We all know about the Mavic's tap-to-focus feature in the DJI Go app, and we all know how you can map "Center Auto-focus" to some of the controller buttons through the app. But if you don't have a device attached (no phone/tablet plugged in running the DJI Go app), then what is the focus situation?
-Does the camera ever change focus?
-Or is the focus locked and never changes? If so, what is the focus distance (0.5m? 5m? 20m? Infinity?)
-Is there any way to change the focus without a device attached running the app? (With a phone connected I've tried mapping "Center Auto-Focus" to one of the controller buttons, then disconnecting the phone and pressing the button. It seems to have no effect.)



I'm curious because I don't have a compatible phone or tablet yet. While I wait for one I'm having to do most of my flying/filming with nothing but the simple controller. I've already checked out some video and pictures from the drone on my computer, and things are usually out of focus. But I think this is a valid question for everybody - at some point we're all going to be in a situation where we're trying to fly our drone without a device attached to the controller, and it SURE WOULD BE NICE if the drone doesn't churn out blurry video.

UPDATE: As far as I can tell from testing: with no phone/app plugged into the controller, the Mavic simply maintains the current camera focus. With no phone/app plugged into the controller, C1 does nothing to change the focus and C2 does nothing to change the focus. The same is true regardless of whether you previously used a phone/app to remap those controls.
So it seems that if you want to avoid blurry footage from the Mavic during a flight with no phone/DJI Go app, you need to have previously set the focus to infinity when you DID have a phone/DJI Go app plugged in.

Out of the box, the C1 button, when pressed, is automatically programmed to refocus on the center.   

of course, the C1 and C2 are customizable.

13MStang Posted at 2016-11-28 15:52
Out of the box, the C1 button, when pressed, is automatically programmed to refocus on the center.   ...

Huh, didn't know that. So does the controller revert to the default button mapping when not plugged into a phone/DJI Go App?

If so, I may have been pressing the wrong button. I tried mapping "Center Auto-focus" to C2, then pressing that after unplugging the phone.
With no phone/DJI Go App plugged in, I'll see if the camera focuses in response to C1.


UPDATE: I just tried it. With no phone/app plugged in, C1 does nothing. I even tried again, making sure to remap "Center Focus" to C1 in the app before unpluggin the phone - still no effect on the camera's focus.

In mode 2 which is the default controller mode C1 should indeed focus on the centre, but I suppose the centre all depends on what's in front of the drone, how far, and which way it's facing. Another issue you'll have is that without the app you can't change any of the camera settings. It's a shame the controller isn't more configurable. Of course without the app you can't configure the controller anyhow.

Mikedefieslife Posted at 2016-11-28 17:46
In mode 2 which is the default controller mode C1 should indeed focus on the centre, but I suppose t ...

So you're saying you've been able to center focus the camera without your phone/tablet plugged into the controller?

That is my belief based on the fact that the other camera controls all work without a phone added e.g. gimbal controls, exposure comp etc.. I've got no idea how you'd test the focus though.

It doesn't work. Been asking/ trying as well, but it looks like you need the app connected to be able to focus. Hopefully DJI can add this in the future?

Better get a cheap phablet in order to improve your experience.

It's one thing to get the craft to focus properly with no phone or tables connected, but even if you could get it to focus, how would you compose the image properly without seeing what the camera sees?

Mandy replied to my inquiry on this topic,

The c1 button cannot be used to focus without a mobile device, I.e. You can only c1 focus w/ a mobile device connected.

BUT I recall hearing it auto focuses on the center when pressing the start record button. I could be wrong, but I believe that started a couple firmware versions ago.

Matman Posted at 2017-1-10 17:54
Mandy replied to my inquiry on this topic,

The c1 button cannot be used to focus without a mobile device, I.e. You can only c1 focus w/ a mobile device connected.

"BUT I recall hearing it auto focuses on the center when pressing the start record button. I could be wrong, but I believe that started a couple firmware versions ago."

You're right, they did introduce auto-focus-on-start-recording one or two firmwares ago. However... I just went out to test what happens without a phone connected, and unfortunately all of my footage was out-of-focus. I did about 5 or 6 quick recordings, plus one still photo, but all of it came out unfocused. So it looks like this feature really does rely on the app :-(

And out of curiosity, I decided to test Precision RTH. I made sure to hover my Mavic at 10m for several seconds at the start of the flight, but when the Mavic performed the RTH, it definitely didn't use the Precision landing. In fact, it was coming down a good couple of meters away from the takeoff point, which is further than I'm used to seeing. The RC was showing 4 or 5 bars of GPS signal.