Dear DJI and M3 users,

Recently, while processing some images in Lightroom, I noticed that images captured with M3's main and tele cameras in DNG format have lower resolution than those in JPG format.

I only take pictures in DNG format because of the better editing capabilities in Lightroom.

Here is what I got after import in Lightroom:

• Hasselblad Camera - DNG: 5272 X 3948
• Tele Camera - DNG: 3992 X 2992
  

• Hasselblad Camera - JPG: 5280 X 3956 (as advertised in specs)
• Tele Camera - JPG: 4000 X 3000 (as advertised in specs)
  

Looks like both cameras pictures are cropped by a 4 pixels width frame in DNG format.

Does anyone else experienced this issue? Is it a design issue?

Thanks in advance.

Does anyone else experienced this issue?
Yes ... it's like that for everyone

Is it a design issue?
It's just the way that DJI made it.
I've never seen an explanation.

Labroides Posted at 12-5 14:02
Does anyone else experienced this issue?
Yes ... it's like that for everyone

Took the day to investigate the issue.

Apparently the DNG file has a default CROP embedded in the EXIF metadata. So, when Lightroom or any other software opens the file, the crop becomes automatic. With exiftool I could check that and modify 2 parameters before importing in Lightroom. Looks like it works.Screenshot of original image exif taken from exiftool:



With commands:

"exiftool -SUBIFDefaultCropSize="5280 3956" -m -overwrite_original *.dng"
"exiftool -SUBIFDefaultCropOrigin="0 0" -m -overwrite_original *.dng"

I managed to fix this strange behaviour. Don't know why a product of this level would have an issue like this after more than 1 year of release (never seen this in P4 Pro or any other drone working in DNG mode). Hope DJI fix this in a future release because a RAW format can't have less resolution than a compressed one (JPEG)! Even if its just a few pixels.

Hi, MARCOS-MCOSTA. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate the details and samples you have provided. We will have this forwarded to our engineers for confirmation. In case we need to gather more data, we will let you know. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Cropped, as they made an error in production, the lens is not big enough and you can see it in full DNG...
It can be seen if you open the DNG in other software.

MARCOS-MCOSTA Posted at 12-5 15:31
Took the day to investigate the issue.

Apparently the DNG file has a default CROP embedded in the EXIF metadata. So, when Lightroom or any other software opens the file, the crop becomes automatic. With exiftool I could check that and modify 2 parameters before importing in Lightroom. Looks like it works.Screenshot of original image exif taken from exiftool:

Hi there. Thank you for your patience. We have received a confirmation from our related team. Please note that the DNG material is 8 pixels less than the JPEG material, considering that when editing the RAW image, to preserve the image quality to the greatest extent, there is an edge protection design on the edge area. So the Active Area is indented by 4 pixels at the top, bottom left, and right (for editing software to do demosaic interpolation). Thank you for your understanding.

Geo_Drone Posted at 12-7 23:09
Cropped, as they made an error in production, the lens is not big enough and you can see it in full DNG...
It can be seen if you open the DNG in other software.

Well, it is indeed cropped but by a software mistake. How come both cameras and lenses (hasselblad and tele) have the same issue? And why does the JPEG shows the full range of pixels?
As I said before, with exiftool I could get the full image in DNG and it doesn't seems to show any problem on the borders, but I will further inspect.

DJI Tony Posted at 12-7 23:28
Hi there. Thank you for your patience. We have received a confirmation from our related team. Please note that the DNG material is 8 pixels less than the JPEG material, considering that when editing the RAW image, to preserve the image quality to the greatest extent, there is an edge protection design on the edge area. So the Active Area is indented by 4 pixels at the top, bottom left, and right (for editing software to do demosaic interpolation). Thank you for your understanding.

Well that doesn't explain why the JPEG format has a full range of pixels in both cameras (Hasselblad and Tele). Looks like the sensor is missing some kind of information on the edges and DJI is simply cropping it to avoid problems (maybe some information on the edges that prevents it to be categorized as DNG).
But the thing is, you are falsely advertising this product as having a different resolution than it actually has. Almost all serious photographers work with RAW and the ones that  buy M3 are not getting the resolution they paid for. Actually we are getting 73,824 less pixels than advertised.
All being said, it still makes no sense that JPEG has full resolution and DNG not. Should we expect that our JPEG pictures's borders have some kind of problem?
Hope this is something fixable because I just ordered a M3 enterprise.

MARCOS-MCOSTA Posted at 12-5 15:31
Took the day to investigate the issue.

Apparently the DNG file has a default CROP embedded in the EXIF metadata. So, when Lightroom or any other software opens the file, the crop becomes automatic. With exiftool I could check that and modify 2 parameters before importing in Lightroom. Looks like it works.Screenshot of original image exif taken from exiftool:

(never seen this in P4 Pro or any other drone working in DNG mode).
Check again.
That's exactly what the P4pro does.
It shoots jpg at 5472 x 3648 and dng images are 5464 x 3640.

Hope this is something fixable
It's not "fixable" because it's that way by design.

Labroides Posted at 12-8 12:59
(never seen this in P4 Pro or any other drone working in DNG mode).
Check again.
That's exactly what the P4pro does.

Yes, you are absolutely right, I never noticed that during my 3 years working with P4 Pro, but I mostly worked in JPEG with it, because of the limited interval when shooting in RAW (5s).
But, with M3, taking photos in RAW and with 2s interval was/is a game changer for me and that is why this limitation got my attention.
You convinced me that this is done by design, but I still don't understand why JPEG has the full pixels. Also, I think it would be fair for DJI to advertise the resolutions correctly, even if it's just a footnote.
I still think that this could be fixed because I managed to get a full picture in DNG through exiftool. Later I will provide a test sample here to show what I mean.

MARCOS-MCOSTA Posted at 12-8 10:55
Well that doesn't explain why the JPEG format has a full range of pixels in both cameras (Hasselblad and Tele). Looks like the sensor is missing some kind of information on the edges and DJI is simply cropping it to avoid problems (maybe some information on the edges that prevents it to be categorized as DNG).
But the thing is, you are falsely advertising this product as having a different resolution than it actually has. Almost all serious photographers work with RAW and the ones that  buy M3 are not getting the resolution they paid for. Actually we are getting 73,824 less pixels than advertised.
All being said, it still makes no sense that JPEG has full resolution and DNG not. Should we expect that our JPEG pictures's borders have some kind of problem?

Thank you for your feedback. Please note that this was designed to make the compatibility of RAW post software better. Moreover, all current consumer drones follow this logic. Should you have further concerns, please reach back here at DJI Forum. Thank you.