So I just bought a Osmo Pocket today. Very excited as, for it's price point, it seems to shoot decent night videos. I took it out for a test ride tonight and am dissapointed to see tons of flickering white dots throughout the videos. Dots happen at all ISO's but happen least at 100 ISO. There are lots of them and it's very noticeable. SD card is formated, lense is clean (and brand new). All I can find  through over an hour of searching issues through google is the already mentioned card formatting and lense cleaning. The only other thing I've come across is "dead pixels", which would be infuriating since I just bought this thing after saving for several months and I want to get some night videos done in the city I'm in now before I head out in a few days.




Here's a picture of one of the test videos. This was the largest size picture the forum allows me to upload so hopefully it's visible. You can see dots in the trees on the left and dark cars. In the video they are all over though. They stay in the same spot on the lens and flicker.

Before buying this I looked at a bunch of youtube videos of people using the osmo pocket at night and none seem to have this issue. Please help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arDItSOpWM&feature=youtu.be

Here is a link to a sample video. Dots aren't as apparent on YouTube but still very noticeable in the bottom right and in the sky.

From what I see, this is just sensor noise.
Keep the ISO low and avoid low light situations is all you can do.
These sensors are not made for low light.
They manage to produce an image, but it will be noisy.

Hi there, would you mind sending the original clip to Dropbox and provide me with the link? I will help double confirm it.

Montfrooij Posted at 4-24 00:15
From what I see, this is just sensor noise.
Keep the ISO low and avoid low light situations is all you can do.
These sensors are not made for low light.

Yah but I was getting these dots at 100 ISO. I'm just confused because several low light test videos on YouTube from multiple different users did not have these marks, and 100 ISO is the lowest ISO you can get on this camera. So why didn't they have the same issue?

DJI Thor Posted at 4-24 03:32
Hi there, would you mind sending the original clip to Dropbox and provide me with the link? I will help double confirm it.

Here is the dropbox link to the original video!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/umzr2uxny2jd4aa/DJI_0030.MP4?dl=0

Many thanks for any help.

Hi.

There are a few random and small white dots (not that bright] on some individual frames that do not seem to be connected to the reflecting light from the surrounding light sources of which there are many, but.
To expect the clip to be error free with little in the way of noise correction in editing is possibly too much to hope for from such a small sensor. Sure some phones will do better but after much in house processing on the fly.  You could try any of the following. Drop your frame rate to 24 or 25fps giving each frame a longer exposure times. Use the Superfine setting  that is usable at lower frame rates in 4K and is the Osmo Pockets noise reduction mode. Export at 1080p  that can get rid of small defects like these on resampling down to a smaller frame size on export. Combination of the earlier suggestions.

There are also editing plugins that correct these types of defects such as Denoise. I very much doubt you see unprocessed video on YouTube unless they are stating 'straight from camera'.


[Edit] I also think you can't rule out water droplets if you were passing any vegetation as they would momentarily lens any light.

Ray.

UniverseBear Posted at 4-24 08:03
Yah but I was getting these dots at 100 ISO. I'm just confused because several low light test videos on YouTube from multiple different users did not have these marks, and 100 ISO is the lowest ISO you can get on this camera. So why didn't they have the same issue?

Hard to tell without the original footage. Most likely they used a different setting on the Osmo Pocket (see some replies below) plus maybe post processing to reduce that noise.
There are general tips on reducing sensor noise, mainly involving (of course) the lowest ISO, the longest shutterspeed you can get, try to add as much light in the frame (noise is only visible in dark area's), finally keep the sensor cold. (don't film too long)

I made this video: 4K Low Light Tests - DJI Osmo Pocket Hope it helps!

Ben Lambert Posted at 4-25 04:29
I made this video: 4K Low Light Tests - DJI Osmo Pockethttps://youtu.be/_QwKf6wbk74 Hope it helps!

Are you using software afterwards? I don't see the same flickering white dots on your videos and you're at a higher ISO than I am. Even at 100 ISO I'm getting some flickering white dots. At 800 ISO the flickering is super apparent. I don't see any flickering white dots on your video. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Montfrooij Posted at 4-25 03:39
Hard to tell without the original footage. Most likely they used a different setting on the Osmo Pocket (see some replies below) plus maybe post processing to reduce that noise.
There are general tips on reducing sensor noise, mainly involving (of course) the lowest ISO, the longest shutterspeed you can get, try to add as much light in the frame (noise is only visible in dark area's), finally keep the sensor cold. (don't film too long)

I posted a dropbox link in one of my earlier responses if you want to see the original video. I've tried multiple settings, ISO 100 to 1200. 100 is the best but dots are still visible. Shutter speeds between 1/30 to 1/60. FPS 24 to 60. I've filmed in a dark room, on the street and just in my living room with a couple lights on. All have the dots. The guy below you posted a test video he did and I don't see any dots. I feel like I'm going crazy.

DJI Thor Posted at 4-24 03:32
Hi there, would you mind sending the original clip to Dropbox and provide me with the link? I will help double confirm it.

Put up another test I did inside. Look at the couch, it looks like a static TV.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/789fspa9bhzv7ra/DJI_0037.MP4?dl=0

UniverseBear Posted at 4-25 10:01
Put up another test I did inside. Look at the couch, it looks like a static TV.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/789fspa9bhzv7ra/DJI_0037.MP4?dl=0

Hi, in your case, I suggest that you send in the unit for diagnosis and service. Please contact our support at http://www.dji.com/support to start a case.

I shoot a lot of low light videos indoors and I don't have any of those flickerings. I know what is ISO noise but that is not that.

I think it's normal.  I've seen in it on mine.  I don't use the osmo for dark conditions.

UniverseBear Posted at 4-25 09:52
Are you using software afterwards? I don't see the same flickering white dots on your videos and you're at a higher ISO than I am. Even at 100 ISO I'm getting some flickering white dots. At 800 ISO the flickering is super apparent. I don't see any flickering white dots on your video. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

The only footage I used was Sony Vegas editing software. I never put LUTs on or colour grade my footage when doing a video like thta.

I took a look at your footage and I couldn't see much wrong with it.

Blellow Posted at 4-30 11:29
I think it's normal.  I've seen in it on mine.  I don't use the osmo for dark conditions.

It's good for low light, I just never push it past 800 ISO.

To me good in low light is a prime lens 1.2 aperture on a sony a7s2.  Sees better than my eyes.  Osmo is no where even close.

Hey guys,

Just to put this to bed in case someone else is having this issue. I took it back to the store, after doing similar tests in low light settings they found the device was faulty. They replaced it with another one, which unfortunately seems to have the same issue, but there it is. If you're having this issue with your Osmo Pocket the device isn't working properly and you should get it repaired/replaced. Thanks everyone for any helps/ideas you threw out there!

UniverseBear Posted at 5-7 22:43
Hey guys,

Just to put this to bed in case someone else is having this issue. I took it back to the store, after doing similar tests in low light settings they found the device was faulty. They replaced it with another one, which unfortunately seems to have the same issue, but there it is. If you're having this issue with your Osmo Pocket the device isn't working properly and you should get it repaired/replaced. Thanks everyone for any helps/ideas you threw out there!

I don't have never ever any of those white dots no matter how much noise. Yes that is faulty device.

Blellow Posted at 5-5 10:35
To me good in low light is a prime lens 1.2 aperture on a sony a7s2.  Sees better than my eyes.  Osmo is no where even close.

Amen!
Though the Sigma 14mm 1.8 Art lens is pretty good.