Poor video quality on new Mavic Air. Am I doing something wrong?

[dmcraanen]

Hi people!

edit: another option: maybe I'm just paranoid and I should move things up to 2.7 or 4k and that'll be fine. Let me know ^_^

I'm new to drones and took my mavic air out for a spin today. Recorded to internal storage in 1080p 120fps, then used the cable to get the footage from my drone to my laptop. Today was pretty sunny, despite a few clouds here and there. Only changed the setting to D-cinelike.

My footage seems a bit meh compared to what I've seen elsewhere. Very blurry / no definition.

Have a look at some of the unedited footage here. Sorry for bad flying, working on it:

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What do you think? Did I forget to do something, or is this a camera issue? Photo's seem to turn out OK. Have a look at attachment (just a tiiiiiny bit edited)

 

[Former Member]

You might try to "reset camera settings" and see if you like the result. Then you can fine tune to your tastes.

 

[dmcraanen]

You might try to "reset camera settings" and see if you like the result. Then you can fine tune to your tastes.

Yup will definitely do that once it gets light again. Just a thing; I heard about the watercolour issue on the pro. Are there any known faults with the camera of the Air? Couldn't really find anything as specific as the watercolour.

 

[Former Member]

Yup will definitely do that once it gets light again. Just a thing; I heard about the watercolour issue on the pro. Are there any known faults with the camera of the Air? Couldn't really find anything as specific as the watercolour.

Here are some opinions on watercolor and the MA.

Search Results for Query: watercolor | DJI Mavic Drone Forum

 

[Kilrah]

The fast frame rates (1080p120 and 2.7k60) come with tradeoffs of a sensor center crop instead of a downscale and faster, less polished processing. Only use them when the high frame rate is actually necessary and you can accept the compromise. Otherwise stick to 30p (maybe 60 in 1080 is good too, don't remember).

 

[dmcraanen]

Here are some opinions on watercolor and the MA.

Search Results for Query: watercolor | DJI Mavic Drone Forum

The fast frame rates (1080p120 and 2.7k60) come with tradeoffs of a sensor center crop instead of a downscale and faster, less polished processing. Only use them when the high frame rate is actually necessary and you can accept the compromise. Otherwise stick to 30p (maybe 60 in 1080 is good too, don't remember).

Thanks guys. I did do some looking around, but all that did was just make me paranoid something was wrong with mine really... lol.

Seems like I'll just reset the camera, switch to higher quality, and lower fps. See what that does

 

[swooshdave]

Dcinelike assumes you are going to post-process the video including color correction and sharpening. Are you doing either of these? Then just use the standard setting and see if you like that.

 

[UneBoleeDAir.fr]

Hi people!

edit: another option: maybe I'm just paranoid and I should move things up to 2.7 or 4k and that'll be fine. Let me know ^_^

I'm new to drones and took my mavic air out for a spin today. Recorded to internal storage in 1080p 120fps, then used the cable to get the footage from my drone to my laptop. Today was pretty sunny, despite a few clouds here and there. Only changed the setting to D-cinelike.

My footage seems a bit meh compared to what I've seen elsewhere. Very blurry / no definition.

Have a look at some of the unedited footage here. Sorry for bad flying, working on it:

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What do you think? Did I forget to do something, or is this a camera issue? Photo's seem to turn out OK. Have a look at attachment (just a tiiiiiny bit edited)

1080p@120fps is definitively bad, I avoid it at all cost. 1080p@60fps and 4K@30fps get cropped. Here are videos comparisons for you to judge : Tests DJI Mavic Air - YouTube
I personally shoot 4K@24fps to avoid crop factor as well as too harsh bitrate compression from Youtube algorithms. You can switch from 1080p to 4K and especially see the degradation in branches here :

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[Verizondrone28]

These are the bitrates for the Mavic Air. 1080p at 120fps absolutely sucks. I only shoot 4K 30, 2.7K 60, or 1080p 60. Everything else is garbage.

 

[swooshdave]

Don't think that bitrate is the only indicator of quality. There are more factors than that.

 

[Verizondrone28]

Don't think that bitrate is the only indicator of quality. There are more factors than that.

Of course it’s not the only thing but, when you’re starting off at a measly 25mbps, you don’t have a lot of room for error.

 

[Mario_bon]

I have the same problem here. I have done few tests but I'm not happy with the quality.
Would you be able to look at my video test: Park - MAvic air test.mp4

setting: Iso 100
ND/PL 8
4k - 24fps - 1/50
0.0.0
Colour Normal

I feel it is very grain especially in the shadows. Is that normal or is there something wrong?
Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Verizondrone28]

It honestly looks fine to me. If you’re seeing grain in the shadows, it sounds like you’re pixel-peeping. It is a small sensor on the Air so there will still be some limitations on what it can do. The color looked good and image was sharp so I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with it. What you’re shooting has a lot of dynamic range so you’re putting the Air to an extreme test here. In my opinion, it passes the test.

 

[swooshdave]

If the subject matter is interesting enough no one will notice a few pixels...

 

[Sanjeev]

@[B]Verizondrone28[/B] , thanks for the bit rate screen.

Got a query in between,

Assume if i shoot the video at 1080p @ 120fps which had a bit rate of 25mbps and while editing (in premiere pro) i changed the footage to 24fps (120fps/5=24fps).

By doing this will the "effective" bit rate will be changed to 6.25mbps (25mbps/5=6.25mbps)?.

 

[freshcane]

please, i have the problem. i shoot at 4K24 and still get CRAP footage, 720p. i tried everything. it’s not only the video it’s my transmission, when i’m flying the quality is trash

 

[Phil H]

hi folks, I know that the original thread is a little old but I am hoping that you can offer me an idiot's guide to why my footage taken with the drone flying in the direction of filming is great but when flying perpendicular to the direction of filming it's completely unusable.

Many thanks.