Hi all.

I have raised a support call with DJI, but just wanted to ask for some feedback. I'm getting a lot of stutter when I pan my gimbal up (you can really see it on the horizon), this is both in pro and auto settings, both in flight and stationary and in multiple frame rates (although it seems more prominent the lower the frame rate)

Is this a mechanical issue or a software issue? The rest of the image quality when in flight or with objects moving looks great- it's just this judder when panning up or down which is why I wondered if the gimbal was at fault? If you watch the clips here on YouTube in full res then it's quite noticeable.





In short, is this a fault or a 'feature'?

Thanks for any help.

in my opinion it's a software problem. try to uninstall the software and install the latest version on your drone, maby the problem is going than.

MM Pilot Posted at 6-15 10:44
in my opinion it's a software problem. try to uninstall the software and install the latest version on your drone, maby the problem is going than.

Hi, thanks for the response.

Just to be clear, do you mean the DJI App or do you mean the firmware on the drone? I'm guessing you mean the App as I'm pretty sure it's impossible to downgrade the firmware, although not sure how re installing the app would help as the drone is recording directly to the SD card so not using the app at all.

I might try slowing the gimbal speed right down to see whether it's a noticeable, this is only really a sticking plaster though and I'll be quite disappointed if this is the default/quality you get when panning up with the gimbal.   

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-15 11:37
Hi, thanks for the response.

Just to be clear, do you mean the DJI App or do you mean the firmware on the drone? I'm guessing you mean the App as I'm pretty sure it's impossible to downgrade the firmware, although not sure how re installing the app would help as the drone is recording directly to the SD card so not using the app at all.

no i mean the the software of the drone, not the dji fly app. You can use the dji assistent 2 for downgrading the software and installing the latest firmware again.

use the normally gimbal speed. Normally there is not a bug when you move the gimbal.

Hello there CyclingDrone. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. May we also know if the said DJI drone had a hard landing or a crash before this issue started to happened and as posted above please try to check if your DJI Mini 2 is on its latest firmware for us to be able to isolate the said issue. Thank you.

MM Pilot Posted at 6-15 11:47
no i mean the the software of the drone, not the dji fly app. You can use the dji assistent 2 for downgrading the software and installing the latest firmware again.

use the normally gimbal speed. Normally there is not a bug when you move the gimbal.

Thanks again for your reply.

I've installed DJI Assistant 2 for Windows https://www.dji.com/uk/downloads/softwares/assistant-dji-2 but the software wont recognise my Mini 2 with no response or message (Windows does recognise it, so it's definitley connected)

I did try with a couple of over versions, one would let me export the logs (but nothing else RE Firmware) but no luck.

Getting very frustrated with DJI at this point.

DJI Stephen Posted at 6-15 20:00
Hello there CyclingDrone. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. May we also know if the said DJI drone had a hard landing or a crash before this issue started to happened and as posted above please try to check if your DJI Mini 2 is on its latest firmware for us to be able to isolate the said issue. Thank you.

Hi Stephen.

To confirm, the firmware is fully up to date and there has been no crashes or hard landings.

I thought I would try the other post suggestion by re installing the firmware via DJI Assistant 2, however, the Mini 2 would not show up (it did show up on Windows so it was definitely connected).

Is there some other way to manually reinstall the firmware (perhaps a hard reset?)

At this point I'm getting very frustrated and just considering returning the drone to the retailer for a full refund.

Thanks in advance.

This must be one of the most asked question on the forum
Luckily there is nothing wrong with your gimbal.
You are most likely experiencing something that is common on any video camera, but very noticeable on drone footage.

It is caused by the changes between frames because there is a lot of movement in the shot (everything moves when you rotate the camera) and with faster shutterspeeds this causes 'stuttery' experiences.
Professional videographers  use ND filters to get a slower shutterspeed.
This introduces motion blur (softness) to the video, which is more pleasing to the eye.
It is not a 'quick solution' and requires an operator that knows what he/she is doing (what ND filter you need, how to set the exposure etc. )

The other solution (that is what I would recommend doing first) is change the way how you film.
1. Don't make straight pans / gimbal moves. (instead, fly forward while filming and moving left or right)
2. Make very slow moves.
By doing this, you reduce the stuttering too.

I made a video about what movement I like to make with my drone.

Notice, there is no stuttering when I do this.

Hook me up if you have any questions about this.

Montfrooij Posted at 6-15 23:54
This must be one of the most asked question on the forum  
Luckily there is nothing wrong with your gimbal.
You are most likely experiencing something that is common on any video camera, but very noticeable on drone footage.

Thanks for the guidance- I have looked at many videos like this so fully aware of the limitations of movement etc.

That said- I have experienced this (especially the flicker on the horizon) even when adhering to the 180 rule (I shot at both 24 fps 1/50 and 30 1/60 with ISO of 100-200) even when flying and panning smoothly- the flicker is still there on the horizon when the gimbal pans up.

As the rest of the footage looks smooth, including when moving forward while rising towards the horizon, I do think this is a gimbal specific issue rather than a general "why does my drone footage look rubbish"

I know the gimbal pans relatively quickly in the shots I've uploaded- but that's because I wanted to demonstrate the issue as clearly as possible so it shows up after going through the YouTube codec- but it is there also on my much more careful and smooth flying when filming for a client.  

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-16 00:02
Thanks for the guidance- I have looked at many videos like this so fully aware of the limitations of movement etc.

That said- I have experienced this (especially the flicker on the horizon) even when adhering to the 180 rule (I shot at both 24 fps 1/50 and 30 1/60 with ISO of 100-200) even when flying and panning smoothly- the flicker is still there on the horizon when the gimbal pans up.

Ok.
It's just my 2 cents of course

There is one more thing that can cause this and that is framerate.
Not sure if you edited these clips, but I have sometimes made the error of shooting at 25fps and rendering in 24.
In that case it skips 1 frame every 25, which causes stuttering too.

Montfrooij Posted at 6-16 00:07
Ok.
It's just my 2 cents of course

Sorry if I came across as 'salty' and the vid advice is great!

Just want to work out whether this is a specific problem to my drone (which I suspect it is) as even with everything set to perfect settings, the judder is really quite bad with that specific pan up action.

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-16 01:24
Sorry if I came across as 'salty' and the vid advice is great!

Just want to work out whether this is a specific problem to my drone (which I suspect it is) as even with everything set to perfect settings, the judder is really quite bad with that specific pan up action.

No problem at all.
I would like to investigate more before making that judgment.
Just check my first test video from the Pocket 2.



It looks like the same stuttering when I move too fast as I see in your shots.

Are you sure your shutterspeed is set to 1/50s?
And (if you did some editing) the framerate of the video matches the framerate of the original footage?

I can check with my M2 and make a comparison shot that is sort of similar.

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-16 01:24
Sorry if I came across as 'salty' and the vid advice is great!

Just want to work out whether this is a specific problem to my drone (which I suspect it is) as even with everything set to perfect settings, the judder is really quite bad with that specific pan up action.

PS, stuttering is most visible around 0:45

Montfrooij Posted at 6-16 01:29
No problem at all.
I would like to investigate more before making that judgment.
Just check my first test video from the Pocket 2.

The first two shots (from the air) were at 30 FPS with a shutter of 1/60 (I have other shots at 24 and 1/50), the last shot was everything in "auto" I had also disabled the feature to cache video via the app as I also heard that can cause this issue by giving the processor extra work.

The stutter is present straight from the raw files (before any editing or encoding) so running at the native frame rate, it's also still there after processing in handbrake and after rendering in the edit.

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-16 01:37
The first two shots (from the air) were at 30 FPS with a shutter of 1/60 (I have other shots at 24 and 1/50), the last shot was everything in "auto" I had also disabled the feature to cache video via the app as I also heard that can cause this issue by giving the processor extra work.

The stutter is present straight from the raw files (before any editing or encoding) so running at the native frame rate, it's also still there after processing in handbrake and after rendering in the edit.

Can you share an original file with me?
(wetransfer oid)

Are you using ND filters?

Montfrooij Posted at 6-16 01:39
Can you share an original file with me?
(wetransfer oid)

I'll DM you

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-16 01:41
I'll DM you

CyclingDrone Posted at 6-15 22:27
Thanks again for your reply.

I've installed DJI Assistant 2 for Windows https://www.dji.com/uk/downloads/softwares/assistant-dji-2 but the software wont recognise my Mini 2 with no response or message (Windows does recognise it, so it's definitley connected)

mhm now i don't know why.