Hi,

after retourning my pre ordered Action 3 in September 2022 I gave it a second try and compared it to a GoPro Hero 11.
The first one had the well know focus issue I showed in the following thread: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=277017

The second Action 3 I purchased was an Action Bundle produced in 03/2023 and the good news: Its close focus sharpness is even better than on the GoPro!

(4k 30fps)
The bad news: Focus on objects further away is not where it should be and thus the overall shot looks a bit mushy.

(4k 30fps)
You can see that the logo on my hoodie is a little sharper on the action 3 but all other objects in the distance are not in focus. Just take a look at the text on the car or the bushes clsoe by.

The pictures shown above are screenshots from a 4K 30FPS video. I had to skip multiple frames to get a 'sharp' picture on the DJI because there was motion blur which never occured on the gopro.

(4k 30fps, DJI HDR)
During this shot I was spinning around. You can see me being sharp on both cameras but the background of the DJI is mushy. This means that the DJI was using a slower shutter speed than the gopro and the gopro on the other hand had to use higher ISO to get the same brightness. Considering that the Action 3 picture is a bit to bright (watch the building in the background) DJI could easily use higher shutter speeds to get a darker image, save the highlights and reduce motion blur.


I really like the concept of the Action 3 and my comparison might be a bit pixel peeping, but for what I see the GoPro wins in case of image quality in those kind of shots.

Just wanted to share my experience with you cause I was looking for information in this forum as well.
Cheers.

thank you for the observations.  Maybe DJI is trying to do the Baku thing.  DJI just released new firmware to cure all Ailments    not all of us can keep both cameras and make it one, DJI needs to   make a new model, simple as that to fix the   damage they done..

Enjoy the  new camera

You can have your cake.. or you can eat it

In the photography world this is called 'Depth of Field' and if I remember correctly the basic rule was to focus so that anything one third in front of the lens was in focus and two thirds behind. That worked well with focus adjustment controls, unfortunately our cameras don't have this - which is good in some ways.. and we have to work with what we've got. It seems yours is slightly front focusing at the expense of further out. Depending on your uses, it may suit some people but not me

Not sure if you read what I have wrote about 30cm focus before, but it is not possible to get from 30cm to inifity in focus with this lens and sensor size.
Same if you try with gp11 with mountain etc. in background they will not be in focus.

Did it come with this focus for 30cm, like did you ask for it or just got it like that out of box?

You got yourself OA3 macro unit

m326 Posted at 4-28 03:48
You can have your cake.. or you can eat it

In the photography world this is called 'Depth of Field' and if I remember correctly the basic rule was to focus so that anything one third in front of the lens was in focus and two thirds behind. That worked well with focus adjustment controls, unfortunately our cameras don't have this - which is good in some ways.. and we have to work with what we've got. It seems yours is slightly front focusing at the expense of further out. Depending on your uses, it may suit some people but not me

Thanks for that explanation, I know the physics behind depth of field very well but it's good that you point that out.
I know that there a limitations but what DJI did was just switching close focus issues to infinity focus issues. My camera is sharp at around 16cm away from the sensor. This is cool for macro photography but not for an action cam. They should have adapt the focus a little bit further away.
When you watch the gopro footage you can see that close objects are not as sharp as on the action 3 but everything in the background is in focus. That is how an action cam should work.

But it is not only the combination of sensor size, focal length and aperture that cause the "depth of field". When you watch closely you can see that the effect gets worse in the corners of the image. This means that the lens is not very good optically or the dewarp calculation of the  DJI has some problems.

johansenfoto Posted at 4-28 06:03
Not sure if you read what I have wrote about 30cm focus before, but it is not possible to get from 30cm to inifity in focus with this lens and sensor size.
Same if you try with gp11 with mountain etc. in background they will not be in focus.

I just baught a new unit from amazon. I didn't order a short focusing unit

MANNHEIMER Posted at 4-28 06:57
...But it is not only the combination of sensor size, focal length and aperture that cause the "depth of field". When you watch closely you can see that the effect gets worse in the corners of the image. This means that the lens is not very good optically or the dewarp calculation of the  DJI has some problems.

I think it's a combination of both.

The OA3 streched the limits a bit too far imo. The sweet spot for the focus setting is still missed, you are the first one I heard of with a focus setting too close. Maybe that's because of many people demanding a vlogging cam and expressing disappointment - sometimes very loud - when their nose is not as sharp as expected. SCNR Hopefully, that is a just a slip-up.

The FOV is just a tad too wide and so the image "defects" are more obvious because they became relevant when you compose the picture.

The image processing algorithms could use some refinement. The picture looses a bit of sharpness when croping in for a narrower FOV or when scaling for lower resolutions. JPEG-processing is even worse from my point of view.

Just to name some....

MANNHEIMER Posted at 4-28 07:09
I just baught a new unit from amazon. I didn't order a short focusing unit

Hehe I thought so, well they gave a unit with good focus close-up

If you shoot action, use 50-60 fps. Way better image. Faster shutter. Works for me.

MANNHEIMER Posted at 4-28 06:57
Thanks for that explanation, I know the physics behind depth of field very well but it's good that you point that out.
I know that there a limitations but what DJI did was just switching close focus issues to infinity focus issues. My camera is sharp at around 16cm away from the sensor. This is cool for macro photography but not for an action cam. They should have adapt the focus a little bit further away.
When you watch the gopro footage you can see that close objects are not as sharp as on the action 3 but everything in the background is in focus. That is how an action cam should work.

Yes it seems like the lens is still in a wrong position, but now to close focus.

In my tests i had also this case. Perfekt focus at the near distance, but almost now focus in the infinity.
Maybe you know this video already, the focus is adjustable, perfect position for all cases is around 35cm away from sensor.