Mavic 3 shutter lag

[cmguss]

I have a question for new Mavic 3 owners who shoot still images. I have a Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom and for anyone who shoots primarily still images like I do knows the shutter lag on these two gimbals is very pronounced and inconsistent from shot to shot, with the Pro being the worst. I shoot fast moving subjects and frequently frame them between two objects like two groves of trees. I have focus set to manual (to eliminate any delays from focusing) and the lens focused to infinity for every image and the lag is still different from shot to shot. It may be 30-50 feet on a subject moving 50-60mph, then 100 or so feet for the next image when the shutter is pressed at the same moment as the first. At this speed, either the composure is off with a early trigger, or the front of the subject has already moved behind the object on the left side of the frame.

Someone I know purchased the Air 2S and said the shutter is immediate and consistent, but I'm not really interested in that model. Can anyone tell me if the shutter lag issue has been resolved on the Mavic 3? For example, can you fly up along a fast moving road and shoot passing vehicles consistently in the same spot you choose each time?

Thanks!

 

[vindibona1]

I can't answer your question, but you bring up a very interesting thought. Why couldn't DJI program in a "multi-burst" mode for exactly what you're looking to do? A drone essentially is a flying camera, but it appears, rightly or wrongly, a lot of the attention DJI puts into their drones is video based. I could be wrong. But if not, why isn't there a burst mode?

 

[surfbird]

I would also know if the fpv-view freezes everytime you take a photo. Pretty annoying if you want to take action stills. You flying blind about 1sec for every photo.

 

[cmguss]

I can't answer your question, but you bring up a very interesting thought. Why couldn't DJI program in a "multi-burst" mode for exactly what you're looking to do? A drone essentially is a flying camera, but it appears, rightly or wrongly, a lot of the attention DJI puts into their drones is video based. I could be wrong. But if not, why isn't there a burst mode?

There is a burst mode, but its preset intervals of a group of images taken at a very rapid rate. I've tried this, but you essentially get a bunch of photos with almost no movement of the subject due to the rapid fire nature. Now, if you could set your own interval value between images, such as .25 seconds or .5 seconds, that would solve my problem.

I don't see why you can get real-time video streaming of your flight, but can't get the shutter to fire immediately when you push the button.

 

[Dave Maine]

You are not getting real time video playback from the flight. The downlink video as delayed as well. What you see on your screen is already behind what is actually taken place in the drone’s camera. When you see a frame you want, and click the shutter, it is too late, as the drone imagery is ahead of that point.

 

[maven4336]

I’m not a professional photographer but I do know what you’re saying I noticed the difference between my Mavic two pro and my phantom 4 pro, on moving objects or if my drone is moving at 25 mph or so my phantom comes out perfect every time this is just my thoughts I’m sure a real person in here that’s knowledged about photography will say I’m wrong but phantom 4 pro has a mechanical shutter compared to Mavic two pro which has an electronic shutter white I want somebody to explain is why can’t they use a mechanical shutter on the Mavic two pro instead of electronic shutter it just seems to work better on the phantom pictures are always very clear no matter how fast an object is moving if someone can’t explain why they didn’t use a mechanical shutter on the Mavic series?

 

[PHZ]

Probably because it costs more and their target market didn’t care enough. I shoot a lot of maps with the I 2 and X4S camera (mechanical shutter). For mapping, the mechanical shutter is far superior.

 

[Teef]

OP I know EXACTLY what you are referring to with the shutter lag with stills, and transmission blackout and share your frustration with the previous Mavic models. Hoping someone with hands on the M3 can answer your questions, as I am very interested as well. For me, it’s gotten to the point that if the stills lag issues haven’t been resolved, I’ll move on to experimenting with other brands which are rumored not to have the lag before returning the the Magic series.

 

[c.oberschneider]

I'll check that when I get to fly my M3 the next time. I'm shooting lots of skiing (backcountry, not racing) with my drones and have tried to convince DJI to implement a useful burst mode with user selectable intervals, but to no avail. Burst mode on the M3 will be implemented with the firmware update in January, so there's still hope they get it right this time...but I doubt it, to be honest.

 

[Teef]

I'll check that when I get to fly my M3 the next time. I'm shooting lots of skiing (backcountry, not racing) with my drones and have tried to convince DJI to implement a useful burst mode with user selectable intervals, but to no avail. Burst mode on the M3 will be implemented with the firmware update in January, so there's still hope they get it right this time...but I doubt it, to be honest.

Any luck on testing the shutter delay / blackout?

Your post reminded me about the lack of burst on the M3 - a bit mind boggling omission to me, but hopeful they will bring it out with a FW update as you suggest. Couldn't agree more on the need to make it user customizable - on the M2, 5 images shot at approx 20fps leaves very little variance between images. Would love to be able to change the fps rate to something more useful.

 

[Paradigm]

There is more lag. I don't know if it's software related or hardware related.

But, in auto, I can take photos with my M2P at a much faster rate than I can with my M3.

The delay between clicking the shutter button and the wait until I can take another photo with my M3 is noticeably longer. I'd like to note that this is a subjective feeling, but something I noticed right off the bat. 99% of my drone use is photography and I've been doing it since shortly after the M2P came out.

I will try to test things out and get more objective results, perhaps even with a stop watch.

I will say, that the photo taking experience is MUCH better with the M2P due the software (Fly app doesn't cut it) and the remote (not enough functionality).

The remote is such an issue that I think I will end up having to purchase the RC Pro. First I need to investigate if the photo shutter button has half press ability... I do dread not being able to use my iPad Mini, though, and having to charge the RC Pro a lot more than the standard remote.

 

[c.oberschneider]

Any luck on testing the shutter delay / blackout?

I only had the chance to do some mountain biking aerial photography last weekend, that was not really suitable for testing shutter delay. In the end I used the 2s time lapse mode to capture the action, and that worked quite well. Shutter blackout is still there, just like on the M2, so you have to fly blind for a few moments after each shot...

 

[Teef]

Thanks for the follow ups! Crazy to think that it's somehow more delayed, but I absolutely believe you. I imagine file sizes are bigger due to the bigger sensor but I would expect improvements in the processor to be able to clear the data to a faster memory card better than previous version.

I had heard the Fly app is terrible experience and limiting to how you can shoot.

If you end up doing more objective tests would love to hear how it went. I plan to be able to borrow a friends M3 in January to do some tests but was hoping to go into that shoot with my own M3, but with all these issues not sure I'm better off with deviating from my M2P workflow. For now looks like I'll work on maintaining my M2P and looking into other options than the M3.

Thank you guys!

 

[RocketBrew]

Most of my work these days is commercial construction progress, however, I went with the Cine model for other video work.

A benefit of the SSD on the photo side is the write speed. I shoot in 5-step AEB (tossing out the +7 & -7 in post) due to the deep shadows I regularly encounter on structures, especially at this time of year. The Phantom 4 Pro writing RAW to SD cards has a lag that slows getting a second safety shot or a reframed shot.

Witing the 5 JPEG+RAW photos to the SSD is almost instantaneous. This might relate to the lag you are asking about.

 

[c.oberschneider]

Now that sounds interesting! Could you do me a big favor and directly compare the write speeds to the SSD / SD on the M3C? I'll get the Cine anyway (have to send my M3 review unit back to DJI soon), but this may be one more good point to justify spending 5K.

 

[c.oberschneider]

I have good news! I just completed a rudimentary speed test to see how many frames per second the M3C can achieve. I used the good old stop watch method to compare the max fps the drone can write to either the SSD or the SD card. I used manual focus and manual exposure to rule out any external influences. Settings: f/2.8, 1/200s, ISO 800 (I'll redo the test with ISO 100 in broad daylight tomorrow).

Long story short:
SSD: 13 shots in 10 seconds using the on screen shutter 'button', 11-12 shots using the physical button. Shortest interval between shots was about 0.70s (repeatedly).
SD card: max 7 shots in 10 seconds either way.
Shutter lag: about 0.30s,
but that was inside a building with lots of Wi-Fi networks around, distance between controller and drone was about 1m. So this won't say anything about shutter lag in real life conditions with a few hundred meters of distance between controller and drone.
Another difference between SSD and SD card performance: the blackout after the shot is definitely shorter when using the SSD. That's quite obvious but worth mentioning nevertheless.

 

[JohnChap]

I have only recently acquired an M3 after 'losing' my MPP. With the MPP, I never noticed any 'freeze' time when taking a (raw) photo, and taking photos is all I do of fast moving boats with fast moving drone. The freeze of 1-2 secs after I take photos now with the M3 is a real problem. I don't want burst photos, I just want to be ready to take another pic immediately after taking one. I am using RAW+jpeg and have an Extreme Plus SD card.

 

[c.oberschneider]

I have only recently acquired an M3 after 'losing' my MPP. With the MPP, I never noticed any 'freeze' time when taking a (raw) photo, and taking photos is all I do of fast moving boats with fast moving drone. The freeze of 1-2 secs after I take photos now with the M3 is a real problem. I don't want burst photos, I just want to be ready to take another pic immediately after taking one. I am using RAW+jpeg and have an Extreme Plus SD card.

That's odd. Maybe try shooting RAW only and if that doesn't help, try a faster SD card.
I just tried again and I don't get that freeze on my M3C. The buffer clears a lot faster on the SSD vs the SD card (SanDisk Extreme Pro), but that 'freeze time' is no where near 2 seconds. JPEG+RAW maybe takes 0.3s longer to save than RAW only.

 

[JohnChap]

That's odd. Maybe try shooting RAW only and if that doesn't help, try a faster SD card.
I just tried again and I don't get that freeze on my M3C. The buffer clears a lot faster on the SSD vs the SD card (SanDisk Extreme Pro), but that 'freeze time' is no where near 2 seconds. JPEG+RAW maybe takes 0.3s longer to save than RAW only.

Ah thanks, I will try Raw only. I thought the '+ jpeg' was for the telephoto sensor as I read somewhere that it couldn't do Raw. I will have a look at my settings again. Is there an onboard SSD? If so what's its capacity and can one access it post flight?

 

[c.oberschneider]

Ah thanks, I will try Raw only. I thought the '+ jpeg' was for the telephoto sensor as I read somewhere that it couldn't do Raw. I will have a look at my settings again. Is there an onboard SSD? If so what's its capacity and can one access it post flight?

Yeah that's a bit misleading, the Tele lens will shoot in JPEG regardless of the main settings.
The SSD (1 TB capacity) is only available on the Mavic 3 Cine.