I've been trying to find some settings that work. There appears to be conflicting information about the sharpening settings recommended for the mavic. I was using -2 or -1 and got horribly crushed blacks and mushy foliage. I watched several videos and have just tried +1. I got this recording of a new problem I've not seen before can anyone help with what it is.
Here's a link to the file Artefacts!!

It's still uploading sorry!

Added a shorter version at 1080p so should be easier to download Artefacts shortened

Can anyone help?

What SD Card are you using? To me it feels like your bitrate isn't high enough, which may be because the mavic cannot write to the SD card fast enough

K4Unl Posted at 2017-4-19 01:58
What SD Card are you using? To me it feels like your bitrate isn't high enough, which may be because the mavic cannot write to the SD card fast enough

+1 on SD card, also worth formatting the card again by using a PC, in some firmwares the format option didnt work well, hence suggestion for PC format of card, also worth very carefully cleaning the contacts of the card ?

Maybe it was as it was at the end of recording a bunch of footage. The rest of the recordings were normal and subsequent ones have been ok. Could heat be an issue? The card is this one so I think it's fast enough.
I normally format in the drone rather than on pc. With cameras it's normally recommended not to format on the pc is that not the case for these?

Try the video with sharpness set at +1 and you problems will be solved.  Never use a setting of 0 or -1 on sharpness.  When you use 0 or -1, some onboard softness process kicks in and turns your bushes to mush, especially in high contrast areas.

In addition, do not shoot at over 30 FPS.

As for your card, it is way fast and faster than what the system can use.  In testing, you are not going to get over 55 Mbps and the card you have can handle that bitrate several times over.

Thanks, I only shoot in 4k and usually at 30fps. I did set the sharpness to +1 for this (think it was +1, 0, 0).

Seems I misread your original statement.  Let me check your vids.

Definitely looks like compression artifacts on the dirt road.  You may have exceeded the engines ability to compress on the fly.

A good test would be to try again at 1080p and 1440p and see if you get the same number of artifacts, both 30 FPS.

You removed ISO and Shutter from the details so I can't see what you were doing there though.

Thanks for that. I've not actually removed anything from the file - this is literally taken from the hard drive and uploaded. Then I used Resolve to shorten it as it was taking forever to upload. I don't know how to remove that kind of info really. I'm sure that the ISO was 100, shutter speed was varying because depending on the direction I was flying in I was getting a lot of over exposure - I'm still waiting for ND filters.
It certainly hasn't done it again whilst flying for about 40 mins the other day so as you have all said it's most likely due to the compression. If it happens again I will do as you have suggested, cheers.

NikB Posted at 2017-4-19 06:13
Maybe it was as it was at the end of recording a bunch of footage. The rest of the recordings were normal and subsequent ones have been ok. Could heat be an issue? The card is this one so I think it's fast enough.
I normally format in the drone rather than on pc. With cameras it's normally recommended not to format on the pc is that not the case for these?

I think you may be asking too much of the Mavic camera stack. You can expect to get artifacts in the following scenarios:

- Low light
- When shooting at negative sharpness settings
- Fast pans without commensurate fast frame rates
- Underexposure
- Shifting exposure and/or WB
- Prop shade

Combine any of the above with compression and you amplify the challenges. I've seen that awful vertical pan compression artifacting on some of my shots but not others, and I think the difference was due to the combination of too fast a pan with underexposure, or subject matter that just didn't compress well to begin with? Sometimes I can blame it on prop shade if the sun is in back of the aircraft -- those rapidly shifting shadows must play havoc with the compression engine.

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated. Just learning all this, it's great fun but when you see things like that video you're left wondering what on earth happened to get so much compression.

NikB Posted at 2017-4-19 07:09
Thanks for your advice, much appreciated. Just learning all this, it's great fun but when you see things like that video you're left wondering what on earth happened to get so much compression.

Yup. I often wish the camera stack didn't have quite such aggressive compression, but like any tool, you just have to spend the time to figure out what works great and what to avoid. Have fun!