Who's returning their mavic because of the warm spot?

[MavicPro83]

Well after further evaluating a lot of footage it seems that there definitely are units out there that don't exhibit the Warm spot to the same degree which leads me to think it might be best to return while I still have the option, even if it means waiting for another unit for a short while. Reading up on the issue on Phones etc too it seems small tolerances can make a big difference so it stands to reason that even if all the Mavics have this issue it could be less or more on certain units. Seriously frustrating as I've had 2 MP's prior to this one already, one with a lose arm, one with a faulty gimbal and now this... getting a bit tired of issues.

 

[taiguy]

it's a shame for me because I find my current mavic camera module has pretty sharp details all throughout the frame. only ruined by a fairly prominent warm spot in DNGs.

 

[SteelFlyer]

I had seen this thread before but breezed through it because I hadn't had the issue with any RAW photos that I had taken. Granted I have mostly shot video so haven't tested it much. In fact I've felt lucky because my Mavic has had almost none of the issues (of any kind) that others have had.

This morning we got snow in North Carolina and I decided to take my bird up for some shots before the snow melted off of the trees. I got back, uploaded the files and blammo there it was - the dreaded red spot right in the middle of the frame in my DNG file. The photo was of grey sky and snow covered trees with no leaves. I did my best to remove it in Lightroom but haven't yet gotten it to my satisfaction. It's a bugger.

I shoot with both JPEG and RAW and interesting enough, I don't see the red spot in the jpeg. So clearly this has something to do with DJI's processing of sensor data.

 

[Blacksmith]

No, for God's sake, PLEASE don't slow down, by no means. I believe you were naturally born slow enough, really.

And the proper expression is "Even a BROKEN clock is right twice a day." Think about it. Doesn't that make more sense, even to you? I mean, if you're gonna use an expression, at least please try to get it right. Doesn't take much extra effort to be correct. Common sense tells you that any working clock is right twice a day, otherwise no one would use it now, would they? I would also try using more current, relevant expressions, too. Broken, old fashioned analog hand clocks are the only clocks that can be "right" twice a day; doesn't apply to digital clocks.

"Are we clear?" you ask? Well, not really. You kinda fell apart there at the end of your post talking about "toilet bugs" - which I totally don't get - or me being on your "...list of important things in (your) life," something I never claimed to be or would ever lower myself to aspire to, either. So, no, "we" are NOT clear. But I sure am. Just like I am certain that my feet are firmly on the ground and not in my mouth as you suggest.

Again, take your head out of where it's stuck. Get a fresh breath of air and a new perspective. Things look real nice out here. BTW, thanks for the cookie!

Take it outside, kids. You're wasting bandwidth.

 

[CC Rider]

Take it outside, kids. You're wasting bandwidth.

Hey, dude, why don't you catch up with the rest of us "kids"? That was way back on February 6, exactly 5 weeks ago (35 days!). The only person wasting bandwith about that exchange is YOU.

 

[fishelectronics]

Folks, you helped me to lost my last hope that RMA will help. I just read DJI statement on that issue and for me it sound like "Sorry, we intentionally put sucks camera to your $1K drone and now we explain you why". Or they probably didn't knew about that problem when designed it, but later they found "scientific" way to justify the problem... That's awful, but I'm quite familiar with this approach in China - I've been working with hundreds CN manufacturers for 12 years.

For those who think that they do not have this problem see attached mosaic. As you can see it is difficult to notice the problem on every photo, but it's just because of different composition and light conditions.

Snow must be snow - it doesn't have anything red. I don't want to use such pictures and we definitely need to complain to DJI about this BUG. It is bug. Their statement is just a way to avoid responsibility.

@Savededa
@notoriouskeef
How did you solved the problem?

Did anyone tried the latest Camera Raw? My old Lightroom has v7.1 and it doesn't have Mavic profile yet, but it is there in the latest Camera Raw and I wonder if there is suitable workaround to patch this hardware bug...

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Folks, you helped me to lost my last hope that RMA will help. I just read DJI statement on that issue and for me it sound like "Sorry, we intentionally put sucks camera to your $1K drone and now we explain you why". Or they probably didn't knew about that problem when designed it, but later they found "scientific" way to justify the problem... That's awful, but I'm quite familiar with this approach in China - I've been working with hundreds CN manufacturers for 12 years.

For those who think that they do not have this problem see attached mosaic. As you can see it is difficult to notice the problem on every photo, but it's just because of different composition and light conditions.

Snow must be snow - it doesn't have anything red. I don't want to use such pictures and we definitely need to complain to DJI about this BUG. It is bug. Their statement is just a way to avoid responsibility.

@Savededa
@notoriouskeef
How did you solved the problem?

Did anyone tried the latest Camera Raw? My old Lightroom has v7.1 and it doesn't have Mavic profile yet, but it is there in the latest Camera Raw and I wonder if there is suitable workaround to patch this hardware bug...

Where is the DJI statement?

 

[fishelectronics]

Where is the DJI statement?

Attached. It's provided by Ken from DJI. You can find original post with links on DJI forum. There is dozen threads on this problem.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Attached. It's provided by Ken from DJI. You can find original post with links on DJI forum. There is dozen threads on this problem.

Thanks - very interesting. I've seen the circle in some MP videos and can confirm that it's not in P4P (as far as I've seen to date). I was at another member's house a month or so ago and we played with a circular gradient in Davinci Resolve that tamed the circle down a great deal. So there is a mitigation there.

The technical explanation in that "paper" seems logical to me - limits to what you can do with compact cameras. It also seems to me that video processing before storage or post processing could be applied to reduce it.

 

[fishelectronics]

The technical explanation in that "paper" seems logical to me

They definitely found very logical way to cover design flaws and avoid responsibility.

 

[Capra Vecinului]

That statement in the PDF file is very interesting. It implies that even DJI latest camera, the Zenmuse X5 might be affected, although it "generally" shouldn't be the case.
Thanks for the honesty, DJI Ken; pretty sure I would not venture into purchasing an Inspire 2 under those conditions.

 

[fishelectronics]

The euphoria from owning new toy does not allow many pilots to address this problem adequately. Bloggers like Casey Neistat only add more confidence to such people that Mavic is really Pro and absolutely wonderful peace of equipment... for "just" $1K. In fact the camera (I don't mean gimbal) is really awful! Just thinks about these problems: 1) red hot spot (presented on all Mavic cameras), 2) defocusing on the edges (most Mavic cameras), 3) washed out image until you set sharpness to +1 or more, which brings pain of post processing, 4) fixed aperture that doesn't allow regulate DOF (well, this shouldn't be probably on this list), 5) no option to fix either only ISO or only shutter (this is software issue, can be easy resolved).

What I want to say: the camera is not Pro at all. It's not even hobbyist camera. Modern phones (except Chinese Mi) with the same limitations (space/distance) have quite perfect cameras, incomparable with this one fitted to Mavic at all.

 

[fishelectronics]

Thanks for the honesty, DJI Ken.

Actually, their explanation of the problem it's just a way to patch hardware problem by logical argumentation. I don't really respect this kind of "honesty". I know that approach well and met it several time in my career. If we could take our (yes, I have it too) euphoria away we probably could force DJI to do some real changes.

Btw... have you ever thought about why after all initial huge success of the Mavic in previous year it still in poor availability both in the US and Europe? My personal opinion (based on knowledge how manufacturing works): they know their design flaws and they are not confident to place another huge batch on the market that they need to recall later.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

The euphoria from owning new toy does not allow many pilots to address this problem adequately. Bloggers like Casey Neistat only add more confidence to such people that Mavic is really Pro and absolutely wonderful peace of equipment... for "just" $1K. In fact the camera (I don't mean gimbal) is really awful! Just thinks about these problems: 1) red hot spot (presented on all Mavic cameras), 2) defocusing on the edges (most Mavic cameras), 3) washed out image until you set sharpness to +1 or more, which brings pain of post processing, 4) fixed aperture that doesn't allow regulate DOF (well, this shouldn't be probably on this list), 5) no option to fix either only ISO or only shutter (this is software issue, can be easy resolved).

What I want to say: the camera is not Pro at all. It's not even hobbyist camera. Modern phones (except Chinese Mi) with the same limitations (space/distance) have quite perfect cameras, incomparable with this one fitted to Mavic at all.

Anyone setting expectations too high on the MP camera are not seeing the forest for the trees.

The MP was optimally designed for portability and a wide market which means three things that go against it having a camera with outstanding performance.

• Compactness
• Weight
• Price

You can't expect those to be so small and expect the camera to be fantastic.

Focusing your whine on this issue is not going to make you a happy person. Use it for what it was designed, set it so that post processing will be easier, not harder, try a circular gradient in post to tame the circle and get on with life or get a larger, heavier drone with a larger camera.

And by the way, Neistat did not claim it gave pro results. He said given its portability and ease of setup that the video performance was good enough for most things. (He's a story teller and film maker - not pixel obsessed).

And finally "pro" is in the ability to use available equipment to get the job done. Why a good photographer can work within the limitations of the tool.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

That statement in the PDF file is very interesting. It implies that even DJI latest camera, the Zenmuse X5 might be affected, although it "generally" shouldn't be the case.
Thanks for the honesty, DJI Ken; pretty sure I would not venture into purchasing an Inspire 2 under those conditions.

QUOTE: For DLSRs or micro-DLSRs with long flange focal distances, including the Zenmuse X5/X5R, color shading is weak and isn’t generally a problem ENDQUOTE.

Like a DSLR. Shading is weak. Generally not a problem. I interpret that as "only in very particular conditions and obsessive examination will it be seen."

I haven't seen it at all with the P4P camera which is not as large as the X5 by far. (To be fair I haven't made a lot of video with it worth keeping. But a good 30 minutes from yesterday does not have it at all)

Note that DSLR's are included in that (which would be rare to find given how far the rear element is from the filter).

 

[fishelectronics]

These are not high expectations at all. They marketing Mavic mainly as a portable flying camera. In my country it sells with description "camera for taking aerial footages and pictures". I'm sorry for those guys who are happy with JPG or video straight from the camera (any camera) - they don't have the sense of beauty. I don't expect them to take any action. For us who value beauty, let's do something to make this subject hot? I'm sure the situation can change and they can even update their camera that we can later get replaced by warranty. They either knew about these problems with camera beforehand and in good Chinese traditions put this intentionally to be on the market asap and let folks accept it as is (most people hate RMA for their new toy) or they discovered this later (unlikely). These are not high expectations at all, I repeat.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

These are not high expectations at all. They marketing Mavic mainly as a portable flying camera. In my country it sells with description "camera for taking aerial footages and pictures". I'm sorry for those guys who are happy with JPG or video straight from the camera (any camera) - they don't have the sense of beauty. I don't expect them to take any action. For us who value beauty, let's do something to make this subject hot? I'm sure the situation can change and they can even update their camera that we can later get replaced by warranty. They either knew about these problems with camera beforehand and in good Chinese traditions put this intentionally to be on the market asap and let folks accept it as is (most people hate RMA for their new toy) or they discovered this later (unlikely). These are not high expectations at all, I repeat.

Given all the beautiful MP footage I've seen I guess talented and able videographers are making do and quite well.

 

[fishelectronics]

Given all the beautiful MP footage I've seen I guess talented and able videographers are making do and quite well.

Of course we can continue patching hardware problem by software way - this approach will always work and it works with me too. But for the money I paid and advertise I have seen I couldn't even imagine that they put a piece of **** behind the lens (probably the lens itself is also bad). I don't believe that you, who seems do PP, can accept that poor quality - especially for RAW that is designed to be the way to get better quality (definitely not by patching red hot spots). Moreover, there are plenty video examples where Mavic wasn't able to patch the problem on the board. Patching video for red hot spot... sorry, that's not my way to produce nice looking video. I don't tell about professional use or professional application at all (even though I could as soon as they claimed combined "Pro" and "photo/video" in their ads) - I tell about sense of beauty that most people don't have, unfortunately.

 

[Capra Vecinului]

I would nor totally bash that "Pro" in the Mavic name.
Maybe video & photo quality might not be "pro" class (whatever that may be, as a standard, can be debated over countless pages); yet for me, the drone's portability, stability in flight, range, IMU & compass redundancy, flight modes etc definitely makes it a Pro, compared to other drones of the same class and price range currently on the market.

 

[fishelectronics]

I would nor totally bash that "Pro" in the Mavic name.
Maybe video & photo quality might not be "pro" class (whatever that may be, as a standard, can be debated over countless pages); yet for me, the drone's portability, stability in flight, range, IMU & compass redundancy, flight modes etc definitely makes it a Pro, compared to other drones of the same class and price range currently on the market.

See attached (not mine, since I'm over another PC now). This neither "Pro", nor "Standard", nor "Beginners", nor "Hobby" - it's just bad (if use polite description) camera. They shouldn't put this to $1K drone.

PS
You will understand I was right on one day when they announce hardware camera update for MP because of this problem.