Watercolour no more.

[2nd2non]

Everyone needs to understand that +1 and 0 sharpness CAN work depending on your camera, subject, environment. There is no right or wrong answer, just what works best. People don't like to hear this, but it's unfortunate due to DJI quality control and limitations of this camera.

I've had 4 mavics and they all had different sharpness and focus characteristics. My first two mavics were really bad with watercolor and/or uneven focus edge to edge so sent back to DJI.

My 3rd mavic was perfect. Razor sharp on 0 with very little artifacting; even focus edge to edge. Watercolor could be produced starting at -1 sharpness and with low light at 0 and low shutter speeds, so I just stayed at 0.
Unfortunately, lost it in the SF bay trying to capture the elusive beauty [emoji31]

My 4th mavic is ok. It's not as sharp at 0 but does have even focus, edge to edge. I tend to use 0 for high non detailed shots and +1 when needing detail or in low light/low shutter speeds. It just requires a little noise reduction in post.
I always shoot D-Cinelike, 4k/2k-30 and usually leave contrast/saturation at 0. I grade in Resolve.

I guess I'm 'ok' with this setup. There's nothing like the mavic in terms of features, portability, and most important- low noise. I love flying it even more than my Inspire2.

 

[pbasinger]

Lots of good information here. Seems like any easy enough thing to just try out and see if it works. I'm looking forward to giving it a go.

 

[MrMavic]

Thanks for the clarification. I was about to switch over to PAL to see if that had some positive effects. I'll stick with NTSC.

Something to note also is that when you switch to PAL, you no longer have the option to set the camera Anti-Flicker to 60 Hz. Our power grid is at 60 Hz.

 

[MrMavic]

I'm starting to wonder something here. Could my water color be the fault of my 7 year old iMac with a 512MB video card? Is it possible my screen just isn't capable of displaying even 2.7K video?



I'm thinking maybe I need to upgrade to the newer iMac with the better display and video card.

• 1TB (7200-rpm) Hard Drive
• AMD Radeon R9 M380 graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
• 27" Retina 5K Display
• 5120 x 2880 Resolution

Just a thought. Comments please. ....

 

[2nd2non]

I'm starting to wonder something here. Could my water color be the fault of my 7 year old iMac with a 512MB video card? Is it possible my screen just isn't capable of displaying even 2.7K video?

Just a thought. Comments please. ....

No way. It's all on the mavic, not your computer. But if that helps you justify a new computer, go for it!! [emoji6]. 512mb is pretty ancient though. This is more an issue when editing and rendering. The larger your edits and grading get, the more you'll wish your had a larger GPU on the video card

 

[MrMavic]

I guess I should worry first about my internet speed. Where I live, the fastest we can get is an earth shattering 12 MPS speed. Then on top of it they charge us $86.00 per month and that's without a phone service line.
It's almost impossible to upload anything even at 1080P. I hope some day or crummy internet provider upgrades the crappy equipment to at least 60 MPS. Maybe I should be looking at it like what's the use having a faster computer with these snail speeds.

 

[NickB]

Managed to shoot another quick vid, ran through GP studio using the protune setting but put the protune sharpness to 0....i'm impressed

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[gavcuk]

I'm starting to wonder something here. Could my water color be the fault of my 7 year old iMac with a 512MB video card? Is it possible my screen just isn't capable of displaying even 2.7K video?

View attachment 11887

I'm thinking maybe I need to upgrade to the newer iMac with the better display and video card.

View attachment 11888

• 1TB (7200-rpm) Hard Drive
• AMD Radeon R9 M380 graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
• 27" Retina 5K Display
• 5120 x 2880 Resolution

Just a thought. Comments please. ....

I got the i7 with SSD, works like charm

 

[michaeldk]

I have a 15 day old Mavic (that I'll be sending back by the way for an issue it has with flickering shaddow brightness) which looks absolutely stunning on -1 or 0 sharpness. I can take still captures from foresty areas and it looks wonderfully sharp. I guess there must be some inter-mavic differences, possibly related to production date ?

I shot in the cinelike and 'none' profile.

 

[Tippocta]

Managed to shoot another quick vid, ran through GP studio using the protune setting but put the protune sharpness to 0....i'm impressed

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Good example Nick.

These are the same settings I like use to get straight from the camera shots without the post processing. Nothing overboard but in my opinion a nice overall balance.

 

[Fearless Flight]

Something to note also is that when you switch to PAL, you no longer have the option to set the camera Anti-Flicker to 60 Hz. Our power grid is at 60 Hz.

I wonder what other setting don't allow you to select 60 HZ. I have NTSC selected instead of PAL and I still cannot select 60HZ?

 

[AyeYo]

Everyone needs to understand that +1 and 0 sharpness CAN work depending on your camera, subject, environment. There is no right or wrong answer, just what works best. People don't like to hear this, but it's unfortunate due to DJI quality control and limitations of this camera.

What people don't seem to realize is that there isn't camera and Mavic variance, there's scene and composition variance. A bright, mid-contrast scene can probably get away with -1 sharpness. A monochromatic scene or a poorly lit scene might need +1 to be salvageable. The biggest problem that Youtube "photography experts" have created is this idea that there's "right" or "ideal" camera settings. There aren't. There are some settings that straight up garbage or broken on the Mavic and shouldn't be used at all (like jpegs, d-log, etc.), but beyond that, it's all down to per shot composition.

 

[Ziggy01]

What people don't seem to realize is that there isn't camera and Mavic variance, there's scene and composition variance. A bright, mid-contrast scene can probably get away with -1 sharpness. A monochromatic scene or a poorly lit scene might need +1 to be salvageable. The biggest problem that Youtube "photography experts" have created is this idea that there's "right" or "ideal" camera settings. There aren't. There are some settings that straight up garbage or broken on the Mavic and shouldn't be used at all (like jpegs, d-log, etc.), but beyond that, it's all down to per shot composition.

Hmm. I have to disagree. Unless one actually likes the look of the M.P noise reduction I would avoid any negative sharpness settings.
Davinci has excellent N.R.
But you're right, flying and shooting to conditions is essential for optimum video quality. Manual shutter and W.B all the way. Not to mention dampening, particularly yaw and gimbal. I'm seeing way too many videos here made unwatchable due to jerky movement.

 

[Fletcher500]

My previous camera experience involved a cell phone, and a go pro point and shoot, and you get what you get.

Taking footage over the ocean today on plus 1, and an ND 16 filter using 4K and 30. Wow, much better. Crisp, better color. The ocean still has some waffling so I will try 2.7 in the future as well.

 

[Strafe1]

What people don't seem to realize is that there isn't camera and Mavic variance, there's scene and composition variance. A bright, mid-contrast scene can probably get away with -1 sharpness. A monochromatic scene or a poorly lit scene might need +1 to be salvageable. The biggest problem that Youtube "photography experts" have created is this idea that there's "right" or "ideal" camera settings. There aren't. There are some settings that straight up garbage or broken on the Mavic and shouldn't be used at all (like jpegs, d-log, etc.), but beyond that, it's all down to per shot composition.

I disagree with this. Just as there are variations in edge to edge focus, the muddy color effect in identical sharpness settings can vary from bird to bird. There have been posts where owners have owned multiple Mavics, and report different image resolutions under the same conditions. There are plenty of videos that show the muddy effect with neutral settings and optimal shooting conditions, just as there are videos that show no ill effects with soft settings. I absolutely believe that the scene and composition is the most critical variable in the outcome of the shot. But there are definitely differences from Mavic to Mavic. Just like some have issues with FW updates and others have none, the application of the NR algorithm seems to affect some Mavics more readily than others.

 

[cmason]

I have a mavic air 2 and do not have access to sharpness settings. I get the watercolor effect on every setting I've tested, and reset it. Any suggestions?