Photo Mode Aperture Issues Discovered- It's Not Good

[Wavicle]

Over on the DJI Forum in the Mavic 4 Pro section someone posted a question regarding shaking aperture blades in Photo Mode and at particular settings (thread title: Need Mavic 4 Pro owners to identify widespread hardware defect...). That led me to immediately test my M4P, which I purchased from an eBay seller out of Japan in late August. I live in the U.S. (so no warranty...). The manufacture date on the Mavic 4 Pro Creator Combo box shows July 2025.

It turns out my M4P exhibits the problem where the aperture blades do not close/stop-down and instead "quiver" while making a chattering sound. The settings to reproduce this are: ISO 6400, Shutter 1/15, Aperture f/11. From what I can tell the aperture settings are useless in Photo Mode as evidenced in the video linked below. However, in Video Mode the aperture appears to function as it should by fully opening at f/2 and closing to a small hole at f/11.

The interesting thing is that another forum member on the DJI Forum tried the test and his M4P does not experience this quivering/shaking aperture blade issue.

DJI Engineering is looking into this and it's possible a firmware update will help but if all M4P's do not fail like this then it could be a hardware failure for a number of units produced with the faulty camera module.

Does anyone else see this with their Mavic 4 Pro?

Here are videos I made following the request of the original post on DJI Forums and DJI staff helping to investigate the issue.

Photo Mode Test

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Video Mode Test

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Test Repeat With RC Screen Recording

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[aerialscapes]

The aperture closes only when taking a photo.

The stuttering is strange, mine is on an older firmware and doesn't do that so I can't tell you if it is hardware or software, but I won't be upgrading to test it out. I don't have ISO 6400 available in photo mode on my firmware.

In video mode mine has the same slow jerky closing of the aperture. It could be the way it was designed is preset moves to each aperture, so going from one extreme to the other gives that the jerky movement as it goes though each to get to 11. The slowness may also be for a slower change in the exposure during filming for those in auto mode.

 

[Meta4]

The settings to reproduce this are: ISO 6400, Shutter 1/15, Aperture f/11.

I can't think of a scenario where you would ever use those settings.

 

[DoomMeister]

The aperture closes only when taking a photo.

@Wavicle, does the iris close to the f11 setting when the shutter is tripped when in Photo mode?

Another question is do mirrorless cameras keep the iris wide open like a DSLR with a mirror during composition or do they close down if the light is strong enough to damage the sensor?

 

[agiorgitis]

I can't think of a scenario where you would ever use those settings.

That's another question, not belonging to this thread

 

[Meta4]

That's another question, not belonging to this thread

It's the most unlikely combination of exposure settings, one that no-one is ever going to use intentionally.
Of course it belongs in this thread.

 

[Wavicle]

@Wavicle, does the iris close to the f11 setting when the shutter is tripped when in Photo mode?

Another question is do mirrorless cameras keep the iris wide open like a DSLR with a mirror during composition or do they close down if the light is strong enough to damage the sensor?

Yes, I can confirm the aperture closes/opens to the commanded setting instantly when you tap/click the photo button. So this works the same as a digital SLR camera except there is an electronic "shutter" as opposed to the mechanical one. I guess that makes chimping the only way to know if you got the depth of field and exposure you were going for.

 

[Wavicle]

It's the most unlikely combination of exposure settings, one that no-one is ever going to use intentionally.
Of course it belongs in this thread.

I agree it's a good point we could discuss here.

I have to think that if I am pushing the ISO up to 6400 (or Auto ISO does it) and with such a slow shutter speed of 1/15 that I would have the aperture opened up to allow more light on the sensor to minimize motion blur.

Settings like that may be possible during golden hour or blue hour flights but even at that an f/8 or f/10 aperture would be sufficient to get depth of focus for a city skyline or landscape that is hundreds of feet away and f/11 is not needed.

In full sun or bright daylight you may use f/11 to cut the illumination on the sensor but then ISO will be in the 100 range and shutter speeds will certainly be far faster than 1/15 to minimize blow-out.

So this may be parameter settings that DJI did not test for and it's causing the focus or exposure calculations to fight with the aperture setting. There are several pilots on the DJI Forum that conducted the test and their M4P does not exhibit the quivering aperture blades.

 

[Johnmcl7]

@Wavicle, does the iris close to the f11 setting when the shutter is tripped when in Photo mode?

Another question is do mirrorless cameras keep the iris wide open like a DSLR with a mirror during composition or do they close down if the light is strong enough to damage the sensor?

It varies depending on the camera and settings, from what I remember Sony FE-mount cameras will have the aperture open until a photo is taken in standard autofocus but will keep the aperture closed down in constant autofocus. On Nikon Z-mount, I think it keeps the aperture open on Z-mount lenses but it closes it before the photo on F-mount lenses until a recent update gave the option to change it.

Ideally you want to keep the aperture open when not taking the photo itself because it helps with the AF and exposure systems as well as the live preview to get as much light as possible. The cameras do have DoF preview which will close the blades down to check the depth of field, I don't know if the Mavic 4 has something similar but with the smaller 4/3 sensor and generally large distance to subject the DoF is usually huge.

 

[Wavicle]

It varies depending on the camera and settings, from what I remember Sony FE-mount cameras will have the aperture open until a photo is taken in standard autofocus but will keep the aperture closed down in constant autofocus. On Nikon Z-mount, I think it keeps the aperture open on Z-mount lenses but it closes it before the photo on F-mount lenses until a recent update gave the option to change it.

Ideally you want to keep the aperture open when not taking the photo itself because it helps with the AF and exposure systems as well as the live preview to get as much light as possible. The cameras do have DoF preview which will close the blades down to check the depth of field, I don't know if the Mavic 4 has something similar but with the smaller 4/3 sensor and generally large distance to subject the DoF is usually huge.

Well said- and thanks for the additional information.

Unless this issue leads to accelerated failure of the mechanical aperture, then it's nothing to worry about in most all photography situations. We will see if DJI comes back with anything after they study it.

 

[MS Coast]

For what it's worth, I checked those settings (1/15, f11, 6400) on my Mavic 4 Pro this morning. The camera performs as it should, closing the aperture instantly when the shutter release is pressed, and then reopening it. Same for other aperture settings.

Of course, the photos were grossly overexposed on a sunny day. I still can't imagine any set of circumstances where it would be desirable to use those settings.

EDIT: Latest firmware and Fly App revisions installed.

 

[YorksPhotos]

I checked 2 of my Macic 4 Pro's and neither exhibit this behavior at those settings. I am at latest firmware, .0500 on controller and M4P with latest Fly app.

 

[MS Coast]

@Wavicle, what revisions do you have installed for the Fly App and firmwares? Perhaps the issue was resolved by an update you haven't installed.