DJI Phantom 2 Vision Photo quality?

Bleach.e46 · Nov 12, 2013

What's going on? Is the quality of vision compared to the GoPro really so bad?

http://www.drohnen.de/669/foto-vergleic ... ckedition/

I think I need to get me something else ...

Pull_Up · Nov 12, 2013

I really quite like the quality of the stills out of my Vision and am very happy with them - colours seem particularly nice to my eye. I don't own a GoPro so can't compare - I bought the Vision because it was an all-in-one package and it suits me not to have to fiddle with adding extra bits and tweaking.

They are also comparing a Vision with a rig using a £450 brushless gimbal, a £300 camera, mounted to a £950 (in RTF format) hexacopter! I haven't even added any FPV or downlink kit to that and we are already over twice as expensive as a Vision... You do get what you are prepared to pay for, and I think the results for the Vision are spot on for what I expected for the price.

buckames · Nov 12, 2013

I am concerned about the quality of the Vision camera/pictures. I have the Phantom 1 with gopro black 3+ and photographed our complete golf course ... beautiful pictures. Just received the Phantom Vision. Love the flight experience however really concerned about the quality of the Vision pictures. Need to do a few more photos/videos before final decision. Wonder what it would take to modify the Phantom Vision for the gopro camera ... looking ahead.

rilot · Nov 12, 2013

It's a shame.
What I'm seeing of photos from the Vision is that they're extremely poor compared to a GoPro. And that's saying something as GoPro pictures are pretty poor in the scheme of things.

wildcatter · Nov 12, 2013

I agree Pull_up, the vision is pretty awesome as far as I am concerned. I read a lot of articles and comments about the vision before I ordered one. It seemed to me that a lot of people with a lot more money in their equipment are a, well anyway that's why I bought the vision.

Studiowise · Nov 12, 2013

This kind of thread bemuses me!
All the people who are disappointed by the quality, were they walking through a supermarket, saw some pretty pictures on a DJI box and made an impulse purchase? They then got home , fired it all up and thought "hang on a minute, these pictures and video clips don't look half as good as what is on the box?" a bit like when you buy a big mac and what arrives in the box looks nothing like what up on the menu board above you.
Before i made what I consider to be a significant purchase costing £850, i watched every video on YouTube, i scoured Vimeo, I watched video clips in languages i can't even speak just so i could accumulate an informed decision on whether this product would deliver what i needed. I saw jello, i saw pixelation and i also saw varying degrees of chromatic aberration.
Its the same with mobile phones, a small sensor on a small device with a small lens is never exactly the best recipe for great images but the number of people moaning about the iPhone 5 / Samsung / Nokia image quality also bemuses me.
if you want high quality, buy a device designed to deliver. The GoPro is ultimately designed as an action camera, do you ever think their design brief was to include landscape photography?
if you want a fun device that be taken out of the boot of your car, powered up and be made ready in seconds, fly brilliantly with very little (if any) aviation knowledge , offer a degree of FPV, take stills remotely and record useful video onboard then this thing is amazing.

What GP3 black beating images and video? then use the £850 and invest in a proper octo that can carry a bridge camera or DSLR.
I for one just wish theyd hurry up and issue the software to let me process all the RAWs ive been shooting

edited to add, i own a GoPro3 Black which i use on my a Parrot AR Drone 2.0. Yesterday i mounted the GoPro on my PV2 as a straight down camera so i consider myself qualified to compare them both at 100% crop in PS6

Bwells · Nov 12, 2013

My question is this. Have you worked your way through all of the camera settings? Exposure, ISO, JPEG Small, JPEG Large, White Balance, and soon to be RAW?

I could go out and buy a Canon 5D Mark III and be upset at the quality if I shot it on completely automatic mode, but the vision has lots of options to help you control and work with photos to get the best out of it. I will admit that you will need to do some post processing to straighten horizons etc... The features this camera has, and with a future update for RAW DMG to work with Lightroom and Photoshop, this thing is going to be amazing for my photography.

Maybe explain in detail what about the photos you don't like? (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation) and people can start to help by sharing editing tips & tricks to get the best out of it. This way we are not just bashing a product before its full potential has been explored and showcased. I am sure we are going to see some amazing HDR, Tone Mapped RAW photography coming in the future from some talented photographers using the Vision that will gladly share tips.

Just my 2 cents.

Studiowise · Nov 12, 2013

Bwells said:
My question is this. Have you worked your way through all of the camera settings? Exposure, ISO, JPEG Small, JPEG Large, White Balance, and soon to be RAW? .

my answer is this. Yes!

mpotthast · Nov 13, 2013

Hands down, Phantom Vision Stills, much better than GoPro 3 Black. However, video from GoPro 3 Black is much better than Phantom Vision video.

Khyber · Nov 14, 2013

Personally I think the Visions camera outshines the Go-Pro in some aspects (especially evening flights), but to accomplish this you have to play around with the settings. Also the DJI app has done an amazing job aside from the Invalid Battery nonsense. I can understand the concerns of shaky video since its not a two axis gimbal, but if your smooth enough with the controls you should have no issue with shakiness. At the end of the day its really all preference.

I also agree with the Canon 5D Mark 2 comment. You can buy that camera and run it on auto and maybe a Sony Nex5 will outshine it. Its all about the settings to garnish the most out of the cam for the landscape, lighting, etc.

rilot · Nov 14, 2013

mpotthast said:
Hands down, Phantom Vision Stills, much better than GoPro 3 Black. However, video from GoPro 3 Black is much better than Phantom Vision video.

Show me.
All the stills I've seen from the Vision are awful compared to what I can get out of my H3B.

Bwells · Nov 14, 2013

Here are a couple of shots from this evening. With just some lens correction and crop.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandon-we ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandon-we ... otostream/

rilot · Nov 15, 2013

Those look pretty good to be honest.

Mactab · Nov 15, 2013

I think, until I see the results from raw files, I'm going to sit on the fence on this one. However from the jpegs I have shot, the quality from the vision is not great. Pretty fuzzy at the sides - I shoot pics for a living ( I didn't get one for work btw) but I couldn't see any of my clients accepting files from the vision unless they really were going to be used small on a web page etc.
No idea why DJI haven't released the raw file converter already. This should have been available from 1st November as it's not as though they didn't know about it.
Until the battery issue is sorted I can't do any in-depth sort of test i.e. playing with settings and different light conditions so on the fence I stay.

m2kool4u · Nov 15, 2013

Studiowise said:
Yesterday i mounted the GoPro on my PV2 as a straight down camera so i consider myself qualified to compare them both at 100% crop in PS6

So you can swap the camera? I have read sometimes that doing so is not easy nor user manageable, how is it?

blueskycam · Nov 15, 2013

I am a professional photographer by trade, and just got my PV2 2 days ago.
I did the minimal basic preparations and did 2 sorties with the PV2 till the battery ran out.
Tonight I finally got to read the manual and calibrate my camera.

First make sure the RC is set to FCC rules instead of CE rules. That little screw on the back of the RC will quintuple your range.

Second the video and camera settings are set for medium and low resolution, set those to high resolution.
I did set the camera to RAW and took some photos, none of the photo processing software would recognize the image, but here is a fact for you. the JPEG file was about 1.2 MB that's 1,200KB the raw file was 28MB that's 28,000 KB. Yes the raw file is 23 times larger. What does that mean?
When a photo is taken, the data off the sensor has to be processed for the photographer to see and to store. That little processor inside the camera is not going to cut it. It is ingesting 28MB, giving you 1.2 MB and THROWING the the rest away. On the other hand, your desktop or laptop is going to take its sweet time, manipulating that 28MB. The images ought to be of great quality.
DJI is saying that it will take the raw, turn it into a DNG file so Photoshop or other programs can see it. Hope they get that done soon.

Studiowise · Nov 16, 2013

m2kool4u said:
Studiowise said:

Yesterday i mounted the GoPro on my PV2 as a straight down camera so i consider myself qualified to compare them both at 100% crop in PS6

Click to expand...

So you can swap the camera? I have read sometimes that doing so is not easy nor user manageable, how is it?

I'd love to say yes with some amazing technical description of the strip down and rebuild but i actaully just velcro'd it face down on the rear of the Vision base behind the existing Vision camera & gimbal!
i did tie a fishing wire round the GoPro housing and the Vision legs in case the prop vibrations managed to detach the gopro during flight. i knew before purchase that the Vision couldn't do straight down shots so ive hung onto my Gopro for now. im currently constructing a bracket that will hold the gopro in its new lightweight case between the rear legs of the Vision.

Pull_Up · Nov 16, 2013

Just a few shots from yesterday, in bright sunshine. Google "auto enhance" applied, otherwise nothing else done to them. People I've shown them to (non-pros) seem to like 'em...

https://plus.google.com/photos/103505823809077926139/albums/5946589073893832961

vbluguitar · Nov 16, 2013

Mactab said:
I think, until I see the results from raw files, I'm going to sit on the fence on this one. However from the jpegs I have shot, the quality from the vision is not great. Pretty fuzzy at the sides - I shoot pics for a living ( I didn't get one for work btw) but I couldn't see any of my clients accepting files from the vision unless they really were going to be used small on a web page etc.
No idea why DJI haven't released the raw file converter already. This should have been available from 1st November as it's not as though they didn't know about it.
Until the battery issue is sorted I can't do any in-depth sort of test i.e. playing with settings and different light conditions so on the fence I stay.

Yeah, the whole Converter thing sucks, but its not uncommon to have a bit of a wait between the release of a camera and the ability to use raw. I remember the 5D mark III having a 2 or 3 week wait before its converter came out.

vbluguitar · Nov 16, 2013

As a professional photographer (http://www.ohiorealestatephotography.com) I can say that I am not exactly enthused about the Jpeg quality of the images. We will see how well it does when the raw format becomes available. I would hope its better. The images are fine for web use, but they won't hold up to print as is.