Very Noisy Footage Straight Out of Camera - Normal? (Samples)

[Fmoots]

I know this topic has been discussed in huge detail before, however I am experiencing very noisy footage on low ISO settings. I recently returned my Mavic Air in favour of the Pro Platinum and while I have been very impressed with its capability as an aircraft, I've been left extremely underwhelmed by the image quality in comparison to the Air, and considering some of the beautiful results I've seen the MP can produce, I'm left wondering if the camera performance I'm experiencing is normal.

I'm aware sharpness settings and resolution can greatly affect noise and how the image looks, however I am struggling to find a setting where I can get workable results, especially with any form of colour grading applied.

I've linked some straight from the camera files, these were taken at varying settings and locations/lighting conditions. ISO is at 100 in all clips. The noise in the shadows seems to be very noticeable. All clips are D-Cinelike. Would appreciate if people mind having a quick look and let me know if the noise levels are normal. There also appears to be alot of gimble shake going on aswell.

These are all in the same location - alot of noise in the green areas/shadows
4k -1 0 0
DJI_0007.MOV

4k 0 0 0
DJI_0005.MOV

2.7k +1 0 0
DJI_0006.MOV

This one seems especially bad - alot of noise in the sand and even the water (4k 0 0 0)
DJI_0021.MOV

And this one once again in areas of greenery (may be oversharpening?) (4k +1 0 0)
DJI_0023.MOV

 

[Pcarlsen]

I'm no photography experter - or videographer for that matter, but I find the noisy images also.

I run the mavic with sharpening at +1. The reason for this being that if left at 0, the camera will start applying noise reduction to low light areas in the image - which looks horrible in my opinion. So I would rather have the excess sharpening, and then dampening that down in post production instead.

The noise is most visible in high detail shots like the ones you've put up, green areas, tress, grass, vegetation in general. I do however find that it all looks well when I downres it to 1080p in post, which I almost always do. So not really an issue for me - but yes, it can look less flattering in 4K.

 

[Fmoots]

I'm no photography experter - or videographer for that matter, but I find the noisy images also.

I run the mavic with sharpening at +1. The reason for this being that if left at 0, the camera will start applying noise reduction to low light areas in the image - which looks horrible in my opinion. So I would rather have the excess sharpening, and then dampening that down in post production instead.

The noise is most visible in high detail shots like the ones you've put up, green areas, tress, grass, vegetation in general. I do however find that it all looks well when I downres it to 1080p in post, which I almost always do. So not really an issue for me - but yes, it can look less flattering in 4K.

Thanks for having a look for me. I agree it seems to be vegetation in general just doesn't hold up. Although it is very noticeable in the sand also. When I downres to 1080p and airdrop to my iphone x it doesn't look bad at all. However I've watched amazing MP clips on youtube on my a 58' 4k screen and it looks very good, I can't see how that can be produced with image quality like the clips above:

 

[Paul2660]

Actually the videos look pretty clean to me, I am not seeing much noise. The first video shows the effect of DJI's excessive noise reduction, (look at the bare trees), but as for actual noise the video seems pretty clean.

The Chip in the Mavic can tolerate more high end than a lot of folk realize, and you may consider exposing to the right a bit, it will seem over exposed, but in a Final cut or similar program you can add overlays and fix the exposure. It's easier to pull down than attempt a pull up with a chip this small.

Next time you fly, try a few stills, use the AEB mode take 5 exposures, in raw, not jpg, then look at them in LR or Capture One or similar program. I think you will find that the shots are more forgiving on the high end and thus you will pull less noise overall.

The Mavic has zero to little shadow recovery IMO and noise can become excessive.

However I looked at your videos on iPhone and MacBook pro and I just don't see much noise, areas of water, sand etc seem fine. Again you can see some effects of the DJI noise reduction in the first video.

On the Gimbal shake, it might be your AF/MF, whenever you refocus in video, you will see a hop on the screen, it's slight, but still there. I don't trust the AF on the Mavic to stay in place, even when switching to MF I often refocus just to make sure as nothing is worse than a slightly out of focus shot. Your images are in nice focus also IMO.

Paul Caldwell

 

[Chunter]

+1 sharpness then use neat video with a ready made profile, that'll fix it. Search YouTube for the film poets.

 

[Fmoots]

Actually the videos look pretty clean to me, I am not seeing much noise. The first video shows the effect of DJI's excessive noise reduction, (look at the bare trees), but as for actual noise the video seems pretty clean.

The Chip in the Mavic can tolerate more high end than a lot of folk realize, and you may consider exposing to the right a bit, it will seem over exposed, but in a Final cut or similar program you can add overlays and fix the exposure. It's easier to pull down than attempt a pull up with a chip this small.

Next time you fly, try a few stills, use the AEB mode take 5 exposures, in raw, not jpg, then look at them in LR or Capture One or similar program. I think you will find that the shots are more forgiving on the high end and thus you will pull less noise overall.

The Mavic has zero to little shadow recovery IMO and noise can become excessive.

However I looked at your videos on iPhone and MacBook pro and I just don't see much noise, areas of water, sand etc seem fine. Again you can see some effects of the DJI noise reduction in the first video.

On the Gimbal shake, it might be your AF/MF, whenever you refocus in video, you will see a hop on the screen, it's slight, but still there. I don't trust the AF on the Mavic to stay in place, even when switching to MF I often refocus just to make sure as nothing is worse than a slightly out of focus shot. Your images are in nice focus also IMO.

Paul Caldwell

Thanks for your insite. I'll try ETTR and see if it helps. When I render out the flips with a colour grade and Airdrop to my iPhone the noise isn't as noticeable on a smaller screen, however when I'm viewing on a 27" monitor it's much more apparent. I guess I'm just abit disappointed since I was filming in the exact same location with the Mavic Air and it was alot cleaner, although I do appreciate this will be due to the higher bitrate, however I didn't expect the difference to be that drastic on the MPP.

+1 sharpness then use neat video with a ready made profile, that'll fix it. Search YouTube for the film poets.

I've also read this is a very good solution to get clean footage, it's just the forking out $99 for the plugin and the extra processing time that puts me off abit.

 

[Avarios]

Thats why you should not buy a Pro anymore. You need an extra 99 Bucks filter to fix an anoying Bug ....

 

[Pcarlsen]

Thats why you should not buy a Pro anymore. You need an extra 99 Bucks filter to fix an anoying Bug ....

Or you could dampen the sharpness setting..

 

[Paul2660]

I do believe that the videos suffer from excessive noise reduction which = lack of finer details.

To me noise = grain. In most digital cameras, noise, when it shows, is shown in the shadows or In the parts of a shot that have been pushed. With the Mavic raw files I have taken (taken as stills), you can see plenty of noise in underexposed shots. The Mavic tends to show noise which shows as red/blue grain. I feel that in the video's you have posted there is no "noise", but excessive noise reduction.

Shown clearly in the trees in the first video. The branches are just a blur, which is classic excessive noise reduction being applied. And if you under expose a bit, which was done in the video where you are flying along a cliff, then the effect of excessive noise reduction will be worse, since the Mavic by default will turn your shadows to mush.

The Mavic PP and Spark both have this issue, and with the Spark there is no way to control the noise reduction, which is shame and should be a "simple" fix for DJI. The Spark just takes shadow areas and turns them into a moras.

With the Mavic PP, you can control the noise reduction, and I shoot with a custom setting of +1 +1 +1 or +1 +1 0. As I recall the last of the three digits reflects saturation. If you leave the mavic at 0 for sharpening, which is the left most setting, you tend to get the same excessive noise reduction applied like the effect you video shows on the tree branches.

I don't have the Mavic Air, but I have read that DJI, did rework the noise algorithm so that you don't see massive loss of the finer details as you do with the Mavic PP or Spark. I don't think the bit rate has anything to do with this, as you can see it in jpg stills taken with the Air also. This is a total shame and IMO reflects badly on DJI. All three Drones, Mavic PP, Spark and Air have the same camera, so there is no reason that the firmware can't be worked to allow the same settings for noise reduction that the Mavic Air has.

I can only hope that the P4 doesn't have this issue as it looks to be my next drone since it's clear now that DJI is staying at 12MP for the Mavic line.

Also, I have found that the current Mavic PP allows for a lot of head room, so expose to the right (slightly overexpose your video). As video, unlike raw, is being recorded as a jpg, you won't have as much recovery as you do with a dng raw file. But with a video editing software like Final cut or Premire Pro, you can do a lot to pull back the highlights in post processing, and your darker areas will be much more detailed since less noise reduction was being applied.

Paul Caldwell

 

[Fmoots]

I do believe that the videos suffer from excessive noise reduction which = lack of finer details.

To me noise = grain. In most digital cameras, noise, when it shows, is shown in the shadows or In the parts of a shot that have been pushed. With the Mavic raw files I have taken (taken as stills), you can see plenty of noise in underexposed shots. The Mavic tends to show noise which shows as red/blue grain. I feel that in the video's you have posted there is no "noise", but excessive noise reduction.

Shown clearly in the trees in the first video. The branches are just a blur, which is classic excessive noise reduction being applied. And if you under expose a bit, which was done in the video where you are flying along a cliff, then the effect of excessive noise reduction will be worse, since the Mavic by default will turn your shadows to mush.

The Mavic PP and Spark both have this issue, and with the Spark there is no way to control the noise reduction, which is shame and should be a "simple" fix for DJI. The Spark just takes shadow areas and turns them into a moras.

With the Mavic PP, you can control the noise reduction, and I shoot with a custom setting of +1 +1 +1 or +1 +1 0. As I recall the last of the three digits reflects saturation. If you leave the mavic at 0 for sharpening, which is the left most setting, you tend to get the same excessive noise reduction applied like the effect you video shows on the tree branches.

I don't have the Mavic Air, but I have read that DJI, did rework the noise algorithm so that you don't see massive loss of the finer details as you do with the Mavic PP or Spark. I don't think the bit rate has anything to do with this, as you can see it in jpg stills taken with the Air also. This is a total shame and IMO reflects badly on DJI. All three Drones, Mavic PP, Spark and Air have the same camera, so there is no reason that the firmware can't be worked to allow the same settings for noise reduction that the Mavic Air has.

I can only hope that the P4 doesn't have this issue as it looks to be my next drone since it's clear now that DJI is staying at 12MP for the Mavic line.

Also, I have found that the current Mavic PP allows for a lot of head room, so expose to the right (slightly overexpose your video). As video, unlike raw, is being recorded as a jpg, you won't have as much recovery as you do with a dng raw file. But with a video editing software like Final cut or Premire Pro, you can do a lot to pull back the highlights in post processing, and your darker areas will be much more detailed since less noise reduction was being applied.

Paul Caldwell

Thanks for your input, I'll try all the advise above and hopefully get better results.

Incase anyone doesn't want to have to watch all the long clips above, here is a short 200% cropped video that shows what I'm talking about

MavicNoise.mp4