I am writing to see if anyone else has a bad image quality from the mavic 3.I have a decent IQ at the centre of the image but not far to the left and right the image degrades quickly but then unlike other lenses it seems to get slightly better again towards the edges, I have cleaned the front element and filter.. See attached screen grabs

Center of image at 100% and its not bad


Just left of center


Right of center

Right

Its not the quality I was hoping for on this drone.
I had an issue when I purchased the Mavic 2 and the sensor was miss alinged as one side was blurry/out of focus, it was replaced and received a good camera . I am not sure what is happening on this drone, edges arent great but better than the spots circled along the thirds.
This happens from f2.8 and up



High Res files can be found here
DNG https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... nq/view?usp=sharing
JPG https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... br/view?usp=sharing

Is Hasselblad quality, stop complaining )))))
That is happening when you buy a half made drone, wait for the updates.

FB: GeoDrone4K Posted at 11-22 22:25
Is Hasselblad quality, stop complaining )))))
That is happening when you buy a half made drone, wait for the updates.

You really are no help to anyone. Just go away.

What settings did you use ? They also look slightly overexposed or they are zoomed in a lot. I don’t have time to look at raw images just now , but quality reduces greatly when posting here.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-22 22:32
What settings did you use ? They also look slightly overexposed. I don’t have time to look at raw images just now , but quality reduces greatly when posting here.

The man have problems with defocusing of some areas...is a sensor issue, is not the only one having it, should be sent in service for replacement.
Even if it works in F2.8 (and he used F7 or whatever), this should not appear on any F.
Cheers.

It is very common for these small lenses to have more degradation in sharpness towards the edges of the frame.
What aperture were you shooting at here?
The lower the aperture, the more this happens.
Even my 20mm full frame Nikon lens has this at f/1.8.
It more or less goes away at f/5.6 but it is not sharp across the whole frame.
And that lens alone weighs about as much as your drone.

FB: GeoDrone4K Posted at 11-22 22:25
Is Hasselblad quality, stop complaining )))))
That is happening when you buy a half made drone, wait for the updates.

This probably has little to do with firmware, as it is in the DNG too.
On second thought, you could be right about the firmware. It looks the DNG looks better.

PS I checked the DNG, looks like you are at f/2.8
But the overall sharpness across the frame at 100% looks reasonably identical and acceptable for a small camera.
I processed the DNG and here is a 100% crop from the left. To my eyes the flat on the left bottom corner is pretty sharp.


And the same goes for the one on the right (the dark one)

Montfrooij Posted at 11-23 00:02
PS I checked the DNG, looks like you are at f/2.8
But the overall sharpness across the frame at 100% looks reasonably identical and acceptable for a small camera.
I processed the DNG and here is a 100% crop from the left. To my eyes the flat on the left bottom corner is pretty sharp.

I am not sure where you see f2.8 as it is f4 and shows that in camera raw.
As per my message the edges of the frame I wasn't concerned about it was the parts that I had circled and the reason of my concern the edges I understand should look a bit softer than the center but there are spots in the image that are softer than the edges.
The areas I am concerned about are roughly down the thirds..
f4 should be sharp across the frame on a small lens/sensor on the mavic 2 you couldnt go much higher than f5.6 before seeing diffraction.

FB: GeoDrone4K Posted at 11-22 22:42
The man have problems with defocusing of some areas...is a sensor issue, is not the only one having it, should be sent in service for replacement.
Even if it works in F2.8 (and he used F7 or whatever), this should not appear on any F.
Cheers.

I agree for something to have soft focus in random spots has to either be a sensor problem/dirt that I can remove or this has to be a defect in the lens.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-22 22:32
What settings did you use ? They also look slightly overexposed or they are zoomed in a lot. I don’t have time to look at raw images just now , but quality reduces greatly when posting here.

Hi this is one shot from a bracket so could have been slightly overexposed as one would be exposed correctly below it.
settings are f4 which are completely reasonable for sunset photography.
these are 100% crops showing center is sharp, edges are ok but in-between them there are soft focus spots.

Skyris Posted at 11-23 01:27
I agree for something to have soft focus in random spots has to either be a sensor problem/dirt that I can remove or this has to be a defect in the lens.

Was telling to check on different F...Try F2.8 and check it...Still, this is not normal...Also will be helpful if you have a printed banner with horizontal and vertical lines, will give you a very good clue related to the sharpness and focus of your sensor.
Try for different F's.
Cheers.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-23 00:02
PS I checked the DNG, looks like you are at f/2.8
But the overall sharpness across the frame at 100% looks reasonably identical and acceptable for a small camera.
I processed the DNG and here is a 100% crop from the left. To my eyes the flat on the left bottom corner is pretty sharp.

I agree on both of your images that the flats/units on the edges of the image are fairly sharp but it the buildings closer to the center of the image, like the small white tower in the top image and the white tower in the second, they are softer focus than the edges which doesnt make any sense unless there is something wrong with the sensor or lens.

FB: GeoDrone4K Posted at 11-23 01:33
Was telling to check on different F...Try F2.8 and check it...Still, this is not normal...Also will be helpful if you have a printed banner with horizontal and vertical lines, will give you a very good clue related to the sharpness and focus of your sensor.
Try for different F's.
Cheers.

Checked from f2.8 to f8 anything above and you start to see diffraction and loses quality.
Understand that f2.8 will have softer focus at edges and more vignette but the soft focus along the third lines is weird... trying to talk to DJI about it now. they say they cant see a problem with the image but its pretty clear that somethings not right. spent quite a bit of money on this and the mp2 is sharper across the frame.

Skyris Posted at 11-23 01:24
I am not sure where you see f2.8 as it is f4 and shows that in camera raw.
As per my message the edges of the frame I wasn't concerned about it was the parts that I had circled and the reason of my concern the edges I understand should look a bit softer than the center but there are spots in the image that are softer than the edges.
The areas I am concerned about are roughly down the thirds..

Oh, I misread that sentence about the center vs edge and assumed it was about the sharpness in the edges.
Sorry, my bad.
Affinity photo told it was 2.8 but that was my second mistake.
Apparently it shows the minimum (or maximum) aperture and you need to click on 'metadata' to see the actual f stop.

I have only one explanation then.
There must be something with the lens that causes it to blur on certain parts of the frame.
I'm not 100% sure if it will be in all distances, but you could test shooting parallel to one building that has sharp lines and check when it happens.

This does confirm my statement that DJI is a great drone maker, but not (yet) a great camera manufacturer.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-22 23:52
It is very common for these small lenses to have more degradation in sharpness towards the edges of the frame.
What aperture were you shooting at here?
The lower the aperture, the more this happens.

Understand all this, I own a full frame camera and lenses.. I understand how the aperture works but what I dont understand is how the edges are sharper than the thirds.. center is good there are random soft focus spots almost look blurry and not out of focus then the image sharpens up towards the edges again..
its not right..
This was also taken at f4 on a smallish sensor it should be fairly sharp across the frame. like the mavic 2 pro

Skyris Posted at 11-23 01:39
I agree on both of your images that the flats/units on the edges of the image are fairly sharp but it the buildings closer to the center of the image, like the small white tower in the top image and the white tower in the second, they are softer focus than the edges which doesnt make any sense unless there is something wrong with the sensor or lens.

I agree on that last part. I think it is the lens.

Skyris Posted at 11-23 01:48
Understand all this, I own a full frame camera and lenses.. I understand how the aperture works but what I dont understand is how the edges are sharper than the thirds.. center is good there are random soft focus spots almost look blurry and not out of focus then the image sharpens up towards the edges again..
its not right..
This was also taken at f4 on a smallish sensor it should be fairly sharp across the frame. like the mavic 2 pro

Yeah, I was too quick and missed that 'half way' soft spot you were referring to.
I'm convinced this is not a Firmware issue, since it is in the DNG so there must be something with the lens probably
I'm not sure if you can, but for ruling out focus issues, maybe check by shooting a modern building when the drone is parallel to see if you can find the soft spots.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-23 01:47
Oh, I misread that sentence about the center vs edge and assumed it was about the sharpness in the edges.
Sorry, my bad.
Affinity photo told it was 2.8 but that was my second mistake.

Thanks for the reply.. yes I will have to try shooting straight on to something with detail and check.
I had a similar problem with the MP2 when I ordered straight after the launch, sensor was miss aligned and had this replaced and the lens was much better..
I think the problem is rushing these drones out the door, might be best to get a refund and wait.
The drone is great, very stable and the gimbal holds horizon well, the center of the lens/image is great but these soft/blurry spots ruin it..
My 360 panos look sharp then blurry, sharp then blurry.. hard handing them over to clients at the moment.

Skyris Posted at 11-23 01:54
Thanks for the reply.. yes I will have to try shooting straight on to something with detail and check.
I had a similar problem with the MP2 when I ordered straight after the launch, sensor was miss aligned and had this replaced and the lens was much better..
I think the problem is rushing these drones out the door, might be best to get a refund and wait.

I remember I had a soft spot on my first Mavic Pro too.
But it was second hand, so I could not return it and it was not that bad that I could not make good shots with it (quite small).

When it got a GPS malfunction, I could have it repaired under warranty (the GPS unit) but I got a refurbised model with a different SN.
That one did not have the soft spot.

So apparently it does happen.

Yes poor quality control I am guessing. The most important part of the drone has to be the camera, it needs to be checked before sending, especially the higher end models, I would have been livid if I had purchased the cine version for $7200 aud.
I just hope Dji do the right thing and fix the camera

Orignal jpeg looks really good. But I can see fall off around the areas you point to. But you’re going to get plenty of different answers theories. Sometimes you know better yourself and if you’re not happy then opting for a change of drone might be best for you. I’m thinking myself about the purple shift that I might end up doing the same myself. Going to give it one more shot before I make up my mind.

Anybody else seeing this kind of distortion at the top of the frame, and the curved black band at the bottom of the DNG files (cropping of the JPG images eliminates the black band, but not the curvature)? I'm returning my Mavic 3 Cine and getting a new one.

FIRE ENGINE Posted at 11-23 08:26
[view_image]

Anybody else seeing this kind of distortion at the top of the frame, and the curved black band at the bottom of the DNG files (cropping of the JPG images eliminates the black band, but not the curvature)? I'm returning my Mavic 3 Cine and getting a new one.

You need to be editing in an app that has lens profile correction  settings for Mavic 3, PS has and if you upload it will correct that distortion.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-23 11:21
You need to be editing in an app that has lens profile correction  settings for Mavic 3, PS has and if you upload it will correct that distortion.

I know I can correct it, but is this normal? I sent it to DJI and they hadn't seen it before. This doesn't happen with the raw DNG files from any other drone I've had.

FIRE ENGINE Posted at 11-23 08:26
[view_image]

Anybody else seeing this kind of distortion at the top of the frame, and the curved black band at the bottom of the DNG files (cropping of the JPG images eliminates the black band, but not the curvature)? I'm returning my Mavic 3 Cine and getting a new one.

There seems to be a lot of lens defects,

hallmark007 Posted at 11-23 05:29
Orignal jpeg looks really good. But I can see fall off around the areas you point to. But you’re going to get plenty of different answers theories. Sometimes you know better yourself and if you’re not happy then opting for a change of drone might be best for you. I’m thinking myself about the purple shift that I might end up doing the same myself. Going to give it one more shot before I make up my mind.

A quick scan and it does look ok, this is exactly what dji have done and said its fine.. I cant have that much defocus/ blur in patches, it looks terrible when you stich panoramas together plus I cant send these to clients.. not cool. Yes if you are having issues that others arent I would say its a camera/lens issue.. purple fringing is down to poor lens, it can be fixed in post but if yours is worse than others you sound to have a defect in the lens.. I will be returning mine if DJI doesn't come back with an offer to replace the drone.

FIRE ENGINE Posted at 11-23 13:03
I know I can correct it, but is this normal? I sent it to DJI and they hadn't seen it before. This doesn't happen with the raw DNG files from any other drone I've had.

Worth checking that you have the latest Adobe Camera RAW if you are using Photoshop. That now has a profile for the Hasselblad lens. I did notice another user having the same issue, but sorted it by using the profile.

Hope that helps

FIRE ENGINE Posted at 11-23 13:03
I know I can correct it, but is this normal? I sent it to DJI and they hadn't seen it before. This doesn't happen with the raw DNG files from any other drone I've had.

All or most lens need corrections and thats why apps have lens corrections and camera corrections in there software , its nothing new its standard . All you other drones corrections will already have been installed in apps for editing.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-23 14:04
All or most lens need corrections and thats why apps have lens corrections and camera corrections in there software , its nothing new its standard . All you other drones corrections will already have been installed in apps for editing.

This is all true but the amount of black areas in these raws is concerning, most lenses have a profile to remove some vignette or de fish/de pincushion. This raw needs serious cropping so we are losing more resolution than 20mp, its stretching the top corners out to hide the black spots

FIRE ENGINE Posted at 11-23 08:26
[view_image]

Anybody else seeing this kind of distortion at the top of the frame, and the curved black band at the bottom of the DNG files (cropping of the JPG images eliminates the black band, but not the curvature)? I'm returning my Mavic 3 Cine and getting a new one.

You realize that you need to send it back for replacement...
You can live with it? Perhaps...
You can work with it? NO...
All manual panoramas you make will be toasted...Also in video you will need to crop...

Send it back to replacement as you can.

I returned my Mavic 3 Cine for a replacement. After looking at this picture (the one above with the fire engine and tower truck shooting water over a pond) showing the curved black space at the bottom of the frame, and the curvature of the straight lines across the top of the frame, DJI agreed this wasn't normal. These issues appeared on all my RAW/DNG photos, and I've never had this kind of issue before with any of my DJI drones.

I should have a replacement by next week, and I plan to test the drone in the exact same location. If those same anomalies still show up up on the RAW images, I'll know it's just standard artifacts of this particular lens and/or sensor. If not, I'll let everyone know to look out for this issue. I'll post my test shot next week/ASAP.  

Could you post or share one of your offending DNG files, straight out of the camera. I for one am intrigued by this odd behaviour. The more we understand, the better we can deal with these oddities.
Also, best of luck with the replacement.

FB: GeoDrone4K Posted at 11-24 00:06
You realize that you need to send it back for replacement...
You can live with it? Perhaps...
You can work with it? NO...

Thanks will do, I definitely cant live with it, my eye will always be drawn to these spots...

Nicodema Posted at 11-24 07:42
Could you post or share one of your offending DNG files, straight out of the camera. I for one am intrigued by this odd behaviour. The more we understand, the better we can deal with these oddities.
Also, best of luck with the replacement.

Hi I posted a dng in the original post, please have a look a zoom 100% in to the areas I have highlighted in the cropped images in my original post. they are not at the edges but more on the thirds to the left and right.

Skyris Posted at 11-24 11:28
Hi I posted a dng in the original post, please have a look a zoom 100% in to the areas I have highlighted in the cropped images in my original post. they are not at the edges but more on the thirds to the left and right.

Hi Skyris, sorry to be confusing, I was intending to ask Fire Engine for a DNG.

However, I took a look at your DNG when you posted it. I could detect slight softening of some features. As you say it's not perfect. I can see varying sharpness on the angled cables of the arched bridge on the left.

I assume you took more shots of the city, were there any from the same viewpoint, but perhaps with the camera pointing in a slightly different angle? I only ask because some of the building detail is hard to tell if its soft due to the camera or just has lower contrast edges. A different angle could put the soft stuff into a sharper area of the lens if that makes sense.

Quite the stress test that picture!

Nicodema Posted at 11-24 11:48
Hi Skyris, sorry to be confusing, I was intending to ask Fire Engine for a DNG.

However, I took a look at your DNG when you posted it. I could detect slight softening of some features. As you say it's not perfect. I can see varying sharpness on the angled cables of the arched bridge on the left.

I will take another look for another angle but the image quality is not good from this angle, the wires that you are talking of in that bridge all the way up from there the building looks terrible,  imagine if that was your subject of the shot as I sometimes put the subject on the third, I would not be able to use it.
The Center looks good and useable, elsewhere not.

Nicodema Posted at 11-24 11:48
Hi Skyris, sorry to be confusing, I was intending to ask Fire Engine for a DNG.

However, I took a look at your DNG when you posted it. I could detect slight softening of some features. As you say it's not perfect. I can see varying sharpness on the angled cables of the arched bridge on the left.

I would also like to have a look at the DNG of the firetruck

Update, DJI looked at the DNG the second time and noticed the areas that I was concerned about, Sent for a replacement.. will see what I get back.. hopefully not a dud

FIRE ENGINE Posted at 11-24 07:03
I returned my Mavic 3 Cine for a replacement. After looking at this picture (the one above with the fire engine and tower truck shooting water over a pond) showing the curved black space at the bottom of the frame, and the curvature of the straight lines across the top of the frame, DJI agreed this wasn't normal. These issues appeared on all my RAW/DNG photos, and I've never had this kind of issue before with any of my DJI drones.

I should have a replacement by next week, and I plan to test the drone in the exact same location. If those same anomalies still show up up on the RAW images, I'll know it's just standard artifacts of this particular lens and/or sensor. If not, I'll let everyone know to look out for this issue. I'll post my test shot next week/ASAP.

Look forward to hearing the results