More camera focus questions.

RayH · Feb 22, 2016

Hi,
I know people have had camera focus issues on the phantom 3 but my questions are these:

1. What is the minimum focus distance to get an in focus image.
2. Can you adjust the lens to change the minimum focus distance.
3. How can I reliably test for a focus issue.

The reason I ask is that I'm not 100% happy with the image quality/sharpness.

I use manual settings and shoot in jpeg and raw.
I use Lightroom to edit.

Thanks

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WetDog · Feb 22, 2016

Minimum focus is about 10 feet (I think)
You can't (easily) adjust focus - you have to dissassemble the lens. It can be done.
Best way to check is sit the P3 on a box or something and check while the motors are off - check at about 30 - 40 feet.

SimonH78 · Feb 22, 2016

I'd also be interested with your findings

...

RayH · Feb 22, 2016

WetDog said:
Minimum focus is about 10 feet (I think)
You can't (easily) adjust focus - you have to dissassemble the lens. It can be done.
Best way to check is sit the P3 on a box or something and check while the motors are off - check at about 30 - 40 feet.

Thanks for the reply [emoji106]
I will test tomorrow at 30-40 ft to see if things are in focus (weather permitting)
I'm guessing it will be hard to see how good the focus is at that distance as when the image is zoomed into the detail will be of low quality anyway with it being only a 12mp sensor.

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Muva Bee · Feb 22, 2016

i had same issue. shoot lots of random images. one from ground before takeoff, one brick wall (or some another same pattern so it's same for whole picture) from 2m, then from 5m, then shoot lots mid & far distance shots

if you have issue, you could or should notice it on just about any picture.

also try reset camera to defaults and shoot few pics to test default settings.
good luck

RayH · Feb 22, 2016

Muva Bee said:
i had same issue. shoot lots of random images. one from ground before takeoff, one brick wall (or some another same pattern so it's same for whole picture) from 2m, then from 5m, then shoot lots mid & far distance shots

if you have issue, you could or should notice it on just about any picture.

also try reset camera to defaults and shoot few pics to test default settings.
good luck

Ok thanks [emoji106]
What did you do to resolve your issue?

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lalvar40 · Feb 22, 2016

Had the same issue. The root problem is that the P3P camera takes great videos but good pictures. I don't know why. After doing multiple tests, I decided to send my P3P to DJI. They just exchanged the camera. I had the left side of picture slightly out of focus, hard to notice. Net net, now that I have my new camera and pictures from my "defective camera," and I used to have a P2V+, I can tell you the following:
1. P2V+ stills were very sharp w/o processing ( but when cropping picture you could see artifacts). Videos were poor.
2. The sensor of the P3P is much better than the P2V+, however, the only way to get a very sharp picture in my P3P is by using Lightroom or Photoshop. Videos are great either at 1080p or at 4K.
Hope this helps

J&L · Feb 22, 2016

lalvar40 said:
Had the same issue. The root problem is that the P3P camera takes great videos but good pictures. I don't know why. After doing multiple tests, I decided to send my P3P to DJI. They just exchanged the camera. I had the left side of picture slightly out of focus, hard to notice. Net net, now that I have my new camera and pictures from my "defective camera," and I used to have a P2V+, I can tell you the following:
1. P2V+ stills were very sharp w/o processing ( but when cropping picture you could see artifacts). Videos were poor.
2. The sensor of the P3P is much better than the P2V+, however, the only way to get a very sharp picture in my P3P is by using Lightroom or Photoshop. Videos are great either at 1080p or at 4K.
Hope this helps

I've noticed my last couple of photos the left side of the photo is out of focus also. It's starting to bug me.

RayH · Feb 23, 2016

lalvar40 said:
Had the same issue. The root problem is that the P3P camera takes great videos but good pictures. I don't know why. After doing multiple tests, I decided to send my P3P to DJI. They just exchanged the camera. I had the left side of picture slightly out of focus, hard to notice. Net net, now that I have my new camera and pictures from my "defective camera," and I used to have a P2V+, I can tell you the following:
1. P2V+ stills were very sharp w/o processing ( but when cropping picture you could see artifacts). Videos were poor.
2. The sensor of the P3P is much better than the P2V+, however, the only way to get a very sharp picture in my P3P is by using Lightroom or Photoshop. Videos are great either at 1080p or at 4K.
Hope this helps

Ok, thanks for your input.
It sounds to me like these cameras are a bit hit and miss.
I understand that these aren't dslrs but I expected more fore some reason but at the end of the day as a package you get a lot for the money.
I also understand that it is a fixed focal length camera and they are designed to be up at a good altitude which is what the Focus point is designed for, not close up test shots.
I just want to be sure the camera is doing all it possibly can.
As for settings I have them in manual using jpeg and raw with -2 across the board, am I best leaving the photo side of things at "0" ?
I then use Lightroom CC to process the images as I do with my normal photography.
I will do my tests today if the weather is good enough and report back.

Edit......
Do you think using 16:9 instead of 4:3 mode for photos will make any difference to quality, does the phantom crop a 4:3 to make a 16:9 photo (is that even an option)?

Thanks [emoji106]

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Muva Bee · Feb 23, 2016

Not sure about 16:9 vs 4:3.
But i know that 4:3 format utilise maximum amount of pixels, no crop.

I discovered blurry spot on p3a, send pics to dealer and payed bit more for pro.

RayH · Feb 23, 2016

Muva Bee said:
Not sure about 16:9 vs 4:3.
But i know that 4:3 format utilise maximum amount of pixels, no crop.

I discovered blurry spot on p3a, send pics to dealer and payed bit more for pro.

Mine is the pro but I don't think the pics are very pro tbh. I'm going to do some tests and I will exchange it if I'm not happy. Do you use RAW mode for photos and if so do you reduce the sharpening/contrast/saturation in the camera and fix in post?

Thanks.

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Muva Bee · Feb 23, 2016

Yeah, do some basic test. It's easy to find out is your camera defective. Post pics here, i still have some samples of defected camera and whole internet is filled with posts about "DJI P3/Inspire various camera defectivness and samples"

Also some variables like outside vs camera body temperature plays role here. So just make sure that outside temperature is "normal" and device temp is "normal"..
But those are extremes, like shooting at -10 degree celsius and your phantom spend last 2 hours in warm car and stuff like that. hope you got my point. sorry for english, btw

Also blur spot can be in the middle, on the left, on the right...

I used .dng + jpeg as long as i remember but should not make really difference to do conclusion is your camera defective. You should spot it from basic jpeg quite easy in few pictures..

Most valuable thing i learned recently is that you want sharpness at -2. Not even -1, i'm just testing last 5,10 days -1 vs -2 and -1 video footage looks really bad. Not sure how that is called but there is noise just about on every surface that has quite same colour (aka. small differences in colour), like water, walls, grass,..

RayH · Feb 23, 2016

Muva Bee said:
Yeah, do some basic test. It's easy to find out is your camera defective. Post pics here, i still have some samples of defected camera and whole internet is filled with posts about "DJI P3/Inspire various camera defectivness and samples"

Also some variables like outside vs camera body temperature plays role here. So just make sure that outside temperature is "normal" and device temp is "normal"..
But those are extremes, like shooting at -10 degree celsius and your phantom spend last 2 hours in warm car and stuff like that. hope you got my point. sorry for english, btw

Also blur spot can be in the middle, on the left, on the right...

I used .dng + jpeg as long as i remember but should not make really difference to do conclusion is your camera defective. You should spot it from basic jpeg quite easy in few pictures..

Most valuable thing i learned recently is that you want sharpness at -2. Not even -1, i'm just testing last 5,10 days -1 vs -2 and -1 video footage looks really bad. Not sure how that is called but there is noise just about on every surface that has quite same colour (aka. small differences in colour), like water, walls, grass,..

Thanks for your reply, your English is fine.

I have my sharpening turned down as well because the moiré looks really bad at 0.

I'm at work at the moment but when I get home later I will post another photo.
This was a dng with -2 sharpening and edited in Lightroom. I expect the plant pot to be out of focus but the trees at the fence look blurry to me. The shutter speed was over 1/250th and the phantom was on the floor with motors off.

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Muva Bee · Feb 23, 2016

Hmm not so bad in general, but tree & fence looks bit soft.

I wold say we'll need more samples, also full res. Check mine, this is pic i send to my dealer. You see how building from left to right just lose detail as you are looking more to the left... right/down is ok, middle/left is very bad..

Also try to shoot same pattern so you can spot degradation on same pattern. like "100% brick wall" picture from about 2m to 10m

RayH · Feb 23, 2016

So is your new camera a lot better or just a bit better?
I will post some pics later [emoji106]

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Muva Bee · Feb 23, 2016

well this is sample from new device. i could not find or spot some degradation pattern.
and just quickly looking i would say difference is quite obvious for average video/photo hobbyist.

RayH · Feb 23, 2016

Yes, your first photo definitely had issues. You second looks fine on my iPhone. I wish I had another phantom with me to compare shots.

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