3 Testing, Testing, Testing-Manual Panos, With 7x Tele-not great

[Dale D]

I did three manual panos this evening, and a timed shot timelapse! Let me explain.
I normally do land based (tripod or hand held DSLR) panoramas. I rarely, if ever, use the panorama mode on the Mavic 2 Pro or my new M3. So this evening I did manual pans, both at regular (1x) and at 7x. I was really disappointed with the 7x in its sharpness- not great.
A manual pano is where I take overlapping shots with 30% overlap using the grid on the RCPro. I did several at 5 and 7 shots. I did one at 7x tele.
The first image was a regular 1 x and 6 shots. I consider this the best of the three
The 2nd is 8 images- it was done at 7x and this is as sharp as I could get it- I am not pleased with the sharpness
The 3rd is 5 images-same comments- not sharp
All of the hype-sters on You Tube love this 7x. I do not. What am I doing wrong, if anything?
All images processed in Adobe Photoshop CC2022. Opened in ACR (Camera RAW), CTR-A (selected all)+right click on any image>click on Merge to Panorama. Once the pano developed I processed it with the MASKING tool. (I processed he sy separately from the foreground).

I also did a TIMED SHOT timelapse (not a hyperlapse). On PHOTO mode, I used "timed shot" , set the shutter at 3 seconds, and allowed it to shoot for 148 shots. Then processed it in LRTimelapse. I am not submitting that here but it came out well.

Dale
Miami

 

[Chrislaf]

Dale, it’s really hard to see if the image is sharp if the subject (Miami?) is so far away. Maybe if you got closer to the city and did your pano we could see if the 7X Tele camera is sharp or not.

I too am trying to find some time to test out the new update on the Tele camera especially the ability to shoot in RAW.

Chris

 

[Meta4]

What am I doing wrong, if anything?

Expecting good distant detail from a dinky 1/2 inch sensor and a tiny tele lens.
Even with a heavy and expensive tele lens on your SLR it might be expecting too much to get good detail at that distance.

The tele lens on the Mavic 3 has limitations, but at closer distances it can still produce reasonably good results.
Like this:

or this

 

[Phantomrain.org]

All of the hype-sters on You Tube love this 7x. I do not. What am I doing wrong, if anything?
All images processed in Adobe Photoshop CC2022. Opened in ACR (Camera RAW), CTR-A (selected all)+right click on any image>click on Merge to Panorama. Once the pano developed I processed it with the MASKING tool. (I processed he sy separately from the foreground).



Dale
Miami

I have to admit all these are all bad, no focus at all on any subject. Are these results showing up in 3x Focus as well.
Time to check your camera focus is working by isolating some closer focus shots.

Maybe starting shooting Jpeg shots to have some reference for the shots in automatic mode.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water and Zoom into the Storm.

 

[Dale D]

I have to admit all these are all bad, no focus at all on any subject. Are these results showing up in 3x Focus as well.
Time to check your camera focus is working by isolating some closer focus shots.

Maybe starting shooting Jpeg shots to have some reference for the shots in automatic mode.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water and Zoom into the Storm.

I will try to do some shots at 3x
I usually work in RAW so I can use every bit of information from the sensor

 

[Karlewski]

While not awesome, I'm still impressed, I love to see the same shots with the main sensor. May reveal more clues too but, I'd guess the truth has been told, Meta seem to know his stuff. I can't believe how crisp his shots are, OMG!

 

[Dale D]

While not awesome, I'm still impressed, I love to see the same shots with the main sensor. May reveal more clues too but, I'd guess the truth has been told, Meta seem to know his stuff. I can't believe how crisp his shots are, OMG!

Karl:
To answer your wish, my first shot is (M3 drone 6 image manual), indeed, a regular shot at 1x and it is quite sharp.

Dale

 

[Karlewski]

Should have read closer, I was wondering why there was so much sky in that first one,

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

These are my first zoom test photos while on my first flight with the M3. They are not panos but can show the image quality at 1x, 2x, 4x, 7x, and up to 28x. I tried to load them earlier but got a message they were too large. So here is a DropBox link. You are free to download and inspect them closer.
The city in the photo is 3.4 miles away.

Mavic 3 Zoom

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[vindibona1]

IMO the 7x lens provides a whiz-bang marketing point, but doesn't seem to live up to the hype. It's a drone and with few exceptions has the ability to move closer. And with the quality of resolution of the standard lens I believe you can get as good or better quality with a compromise of closer range and some zooming. IMO DJI should have omitted the 7x and simplified the system.

 

[Dale D]

IMO the 7x lens provides a whiz-bang marketing point, but doesn't seem to live up to the hype. It's a drone and with few exceptions has the ability to move closer. And with the quality of resolution of the standard lens I believe you can get as good or better quality with a compromise of closer range and some zooming. IMO DJI should have omitted the 7x and simplified the system.

I couldn't agree more. IO got excited while watching this You Tubes, I F\ran right out to my driveway to test it, but alas- SOFT SOFT images. As they say in NYC- fuggedabaoutit.
write me .

 

[Chrislaf]

IMO the 7x lens provides a whiz-bang marketing point, but doesn't seem to live up to the hype. It's a drone and with few exceptions has the ability to move closer. And with the quality of resolution of the standard lens I believe you can get as good or better quality with a compromise of closer range and some zooming. IMO DJI should have omitted the 7x and simplified the system.

I disagree. The Tele lens although hyped by DJI was never marketed as a professional lens. It was marketed as an explore lens and for that purpose I find it immensely useful. The recent update that added RAW capability to the 7X lens is a bonus in my mind. It may not be as sharp as the main lens but I'm not complaining. I would rather have the Tele lens than not have it as it helps me to locate difficult to find subjects to photograph with the main lens and saves time flying around hunting for photo worthy subjects. I can now spend more time on composing my shots rather than finally finding a subject I want to photograph and then have to return home to swap a battery and possibly risk loosing the location of the subject.

Chris

 

[Dale D]

I disagree. The Tele lens although hyped by DJI was never marketed as a professional lens. It was marketed as an explore lens and for that purpose I find it immensely useful. The recent update that added RAW capability to the 7X lens is a bonus in my mind. It may not be as sharp as the main lens but I'm not complaining. I would rather have the Tele lens than not have it as it helps me to locate difficult to find subjects to photograph with the main lens and saves time flying around hunting for photo worthy subjects. I can now spend more time on composing my shots rather than finally finding a subject I want to photograph and then have to return home to swap a battery and possibly risk loosing the location of the subject.

Chris

So what you are saying is that the tele lens is only for scouting and really not for photography? To me, its photo capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

Dale

 

[Chrislaf]

So what you are saying is that the tele lens is only for scouting and really not for photography? To me, its photo capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

Dale

Initially when the M3 came out yes, as the image quality out of the tele lens was not very good but there have been two firmware updates since then and image sharpness and image quality have been improved making it much more useful in a wider range of situations. As @Meta4 says above it has its limitations but can produce some good results at closer distances. For me, having the flexibility of the main lens and the tele lens on a single drone is something I find very useful and is one of the reasons I purchased the M3.

Chris

 

[Dale D]

Initially when the M3 came out yes, as the image quality out of the tele lens was not very good but there have been two firmware updates since then and image sharpness and image quality have been improved making it much more useful in a wider range of situations. As @Meta4 says above it has its limitations but can produce some good results at closer distances. For me, having the flexibility of the main lens and the tele lens on a single drone is something I find very useful and is one of the reasons I purchased the M3.

Chris

Ok
I’m going to keep shooting at various magnificat

 

[Dale D]

Ok
I’m going to keep shooting at various magnifications and see what I get and report back

Dale

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Ok
I’m going to keep shooting at various magnificat

I posted this earlier, as to what a $ 15,000 Lens might be able to do with a 10 x zoom to get some idea as to how the 7x zoom really is. It kind of put things into perspective for me . Despite the mistake on the lens used on the post I still got a lot from it.

Mavic 3 Zoom Lens in Perspective to The Canon Lens 800m

Edited Post : To correct the Canon Set Up used. Sometimes knowing what the very best of what a company has to offer helps to appreciate or understand better. , this lets me know how far I really am from full potential of a product In this case its the 25mm-15000mm 600X Super-telephoto...

mavicpilots.com

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your M3 in the Rain , Land on the Water. Zoom into the Storm.

 

[vindibona1]

There is just one caveat that is indisputable. When you consider that every image depends on the ability of the lens/sensor/film to capture DETAIL AT DISTANCE. While a 7x lens might help you scout areas, getting closer would do the same thing, though you'd lose the compression of a longer lens if you used the normal/wide lens. So then comes the compromise; compression vs image detail. And IMO the normal resolution of the M3 can help strike a balance with immense cropping capabilities not available in earlier drones.

 

[MS Coast]

Greater distances (several miles in some of the examples posted) also injects atmospheric distortion into the situation. High humidity, fog, smoke, and particulates will degrade the results from even NASA-grade photographic equipment.

 

[edcMavicPilots]

This is a 7x shot raw at 800 ISO from >7 miles away from the Empire State Building, There is absolutely no way to get this shot without telephoto compression. Getting closer isn't an option to get Metlife stadium and the Ferris Wheel in the shot against the Empire State Building. The 2nd shot was obviously much closer but kept from spooking the animal.

The camera and lens are fine in their lane.