Mavic Pro not focusing at all

[jimlips]

I recently bought a "new" Mavic Pro at an auction. It only has 17 flights on it. The battery was shot, but I have spares for my MPP, so I sued those, and it seemed to work fine. For 16 flights. I went to fly it today, and flight #16 was fine. Flight #17 was out of focus, even if I tap the screen. The green [ ] shows up on the screen like it is trying to focus, but it never does. I even tried switching to MF (manual focus), slid the bar up and down, and nothing changes. The drone has no crashes and never a rough landing. Just from one flight it worked, then the next, it doesn't! Any ideas/suggestions? I already tried powering it and the remote off/on and trying it again, but no luck. The gimbal works fine, but the focus appears to do nothing. Here are the last two videos: Focus Issue

 

[Cobra193]

My first MP2 did that out of the box. I was going crazy figuring out what I was doing wrong.I had a shoot coming up, so I tried firmware upgrade, googleing, different settings. It drove me crazy. I thought to myself ‘it cant be the drone, it’s brand new’.

Fortunately, I bought it at local Best Buy so was able to exchange it. Brought new one home, powered iron, and NO focus issues. I wasn’t happy, but at least I didn’t have to send it into DJI and have them send me back a USED MP2!

 

[lannes]

The camera might have taken a hit from the rocky ground where you landed, always try to use a landing pad.

 

[4wd]

Resetting the camera (from app) has been known to help poor focusing.
Replacing the camera and gimbal is feasible (try ebay) but not inconceivable something else is amiss.
Is it actually focussing very close like macro?

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

I recently bought a "new" Mavic Pro at an auction. It only has 17 flights on it. The battery was shot, but I have spares for my MPP, so I sued those, and it seemed to work fine. For 16 flights. I went to fly it today, and flight #16 was fine. Flight #17 was out of focus, even if I tap the screen. The green [ ] shows up on the screen like it is trying to focus, but it never does. I even tried switching to MF (manual focus), slid the bar up and down, and nothing changes. The drone has no crashes and never a rough landing. Just from one flight it worked, then the next, it doesn't! Any ideas/suggestions? I already tried powering it and the remote off/on and trying it again, but no luck. The gimbal works fine, but the focus appears to do nothing. Here are the last two videos: Focus Issue

I had exactly the same thing happen to my MPP. One flight it was just fine. The next boot a minute later, no more focus. It wasn’t the video image transmission cable; I had to change the lens barrel. I’ve messed with the bad one several times, even smacking it. It’s definitely gone. Since then, I’ve bought 4 more spare lenses and found that some are better than others. And they are getting hard to find for cheap.

 

[jimlips]

Resetting the camera (from app) has been known to help poor focusing.
Replacing the camera and gimbal is feasible (try ebay) but not inconceivable something else is amiss.
Is it actually focussing very close like macro?

Hi @4wd :

How do you reset the camera from the app?

Regarding where it is focusing, it doesn't appear to be focused anywhere. I tried holding my hand up to the lens, then moved all the way across the room, and it never came into focus. Very strange.

 

[Micky52]

Hi,
It happened to me a few times and the way I got it back to normal was by IMU & Compass and Gimbal calibrations multiple times.
And of course if still does not work, carefully reseat Cam cable at both ends.
I have 3 MP, and it happens to 2 of them once in a while.
Probably bumped Gimbal once in a while modifies some mechanical tolerances to be to marginal for proper operation.
Who knows!
Anyway, this works for me when need be so I hope this could help you.
Good luck.
Mick

 

[Davros007]

Check too that it’s not fog INSIDE the front lense. This can occur as you fly up into colder air etc.

 

[jimlips]

Check too that it’s not fog INSIDE the front lense. This can occur as you fly up into colder air etc.

Thanks - it wasn't, unfortunately. But that was something I had not thought about.

 

[Davros007]

Maybe needs a contact lens in its old age!

 

[Jason_M]

Thanks - it wasn't, unfortunately. But that was something I had not thought about.

Did you manage to fix this issue,... I have the same issue as your video. I've tried cleaning the lens, I re calibrated the IMU, calibrated visions sensors, reset camera settings and still blury. I tried to refocus by adjusting the AFC and MF settings, but everything is blury and out of focus still

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Did you manage to fix this issue,... I have the same issue as your video. I've tried cleaning the lens, I re calibrated the IMU, calibrated visions sensors, reset camera settings and still blury. I tried to refocus by adjusting the AFC and MF settings, but everything is blury and out of focus still

Based on my same experience months ago, your lens barrel is shot. I submit it cannot be fixed.

 

[lannes]

Did you manage to fix this issue,... I have the same issue as your video. I've tried cleaning the lens, I re calibrated the IMU, calibrated visions sensors, reset camera settings and still blury. I tried to refocus by adjusting the AFC and MF settings, but everything is blury and out of focus still

When you use AFC and then tap on the screen, does DJI Go4 "beep" when it finds the focus ?

 

[Jason_M]

Yes, when on AFC and tapping on different parts of screen it goes "beep"...when holding the camera button down it attempts to re focus also and beeps, but it dosen't change and the images are still blury/and out of focus. thank for your help also.

 

[jimlips]

I ended up finding a (used) replacement camera (including instructions on how to replace it) on YouTube. But I can't find the video now! The guy may have pulled his video because there are no longer any replacement cameras left.

 

[Jason_M]

thanks Jim, You're a good man..I think I'll try and find a replacement part and company to fit it.

 

[Jason_M]

Just in case anyone else has this issue and is searching I ended up sending the M2Z to a repairer, who concluded the solution was to have the lens replaced for $450 AUD..

 

[Alex Baxter]

Same problem here, and it's been like it for a few years. On mine, auto focus is blurry, but I can manually focus, although I have to scroll the focus to make it work, and in sunlight it's hard to tell if it's right I have to admit to using the focus issue as an excuse to buy a (slightly second-hand, one year old with few hours on the clock) Air 2, heck, I paid half what I paid for the Pro, and it's a better drone. My 5 year old P3P (blind Bessie, the camera card got fried during an update, a common problem, but it's still good for Litchi missions where gimbal and waypoints are preset) has got nearly 500km on it now, the Pro is also high mileage, but all OK other than the focus issue. Now its the P3P, Pro, Mini and Air 2. Mortgage is paid off and I'm still working, so I'm waiting for the Mavic 3, Knowing DJI, it'll be way better than the opposition (I see that as the Autel Evo 2)

 

[Exphantomflyer]

Same problem here, and it's been like it for a few years. On mine, auto focus is blurry, but I can manually focus, although I have to scroll the focus to make it work, and in sunlight it's hard to tell if it's right I have to admit to using the focus issue as an excuse to buy a (slightly second-hand, one year old with few hours on the clock) Air 2, heck, I paid half what I paid for the Pro, and it's a better drone. My 5 year old P3P (blind Bessie, the camera card got fried during an update, a common problem, but it's still good for Litchi missions where gimbal and waypoints are preset) has got nearly 500km on it now, the Pro is also high mileage, but all OK other than the focus issue. Now its the P3P, Pro, Mini and Air 2. Mortgage is paid off and I'm still working, so I'm waiting for the Mavic 3, Knowing DJI, it'll be way better than the opposition (I see that as the Autel Evo 2)

Blind Bessie can be fixed with a little bit of work

 

[Alex Baxter]

Blind Bessie can be fixed with a little bit of work

She can, but is she worth it. Maybe you can enlighten me on a bargain basement fix? I'd be delighted to be able to fix her!