Poor image quality

[pingaddict]

I see comments like this all the time, but I disagree.
Contrary to popular opinion you can also get great images shooting jpg.

It was not a popular opinion, but more an opinion based on facts. Some cameras can do great jpegs, yes, but DJI drones are set up a different way. Just compare jpeg converted dng to drone generated jpeg, it's day and night.

 

[pingaddict]

If jpegs are low quality that would be a no go for a good product. Why would DJI have a poorer jpeg machine in mik4p than mini2. Does not make sense to me. I am surprised about all the different controversial comments. Again , I will update u when I get the drone back.

M4P's cpu can shoot photos and save jpegs while recording 4K60p, transcoding to 1080p60p (for the remote) and flying the drone. Jpeg processing is the less important thing I guess. That's why you get low quality jpegs. In a dedicated camera, where the onboard CPU is fully dedicated to processing stills, you get excellent jpegs.

 

[erhard]

It's hard to tell what you are trying to say.

i think it is very simple. these days (and i have this in other products like olympus since 10 years or longer, oh and the mini2) i expect a camera to give me an excellent jpeg right out of the box. no need to work on raw in photoshop etc

 

[Droning on and on...]

The quality issues are linked to jpeg processing by the drone. I own a Mini 4 Pro and it delivers lame jpegs, but crazy good RAWs. DNG is the only way to go if you want sharp and rich images.

Not disputing what you're saying (or validating it). I will say again, however, that it is very reasonable to expect images taken with the M4P in auto, default settings should be better than the Mini3P, at the very least as good.

 

[Droning on and on...]

M4P's cpu can shoot photos and save jpegs while recording 4K60p,

How? Specifically, how do I snap a photo while recording 4K/60, and what are the pixel dimensions / resolution of the photo?

 

[erhard]

Not disputing what you're saying (or validating it). I will say again, however, that it is very reasonable to expect images taken with the M4P in auto, default settings should be better than the Mini3P, at the very least as good.

Right and much better than mini2

 

[Meta4]

It was not a popular opinion, but more an opinion based on facts.

It's a popular myth.

Some cameras can do great jpegs, yes, but DJI drones are set up a different way.

The DJI drones I've owned produce excellent jpg files.

Just compare jpeg converted dng to drone generated jpeg, it's day and night.

If that's the case, you should be easily able to tell me which images were shot as dng and which were jpg files here:

Shipping Photography Examples - Above & Beyond Photography

This gallery hosted by SmugMug; your photos look better here.

abovephotos.smugmug.com

M4P's cpu can shoot photos and save jpegs while recording 4K60p, transcoding to 1080p60p (for the remote) and flying the drone. Jpeg processing is the less important thing I guess. That's why you get low quality jpegs.

Your camera cannot capture still image files while shooting video.
It would be saving a frame grab from the video, which is never going to match the quality of a dedicated still.

In a dedicated camera, where the onboard CPU is fully dedicated to processing stills, you get excellent jpegs.

And that's the case for DJI cameras.

 

[pingaddict]

Not disputing what you're saying (or validating it). I will say again, however, that it is very reasonable to expect images taken with the M4P in auto, default settings should be better than the Mini3P, at the very least as good.

Totally agree.

 

[pingaddict]

It's a popular myth.

The DJI drones I've owned produce excellent jpg files.

If that's the case, you should be easily able to tell me which images were shot as dng and which were jpg files here:

Shipping Photography Examples - Above & Beyond Photography

This gallery hosted by SmugMug; your photos look better here.

abovephotos.smugmug.com

Your camera cannot capture still image files while shooting video.
It would be saving a frame grab from the video, which is never going to match the quality of a dedicated still.

And that's the case for DJI cameras.

1- A popular myth among jpeg hardcore fans for sure.
2- My point is you can get much better jpegs with raw shooting
3- I might be wrong here, I now use M4P with RCN2, but first had it with RC2 and you could shoot raw when filming (just had to press the trigger). Air 3 was also capable of it. There was a glitch : if you shot 4:3 RAW it would stop filming. So RAW image shooting while filming had to be 16:9.
4- From a quick look at your images, I see they're all oversharpened with harsh contrast, so they could all be drone jpegs. Nice shots by the way, I love those boats intense colors and spent more time than a quick look.
5- If excellent jpegs means hard edges and heavy contrast, then yes.

I'll post some images to clarify my point.

 

[pingaddict]

I'm just trying to help. With the jpegs created by the drone, you get images with coarse edges, often excessive sharpness and less rich colorimetry, notably due to overly strong contrasts. This is due to a less than perfect jpeg engine.

I took quick shots this morning, jpeg then raw :

All shots taken with DJI Mini 4 Pro in 48 MP mode.

 

[pingaddict]

How? Specifically, how do I snap a photo while recording 4K/60, and what are the pixel dimensions / resolution of the photo?

Might be wrong on this one. The thing is I used to do that with Air 3 and RC2 : just had to press the trigger while recording. There had issues, the recording stopped if the photo was 4:3 aspect ratio, but everything was OK with 16:9 photos. Air 3 and Mini4Pro share the same hardware and I assumed it dit the same. I can't check that since I use M4P with RCN2 remote, which does not provide photo trigger.

 

[erhard]

I'm just trying to help. With the jpegs created by the drone, you get images with coarse edges, often excessive sharpness and less rich colorimetry, notably due to overly strong contrasts. This is due to a less than perfect jpeg engine.

I took quick shots this morning, jpeg then raw :

All shots taken with DJI Mini 4 Pro in 48 MP mode.

thank you so much. one thing i can say for sure is that i do not see the loss of sharpness in the corners as in my pics and i would agree that the camera jpegs are more contrasty. ok i used jpeg (left) and raw side by side at 100% and think the jpeg has more details without being over processed in sharpness. i sadly cannot say the raw looks better to me, sorry.





same here from left side of images, left the jpeg. and again i prefer the jpeg. please don't get me wrong that is just my view of the things. one more time - many thanks for your extra work to help me get a better picture.
i wish i had now the mini2 image from the same view

 

[pingaddict]

thank you so much. one thing i can say for sure is that i do not see the loss of sharpness in the corners as in my pics and i would agree that the camera jpegs are more contrasty. ok i used jpeg (left) and raw side by side at 100% and think the jpeg has more details without being over processed in sharpness. i sadly cannot say the raw looks better to me, sorry.


View attachment 176122


same here from left side of images, left the jpeg. and again i prefer the jpeg. please don't get me wrong that is just my view of the things. one more time - many thanks for your extra work to help me get a better picture.
i wish i had now the mini2 image from the same view

View attachment 176123

Photos on the left look way better and I would have bet they are RAW. They look sharper in the corners also.
One thing you may try is remove the front glass and check if you still get that softness. If so, I would replace it with a good polar filter. Also, slowing/stopping the drone before shooting might reduce rolling shutter and deformations a bit, but you probable already do that.

 

[erhard]

Photos on the left look way better and I would have bet they are RAW. They look sharper in the corners also.
One thing you may try is remove the front glass and check if you still get that softness. If so, I would replace it with a good polar filter. Also, slowing/stopping the drone before shooting might reduce rolling shutter and deformations a bit, but you probable already do that.

as i said the drone is currently with DJI - let's see when it comes back. also my comparison shots mini2 mini4 where done with non-flying drones

 

[Occams Razor]

thank you so much. one thing i can say for sure is that i do not see the loss of sharpness in the corners as in my pics and i would agree that the camera jpegs are more contrasty. ok i used jpeg (left) and raw side by side at 100% and think the jpeg has more details without being over processed in sharpness. i sadly cannot say the raw looks better to me, sorry.


View attachment 176122


same here from left side of images, left the jpeg. and again i prefer the jpeg. please don't get me wrong that is just my view of the things. one more time - many thanks for your extra work to help me get a better picture.
i wish i had now the mini2 image from the same view

View attachment 176123

Hi Erhard. It looks like you mixed the 2 photos. The RAW is on the left and the original JPEG is on the right.

 

[erhard]

Hi Erhard. It looks like you mixed the 2 photos. The RAW is on the left and the original JPEG is on the right.

you are right, sorry for the mixup (as your name says, the simple solution is the right one )- checked the exif - then at least things are in the right direction. i also got confused because the raw is the smaller file size. overall still disappointing to me - that means the jpeg out of the drone is really nothing to write home about. very sad if i had to process each pic before sharing - bummer and not acceptable to me.

 

[pingaddict]

you are right, sorry for the mixup (as your name says, the simple solution is the right one )- checked the exif - then at least things are in the right direction. i also got confused because the raw is the smaller file size. overall still disappointing to me - that means the jpeg out of the drone is really nothing to write home about. very sad if i had to process each pic before sharing - bummer and not acceptable to me.

The jpegs from the drone are very large, around 30 MB for a 48 MP image, compared with half that size when exported from a raw file with 80% compression (more than enough). This leads me to believe that the jpeg engine is of poor quality, or badly tuned, or that too few hardware resources are allocated to processing. Worst of all, jpeg quality can vary from one firmware to another.

I process every photo taken with my drone or my camera. It's all part of a self-imposed workflow with Lightroom. In fact, as I convert a lot of images to HDR (Rec.2020), the raw format is the obvious choice.

Anyway, I hope DJI will send back a drone with a better lens.

 

[Meta4]

i also got confused because the raw is the smaller file size. overall still disappointing to me - that means the jpeg out of the drone is really nothing to write home about.

Huh? All that means is that you are very confused.
The dng file is always much larger than the jpg file.

very sad if i had to process each pic before sharing - bummer and not acceptable to me.

???

 

[erhard]

so after sending in my mini4p i got a new mini4p back (different SN, nice). i am getting now tired of the image comparison and i know you too
summary:
the new mini4p has less edge distortions - great (only bottom right seems a little worse)
however, the image quality is still disappointing, considering all the hype i am reading about, because i still l rate it worse than the mini2

my conclusion from best to worse:
mini2 jpeg ( i have not tried mini 2 raw)
mini4p dng
mini4p jpg (only slightly worse than DNG)

i use rawtherapee to look at the dng file

for the mini4p i used the AF mode and made sure my subject was selected green.

i still challenge anyone to show me a clear mini2 vs mini4 comparison of jpegs where the mini4 is clearly better. this should not include low light images because we should believe the f1.7 and larger sensor at same 12MP produces better low light images.
yes, the mini4p has nice features overall but if anyone thinks he/she needs to buy the way more expensive mini4 or mini3 over the mini2 because of better still images i would say forget it.

 

[Meta4]

mini4p jpg (only slightly worse than DNG)

Jpg or dng shouldn't make any difference to what you've complained about.

for the mini4p i used the AF mode and made sure my subject was selected green.

Selected green ??
What are you talking about?

i still challenge anyone to show me a clear mini2 vs mini4 comparison ...

I still challenge you to make the effort to shoot proper images that make it easy to see if the cameras have the problems you complain about.

yes, the mini4p has nice features overall but if anyone thinks he/she needs to buy the way more expensive mini4 or mini3 over the mini2 because of better still images i would say forget it.

Yes, you would, but should anyone accept your opinion?