Mavic 3 woes

[Filmarik]

I mentioned in my other thread issues I had with mismatching S/N on my M3Cine. It caused me all sort of dramas with registration and insurance but than on top of these dramas I found out what bothered me much more. My main camera had blurry region in the image in the left half of the frame and one bottom corner looked like having terrible motion blur. So, I decided to return it, claiming unsatisfactory IQ. It was accepted by my local supplier, and I was kindly provided with a brand new replacement M3Cine Premium Combo box. All SN were this time matching, a good new start, I thought to myself. I unpacked the new drone and started to update to the latest FW via WiFi, following the prompts. But despite having fast home WiFi network the pace was painfully slow and the download speed went to 0 b/s, the bar showing progress stopped moving. After numerous attempts and about 1hour of trying I went to my laptop and tried Assistant 2. The aircraft FW to .0800 went nice and fast but then I connected RCPro and the pace was again painfully slow. The download of FW .0900 took over one hour!!! Anyway, it was close to midnight, so I thought I had enough excitenent for one day. I took my new Mavic out early next morning to the nearby park and took a few test DNG still shots at all apertures, as I always do to mainly test the lens, top down shots of grass from about 5 meters, distant shots etc etc. The drone performed flawlessly in the air. I even managed first hand launch and first hand catching landing. Run home, downloaded, opened in LR and examined. To my astonishement this time the top left corner was blurry as hell at all apertures and top right corner to lesser extent also much worse than the two bottom corners which were not great but acceptable. The blurred top left corner area extended far enough to be pretty obvious on 3:2 crop and still noticeable on 16:9 crop!! I thought to myself this can not be right!!! That I was disappointed is a massive understatement!! Am I just one very unlucky customer, I asked myself?? Then I re-visited some of the samples kindly provided to me by some of the readers of this forum, and upon closer examination of those I noticed similar issues in those samples! Blurry area like motion blurr double image kind of effect in left side region of the frame, badly blurry top left corner area etc etc.
I am begining to ask myself if the really good ones, such as M3TEST posted samples from his and KN-6 now has (his third by the way...) are rare and perhaps even in minority whereas those with minor or even serious optical flaws in majority??
I am currently anxiously awaiting my third Mavic3Cine replacement drone but I am really worried if I am going to get a good one or another one plagued with IQ issues.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It will be worth the trouble, if you do finally now get a good one. Maybe try a non-Cine version one for comparison. The IQ problems you are seeing may be unique to the current stock of Cine version cameras/lenses! The cameras should be interchangeable, so if you get a good one on a non-Cine version, you can swap the cameras, if you really need the SSD Cine version body.

 

[Filmarik]

It will be worth the trouble, if you do finally now get a good one. Maybe try a non-Cine version one for comparison. The IQ problems you are seeing may be unique to the current stock of Cine version cameras/lenses! The cameras should be interchangeable, so if you get a good one on a non-Cine version, you can swap the cameras, if you really need the SSD Cine version body.

I hope that you are right that it is only the current batch of bad ones. But it is pathetic nevertheless that DJI has such a poor QC, churning these drones out seemingly without subjecting the camera to any form of lens testing. Anyway, I advised my supplier that I do not really care if it is Cine or not, as long as it does not suffer from these IQ issues. I do want the RC Pro controller though, and I am not sure if it comes with any another bundle.
I know that the Mavic 3 is worth it, that is why I am so determined to get a GOOD ONE. After all I have DNG samples from other owners to prove what this drone is capable of. In fact I've sent the high resolution JPEGs from those DNG files processed in LR to my supplier. I asked them to use these photos as reference or an IQ benchmark when sourcing my Mavic 3. I really hope the third one I get from them will be a good one.

 

[akdrone]

Agreed with questionable QC. I returned a Mav3 with a controller because the gimble failed to react and DJI asked me to send both the drone and controller back. They returned a new aircraft with the old controller. Of course the problem was the controller AND the drone’s micro USB slot was a failure. Both went back and the replacements are fine but a two minute check of the gimble with the new drone would have shown the problem. Following that the sent me a Mini 3Pro in the wrong packaging for AK and it was sent back before it ever got to me. Color me not impressed.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Agreed with questionable QC. I returned a Mav3 with a controller because the gimble failed to react and DJI asked me to send both the drone and controller back. They returned a new aircraft with the old controller. Of course the problem was the controller AND the drone’s micro USB slot was a failure. Both went back and the replacements are fine but a two minute check of the gimble with the new drone would have shown the problem. Following that the sent me a Mini 3Pro in the wrong packaging for AK and it was sent back before it ever got to me. Color me not impressed.

The end user is the final QC. It's always been that way. They can only randomly spot check the final products for anything other than obvious defects. To do otherwise would substantially increase prices with no ROI on the additional cost.

 

[Filmarik]

The end user is the final QC. It's always been that way. They can only randomly spot check the final products for anything other than obvious defects. To do otherwise would substantially increase prices with no ROI on the additional cost.

Ok. I believe this is fully automated production line and human factor plays minimal role. As such there should not be such a huge variation in IQ, as we experience. I do not know what is causing the sharpness degradation but in any case the lens should be properly assembled and properly centered over the sensor to start with in which case we should get consistent IQ. I get it that a small size lens in front of a relatively large sensor is always going to be questionable but I've seen great photos from corner to corner from this camera. So how is it possible that some of these cameras have such a poor IQ and some are pretty decent? I guess only DJI would know...

 

[GadgetGuy]

Ok. I believe this is fully automated production line and human factor plays minimal role. As such there should not be such a huge variation in IQ, as we experience. I do not know what is causing the sharpness degradation but in any case the lens should be properly assembled and properly centered over the sensor to start with in which case we should get consistent IQ. I get it that a small size lens in front of a relatively large sensor is always going to be questionable but I've seen great photos from corner to corner from this camera. So how is it possible that some of these cameras have such a poor IQ and some are pretty decent? I guess only DJI would know...

I doubt that DJI makes their own camera lenses. As such, they may be pulling from different suppliers to whom they outsource that manufacturing. Even Nikon, Canon, and Sony have variability in the quality of their most expensive lenses, which are supposed to be within certain tolerances. Some end users are more discerning than others, and will return lenses until they get one that is sharper than the rest. I hope you can get one that meets your needs.

 

[Filmarik]

I doubt that DJI makes their own camera lenses. As such, they may be pulling from different suppliers to whom they outsource that manufacturing. Even Nikon, Canon, and Sony have variability in the quality of their most expensive lenses, which are supposed to be within certain tolerances. Some end users are more discerning than others, and will return lenses until they get one that is sharper than the rest. I hope you can get one that meets your needs.

You could be right about the lenses. Third time lucky would certainly be a good outcome. We shall see...

 

[Filmarik]

You could be right about the lenses. Third time lucky would certainly be a good outcome. We shall see...

After reading more threads about the image softness issues and getting two pretty bad ones myself, I have to admit that my confidence has been severly dented. At the moment I feel more like playing a Russian rulette than being confident of getting a good one. It should not be like this.

 

[GadgetGuy]

After reading more threads about the image softness issues and getting two pretty bad ones myself, I have to admit that my confidence has been severly dented. At the moment I feel more like playing a Russian rulette than being confident of getting a good one. It should not be like this.

When that happens, you have to start asking yourself what you could be doing that is contributing to the problem. Clearly, not everyone is having the exact same issue. What is different about the others, that are not experiencing the problem? It may be that you are buying all your units from the same supplier who has a warehouse of bad inventory from the same bad shipment. It may be a difference in the Cine cameras vs. the non-Cine cameras.

It may even be unique settings that you are using that no one else uses that create the problem. I, myself, had a somewhat similar situation when the P4P came out. I was shooting video in 4K@60fps and experiencing glitches in every video. I went through almost a dozen P4P's with the exact same issue. Everyone else using 4K@60fps claimed no problem. Turns out that there were two 4K settings, 4096 x 2160 and 3840 x 2160. I was using 4096 and everyone else was using 3840. As soon as I switched to 3840, the all glitches went away. 4096@60fps exceeded the processing power of the CPU on the new 1” sensor! Had a similar problem with the lousy range on the dual band RC, the first to offer both 5.8Ghz and 2.4Ghz. I set it to auto 2.4 Ghz, as that was always previously deemed best for long range everywhere. Only one guy in claimed no range issues. Turns out he was using auto 5.8Ghz in urban areas. Switched to that myself and suddenly got excellent range. Crowd sourcing support issues on this forum works!

Keep trying. It's worth it!

 

[Filmarik]

When that happens, you have to start asking yourself what you could be doing that is contributing to the problem. Clearly, not everyone is having the exact same issue. What is different about the others, that are not experiencing the problem? It may be that you are buying all your units from the same supplier who has a warehouse of bad inventory from the same bad shipment. It may be a difference in the Cine cameras vs. the non-Cine cameras.

It may even be unique settings that you are using that no one else uses that create the problem. I, myself, had a somewhat similar situation when the P4P came out. I was shooting video in 4K@60fps and experiencing glitches in every video. I went through almost a dozen P4P's with the exact same issue. Everyone else using 4K@60fps claimed no problem. Turns out that there were two 4K settings, 4096 x 2160 and 3840 x 2160. I was using 4096 and everyone else was using 3840. As soon as I switched to 3840, the all glitches went away. 4096@60fps exceeded the processing power of the CPU on the new 1” sensor! Had a similar problem with the lousy range on the dual band RC, the first to offer both 5.8Ghz and 2.4Ghz. I set it to auto 2.4 Ghz, as that was always previously deemed best for long range everywhere. Only one guy in claimed no range issues. Turns out he was using auto 5.8Ghz in urban areas. Switched to that myself and suddenly got excellent range. Crowd sourcing support issues on this forum works!

Keep trying. It's worth it!

Thank you for your advice. In my case unfortunatelly there is not much I can change from my end. The second M3 Cine I got was from the new just arrived shipment from DJI, according to my supplier. The SN was very different from the previous one. If the SNs have system of combination of ascending alfabets and digits it looks like the second one was from much later production date than the first one. Now, your point about Cine vs. non Cine could have same merit and it is certainly worth investigating. I will try to convince my supplier to get me non Cine this time round. I actually already suggested that to them, so I try to insist on that. Problem is that non Cine do not come with RCPro as bundle, and I do want the RCPro controller. So, that presents yet another problem... As for the settings there is not much there I can change which could contribute to the poor IQ. I took the sample still shots under good light at all apertures and the problem was there all the way from f2.8 to f11. Obviously from about f6.1 up the diffraction starts to affect the overall sharpness, so the soft corner issue kind of blends in with rest of the frame at higher f stops

 

[dfross]

I hope that you are right that it is only the current batch of bad ones. But it is pathetic nevertheless that DJI has such a poor QC, churning these drones out seemingly without subjecting the camera to any form of lens testing. Anyway, I advised my supplier that I do not really care if it is Cine or not, as long as it does not suffer from these IQ issues. I do want the RC Pro controller though, and I am not sure if it comes with any another bundle.
I know that the Mavic 3 is worth it, that is why I am so determined to get a GOOD ONE. After all I have DNG samples from other owners to prove what this drone is capable of. In fact I've sent the high resolution JPEGs from those DNG files processed in LR to my supplier. I asked them to use these photos as reference or an IQ benchmark when sourcing my Mavic 3. I really hope the third one I get from them will be a good one.

I own the base model Mavic 3 (non-Cine) for a year now. For what it’s worth, never had a problem, crystal-clear focus in the corners. Solid performer in all respects, optical and avionics.

 

[eigenflight]

I mentioned in my other thread issues I had with mismatching S/N on my M3Cine. It caused me all sort of dramas with registration and insurance but than on top of these dramas I found out what bothered me much more. My main camera had blurry region in the image in the left half of the frame and one bottom corner looked like having terrible motion blur. So, I decided to return it, claiming unsatisfactory IQ. It was accepted by my local supplier, and I was kindly provided with a brand new replacement M3Cine Premium Combo box. All SN were this time matching, a good new start, I thought to myself. I unpacked the new drone and started to update to the latest FW via WiFi, following the prompts. But despite having fast home WiFi network the pace was painfully slow and the download speed went to 0 b/s, the bar showing progress stopped moving. After numerous attempts and about 1hour of trying I went to my laptop and tried Assistant 2. The aircraft FW to .0800 went nice and fast but then I connected RCPro and the pace was again painfully slow. The download of FW .0900 took over one hour!!! Anyway, it was close to midnight, so I thought I had enough excitenent for one day. I took my new Mavic out early next morning to the nearby park and took a few test DNG still shots at all apertures, as I always do to mainly test the lens, top down shots of grass from about 5 meters, distant shots etc etc. The drone performed flawlessly in the air. I even managed first hand launch and first hand catching landing. Run home, downloaded, opened in LR and examined. To my astonishement this time the top left corner was blurry as hell at all apertures and top right corner to lesser extent also much worse than the two bottom corners which were not great but acceptable. The blurred top left corner area extended far enough to be pretty obvious on 3:2 crop and still noticeable on 16:9 crop!! I thought to myself this can not be right!!! That I was disappointed is a massive understatement!! Am I just one very unlucky customer, I asked myself?? Then I re-visited some of the samples kindly provided to me by some of the readers of this forum, and upon closer examination of those I noticed similar issues in those samples! Blurry area like motion blurr double image kind of effect in left side region of the frame, badly blurry top left corner area etc etc.
I am begining to ask myself if the really good ones, such as M3TEST posted samples from his and KN-6 now has (his third by the way...) are rare and perhaps even in minority whereas those with minor or even serious optical flaws in majority??
I am currently anxiously awaiting my third Mavic3Cine replacement drone but I am really worried if I am going to get a good one or another one plagued with IQ issues.

Wow- that;s pretty dissappointing. I got mine a few weeks ago and have not had any trouble. Once you get this issue straightened out, you will love this drone. The Mavic 3 Cline is absolutely amazing (when it works right anyway.) I could not be more impressed with it!

 

[Filmarik]

Wow- that;s pretty dissappointing. I got mine a few weeks ago and have not had any trouble. Once you get this issue straightened out, you will love this drone. The Mavic 3 Cline is absolutely amazing (when it works right anyway.) I could not be more impressed with it!

Good to hear that yours works fine.I have been impressed by this drone and the RCPro controller. I think it is a great product but it is also pretty disappointing when the IQ is poor, blurred corners and edges or a soft region in the frame. From all the replies here it looks like there are some really good ones out there and some with serious IQ issues. So far the two Cine I got both suffered from poor IQ. I will push my supplier to get me the non Cine this time round to see if it will be optically good. TBH I do not really care about the ProRes or internal SSD.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Good to hear that yours works fine.I have been impressed by this drone and the RCPro controller. I think it is a great product but it is also pretty disappointing when the IQ is poor, blurred corners and edges or a soft region in the frame. From all the replies here it looks like there are some really good ones out there and some with serious IQ issues. So far the two Cine I got both suffered from poor IQ. I will push my supplier to get me the non Cine this time round to see if it will be optically good. TBH I do not really care about the ProRes or internal SSD.

The RC Pro is sold separately for $1200 so no need to buy the Cine version at an extra $1150 for an SSD and ProRes license and a bag you'll never use, when the regular M3 is now $2150. Batteries are roughly $200 each and the hub is $80.

 

[KS-6]

Aside from my posts in the Mini 3 category, I have had months of banter on this site regarding the Mavic 3. I wanted it for all the right reasons but I also knew the main camera had to be in spec in order for my post processing tools to be effective and therefore, the deliverables on point.

If you go back through my posts, I was and still am steadfast in my expectations of this hardware. I am still jet lagged but starting to go through 18 days worth of work in Iceland and I will say that being 100% insistent on getting a solid performing camera on the Mavic 3 is fully justified, the resulting images are spectacular. I was able to work freely to be creative and not have to worry about under performing hardware on an expensive trip.

It's not being at all too critical or picky to get a properly centered lens on this thing, but you have to insist.

I did and I came out exactly where I needed to be with it.

 

[Filmarik]

Aside from my posts in the Mini 3 category, I have had months of banter on this site regarding the Mavic 3. I wanted it for all the right reasons but I also knew the main camera had to be in spec in order for my post processing tools to be effective and therefore, the deliverables on point.

If you go back through my posts, I was and still am steadfast in my expectations of this hardware. I am still jet lagged but starting to go through 18 days worth of work in Iceland and I will say that being 100% insistent on getting a solid performing camera on the Mavic 3 is fully justified, the resulting images are spectacular. I was able to work freely to be creative and not have to worry about under performing hardware on an expensive trip.

It's not being at all too critical or picky to get a properly centered lens on this thing, but you have to insist.

I did and I came out exactly where I needed to be with it.

Thank you for your supportive words. I am glad to hear that your M3 performed well on your Iceland trip.
As you, I have been convinced that my expectations were not unreasonable. All I want is a M3 with a camera on par with yours and the one M3TEST has got. Then I can concentrate on my creative photography and video work instead of being constantly distracted by thoughts about the IQ issues. I simply can not operate with such thoughts occupying my mind.
Anyway, I have received a good news from my supplier today. They are sending me a brand new M3, non Cine version. I hope it will be the third time lucky charm for me..

 

[Filmarik]

Thank you for your supportive words. I am glad to hear that your M3 performed well on your Iceland trip.
As you, I have been convinced that my expectations were not unreasonable. All I want is a M3 with a camera on par with yours and the one M3TEST has got. Then I can concentrate on my creative photography and video work instead of being constantly distracted by thoughts about the IQ issues. I simply can not operate with such thoughts occupying my mind.
Anyway, I have received a good news from my supplier today. They are sending me a brand new M3, non Cine version. I hope it will be the third time lucky charm for me..

Update
Third Mavic 3 non Cine version.
Main camera:
The bottom corners are still not optimal and a fair bit more blurry than top corners, and there is also a slightly blurry small region, this time in uper right area of the frame. It is only minor issue though especially when compared to the first Mavic 3 Cine I got which had larger and pretty badly blurred region in bottom left area of the frame.
Tele camera:
Surprisingly sharp across the entire frame sans bottom left corner area which is unfortunatelly not that good.
I am going to keep this one for a time being. It is not perfect but it is the best out of the three I've tried. I am heading for a trip and do not want to go without a drone. Might ask DJI to look at it when I come back home in a few weeks time.
IMHO:
The corner softness issues is more of a problem in photographs which utilize the whole of the M43 sensor. Video, being 16:9 ratio crops off those questionable peripheral soft areas. Furthermore the lens corner softness is exacerbated by the "manufacturer lens profile" which digitally stretches the corners by pulling them out to correct the lens' inherent optical barrel distortion.
The odds of getting a good Mavic 3 with both cameras performing optimally are pretty long, if you ask me. If you do have a good one with all corners equally sharp on both cameras you should be counting your lucky stars.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Update
Third Mavic 3 non Cine version.
Main camera:
The bottom corners are still not optimal and a fair bit more blurry than top corners, and there is also a slightly blurry small region, this time in uper right area of the frame. It is only minor issue though especially when compared to the first Mavic 3 Cine I got which had larger and pretty badly blurred region in bottom left area of the frame.
Tele camera:
Surprisingly harp across entire frame sans bottom left corner area which is unfortunatelly not that good.
I am going to keep this one for a time being. It is not perfect but it is the best out of the three I've tried. I am heading for a trip and do not want to go without a drone. Might ask DJI to look at it when I come back home in a few weeks time.
IMHO:
The corner softness issues is more of a problem for taking photographs when utilizing the full frame of the M43 sensor. Video being 16:9 ratio crops off those questionable peripheral soft areas. The corner softness is also exacerbated by the inherent barrel lens distortion of this tiny lens which is corrected by the build in "manufacturer lens profile" by pulling the corners away. The odds of getting a good Mavic 3 with both cameras performing well are pretty long, if you ask me. If you do have a good one with all corners equally sharp on both cameras you should be counting your lucky stars.

This lends support for the theory that the problems are less prevalent in the non-Cine versions.

 

[KS-6]

This lends support for the theory that the problems are less prevalent in the non-Cine versions.

Sort of, I got a good Cine on my third try.

I think the optical setup on this bird has probably been very problematic for DJI from a Q/C standpoint and that a lot of who bought it simply accept the flaws because they value other aspects of it too much to go through the hoop jumping of getting a good one, optically speaking. I also think the timing with COVID made Q/C tough for awhile.

When the single lens “Classic” comes out, I bet they really tout how good that camera is having gone back to the smaller image circle requirement of 1” vs 4/3 sensor.

All this said, I continue to be really happy with my well put together M3 Cine, so much so that I think it is time to sell my M2P.