The edges of my photos are tack sharp while the center of the images are completley out of focus. I'm curious if anyone else is experiencing this issue.


I will admit I am flying in colder temps (20ºf)ish however the inspire itself is flying/handling admirably my only issue is with the image quality which is basically unusable if you blow the image up and actually look at the details. Most of the reviews I've seen out there for the image quality are rave reviews so I'm worried I may have a defective unit. I contacted customer support and they asked for image samples and said it's probably due to the temperature however I find it hard (scary) to believe a camera could be this adversley/specifically affected by the cold. Where I live it's below freezing 5mo out of the year and I shoot year round.


See examples attached:


Image: DJI_0025.jpg - Notice how sharp the cat walk is in the lower right, then where the people are walking in the center of the frame they are quite fuzzy as is the cat walk but then by the outer light house the image starts to become sharp again.


Image: DJI_0009.jpg - Again notice how sharp the image is in the lower left corner but then the main lighthouse is once again completely soft, while the far lighthouse isn't quite in focus but is at least sharper than the center of the frame.


To be clear this issue is limited specifically to the FOCUS of the image regardless of camera settings and image format. All other functions are completley normal. In fact everything else is quite impressive, it handles beautifully, no issues with the recording or range etc.



Anyone else seeing any issues with focus in cold temps or otherwise?

I had the same problem, my friend. Let the quad sit in the temperature you are going fly it for 10-15 minutes (powered off). Then let it warm up for 2-3 minutes and you're good to go. Had the same exact problem, and this solution worked for me.

This is the only other person I've been able to find so far who is having a similar issue:

http://www.anticipatemedia.com/dji/

It's hard to believe we're the only ones but at the same time if we are then thats probably a good thing because it would mean our cameras are simply "off" and can be replaced and that would fix the problem.

Thanks I'll give that a try!

I was just heading out, calibrating the compass and taking off. My assumption was it would acclimate to the temp over time (though images are all blurry regardless of when they were shot) BUT I hadn't thought to let it just sit out in the cold for a while first and then warm up.

I'll give it a try tomorrow, thanks for the tip!

Let me know what happens.

DaVePI Posted at 2015-2-26 13:00
Let me know what happens.

Will do. I'll try and test it more specifically… Maybe go out and shoot a scene w/o acclimating first and then go back later and let it acclimate for 15-20min first and re-shoot! I'm hoping your tip will work, will let you know when I've given it a try!

If you are going to do a before and after, then let the inspire acclimate for a longer period of time, since it will be warmer after flight. Best would be 2 separate flights, one in the morning and other in evening with same temperatures.

I have not had a chance to test DavePls suggestion but I have heard back from DJI support who told me:

"The operating range of the camera is 0º-40ºC, please kindly try again in a warmer place and check again."

REALLY? I just spent $3200 on a aerial photo platform that wasn't designed to work below freezing and DJI's suggestion is to go try flying in another part of the country? OUCH Who designs something that specifically excludes the 60% of planet earth that has below freezing temps 4 or 5 months out of the year?

benpancoast@gma Posted at 2015-2-27 22:15
I have not had a chance to test DavePls suggestion but I have heard back from DJI support who told m ...

I have heard reports of people flying in 5-10 degrees without a problem.
(side note) It's true that your flying time is significantly decreased in the cold and you need to use the battery "insulation stickers" that dji provided.
Letting the camera and the quad acclimate, should solve the problem. CHEERS

A quick question. Are you sing the UV Filter and if you are do you leave it on all the time? My thought is that there may be a Temp difference between the Lens and Filter and you are getting a little haze on the inside of the filter?

I am using the UV filter.

I will try again today giving the quad a chance to acclimate for an extended amount of time! Definitely hopeful it fixes the issue, just disappointed that DJI is so flippant about an obvious design flaw with the camera.

I'll post photos/results here later today.

Acclimatisation as pointed out; Its prob same as a telescope or binoculars needing acclimatisation even if they have nitrogen inside rather than air, humidity / condensation etc

Just updating... I went out and shot more stills and video yesterday. I let the drone sit out in the cold for 30min before starting it up and then let it warm up for 2 min before take off.

I still have a blurry spot however it is definitely smaller than before. I then went out several hours later and shot more stills/video and the big blurry area was back.

I'm thinking there may be something to the idea of acclimatization, however it's tough to head out to shoot and then have to sit in the car for 30min while I let my camera cool off.

My next plan is to leave the camera in the trunk of my car in the storage case... I'll put it out there an hour or two before I go shoot and then attach it and see if it makes a difference!!

For what it's worth, here's a link to some of the video footage I've captured so far:

All of the footage is "RAW" in the sense that it is straight out of camera... I don't know how to edit video beyond pasting clips together in iMovie so what you see is what the camera captured! This is my first experience shooting any video with a quad. This is a compilation from 2 evenings, the first where I spotted the problem and then the second last night where I was trying to acclimate the quad.

That's a beautiful video, hats off.... wish I could help with the blur issue.

Ok I am having an issue with blurry images! I usually have the camera settings set to auto as I assumed that this would work and get a focussed shot. However since doing photography of properties for example. I have noticed the images have a slight blurry throughout the entire image so non of it looks in focus (foreground or background). I have to take the raw file and drop it into photoshop and sharpen the image to bring it slightly back to focus! why is this? i have tried numerous iso and shutter speed settings yet still getting out of focus shots! i am not using the NV filter that came with it (spare filter). what general settings would suffice to get a clearer shot? i used a phantom vision 2 plus before this and the stills were better quality than the inspire 1 and that shouldnt be happening! would appreciate any help from any of you please!

Thanks,
Rossco

I have been incredibly busy so I haven't had a chance to follow up but I did want to make sure to post my experience on here.

Over the last couple weeks I've tested out allowing the camera to acclimate for different amounts of time. Basically I'd leave the camera in it's little carrying case and put it in the car an hour before I went out to shoot or 2 hours before I went out etc. After trying different amounts of time and in different temps below freezing I've come to the conclusion that while acclimation does seem to help significantly there is just no getting rid of the blurry center in the image. I will say that it is significantly reduced by acclimation but it does not go away entirely.

We've since had several days where the temperature has been well above freezing and the image quality is MUCH improved though not tack sharp. I'm still seeing a bit of fuzziness in the center of the image but I'm wondering if I need to just adjust my aperture a bit to get more depth of field or overall sharpness. Now having said that I'm a professional photographer so I'm pretty picky when it comes to image quality!

I'm including a few recent photos from last week as an example of image quality when the flying temp is 40º+.

I'm hopeful DJI will create a gimbal that allows us to attach a goPro in the winter or something OR that they come out with a fix for the camera!

Same issue here, the center is almost always blurry on my photos.

would like to note i'm having the same issue as well, but i am also flying at close to 32 deg F, and i will try to the "acclimatize" trick, hopefully that works.

Usually these sort of things are a result of the lens operating outside of its "sweet" spot.
Looks a lot like it might be struggling for light.......its pretty hard to get focus right across the image if the light levels are low.........
does it do the same thing in the middle of the day when the sun is bright ?It can however be temp related as well, but this usually shows up as fog inside the lens, which is easy to see generally.

Hello!

I have the same issue on my brandnew Phantom 3 advanced camera: the center of the image is very blurry, whereas the corners are blade-sharp. I am sure that this issue is not bind with the outside temperature - I fly outside where the air temperature is about 10*C and I have made some test picture at home with the air temperature about 20*C. (Please see the attached image).
I think it might be the case when the lens is wrongly attached to the camera sensor, or the focus was wrongly set.
Has anyone resolved this problem?

Image sharpness

sergej.kosov Posted at 2016-3-8 06:25
Hello!

I have the same issue on my brandnew Phantom 3 advanced camera: the center of the image is v ...

     That is an excelllent example of your challenge.  I dont know of a fix.  I did however hear ( dont know if true) that there was a bad batch of lens ( Primary ) causing this issue.  Perhaps you could send it back in with the pictures to show evidence.  Please let us know if you get this remedied.
I dont pretend to know  much about the Photograpic end of this hobby but perhaps the UV lens filter  or the standard lens filter .  (Screw on type, Not the actual lens) is distorted . Do you have a way to try another one, or try with the lens filter  cover off.  ( I have never tried this but will try on my own later, Just trying to stimulate ideas for a solution.)

Cheers- donnie

****Sorry i cant be of some more  assistance.

Resolved
After a few attempts to contact DJI support, I could talk to a competent employee. After considering my test images in DNG format, the support employee concluded that the lens is defective. Having this, I just changed the whole aircraft for a new one in the shop.  Another version of Phantom produces just crystal clear and sharp images. I am very happy with that.

Same exact problem here with a brand new Phantom 3 Advanced.
Will try to get in touch with DJI customer service.

Thanks everyone for sharing.

sergej.kosov Posted at 2016-3-9 16:51
Resolved
After a few attempts to contact DJI support, I could talk to a competent employee. After co ...

Good to know. Thank goodness for this community. I'd have spent the next full week shooting video, tweaking, testing and cussing before coming to the same conclusion as now.

After crashing my first P3P (101% my fault) and saving up again I just bought and received my new P3P. And 24 hours later...it has the same issue. Tack sharp on the sides, soft, mushy and slightly out of focus in the center. I'm so mad I could bite nails in half. Tried all the tricks and suggestions listed in this thread. That said, my first P3P never had this issue regardless of variances in outdoor temperatures. I've filmed at 18ºF and 95ºF over 300 flights without a single "out of focus" issue.

Just got my RMA from B&H. Off she goes.

Thanks all for taking the time to give input here on the initial post. You guys are great.