Vision App loses Camera Vision after taking RAW Photos!!

[BengalBoy]

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone else has an issue with their Phantom 2 Vision+ losing camera functionality and camera connection to DJI Vision app on Smartphone? I am running latest version 3.08 on my Version 3.0 Vision+. I'm using a HTC One (M8) with latest Vision android application. Remote controller and WiFi range extender all fully charged and operating normally. My problem seems to only have recently started and basically is described as a loss of any camera control after taking a photo in RAW or possibly two or three photos before loss of functionality. The experience goes like this:

When flying the Vision+ V3.0 I am having no issues with recording video. Turning video on/off while in flight does not affect the "camera view" from the Phantom's camera to my Smartphone. I never lose vision of the camera view or FPV of Phantom. However, if I stop recording video and take a photo in RAW format, the Vision app on my Smartphone goes *black* and may stay black for 10 seconds approximately before the Vision app begins to show the "camera view" and full functionality of the camera controls resumes. At this point, I can touch the *camera* icon or the *video* icon to activate the shutter or recording. I've never had a problem in the first month of owership except the huge delay after taking a photo. However, yesterday I was flying at evening and took a RAW photo after recording video. At this point the lag in writing the file and getting a *camera view* back on the screen of my Smartphone seemed longer than usual and when I started to take another photo the icons for *camera* and *video* were grayed out and non-functioning, although, the red record light flashed within the *video* icon that was grayed out. The camera indeed writes a file during this bug, but, it is corrupted and unplayable. Today I had the same issue happen again, and, on a 2nd flight after stopping video I was able to take 3 RAW photos before the Vision app went *black*. The "camera view" function never returned and I had to fly by eyesight to bring the Phantom back to me. The sudden loss of *camera vision* while flying really concerns me because I rely on it to bring my Phantom back when flying beyond my eyesight to avoid disorientation and trouble landing in small clearings.

Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not sure what else to do except stop taking RAW photos when I fly or making sure I don't get the Phantom too far away when I choose to take photos instead of video.

 

[Mako79]

happens randomly and it doesn't matter how far or close you are. I rarely take photos because of this random black screen.

You can minimise this by dropping your FPV resolution to 320x240 @ 15fps to help minimise the data. You can also tell it to take JPEGS instead of RAWS as the longer write times = longer black screens.

I don't write code or understand the hardware, but I think it's the dumbest software I've seen. The writing and capturing and processing happens on the camera+phantom end and not at the phone/device end. The vision camera should simply take a photo and the FPV screen should have a "busy warning" appear and the photo and video buttons greyed out. There is no need for the "animated black out" screen. Maybe there is so much processing going on that is has to shut the FPV off, capture the image, then re-establish the FPV connection.

 

[Larry L]

I have no problem shooting in raw. It is just going to take a lot longer for your screen to be blank while it is writing the file. That is weird what you are describing. Are you using a different camera card then the one that came with it? If different, you could have a bad card. I think I was reading here a while back that someone was having a problem kind of like yours & it was a micro sd card was bad.

 

[BengalBoy]

Thank you guys for your responses and experiences. I have had this drone for alittle over a month and purchased it the first week the V3.0 became avaiable. It shipped with the latest software and I have the most recent Vision app on my Smartphone. On a recent trip to Cozumel, I flew my Phantom far out into the ocean and took video, photos in RAW and never encountered anything like what happened today. The lag of the Vision app was expected when I purchased as I had read reviews complaining about this issue, however, although I have thought my Phantom's sight wouldn't come back sometimes after taking RAW photos, it always had returned eve when it was at a very high altitude and distance from me,,, really amazed at the range. However today, on both flights I lost the ability to operate the camera and video icons with the "grayed out"effect and red record light flashing on the video icon while the rest of the Vision app information was up and running. Altitude, camera vision, and vitals such as battery, satellites, etc. still function properly. Just a loss of control over the camera/video functionality. However today, on the 2nd flight after recording abouit 10 minutes of video over a lake, I took it up to maximum altitude of about 300 feet where I really could no longer see it against the light sky and was dependent on the camera for my orientation. Framing a cool sunset photo, from my card I learned that I took 3 photos in RAW. After the 3rd shot the "camera vision" did not return to my Smartphone and I was flying blind. Luckily, I didn't fly very far away from my location and simply decended to a lower altitude until I was able to visually locate my Phantom again once it was out of the glare of the setting sun and sky. The camera vision never returned to the DJI Vision app and the camera/video icons remained gray and dead to the touch screen. it really distressed me that if this had happened while I had been flying above the trees or at a great distance from my location where it is difficult to see the Phantom's lights I would have been at the mercy of trusting its "fly home" feature,,,, which I don't want to do. I fly very conservatively, but, I sometimes lose sight of my Drone at high altitudes in bright sun from looking down at my Smartphone, peoople asking me questions, or just being distracted sometimes. As for my Micro SD card, I'm using a Sandisk 32GB Ultra which promises a write speed of about 30mb/sec. Its far faster than the 4GB Sandisk that was OEM with my Phantom. I agree that this is really unacceptable for the software to stop streaming video just because you take a RAW photo. Yes its a large file, but, with a Class 10 UC1 card, it shouldn't take that long to write the RAW file, or, the processor should really be upgraded to avoid this kind of buggy issue. Anyway, thank you for your comments. I'm gonna be very careful in the future to avoid taking photos until I'm at the end of my flight and have a good visual on my Phantom. I hope DJI is working on a solution to this bug or poorly coded application..

 

[erikgraham]

Have you formatted your SD card lately?
- Not just erased, but a real true format.
SD cards like this can get fragmented over time. Performance degrades as a result.

 

[BengalBoy]

No, I have not. I will give that a try as I've got about 10gb worth of video and photos on there. Could very well cause a problem in some cases. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll report back after doing so about any improvement in camera function in the Vision app after taking RAW photos.

 

[srchadwi]

Hi

I posted the same problem a while back. It only ever happened to me once - taking a RAW image and the screen went black and never returned. I didn't actually change anything and it has never happened since anyway so I don't know what it was.

 

[BengalBoy]

Thanks, hope that I'm as lucky. Very distressing when you keep waiting for the image to return to your Smartphone screen and it never does...... Typically, bugs like this in cameras and computers are brought on by a lack of RAM and/or insufficient processing power. I don't know the specs on the Phantom's image processor, but, I would expect an upgrade of this hardware would reduce the lag we experience when taking RAW images as well as crashes with the Vision app. DJI's forum would not allow me to post this question for some reason? Apparently from the responses its just a bug that I'll have to learn to live with.

 

[tritontr21]

Having the same problem. Two different phantom 3.0s and both do it. Frustrating.

 

[BengalBoy]

i posted on DJI's forum regarding the issue and someone replied that I needed a new WiFi module, however, thats not the case. Works great in video mode. Issue only started after my Phantom's last firmware upgrade. How about you?

Thank you for the suggestions regarding the seating of the Micro SD card in the Phantom's camera. With regard to them both, the preview quality is at the lower resolution you suggested. Before purchasing I had read about the long lag time after taking a RAW photo and have always flown with it at the lowest resolution setting. As for your second suggestion, I agree, seating of the SD card could cause an issue, though, it is hard for me to understand why it can record so well in video mode prior to stopping the video function and then taking photos in RAW? Also, it didn't happen after the first RAW photo was taken, rather, three (3) RAW photos were taken before loss of the camera view in Vision app. Prior to the loss of complete vision, I had a flight in which the video/camera icons became gray and inoperative, though, the red (recording) light was flashing within the video icon. The Phantom's camera was indeed writing a file, though, it was corrupted and unreadable. This graying out of the video/camera icons with a red (recording) has happened almost everytime after taking a RAW photo since upgrading my Phantom's central board firmware a couple weeks ago. Prior to this update, I never encountered this issue. I agree that the corrupted files suggest that a SD card error could be a possible culprit, but, why would the the failure cause the camera to automatically begin recording in video? *again, this file is corrupted and unplayable*

It only happens when I take a RAW photo,,, it only began occuring after I upgraded the central board firmware,, *I flew for about 3 weeks before this upgrade with no issues other than lag after taking a RAW*, the camera/video icons gray out becoming inoperable in the Vision app although everything else works/displays properly, the video icon displays a red *recording* light and a file is indeed being written, although, that file is corrupted.

Its a nuisance to be flying and lose the ability to switch between video and photos after taking a RAW image.... Its dangerous and quite Frightening to lose your "Vision" after taking a RAW photo! I will be extra attentive to inserting my SD card in the future, but, if it were the card not being seated properly, I don't understand why the video recording continures to work so smoothly with no issues of turning on,,, turning off,,,, turning on,,,, etc. Only when I take the RAW photo do I experience the issue of loss of camera functionality,,, and in one extreme occurance,,,, Loss of Vision!

 

[canislupus]

This is happening to me also. Only when taking some raw photographs.

i have no clue about it, hope anyone could help solve this issue.

Thank you.

 

[BengalBoy]

I flew today for the first time since I had the camera control and vision issue. On two separate flights using full battery I took video and RAW photos intermittently with no issues. RAW camera lag was still there on the phone screen after taking a photo, but, no "graying of the keys" for the camera/video icons on the Vision app or loss of vision.

I shut down and restarted my phone before bonding with the Vision+ and made sure I firmly seated the Micro SD card. Everything worked as it should. A Gremlin?

 

[erikgraham]

Boy, this all really sounds like fragmentation on the SD card to me.

Don't just erase files, properly format the card.

I get interruptions taking RAW, but nothing as severe as what you are all describing. Of course, I expect delays when shooting RAW, but I try to keep things running efficiently by completely wiping and formatting my SD card every time I transfer video to my desktop.

I think this helps performance a lot, though I have not done any formal testing. I just like to know that data is being written in nice clean consecutive blocks. Even if it does not help, it's just a habit from years of working with external media.

 

[BengalBoy]

I agree that it is always better to have a formatted card each time you shoot to avoid lockups, corrupted files, etc. I formatted the card (SanDisk Ultra 32GB) with the Phantom prior to its first use. However, I am sure the camera uses a pretty outdated processor and that is the basic issue with writing RAW files and lag. Its a pain in the *** to format each and every time, but, I do that whenever I'm going to be shooting something important with my EM1 where I don't want a possible interruption in the flow of images. It certainly won't hurt to do this as a precaution before flying when I expect to depend on the Phantom's vision for shooting something far away and returning it back to me. What ever the bug,,, it is not, apparently,, a permanent hardware issue. Because others are reporting that it occurs sporadically with their efforts when shooting RAW, I believe you are most likely correct. Thanks for your thoughts, I agree.

 

[BengalBoy]

After a couple days of Christmas time flying, I experienced the dreaded "gray out" of the keys and a loss of vision. With my Phantom in line of sight, I was not worried about closing the camera app and checking the connection status of the Phantom to my Smartphone. Backing out of the "Camera" and into the "Home" screen, I looked to check if the Phantom was still connected.... it was. I then re-opened the "Camera" app and to my surprise, the video and camera keys were competely functional again and my Vision from the drone was restored. This technique of regaining control over grayed out keys and loss of vision has now been used on a couple more occassions after taking RAW photos and losing control of the video/camera icons as well as a complete loss of vision. Apparently, this is a bug or crash in the Vision app on the Smartphone and can be recovered from simply by closing the camera menu and returning to the home screen, then, reopening the camera app. So, now I can fly with confidence that should this glitch or crash in the app occur in the future, I can recover control of my ability to capture video and RAW photos, as well as recover Vision in those exteme cases where the glitch cuts the camera feed.

 

[tritontr21]

I tried that week or so back. Didn't help me. Android or IOS? I'm on android.

 

[Shuether]

I did notice some weird issues related to this as well. I wasn't paying attention too closely but the raw shot was the last one on the card after the flight. I'll test more, but I think I adjusted some setting in the When Connection drops section that may have affected it.

 

[Shuether]

After a little more testing, for me, it seems to be a bug with the When Connection Breaks setting. If I have it set to start recording when connection drops, then shoot a raw image, it seems to start recording video when it's done writing the image. If I have the setting to Stay in Ide, it comes back to camera view after writing the file. So is the process of writing the raw image causing a small connection interruption?

I've never gotten the full camera lock out after shooting a raw yet so maybe this is a slightly different bug?

 

[BengalBoy]

I'm using Android, HTC One running KitKat 4.4.2 on Tmobile. I experienced the "grayed out keys" several times and the recording of video. After resetting the camera app, the keys would return to functional and everything in the app would be working fine. Its a weird bug, but, for me at least, its apparently not something to panic about anymore. Simply closing and reopening the camera application in the Vision app has reset its functions.

I experienced the "grayed out keys" several times before experiencing the complete loss of vision using the camera application.. So far, I've only lost vision a couple of times, although, the "grayed out keys" has occurred on several flights. My observation is this, if you take a RAW photo and sometimes after the camera function returns you discover you no longer have a functioning video/camera icon, there is potential for a complete loss of vision.

 

[tritontr21]

Tonight I took a flight after opening up the bird to look and inspect the new smaller wired and ESCs.


Flew and it flew fine. I lost connection from distance at one point and lost video signal completely. Didn't take a pic. Only way video came back on was to land and power cycle the battery. Getting really frustrated.