp to soft and fuzzy. Both clips were shot in D-Log, 4K 24FPS, f2.8, ISO 200. Notice how the top image has lots of detail and is relatively sharp. The bottom image looks like absolute crap. Not sure what really happened, I haven't had any crashes or anything but the footage seems to have gotten worse. Both were exported out of Resolve at 3840x2160 but the bottom image looks like its 720p.

 

[Pablo]

I'd recommend you recalibrate the IMU. It should help.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

I'd recommend you recalibrate the IMU. It should help.

How would that help with the quality of the recorded video? I am genuinely curious.

As for the OP, have you considered lighting and exposure could be the issue here? Hard to tell from looking at just two screenshots but the later looks under exposed.

 

[Pablo]

I am not 100% sure but I've seen it recommended everywhere and have tried it myself and seen improvements in the footage. It's worth a shot right?

 

[dragonmaster]

First, looks like one is shot in HQ mode, and the other one in Full FOV mode. These affect sharpness. Also at f/2.8 you have shallow depth of field, be sure you have focus set properly. If you have switched to manual focus, it won't need to be much off, before the image goes soft... If you have AF on, be sure to set focus point a little bit from the aircraft, then lock it, see if that helps ..

 

[RonW]

Try setting your lens to infinity focus, where everything is in focus. I've set my C2 button to that setting on my M1P. Use 80% Peak Focus Threshold setting, which will show red outline of everything that is now in focus.
This may be your problem, your focus may have drifted over time.

 

[maxapeters]

Thanks for the reply’s everyone. After doing some messing around, I think the problem was that my export settings had an extremely low bitrate. I’m super new to video and still trying to learn everything. I appreciate all the help.

 

[WithTheBirds]

I am not 100% sure but I've seen it recommended everywhere and have tried it myself and seen improvements in the footage. It's worth a shot right?

Could you perhaps direct us to one of the sources for this recommendation- preferably on that includes reasons for the claim that perceived video quality might be improved by IMU calibration? The amount of times something is said and the number of places it is repeated doesn’t always mean it is true.

 

[Midge001]

Thanks for the reply’s everyone. After doing some messing around, I think the problem was that my export settings had an extremely low bitrate. I’m super new to video and still trying to learn everything. I appreciate all the help.

That sounds like it could be the culprit.

There are so, so many variables that could have changed the image though, unfortunately. With video there is a lot to consider, constantly.

Looks like a nice grab though, really lovely.

 

[RonW]

Thanks for the reply’s everyone. After doing some messing around, I think the problem was that my export settings had an extremely low bitrate. I’m super new to video and still trying to learn everything. I appreciate all the help.

Re the Resolve settings, I have mine set to max bitrate of 60000 in the export video section, which gives a great 4k result. I've set up a custom resolution to use 3840x2160, Nvidia encoding, and max 60000 Kb/s, Rate Control = VBR High Quality.
I also only record 4k at 30 (29.97)fps, and use D-Cinelike. To colour grade, I use some free LUTs for DJI Mavic. Not sure if I found them on this forum, or directly from web. They give excellent results. I use auto exposure and use the D-Cinelike Auto WB lut.
Have you set focus to hyperdistance as I suggested previously? This will get all in focus.
If you're using a Mavic Pro and VLM, set the FOV to 71degrees in Drone Type box.