I can't seem to be able to take good photos in sports mode and at max speed. Is this normal? Here is an example.

lol is this a real question or a troll?

Real question

Judging from the shot you have posted, therefore why jkeller84 made his comment, it is pretty apparent you do not know much about photography.

Your biggest issue is that you are trying to take a photo at night. This is NOT a low light camera, and to take that shot requires the aircraft to be stationary and for the shutter to be open for a lengthy time, not shooting across the landscape at speed. Even then it is a even money bet as to whether it will come out or not.

So, in short, stop the aircraft and take the shot, no-one takes good shots while in motion, day or night.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-26 20:26
Judging from the shot you have posted, therefore why jkeller84 made his comment, it is pretty appare ...

Correct, this is not a low light camera Although you can get some decent photos at night by playing with the settings BUT you need to be still.

Lol.  That is funny

Look at the Exif data for that image and see what the shutter speed was.
I'm guessing maybe 2 seconds?

Your picture is mostly darkness with a small part of the image lit.
The metering tells the camera it needs to hold the shutter open a long time to get proper exposure in those conditions.
Meantime, you are zooming across the landscape at warp speed and that's what you get.
Drive down the highway some night with your SLR out the window and take a few random shots and see what the results look like.
It should be similar because you're trying to go beyond the limitations of the  camera, not just the Phantom, but any camera.

I laughed out loud.

It does sound a bit tarded as if he were jokng. Maybe he was.

So he is a newbie. Whatever.

Its not about low light settings. This would have happened in daylight.

He does have a point. It doesn't do this in video mode, which he is viewing through the FPV, yet it does this in photo mode when snapping a picture. Why? Its because the camera exposure shutter is too long. So any slight movement and you'd get blurring. But guess what? The drone is never actually "still" unless it was landed on the ground. So you always run into possible issues.The other option is to take high def video and take frames from the video as your 'photo'. The video recording does a better job with a faster shutter so there is no blending of the image over long exposure settings.

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-3-27 16:07
It does sound a bit tarded as if he were jokng. Maybe he was.

So he is a newbie. Whatever.

Not really ...  you won't get good images under those conditions whether shooting video or stills
Look at the image - it's 99% black and a few pinpoint light sources with dim light around them.
It would be enlightening to see what the shutter speed really was, perhaps it's even slower than my guess.

The meter is going to want to open the shutter for a long time to get enough light through the lens.
In video it will have a tougher time because you need to shoot ~25 individual frames per second and that's just not going to happen if  the light level is that low.

To shoot at night you need a well lit subject and because you still have low light levels, you have to have the Phantom stable unless you just want to see blurred streaks.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-3-27 02:09
Not really ...  you won't get good images under those conditions whether shooting video or stills
...

I'm not talking about his night photos.

The camera functionality with the phantom appears to have a fairly slow shutter speed based on light exposure settings. So if you're moving the drone even just a bit, you're going to get blurring because they average the image over such a long shutter exposure. And it will happen because as good as it is, the drone drifts even when commanded to be still.

Whereas, in the video functionality, the phantom is forced to roll frames according to the setting. 60 frames per second means 60 frames in a second, duh. So it's fast. It rolls. You get smoother image by extracting stills from a video than using the 'camera' function that basically has a 1-2 second shutter.

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-3-28 14:28
I'm not talking about his night photos.

The camera functionality with the phantom appears to have ...

And if it's so dark that the shutter needs to be open for two seconds, how do you think it could get proper exposure on video under those conditions with a shutter speed of 1/60th or faster?
It's not going to happen.

Sorry guys I'm not as informed as you guys are. I got more important stuff to do but thanks for your answers anyways.

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-3-28 14:28
I'm not talking about his night photos.

The camera functionality with the phantom appears to have ...

'Whereas, in the video functionality, the phantom is forced to roll frames according to the setting. 60 frames per second means 60 frames in a second, duh. So it's fast. It rolls. You get smoother image by extracting stills from a video than using the 'camera' function that basically has a 1-2 second shutter.'

Rubbish. The camera is the same whether shooting video or stills. All a video clip consists of is a series of stills. If the camera needs more light it either lengthens the exposure or bumps up the gain. Moving at speed like that in video mode, the shutter speed at 60 fps will be no longer than about 1/80th of a second, letting in very little light. As a result, the gain will be pushed up resulting in heaps of noise.

A Phantom can, under near windless conditions, take 2 or 3 second exposures at night because it is an incredibly stable platform. You might not get it every time, but if you take a series of exposures you will often get one good one.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-28 00:27
'Whereas, in the video functionality, the phantom is forced to roll frames according to the setting ...

More nonsense from you. Do you even know the context of things said ever?

The captured image will be lower quality in film mode than camera mode, but you're not going to get blurring when moving fast because the film capture conforms to the high frames capture setting, thus forcing a low exposure time.

Under auto settings the camera shutter exposure time is long even in well lit conditions. Try taking a picture and timing the loading icon. So if you're flying fast and taking a picture you will blur. Nighttime or not. In contrast the video mode captures the frames as is. It doesn't try to blend exposed light over a long period hence creating the blurring effect.

You're saying 2-3s exposure? If you're flying fast while the image is taken, it will blur with 2-3 exposure. Hence the point. Meanwhile, a 1080p video set at 60 FPS will do 60 frames in a second. Exposure time is 0.02s. Minimal motion blurring. But lower quality image. Its always a trade off son.

Have some context huh?

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-3-27 23:37
And if it's so dark that the shutter needs to be open for two seconds, how do you think it could g ...

Tards gonna tard.

Get a context. Arguing apples and oranges.

This is about eliminating motion blurring from capture. This isn't about quality of captured images. Obviously there is a negative correlation.

No S sherlock. Image will be crappier in video mode. But it won't have as much motion blurring. The topic is about motion blurring being captured in camera mode while the drone is moving fast. Its because camera mode has a low shutter speed and tries to gather as much light as possible for the shot. Its fine it your drone is still. Not fine if you're moving and motion blurring is unavoidable, which is the point being discussed around. Which means if you want to capture anything worth of shyt while moving fast, using video mode and then doing post-editing by taking captured frames is the best method because video mode has fast shutter speed by default.

tards gon tard?

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-3-29 11:28
More nonsense from you. Do you even know the context of things said ever?

The captured image will ...

You're calling me son? You impudent prick, I am probably old enough to be your grandfather, and I have been working in this field since 1963.

Have some context? How about speaking on subjects you know about. For a start:
'Try taking a picture and timing the loading icon.'

Nine tenths of that time is the processor writing to the SD card, not the exposure itself. And what everyone is telling the OP is that to take acceptable still pictures at night, you have to have the aircraft stationary. Even if you shot it at 1080p-60 you would still get significant motion blur at his preferred speed in sport mode.

The difference is you can get a perfectly acceptable still by hovering in one place for a night shot, it has been proved many times over by people on this forum. A frame from a video clip will look like crap.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-28 20:36
You're calling me son? You impudent prick, I am probably old enough to be your grandfather, and I h ...

You can actually see the shutter speed setting.

Again, you are trying to change the condition to qualify your response. Meaning comparing apples to oranges and not addressing the OP's question.

No shyt sherlock you can get a better image if you stay still. Or in high light conditions. LOL. What more Captain Obvious? The OP's issue is twofolds. Flying in low light and flying fast. The question becomes how to get the best still images under this condition.

Your option of "oh just stay still and make sure there is good lighting" is not a valid response because that is not what solves the problem at hand.

If you are flying fast and low light, using the "camera" mode will result in motion blurring. On the other hand, capturing a high def 60 FPS video is the best setting you can achieve to getting usable stills while some motion blurring might still be expected. But it won't be as bad as stills taken in camera mode.

Why don't you go try it? Fly in a straight line and use "camera" to take a picture of the ground. Then do that again by flying fast this time with a 60 fps video. Then compare the captured frames versus the picture taken in "camera" mode? I rest my case your honor.

This matters for people who use their drone for surveying purposes where they fly fast over a very large acreage property to capture aerial images of land and later stitch the images together in software. To use capture mode will require that they fly really slow. Which is not doable for some people interested in fast and large area coverage given the battery life also. So they can use film mode instead and pick out the frames. It will be lower quality but it will be faster to acquire than wasting 10 batteries and flying slow.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-28 20:36
You're calling me son? You impudent prick, I am probably old enough to be your grandfather, and I h ...

Bryan is that you? I know you got banned for a second time but you shouldnt have come back as Geebax. That name is taken already.

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-3-29 11:28
More nonsense from you. Do you even know the context of things said ever?

The captured image will ...

"Under auto settings the camera shutter exposure time is long even in well lit conditions."
That would appear to be a prime example of what you refer to as "Tards gonna tard"

"This matters for people who use their drone for surveying purposes where  they fly fast over a very large acreage property to capture aerial  images of land and later stitch the images together in software. To use  capture mode will require that they fly really slow."

Another prime example.  I've flown survey to produce a rectified highly detailed orthophoto and generate a contour plan of 35 acres, flying at 246 feet and at 18 mph, recording 115 sharp photos at shutter speeds of around 1/670 th sec.

Mr Tard .. You know about as much about cameras as you appear to understand about the compass in your Phantom.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-3-28 20:56
"Under auto settings the camera shutter exposure time is long even in well lit conditions."
That w ...

I think you have poor comprehension skills and low situational awareness. Its a wonder how you can command an RC quadcopter with this level of sophistication.

I think you're trying to argue I said "long exposure time" in the context of comparing high light and low light. But that wasn't my comparison. My statement was a comparison of exposure time between camera mode vs video mode. Camera mode under automatic settings will have slow shutter speed because it is programmed to get the most light for the image.  Video mode conforms to the fps set.

You're being needlessly, but for your oblagatory, thick headed here.

Elmer Fudd Posted at 2016-3-29 11:49
Bryan is that you? I know you got banned for a second time but you shouldnt have come back as Geeb ...

Hah. Nah, he is not as old as me. (But you already know that )

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-28 21:20
Hah. Nah, he is not as old as me. (But you already know that )

I thought maybe he was incognito.

Elmer Fudd Posted at 2016-3-29 12:29
I thought maybe he was incognito.

You could always pass on messages for him. Sort of like a medium passing messages back from 'the other side'.
Of course that would probably involved unsavory language that would get you banned again, so maybe not.

Hello Brian if you are watching

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-28 22:11
You could always pass on messages for him. Sort of like a medium passing messages back from 'the ot ...

Lol. Thats a good idea but as you said, i would surely get banned.Probably on the first message.