Hi all -

I’d really appreciate input from the forum here. So far my Mavic Air has flown perfectly, but I’m seeing really weird noise and brightness shifts in shadow areas. I’m shooting at 4K 24fps on the Normal color profile.

Would you mind watching the video below in 4K and see if this is expected/normal?  Quality doesn’t look acceptable from my perspective.

https://youtu.be/tQQ4NWumOc4

Thank you

Looks fine to me. Don't panic it's probably because it was facing directly at the sun and camera was adjusting. Try different angles, away from direct sunlight.

Yeah, I'm not so sure.  Yes it's facing into the sun, but it shouldn't be that damn noisy.  Here is another video at 4k... watch the shadows in the grass on take off.  They actually shift brightness quite a bit, even though I was on manual exposure.  Not sure what to think at this point...

I see the pixelation at 38 seconds in the cul de sac, I think this is due to the dynamic range of the view being to wide with the rising sun and shadow areas.

Hi there, does the issue appear if changed the aircraft direction? If yes, please upload some original videos in the SD card and upload to Dropbox, we'd like to check the exact status.

That's actually really good considering the size of the sensor and the position of the sun.

Indeed a lot of noise on 4k.
But maybe it is not noise, it can also be compression (artifacts).
Try the highest bitrate.

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-2-3 06:59
Indeed a lot of noise on 4k.
But maybe it is not noise, it can also be compression (artifacts).
Try the highest bitrate.

Is there a way to manually set the bitrate??    Right now it's horribly noisy even in good daylight

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-2-2 23:58
Hi there, does the issue appear if changed the aircraft direction? If yes, please upload some original videos in the SD card and upload to Dropbox, we'd like to check the exact status.

Hi Susan -

I've uploaded a video from today on dropbox - link below.  Look at the water in the scene - it's just horribly noisy even though this is taken in very good daylight.   Any thoughts?  Is my unit defective?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfwwyv90me4csfn/DJI_0017.MP4?dl=0

Use ND filters when flying directly into the sun.

A CW Posted at 2018-2-3 09:43
Use ND filters when flying directly into the sun.

Yes, I know. But even not flying into the sun the noise is pretty awful.

Spark23 Posted at 2018-2-3 10:44
Yes, I know. But even not flying into the sun the noise is pretty awful.

Yes, I could see in the vid over the lake - thats not too good! Play around with the settings but you may need to get a replacement

Are you using a slow SD card?  It's possible (my speculation only) that the drone recognizes a slow card and over-compresses 4k video to be able to write continuously to the card.  Maybe a faster SD card would help?

fans6130bec4 Posted at 2018-2-3 11:23
Are you using a slow SD card?  It's possible (my speculation only) that the drone recognizes a slow card and over-compresses 4k video to be able to write continuously to the card.  Maybe a faster SD card would help?

I’m using a fast micro SD card - class 10 / UHS3 from Samsung. Don’t believe that is my problem, as the internal memory was showing similar issues. I’m giving it another week and then I’ll return, if DJI doesn’t have any solution.

Spark23 Posted at 2018-2-3 09:36
Hi Susan -

I've uploaded a video from today on dropbox - link below.  Look at the water in the scene - it's just horribly noisy even though this is taken in very good daylight.   Any thoughts?  Is my unit defective?

I don't know if it is my computer or what, but when I watch the Dropbox Lake Video I see a slow strobe of noise in the video.  It seems that every second it is alternateing from clear to grainy.  

Again, don't know if it just me.  Do you see that effect?

Spark23 Posted at 2018-2-3 13:07
I’m using a fast micro SD card - class 10 / UHS3 from Samsung. Don’t believe that is my problem, as the internal memory was showing similar issues. I’m giving it another week and then I’ll return, if DJI doesn’t have any solution.

What was the ISO setting for the shot?

Sounds like you should return the Air and get a Phantom.

Spark23 Posted at 2018-2-3 09:35
Is there a way to manually set the bitrate??    Right now it's horribly noisy even in good daylight

I'm not sure. If you can, it is in the video settings menu.

I've seen that problem in other Mavic Air videos: https://forum.dji.com/thread-132762-1-1.html

Maybe a software issue that could get fixed eventually? (Mavic Pro still waiting for a sharpness/noise_reduction fix)
Edit: Try setting Sharpness to the minimum value, or 0 or 1 (not sure if it will work like in the Pro) and see what happens

I was getting this issue when I was using the same SD card you are using. I am using a Samsung Pro+ 128GB microSDXC UHS-1 and I'm happy to say that it is perfect.

It is your SD card that couldn't keep up with the video write speed.

No Man's Drone Posted at 2018-2-4 09:36
I was getting this issue when I was using the same SD card you are using. I am using a Samsung Pro+ 128GB microSDXC UHS-1 and I'm happy to say that it is perfect.

It is your SD card that couldn't keep up with the video write speed.

Interesting....  I’ll try another micro SD card just in case. Thanks again

Spark23 Posted at 2018-2-3 09:36
Hi Susan -

I've uploaded a video from today on dropbox - link below.  Look at the water in the scene - it's just horribly noisy even though this is taken in very good daylight.   Any thoughts?  Is my unit defective?

Received with thanks! I'll forward to our engineers for review, will come back as long as there is an update.

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-2-7 05:05
Received with thanks! I'll forward to our engineers for review, will come back as long as there is an update.

Thanks Susan!  Any word from the DJI engineers?   I've dialed back my settings to reduce the noise, but I still see it especially in evening shots, even at ISO100

Berg I Imagery Posted at 2018-2-10 07:19
Thanks Susan!  Any word from the DJI engineers?   I've dialed back my settings to reduce the noise, but I still see it especially in evening shots, even at ISO100

Sorry for the late response. I just got the message from our engineers that they need more data:
1. What's the current firmware of the aircraft, controller, and APP? You can check this in General Settings>About
2. What's the ISO in the sunset video? Could you upload some samples in ISO 100, Shutter 1/30 and J+R for further analysis?
Thanks in advance!

Berg I Imagery Posted at 2018-2-10 07:19
Thanks Susan!  Any word from the DJI engineers?   I've dialed back my settings to reduce the noise, but I still see it especially in evening shots, even at ISO100

Did you managed to fix the problem? I have the same problem. Very noisy shadows.

Berg I Imagery Posted at 2018-2-10 07:19
Thanks Susan!  Any word from the DJI engineers?   I've dialed back my settings to reduce the noise, but I still see it especially in evening shots, even at ISO100

I too am having this problem. Very Very noisy shadows and moderately noisy mid-tones.

I'm having the same problem and it makes me sick! I came from the Mavic Pro and Spark and I've never got this problem before. ISO 100, Shutter 1/30 or 1/50 or 1/60 and even automatic mode I get this noise in dark areas!

Fortunately i have the Neat Video Denoise because I work with videos, but it was expensive and I don't wanna do this slow process in all my videos.