Hey DJI,

why does the Spark only record videos in 30 fps?
So is this drone for me not suitable, cause all my other videos are in PAL norm (Europe) 25fps.

Are there any planes, to add this framerate to the Spark?

Regards
Steffen

30fps is better! I hate 25fps! With 30fps video is smoother!
I'd like to see 60fps on Spark...

Moving PAL to NTSC setting lets you shot at 30 fps in Mavic.  It's what I do in UK.  

In europe the net frequenz is 50 Hz. Therefore the video standard PAL (25fps).
The footage at 30 or 60 fps can contain ugly stripes under artificial light, as an example.
Every 'halfway' normal camera can record in PAL and NTSC, so why should the Spark cannot also this???
Technical no problem for sure.

I hope the PAL 'feature' will be added later...

Cebenpeter Posted at 2017-5-29 06:15
In europe the net frequenz is 50 Hz. Therefore the video standard PAL (25fps).
The footage at 30 or 60 fps can contain ugly stripes under artificial light, as an example.
Every 'halfway' normal camera can record in PAL and NTSC, so why should the Spark cannot also this???

Like my grandpa always say " that's just the way the pickle squirts"

Does it actually matter anymore? The old TV's had set refresh rates which did cause an issue if they were off but in the digital age, more frames = better. Lamen's point of view...

GCBrent Posted at 2017-5-29 11:39
Does it actually matter anymore? The old TV's had set refresh rates which did cause an issue if they were off but in the digital age, more frames = better. Lamen's point of view...

If you mix 24fps with 30fps in a video you can get stuttering because one of the clips has an off framerate from the project.

trance728- Posted at 2017-5-29 13:38
If you mix 24fps with 30fps in a video you can get stuttering because one of the clips has an off framerate from the project.

That makes sense. Not sure why you would mix different frame rates in a single video...

GCBrent Posted at 2017-5-29 14:29
That makes sense. Not sure why you would mix different frame rates in a single video...

Thats the whole point of this thread, you should at least have that choice in framerate. I'm in America but I shoot primarily in 24fps, so the Spark would not be able to be used in any of my work. Of course the Spark is more of a toy and meant for social media but I thought it would be nice to have that size with me to get more b-roll. I didn't even know that you had absolutely no choice of settings for video so I might be canceling my order. I was ok with the limitation of 1080 30 but just thought it was limited to that and would have had lesser options.

I am sure they will fix with firmware.
Going less framerate is easier.

The only other time you get flicker issues is from fluorescent lights. 50hz vs 60hz is noticeable sometimes. But then again, we shouldnt be flying at nights =).

Camera specs


Sensor
1/2.3" CMOS
Effective pixels: 12 MP

Lens
FOV 81.9° 25 mm (35 mm format equivalent) f/2.6
(shooting range: 2 m to ∞)

ISO Range
Video: 100-3200
Photo: 100-1600

Electronic Shutter Speed
2-1/8000 s

Image Size
3968×2976

Still Photography Modes
Single Shot
Burst Shooting: 3 frames
Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB): 3 bracketed frames at 0.7 EV bias
Interval: 2/3/5/7/10/15/20/30/60 s

Video Resolution
FHD: 1920×1080 30p

Max Video Bitrate
24 Mbps

Supported File Systems
FAT32

Photo Format
JPEG  

Video Format
MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264)

Hi! Same here, as an European I definitely need 25fps, and I'm gonna buy it as soon as we know for sure it can record at 25FPS.

Canceled my order, not willing to be that limited on video and in less than a year they will release something better.

trance728- Posted at 2017-5-31 08:06
Canceled my order, not willing to be that limited on video and in less than a year they will release something better.

I'm thinking about doing the same thing...

I wonder that Spark will also suffer from 4G file size issues that plague all the DJI earlier drones, Inspire 1, Osmo, Phantom 4 and earlier. The video recording loses a couple of frames every time, the file size exist 4G and spans over to another file. It is really bad as compared to any other video camera even low end ones.

DTK Posted at 2017-5-31 15:45
I wonder that Spark will also suffer from 4G file size issues that plague all the DJI earlier drones, Inspire 1, Osmo, Phantom 4 and earlier. The video recording loses a couple of frames every time, the file size exist 4G and spans over to another file. It is really bad as compared to any other video camera even low end ones.

Never had dropped frames with my P4P.

DTK Posted at 2017-5-31 15:45
I wonder that Spark will also suffer from 4G file size issues that plague all the DJI earlier drones, Inspire 1, Osmo, Phantom 4 and earlier. The video recording loses a couple of frames every time, the file size exist 4G and spans over to another file. It is really bad as compared to any other video camera even low end ones.

the 4gb file limit is a fat32 issue not DJI

Hi folks,

I also suffer from the missing 25fps option. I was looking for ways to render the 30fps material coming from the Spark to 25fps without stuttering in order to merge it with other footage coming from my Camcorder.
After trying all sorts of programs I tried DaVinci Resolve - and it worked !! While the result may not be absolutely perfect, it definitely looks good enough for me. Resolve has an option called "Optical Flow" which eliminates the stuttering in the converted footage. Best of all, Resolve is a free download.

So, for everyone waiting patiently for DJi to come up with a proper firmware upgrade, I would recommend this way in the meantime.

There are options indeed to convert 30fps to 25 fps and merge with other 25fps footage, BUT it is either a loss in quality or a little slow motion effect.
AND it requires more work that should not be there in the first place.
The omission is holding me back buying a Spark for now.

Actually is not even "30" fps, is variable 29.97, what sucks for any "professional" editing. What sucks to convert every time with Adobe Media Encoder for example.

Passing up the Spark JUST because of its non-25fps setting is just silly.  Just record your videos, and pull them into an editor like Prism or something, and convert the file to whatever format you want, and just specify that you want 25fps in the options.

Remember, when working with fps, you can always take away, but its much more difficult to add.  Converting 30fps to 25fps is easy.  Converting 25fps to 30fps would be a headache, and look terrible.

At the rate the DJI GO4 software is working, I would NOT want a 25fps option available.  I want smooth video, and that comes at 30fps or higher.  If for some reason the GO4 app gets a stuck option and decides to go into recording 25fps instead of 30fps, and I find out AFTER my video session, I'm going to be really upset.  Can't just retake the video.  Some things can only be seen once, and there are no repeats.

So to save people from headaches, just record at 30fps.  If you want 25fps, convert it down, and you're good to go.  Simple.

I've buy it. Is excelent, nice stabilization, Very satisfied with 2 batteries. Is small, the quality of the video is aproaching to pro (i think). I am from Europe and the only and the most important thing for me is to record in 25 fps. Is very important because i record with Canon cameras at 25 fps, because of the artificial lights. I can and i wish to record in 30-60 fps, but here the NET is working in 50hz. Is stupid to combine clips at 30fps with 25fps. Maybe the update will come faster. We payed even more for this product (customs charges) and for me is fair that the big DJI to send us the update. Is obvious that there are very intelligent people who can make the things better. Again, i like this drone and i will use it with enthusiasm.

M1dn1ght N1nj4 Posted at 2017-9-19 06:19
Passing up the Spark JUST because of its non-25fps setting is just silly.  Just record your videos, and pull them into an editor like Prism or something, and convert the file to whatever format you want, and just specify that you want 25fps in the options.

Remember, when working with fps, you can always take away, but its much more difficult to add.  Converting 30fps to 25fps is easy.  Converting 25fps to 30fps would be a headache, and look terrible.

I will try, but i am not convinced that will be perfect conversion.

M1dn1ght N1nj4 Posted at 2017-9-19 06:19
Passing up the Spark JUST because of its non-25fps setting is just silly.  Just record your videos, and pull them into an editor like Prism or something, and convert the file to whatever format you want, and just specify that you want 25fps in the options.

Remember, when working with fps, you can always take away, but its much more difficult to add.  Converting 30fps to 25fps is easy.  Converting 25fps to 30fps would be a headache, and look terrible.

How many times do you used an camera that for some reason switches or stuck on other frame rate than you set? Give us just one example.

Videocreativ Posted at 2017-9-27 13:11
How many times do you used an camera that for some reason switches or stuck on other frame rate than you set? Give us just one example.

Can't say I've ever had that problem.  So, never.

The expert is back. We all felt the lack of his great experience.

M1dn1ght N1nj4 Posted at 2017-9-19 06:19
Passing up the Spark JUST because of its non-25fps setting is just silly.  Just record your videos, and pull them into an editor like Prism or something, and convert the file to whatever format you want, and just specify that you want 25fps in the options.

Remember, when working with fps, you can always take away, but its much more difficult to add.  Converting 30fps to 25fps is easy.  Converting 25fps to 30fps would be a headache, and look terrible.

Just give it a go, it looks horrible!
1 out of every 6 frames is dropped which causes terrible hickups in the motion.
Of course you can slow it down by 83% or something, but that leaves you with unnatural slow looks.

Videocreativ Posted at 2017-9-27 13:07
I will try, but i am not convinced that will be perfect conversion.

It is not. If you convert from 30 to 25fps you get nasty hickups in your final video.
The only solution might be to slow it down by 83% to get 25fps. But that leaves you with unnatural slow motion.

Videocreativ Posted at 2017-9-27 13:11
How many times do you used an camera that for some reason switches or stuck on other frame rate than you set? Give us just one example.

Unfortunately my main video camera is fixed in PAL mode. So just 25 or 50 fps.
That is fine with me, but hard to mix with Spark 30fps footage.

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-9-28 13:27
Unfortunately my main video camera is fixed in PAL mode. So just 25 or 50 fps.
That is fine with me, but hard to mix with Spark 30fps footage.

Exactly. Some of us need these framerates for use this drone at maximum experience.

M1dn1ght N1nj4 Posted at 2017-9-19 06:19
Passing up the Spark JUST because of its non-25fps setting is just silly.  Just record your videos, and pull them into an editor like Prism or something, and convert the file to whatever format you want, and just specify that you want 25fps in the options.

Remember, when working with fps, you can always take away, but its much more difficult to add.  Converting 30fps to 25fps is easy.  Converting 25fps to 30fps would be a headache, and look terrible.

I think what they're saying is, squeezing a 30fps (29.97 actually) video down to 25fps changes the speed of the video in that you might actually notice a slow motion effect....
If the editor could drop 5 frames, that would be better? which frames does it drop? every 5th/6th one?
So not so simple... I guess.

sparkguygc Posted at 2017-10-25 13:29
I think what they're saying is, squeezing a 30fps (29.97 actually) video down to 25fps changes the speed of the video in that you might actually notice a slow motion effect....
If the editor could drop 5 frames, that would be better? which frames does it drop? every 5th/6th one?
So not so simple... I guess.

In order to strech 25 frames to fit in a previous 30 frame span, you would have to interpolate almost every frame to fit the fractional frame positions required to meet the 25 fps.

Take 1", and every 1/4" make a hash mark.  Now, starting at 0, same as with the 1" start point, make a hash mark every 1/5".  Notice that NONE of the hash marks between the two end up on the same point.

Same idea with the conversion from 30 to 25.  A couple points will line up, but the rest would have to be interpolated from the adjacent frames in the 30fps set to make a frame that lines up on the 25fps set.

That's what some of the best video editors do when converting framerates.  It's hard, and not necessarily a good look, but there isn't much you can do about it.

And the same goes for converting from 25 to 30.  You would have to make up new frames for everything, as their frames wouldn't land on the same points when compressed to make room for 30 frames instead of 25.

It's not nearly as easy as it sounds.  And just saying "give us 25fps" doesn't help.  There is a lot more that goes into the process in the background that would have to be changed than you realize.

Unfortunately, as good as my vision is, 25fps is just choppy as all get out, and absolutely SUCKS to look at.  It always looks like a 15 year old computer trying to play a 4k digital video file, while simultaneously running 2 virus scanners at the same time.  Yuck.  30fps is much more watchable, with much less stutter, and a more natural look.  I still prefer 60fps when I have the right equipment to watch it on.  My laptop is 75hz, which is absolutely awesome.  And the TV in my office is 144hz.

I'm just saying, 25fps is like a floppy disk.  It's outdated, and needs to be replaced with something newer.  For those calling it the "cinematic look", I call it the "cinecrapic look".  It's aweful.

Just my 2 cents.  

Videocreativ Posted at 2017-10-25 12:16
Exactly. Some of us need these framerates for use this drone at maximum experience.

That is true!

sparkguygc Posted at 2017-10-25 13:29
I think what they're saying is, squeezing a 30fps (29.97 actually) video down to 25fps changes the speed of the video in that you might actually notice a slow motion effect....
If the editor could drop 5 frames, that would be better? which frames does it drop? every 5th/6th one?
So not so simple... I guess.

I did some  testing on this and can say for Sony Vegas it drops every 1/6th frame. So every seconds 5 frames get dropped.
This might not seem like much but it is a very unpleasant experience to view this footage.
You can use interpolation to try and blend this, but that causes for ugly artifacts.
So in short it is not an option.
I have not tried with other editors except for virtual dub, but that gave even less good results.

M1dn1ght N1nj4 Posted at 2017-10-25 18:23
In order to strech 25 frames to fit in a previous 30 frame span, you would have to interpolate almost every frame to fit the fractional frame positions required to meet the 25 fps.

Take 1", and every 1/4" make a hash mark.  Now, starting at 0, same as with the 1" start point, make a hash mark every 1/5".  Notice that NONE of the hash marks between the two end up on the same point.

I would certainly settle for 50fps immediately!
But I can imagine that would stretch the hardware over it's limits.
Actually my iPhone natively only shoots 30-60-120-240 (NTSC), but there are some apps that give native 25fps shooting.
Not saying that Spark is an iPhone, but it should not be too hard to implement (the hardware is capable of it) and given the fact that all other recent DJI drones can do this I believe they decided not to add this option on purpose.
And even if you like 25fps or not, for me that is a reason NOT to buy the spark (unfortunately, because I had it in my cart before finding out about it) since I want to be able to combine with PAL footage (25 or 50fps)

I think people forget that this is a tool.  I get the frustration, I really do...  But, in the end, you need to buy the right tool for the job.  Think of it as a screw driver...  there are many screw drivers, they all do the same thing.  They screw in screws.  But guess what, the screws have different faces.  A Robinson isn't going to screw in a Phillips screw.  Would you buy a Robinson's screw driver to screw in a Phillips faced screw?  If people would apply common sense, they can avoid all this stress.  More times than not, you get what you pay for.  Like my late grandfather once told me, "That's the way the pickle squirts".

Perhaps the Spark isn't the quad for your needs.  All the specs/manuals are available online for you to review prior to purchase.  

The issue as I see it is two-fold.
First off is the PAL/NTSC issue. Sure, we dont use PAL or NTSC so much any more because most monitors will display either regions frame rates without an issue. The problem is to do with electricity. In the UK (PAL region) our electricity runs at 50hz. In the USA (NTSC region) they run at 60hz. Now, back in the day, TV had to use the electricity provided to spray an image onto the screen using electrons. In the UK it would be able to do this 25 times a second by using half of the 50hz of electricity. In the USA, TV's did this at 30 (29.97) times a second. Bear with me because that was the important part.
Now. Lets take the UK as an example. As the electricity supply in the UK runs at 50hz, video footage captured at 25fps is half in sync with the electricity supply so if you were to film in artificial light, the lights would appear normal. However, if you used a camera from the USA that captures at 30fps, it will be out of sync with the UK's electricity and as such, filming artificial lighting would cause a strobing effect.
Thats the first problem with having fixed 1080p@30fps

The second problem is that magical keyword everyone loves. Cinematic!!
Through years of study we have found that we can manipulate the human mind using video footage. More specifically footage captured and viewed at 23.97 (24) fps. It has been found that with video footage, slower frame rates than 24fps don't engage the mind and faster frame rates give it more of a realistic look. The sweet spot at 24fps makes the mind perceive what its seeing as if its in a dreamlike state. As long as the content is engaging, that 24fps sweetspot will embed whats being seen by the viewer.

The spark was never made to do cinematic video and less designed for capturing content under artificial lighting. It was made as a selfie drone for those days out. A point and shoot for beginners to pick up and bang a bit of video on social media. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I love my spark for what it does. It wont replace my Mavic Pro. My Mavic Air wont replace my Spark. My Mavic's compliment each other for story making but my spark is just for fun. For me and the kids.
I would welcome 24/25/50/60 fps with open arms for the Spark but I fear that both software and hardware design elements prevent this from ever happening.

It is what it is!

Oziumentisis Posted at 2018-3-1 05:16
I think people forget that this is a tool.  I get the frustration, I really do...  But, in the end, you need to buy the right tool for the job.  Think of it as a screw driver...  there are many screw drivers, they all do the same thing.  They screw in screws.  But guess what, the screws have different faces.  A Robinson isn't going to screw in a Phillips screw.  Would you buy a Robinson's screw driver to screw in a Phillips faced screw?  If people would apply common sense, they can avoid all this stress.  More times than not, you get what you pay for.  Like my late grandfather once told me, "That's the way the pickle squirts".

Yes, but you would at least expect a screw driver to fit to your standards right?

WebParrot Posted at 2018-3-1 07:56
Perhaps the Spark isn't the quad for your needs.  All the specs/manuals are available online for you to review prior to purchase.

It was not a surprise at all. I like to read every last bit of info before I buy something this complicated / expensive.
But I was hoping DJI would add it.
(not anymore btw.)