Poor image quality

[Droning on and on...]

Hi everyone,

I found myself here looking for a solution to my low image quality pictures of my new M4P. I have read the entire thread and will attempt to make some changes on my end to see if I can produce better quality pictures.

However, the default auto mode so far has produced some really bad picture quality even in RAW. Something is not "Autoing" correctly by the sounds of it. Last night I took a picture and it came out really bad. I also did a few hyperlapse's and those pictures are in jpg format....they looked MUCH better. They were not of the same subject or distance. So that tells me the M4P can take good pictures I just need to learn how to do it. I wish Auto would just work like on my phones but if I need to learn manual methods so be it.

If I find myself unable to improve my image quality I will come back for some education and help.

EDIT: my pictures look like the OP's currently.

Just make sure you're actually working with the full resolution images that were saved to either internal storage or SD card on the drone.

People keep getting bitten by the low-res thumbnails that are generated with the more recent models, something that I don't remember being an issue with older models like the Mavic Pro.

 

[erhard]

Just make sure you're actually working with the full resolution images that were saved to either internal storage or SD card on the drone.

People keep getting bitten by the low-res thumbnails that are generated with the more recent models, something that I don't remember being an issue with older models like the Mavic Pro.

Hm thank you for pointing out that I am looking at 8MB jpegs and 20MB raw thumbnails

 

[Droning on and on...]

Hm thank you for pointing out that I am looking at 8MB jpegs and 20MB raw thumbnails

Huh? That's not what I said.

 

[erhard]

Huh? That's not what I said.

sorry then but what do you mean exactly ? in that case probably the best advice is for the people to just take out the sd card plug it into your laptop/PC and check all content for quality directly there

 

[erhard]

just came back today from a drone shoot with the mini4pro and when i looked at the still on my PC screen i could just cry. the still image quality is POOR

 

[Droning on and on...]

You should sell it. Why keep using it if the results don't meet your standards?

 

[Meta4]

just came back today from a drone shoot with the mini4pro and when i looked at the still on my PC screen i could just cry. the still image quality is POOR

Can you upload some examples to Google Drive or equivalent and post a link?

 

[erhard]

You should sell it. Why keep using it if the results don't meet your standards?

as i said before the drone has some nice features like way point , obstacle avoidance assist light AND i think DJI should be able to improve the image quality if they wanted to.
i just fly again the mini2 and the pic make me really happy.

 

[erhard]

Can you upload some examples to Google Drive or equivalent and post a link?

here you go - hope it works - the entire enchilada. raw and jpeg
i think best to focus on DJI_20240821115111_0424_D.xxx because it has the track on it - all fussy

i added 2 mini2 pics not from the same area, the one with the short filename - so crispy leaves - love it

20240821 Drawbridge drone M4P

 

[Meta4]

here you go - hope it works - the entire enchilada. raw and jpeg
i think best to focus on DJI_20240821115111_0424_D.xxx because it has the track on it - all fussy

i added 2 mini2 pics not from the same area, the one with the short filename - so crispy leaves - love it

I really can't see a problem with those.
You complain about a lack of sharpness but keep shooting distant soft vegetation which will always look soft.
Look at your photo 433 which has some hard detail that's not off in the distance and it looks acceptably sharp.

 

[erhard]

I really can't see a problem with those.
You complain about a lack of sharpness but keep shooting distant soft vegetation which will always look soft.
Look at your photo 433 which has some hard detail that's not off in the distance and it looks acceptably sharp.

you are right the vegetation looks soft due to lack of resolution but it does not look soft in the mini2 pics. i will try to repeat the same shots with mini2 in the next days.
also on the train track you cannot make out individual stones easily - all one smear.

now here is a surprise to me. this is the old mini2 left jpeg right raw. the raw looks really bad and i do not know how to make the raw look like the jpeg. look the color histograms are completely different. that seems to require quite a processing. especially the raw looks super fuzzy compared to the jpeg. but the jpeg is really crisp so maybe the mini4 pro raw can be processed in a better way too.

 

[Meta4]

you are right the vegetation looks soft due to lack of resolution but it does not look soft in the mini2 pics.

Your Mini 2 has the same resolution as the Mini 4 so a lack of resolution would affect both equally.
You can't complain that the 4 isn't as good as the 2, unless you take he same shots with both cameras in the same lighting conditions.

also on the train track you cannot make out individual stones easily - all one smear.

Can't make out individual stones?
All a smear?
You need to get new glasses.

now here is a surprise to me. this is the old mini2 left jpeg right raw. the raw looks really bad and i do not know how to make the raw look like the jpeg. look the color histograms are completely different. that seems to require quite a processing. especially the raw looks super fuzzy compared to the jpeg. but the jpeg is really crisp so maybe the mini4 pro raw can be processed in a better way too.

View attachment 177158

The histograms are different because the lighting is different.
It's probably a good idea for you to forget about shooting and processing raw for now.
You are just confusing yourself more with them.

 

[waynorth]

i think best to focus on DJI_20240821115111_0424_D.xxx because it has the track on it - all fussy

That particular image is blurry, yes. Probably because of some focus error, since most of the others looks just as one would expect from the small sensor with a mediocre lens at full open aperture. Sharp in the center, blurry at the edges and corners. Just like most wideangle lenses at open aperture.

 

[Beet]

you are right the vegetation looks soft due to lack of resolution but it does not look soft in the mini2 pics. i will try to repeat the same shots with mini2 in the next days.
also on the train track you cannot make out individual stones easily - all one smear.

now here is a surprise to me. this is the old mini2 left jpeg right raw. the raw looks really bad and i do not know how to make the raw look like the jpeg. look the color histograms are completely different. that seems to require quite a processing. especially the raw looks super fuzzy compared to the jpeg. but the jpeg is really crisp so maybe the mini4 pro raw can be processed in a better way too.

View attachment 177158

If you can only see a smear on the rail track, and not individual stones, then maybe the problem is with your sight.
I have 15% vision impairment and can see the stones clearly, all the other shots I looked at seemed fine.

 

[Max Headroom]

You need to get new glasses.

I have no problem seeing individual stones

 

[erhard]

I have no problem seeing individual stones


View attachment 177165

View attachment 177167

ok here now side by side comparison which one is softer?
here the thumbnail which shows you the full image so you can see the section the 100% crops are taken out. so the right side of the crops are about at center image



and here the side by side - drone 15m up. sure we can blame out of focus but then all pics from m4p are out of focus and that on 3 different f1.7 lens drones 1xm3p 2xm4p - very unlikely. we can argue what would be the reason why one is softer but lets just agree that one is softer - you tell me which one please. thanks for sticking with me for so long .
you or someone else suggested i should sell. one point why this is a hard thing to do is today it was very windy and the mini2 gave me a lot of strong wind warning whereas the mini4p behaved much more relaxed under the same conditions. as i said it is a great drone but not great image quality . i did not add my f2.8 aperture on the mini4 to null the argument of focus error but i did this in previous pics and saw no difference.
hope that is a good enough argument.
also the m4p pics where taken in in pro mode which per manual (and DJI confirmed) states that no HDR processing was being applied. i did this because it was brought up in discussions that HDR for example on the iphone reduces the resolution.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I've never seen anyone so determined to prove why they don't like a drone.

Really, you should get rid of it. If I judged these images as you do I'd simply use a Mini 2, and sell the M4P.

The one aspect of this discussion that's gone way beyond ridiculous is convincing the rest of us to agree the M4P produces inferior images... We don't, and we're obviously not going to. This has become a sisyphean pursuit for you. Time to move on, use your Mini 2, and leave the M4P behind.

 

[erhard]

I've never seen anyone so determined to prove why they don't like a drone.

Really, you should get rid of it. If I judged these images as you do I'd simply use a Mini 2, and sell the M4P.

The one aspect of this discussion that's gone way beyond ridiculous is convincing the rest of us to agree the M4P produces inferior images... We don't, and we're obviously not going to. This has become a sisyphean pursuit for you. Time to move on, use your Mini 2, and leave the M4P behind.

The point is that reviewers claim the image quality is vastly superior in the mini3 and mini4 and in my opinion it is it is not true. Now if image resolution is not important I rest my case. For the reviewers I would say just state the fact and point out all the other benefits which I agreed to many times and what is wrong with that?

 

[Max Headroom]

The point is that reviewers claim the image quality is vastly superior in the mini3 and mini4 and in my opinion it is it is not true.

And herein lies the problem opinions are like bum holes everyone has one and most of them stink

 

[Droning on and on...]

The point is that reviewers claim the image quality is vastly superior in the mini3 and mini4 and in my opinion it is it is not true.

Yes, I understand that.

That, to me, is reason to get rid of it, and use the (in your judgement) superior mini 2.

Now if image resolution is not important I rest my case. For the reviewers I would say just state the fact and point out all the other benefits which I agreed to many times and what is wrong with that?

Simply this: What seems most important to you here is getting others who judge this differently than you to admit they're wrong. You can't accept, "it looks different to me than it does to you".

Now at 140 posts, it's pretty clear how this subjective issue is subjectively being judged, opinions aren't changing, so it's getting hard to see what is being accomplished by posting images, saying they're blurry, and having the same people come back again and again and say they're not.