Mavic 2 Zoom Autofocus Issue

[harrisonmg]

Hi,
I'm seeing some threads about focus problems on the pro, but nothing about the zoom. Since the beginning, every 24mm wide photo I've taken has been good, but once you zoom in any amount the image doesn't focus and you have to try manually (which sucks on DJIs app).

I contacted DJI and then sent my drone in. They said there must be a hardware problem based off the images I sent them. Then they sent the drone back and said nothing was wrong.

Now I'm about to go on a trip Thursday. Wondering if anyone has advice or similar situations? This is really annoying, regretting not just cashing out on the Pro. Would love to put my zoom to use but have had 6 months wasted because the zoom function doesn't work.

Thanks!
Harrison

 

[Dakarenduro]

Interesting. I was just going to post a similar question.

My M2Z autofocuses great at 24mm. When you zoom in it gets fuzzy and you need to click on the screen to get it to refocus at the zoomed in level. It focuses no problem. But is there a way to get it to refocus automatically during zoom?

 

[harrisonmg]

Are you saying, when you zoom in at all and you click the focus button on the remote, it doesn't focus, but you can tap the screen instead? That's strange! My issue occurs no matter what I do--press the button, tap the screen. Once in a while it would get it right, but that is very once in a while. I just can't believe DJI said there's nothing wrong.

 

[DanMan32]

There's no dedicated focus button on the remote but the programmable buttons C1/2, 5P can be set to trigger focus. Can't recall the defaults.
Note too that if the app crashes, restarted, or loses connection to RC mid-flight, the programmable buttons may stop working. They're really macro buttons telling the app what to do rather than direct control of the RC/AC.

Many cameras get more sensitive about the focus when you zoom in.

 

[harrisonmg]

Half-depressing the shutter button focuses, like you would find on a DSLR.

 

[Dakarenduro]

i understand you can refocus by doing different things (half pressing shutter button, taping screen, etc) but I guess my question is more of - is there a way to have the Mavic refocus automatically once you have zoomed in to the subject?

simulating the function of a DSLR (half press to refocus before you take the snapshot) is not really helpful when you are video recording. Most video cameras with a zoom will constantly refocus/adjust focus as you settle on a new subject.

 

[harrisonmg]

i understand you can refocus by doing different things (half pressing shutter button, taping screen, etc) but I guess my question is more of - is there a way to have the Mavic refocus automatically once you have zoomed in to the subject?

simulating the function of a DSLR (half press to refocus before you take the snapshot) is not really helpful when you are video recording. Most video cameras with a zoom will constantly refocus/adjust focus as you settle on a new subject.

Oh yeah just turn on AFC in camera settings. Hope that helps.

 

[Dakarenduro]

thank you, will double check. i believe it is already on AFC.

 

[AlienDrone]

Hi,
I'm seeing some threads about focus problems on the pro, but nothing about the zoom. Since the beginning, every 24mm wide photo I've taken has been good, but once you zoom in any amount the image doesn't focus and you have to try manually (which sucks on DJIs app).

I contacted DJI and then sent my drone in. They said there must be a hardware problem based off the images I sent them. Then they sent the drone back and said nothing was wrong.

Now I'm about to go on a trip Thursday. Wondering if anyone has advice or similar situations? This is really annoying, regretting not just cashing out on the Pro. Would love to put my zoom to use but have had 6 months wasted because the zoom function doesn't work. View attachment 88180

Thanks!
Harrison

I just noticed a focus issue as well. i bought my Zoom back in August. I started documenting a construction site and every thing looked fine. This site is mostly opened plowed ground at this point without many hard straight edges to focus on. However, there are tractors and equipment on the site which are relatively small to the over all large scene. A couple of weeks ago I photographed the site again. i took about 10 exposures at 24 mm. Not one of them was in focus. I was at another site yesterday of similar description. Same results. The focus seems to work fine on subjects that have clean edges such as building frames,etc. My images are worse than this example that you provided. I will send images in my next reply.

 

[DanMan32]

Best practice is to not have AFC on, but have AF on. Then after takeoff, set your focus either by clicking on the screen for spot focus, or use a custom button set for focus. Most of the time near infinity will cover everything. The problem is that on the ground at takeoff, it may focus too close up on something near it on the ground, like grass leaves.

 

[AlienDrone]

Best practice is to not have AFC on, but have AF on. Then after takeoff, set your focus either by clicking on the screen for spot focus, or use a custom button set for focus. Most of the time near infinity will cover everything. The problem is that on the ground at takeoff, it may focus too close up on something near it on the ground, like grass leaves.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not familiar with AFC, will check my manual. I'm including an example of a recent subject. This scene is similar to another one where I first noticed the issue. I took about 8 images at this location and all looked like this. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think I did depress the shutter part way to pre-focus for these. I realize that much of this image area is very low in good details on which to focus, but I'm expecting better performance than this. I have yet to do video in such an area, how well will it focus then?

 

[bonmot]

I always hear the controller beeps with a green square focusing on part of the screen. Is this “auto focusing”?
And for an angled view how does the software know where to focus?

 

[Dakarenduro]

You can force the focus on any part of the screen you desire by pressing the screen at that point. It will focus, display the green square and beep.

 

[DanMan32]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not familiar with AFC, will check my manual. I'm including an example of a recent subject. This scene is similar to another one where I first noticed the issue. I took about 8 images at this location and all looked like this. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think I did depress the shutter part way to pre-focus for these. I realize that much of this image area is very low in good details on which to focus, but I'm expecting better performance than this. I have yet to do video in such an area, View attachment 92086how well will it focus then?

That doesn't look bad to me. But then I'm viewing from my phone.
The trucks should provide enough contrast to focus on.

There's a feature you can turn on to show the sharpness with red outline. I find the red outline annoying, but it is helpful. The more red, the Sharper it is.

Speaking of sharpness, make sure you don't have sharpness set too low in the image profile setting.

 

[AlienDrone]

That doesn't look bad to me. But then I'm viewing from my phone.
The trucks should provide enough contrast to focus on.

There's a feature you can turn on to show the sharpness with red outline. I find the red outline annoying, but it is helpful. The more red, the Sharper it is.

Speaking of sharpness, make sure you don't have sharpness set too low in the image profile setting.

Thank you for your reply! I revisited my owners manual. Someone had mentioned the AFC mode which I wasn't sure what it was. I see it represents Auto Focus Continuous. It seems I remember enabling that feature when i first set the drone up. I'm going to disable it and see it that makes a difference. I did see the red outline mode described and i intend to experiment with that feature as well. The weather here has been lousy, but I intend to test these mode changes and i will post the results.

 

[Crashbandicot]

I had similar problem. Sometimes I got blurry footage only in the right side of the images, sometimes 100% fuzzy but suddenly focused, pano pictures not well assembled, ...
Many tests in differents light conditions and dates but always some footgage or pictures were out of focus.
Finally I decided to send to DJI for repair and they will replace the camera for free.

 

[harrisonmg]

I have only tried one flight, but after sending my drone in twice (the first time they said there was nothing wrong), the issue seems to have been fixed. (Will update if not). Interestingly enough, the invoice says they replaced the camera but as far as I can tell they replaced everything but the camera! It came with all the stickers and without a scratch that was on it before. But there is a little mark on the camera enclosure that I could swear was there before. So strange! Maybe it had nothing to do with the camera, or maybe I'm just crazy.

 

[AlienDrone]

I had similar problem. Sometimes I got blurry footage only in the right side of the images, sometimes 100% fuzzy but suddenly focused, pano pictures not well assembled, ...
Many tests in differents light conditions and dates but always some footgage or pictures were out of focus.
Finally I decided to send to DJI for repair and they will replace the camera for free.

There's no dedicated focus button on the remote but the programmable buttons C1/2, 5P can be set to trigger focus. Can't recall the defaults.
Note too that if the app crashes, restarted, or loses connection to RC mid-flight, the programmable buttons may stop working. They're really macro buttons telling the app what to do rather than direct control of the RC/AC.

Many cameras get more sensitive about the focus when you zoom in.

Yes, it's my understanding that a "half depress" of the shutter button does refocus the camera. There is a conformation beep, then I press the shutter to make the exposure. This feature had stopped working and many of my photos were out of focus. Resetting the camera restored the function.

 

[AlienDrone]

I have only tried one flight, but after sending my drone in twice (the first time they said there was nothing wrong), the issue seems to have been fixed. (Will update if not). Interestingly enough, the invoice says they replaced the camera but as far as I can tell they replaced everything but the camera! It came with all the stickers and without a scratch that was on it before. But there is a little mark on the camera enclosure that I could swear was there before. So strange! Maybe it had nothing to do with the camera, or maybe I'm just crazy.

Please give us an update after more test.