Significant vignetting and other issues (new owner)

[mdw]

New Mavic Pro owner here. Today I had the chance to maiden my Mavic and shoot my first video footage. And boy, I am not impressed:

• the video shows quite significant amount of vignetting (example here)
  
• the center area is noticeably warmer in rendition -- this seems to be a known problem, sadly I haven't found about this before; anyway, are people OK with this? is this valid reason for RMA?
  
• I-frames are noticeable in the video, with low contrast slow moving features this can be quite horrific (here is short clip that shows this -- watch the cloud shadow creep over the grass -- note, for some reason it doesn't play in Firefox)
• fast pans over highly textured scene results in a mush of macroblocks, yuck
• flew two batteries down to pre-set 30% warning limit -- the controller battery had 30% remaining! that's unbelievable, does it mean I won't ever need 3 batteries because the controller will be dry before I drain them?

Frankly, I am starting to regret the purchase, but I don't have the option of returning this unless serious flaw occurs, so I guess my only hope is to find a way to make this work well enough. And by the way, I am not new to drone aerial photography, I have a DJI F550 hexacopter with a GoPro Hero 4 for camera -- it has its issues and problems, but overall, the image quality seems to be way better. I hoped Mavic will be an upgrade and also much more portable replacement... Someone tell me I'm holding it wrong...

 

[earlyretirement]

I don't think anyone really gets the Mavic Pro expecting some super high quality professional shots. I'm getting pretty good photos and videos but for photos I'm shooting in RAW and then editing in Photoshop and they are coming out pretty good. For videos I'm needing to color correct in Final Cut Pro X.

I think something is wrong with your remote battery because I use 3 batteries and go through them ALL and I still have 65+ left in my remote. So you might have some issue there.

 

[Kilrah]

No issue, he's just using an android phone which charges from the remote depleting its battery while you use an iOS device which doesn't.

The "vignetting" is likely due to the clouds shadows that we can see shifting in the video sample, which doesn't show vignetting.

The compression and WB characteristics are things that are known from day 1. But even with those there are tons of very nice Mavic videos around. Certainly not the first choice if you're looking for top image characteristics, that's what the P4P is but at the expense of size and some extra $.

 

[earlyretirement]

No issue, he's just using an android phone which charges from the remote depleting its battery while you use an iOS device which doesn't.

The "vignetting" is likely due to the clouds shadows that we can see shifting in the video sample, which doesn't show vignetting.

Ahhhh. Got it. Yes, I'm using an iPhone and no problems at all. Wow, that would be horrible to have that kind of battery life using an Android.

 

[mdw]

The "vignetting" is likely due to the clouds shadows that we can see shifting in the video sample, which doesn't show vignetting.

The vignetting is definitely there, it's quite apparent on panning shots.

The compression and WB characteristics are things that are known from day 1. But even with those there are tons of very nice Mavic videos around. Certainly not the first choice if you're looking for top image characteristics, that's what the P4P is but at the expense of size and some extra $

I was aware that Mavic is not the top aerial photography machine, but I was under impression that it will best or at worst equal GoPro Hero 4 (3,5 yrs old camera!). That's clearly not the case and that I find quite surprising.

And yes, there are lot of very nice videos, that's what got my hopes high. Also Mavic has ton of features that are amazing and the portability is just perfect. I guess I will just learn how to deal with the downsides and enjoy the upsides.

 

[JSSR]

The vignetting is definitely there, it's quite apparent on panning shots.



I was aware that Mavic is not the top aerial photography machine, but I was under impression that it will best or at worst equal GoPro Hero 4 (3,5 yrs old camera!). That's clearly not the case and that I find quite surprising.

And yes, there are lot of very nice videos, that's what got my hopes high. Also Mavic has ton of features that are amazing and the portability is just perfect. I guess I will just learn how to deal with the downsides and enjoy the upsides.

Can you upload more video samples? I can't get that one to load so maybe try YouTube. From the photo and the screen grab that came up from the video I see a lot of vignette, and I've not seen that on my videos. Visit theboathouse.restaurant and The Boat House (the one in Canberra Australia) and tell me if you notice any on my videos?

 

[mdw]

Can you upload more video samples? I can't get that one to load so maybe try YouTube. From the photo and the screen grab that came up from the video I see a lot of vignette, and I've not seen that on my videos. Visit theboathouse.restaurant and The Boat House (the one in Canberra Australia) and tell me if you notice any on my videos?

Here is an example, it's pretty severe (I wouldn't be surprised if the fallof was 2 EV in the corners, just look at the YT thumbnail!). I don't see people talking about this or correcting for this, so I worry that my Mavic might be faulty.

 

[Strobing_NYC]

The Mavic isn't a new bird so what's your point? It's using about a 4 year old sensor so yes don't expect majic from it. However it does shoot great videos in my opinion for what you pay, and the creative opportunitys that open up at limitless. I don't have the fall off that your seeing, are you using a filter? Was your bird bought new or used? There are some amazing Mavic Pro motion work out there take a look at YouTube. If you wanted "amazing" footage the inspire 2 and other highend drones might be better for you.
Maybe try the spark?

 

[Mr. Salty]

Here is an example, it's pretty severe (I wouldn't be surprised if the fallof was 2 EV in the corners, just look at the YT thumbnail!). I don't see people talking about this or correcting for this, so I worry that my Mavic might be faulty.

My Mavic doesn't display vignetting like that, so I do think I would talk to DJI about it.

 

[mdw]

Just for the record: I have exchanged mails with my DJI authorized store, including example images. The result is that if I want, I can send the Mavic to authorized repair shop through them, but they are not in position to confirm if my vignetting concern is a legitimate fault to begin with. Since I don't want to risk sending my Mavic for a roundtrip to the repair with uncertain results, for now I decided to try to live with the issue by correcting in post and see how it works out.

Just for documentation, here are the files I have created for my local store -- they include waverform display from Resolve that shows the light falloff and also a comparable image from GoPro Hero 4, which has nice flat waveform.

Mavic pics:

https://voyager.lupomesky.cz/pub/mavic/mavic-vignetting-1.png
https://voyager.lupomesky.cz/pub/mavic/mavic-vignetting-2.png
https://voyager.lupomesky.cz/pub/mavic/mavic-vignetting-3.png
https://voyager.lupomesky.cz/pub/mavic/mavic-vignetting-4.png
https://voyager.lupomesky.cz/pub/mavic/mavic-vignetting-5.png

GoPro comparison:

https://voyager.lupomesky.cz/pub/mavic/gopro-comparison.png