In the attempt to determine if the infinity setting on the Mavic 3 was  "true infinity" at least for my drone, i captured a series of videos set  at varying focus points.  These were captured using D-Log 5.1K, ISO  800, f2.8, and 1/30s.  Focus was varied from infinity and then at -2  stops, -4 stops, and -6 stops.


The first half of the video shows full resolution, while the second half  is a zoomed cropped version of the background buildings.


The only processing performed on these videos was basic corrections in  Adobe Premiere.

Conclusion so far is the -2 stops from infinity does seem a little sharper than the infinity setting, but its very close and my eyes aren't that great.

Also do recognize that variations in optics, manufacturing, etc.. may mean your focus points on your drone may be completely different than mine.


I would like to do a stationary test with a dark sky and stars to check when i have the time.

Great test Daniel.    That's some awesome footage.

Nice test awesome results and useful too.

Nice test and thanks for sharing the results.

Most cameras are sharper slightly back from infinity. Good test

In the attempt to determine if the infinity setting on the Mavic 3 was  "true infinity" at least for my drone, i captured a series of videos set  at varying focus points.  

Nice video, but what were you trying to achieve?
The lens has loads of depth of field and whether you focused at infinity or 20 ft, everything should have been in focus anyway.
They all look good (except the shots with the tele lens which isn't terribly good for anyting serious.

Hello there Daniel Dance. Good day and thank you for posting this interesting video here at DJI Forum. Nicely done and thank you for your support.

I have not done any manual focus on the M3 yet. But on the M2p, the best long range focus is not where you think on the scale. When I first got it, I made the mistake of setting the focus to max....no good for a real infinity subject.

Nicely done.    

Labroides Posted at 1-12 18:55
In the attempt to determine if the infinity setting on the Mavic 3 was  "true infinity" at least for my drone, i captured a series of videos set  at varying focus points.  

Nice video, but what were you trying to achieve?

Well, the intent is determine where true infinity focus point is for my particular drone, and the fact that the infinity setting on your controller is not necessarily true infinity.  True, there is considerable depth of field at f2.8, but if the infinity point is off, then focus for all objects within the frame can appear slightly softer as can be seen with this video.  It does appear that -2 steps below the infinity focus is optimum focus for this particular drone.  This type variability is true for almost all cameras.

The zoomed in versions are not from the zoom camera, but rather blown up versions of the previous videos for more close inspection.

Here is a stationary version of this test.  The drone was held in a stationary position to eliminate the effects of wind / flight.

PhillyDrone Posted at 1-13 06:10
Here is a stationary version of this test.  The drone was held in a stationary position to eliminate the effects of wind / flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm__mxvcT0M

I know there is a lot of "abstraction" going from M3 camera to editing to youtube to viewing on my machine, which probably factors in my observation.  In one viewing, I was not able to identify any meaningful differences between the changes of focus.  Might be that something would jump out comparing infinity to focus-max (comparing the extremes).

Very impressive footage!
I would be happy to have a flying camera that could do this!