Phantom 4 Poor Video Quality - Lemon?

You are right, that one direct from phone and not from SD card, so thats 720p that cached in phone quality
my upload speed slower, im uploading another one, should be up in 20 min or so
Ah.. lol. Is that using the Go app sharing crap? I love the notion that they want to make drone vids instantly shareable, like it can't wait an hour or two.
 
You are right, that one direct from phone and not from SD card, so thats 720p that cached in phone quality
my upload speed slower, im uploading another one, should be up in 20 min or so
Anyway my main question was whether that river clip was shot in DLog mode or what? Some people seem to just have terrible resolution no matter what, while others it's a DLog issue that makes it mush (similar to X3/X5 inspire DLog issues).
 
You are right, that one direct from phone and not from SD card, so thats 720p that cached in phone quality
my upload speed slower, im uploading another one, should be up in 20 min or so
:) Cool. It would be better if you upload somewhere else (dropbox, google drive) - we can download directly and not rely on YT compression quality.
 
Loaded the video
please advise

I think that looks normal, but I wouldn't turn sharpening down to (-1). People have always been saying that since earlier Phantom models (which I agree they tended to look over digital/sharp), but personally I don't think it applies to the P4. It's personal preference. When I played with non-DLog/Cine modes, I found them to be about normal/P3P level detail and sharpness, but only at 0 sharpness. Turning it down lost too much detail you can't easily regain in post, turning it up introduced massive noise/artifact issues (even at just -1 or +1).

Again that's just me, but IMO your P4 is fine/won't get much better, just don't use Dlog or Cine.
 
Guys do not use Dlog or Cine modes. Use none or art. Drop sharpness to -2, contrast to -3 and highlights to -2. You can then adjust and regain in post. Also use custom white balance in K. Sunshine 5000 to 5200k, sunset and sunrise 6000k. Cloudy set to cloudy. Use Iso 100 when possible and shot with ND filters to adjust to around 50 to 40 fps without over exposure. There is not much else one can play with other than adjusting the values for sharpness, contrast and highlights. My camera on the P4 is out of focus on the two bottom corners. The right hand bottom corner is worst than the left hand bottom corner. I simply trim these defects out in post so its not to much of a problem. Even with the limitations of this camera it definitely a much better picture than my P3 with better dynamic range.
 
Loaded the video
please advise


That looks fine to me. However, there is not much movement over detailed images like grass or trees branches. At 1 minute mark there is little cluster of trees in a park - if you can fly closer to them and pan and tilt - that would be real test for mpeg artifacts.
 
Alex..No d log or others, I use none and get real good results. Your video sharpness looks like mine when I used dlog, the cars should be sharper than what I see.
 
As said before, I assume the protective lens shipping film has been removed, using the small lifter tab on the front edge of the camera lens?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
I noticed the same thing too. I just bought my P4 and got it a couple of days ago. Did P3 camera settings in dlog and I'm not impressed. I try what was mentioned before and hopefully report back with sown positive news.
 
As said before, I assume the protective lens shipping film has been removed, using the small lifter tab on the front edge of the camera lens?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
That's not anyone's problem...
 
Ok, final report...

RMA took about 2 weeks, but I just got a replacement P4 from DJI Care.

Funny part is the invoice says they 'changed the camera main board cover and fan component'.. but they didn't, they just sent me a new bird altogether (as I asked for).

I've been testing it in a variety of light and settings, and voila, I definitely now have a good copy. I can't say I notice much difference/improvement over my P3P, but it's on par, which is still good.

They didn't really answer any questions about the problem, if I had a bad copy or what, but kudos to DJI Carson CA for making that easy I guess!
 
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Hi alex...after an incredibly frustrating time trying to convince the dji agent here in new zealand that footage coming from my p4 varied from wonderful to complete mush (very similar to what you posted) I reshot a scene with one of the agent's phantom and put it in a split screen with my awful stuff...after days of them claiming that the crappy footage I had been filming was normal they had to admit that something was not right so they gave me their phantom as a swap. All feels a little better now..if this one turns out to be dodgy too I'll know these drones are rubbish.
 
Yeh looks bad to me. No idea why though. Hope you sort it out. I have seen heaps of p4 videos and they all look great. Good luck.
 
Hi guys, my name is Carlos and I'm from Spain. I just registered here to help to calm down those who, like me when I purchased the P4 a few days ago, went paranoid about the possibility of having a faulty copy of the drone.

It's confirmed for many Phantom users that D-Log mode was screwed up on the last firmware update and videos recorded using that mode have vectorized look, just like the samples that AlexLim posted. There are a lot of discussions on the internet regarding this firmware update, as someone pointed earlier in this thread shitty D-log seems to be happening to Inspire users also. Check out these samples captured with mi drone (download or set zoom to 100% for better visualization):

Phantom 4 D-Log vs None modes.jpg

The only way to fix this is through a future firmware release, so if you got this problem don't panic, make sure first to test video recording with "none" color mode, and if it looks ok, your drone is perfect. Meanwhile, if you need more versatility for color correction in post production just reduce the contrast value in your video settings.

Hope this helps!
 
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I've been testing my Phantom 4 for the last 2 weeks, and all I can conclude is I must have a 'lemon' or bad copy of the camera. I hope.

For context, yes I have been using DJI Phantoms since model one on up to the Phantom 3 Pro, so I am very well versed on the settings, flight, and expected quality.

I have very similar results, I've had mine for about 2 weeks had a phantom 2 before with Go pro black so cant compare to a P3.

Can anyone download the footage and tell me if im going crazy of this is a bad P4 ?

The best word I have seen to describe it is posterised, seems like one of those cheesy filters even a bity noisey...I have tested the footage on my surface 4 and desktop 27" 1080 screen both looks pretty terrible.

Also the 1080p footage looks really bad compared to 4K I would say worse than my Go Pro.

Drop box link to the raw footage below

DLOG - Dropbox - 4k-custom-dlog .MOV
None (picture setting) - Dropbox - 4k-custom-none.MOV



DLOG - Specs for footage

  • 4K 30fps
  • Manual camera settings ISO 100 / shutter 60
  • Using a DJI ND 16 filter
  • 3D noise off
  • D-LOG
  • Picture style Sharpness 0 saturation 0 contrast 0 (I played around with these and -1 sharpness just looked terrible)
None specs are the same just none instead of DLOG mode

What I've done

  • Tried playing with all the picture styles found 0 all round to look the best (before and after post)
  • Tried with a SRP ND 8 filter on a duller day
  • Tried with no filter
  • Tried auto mode
  • Tried a different SD card
  • Tried various picture modes none, dlog cine etc..
  • Tried various frame rates and resolutions
  • Taken the footage into premiere and graded, processed, sharpened and exported still not that impressed

I dont have another phantom 4 to compare but the pictures at the start of this thread really look similar to mine.

I will be back in Sydney in a few weeks where I purchased the drone might have to take it back see if they will swap. Unless someone can convince me this is normal ?
 

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