Hey there!

I'm just after my maiden flight with my Mavic Air, and I am quite dissapointed because of a faulty reddish centered CMOS sensor. I'm a photographer, and I own a P3P, Spark, Osmo+ and none displayed similar results, and I know how to look for dead/faulty pixels... So in low light situations I have noticed a reddish tint, spot in the lower-center part of my images, in live view too. Videos and photos aswell.

Please take a look at this 9 shot pano image:


and I also have video to demonstrate the faulty CMOS sensor:  

And some raw files in the folder linked here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RtPvb85uQneIN5cm06f4tyJT7-4khvTV

What do you think? Will DJI repair or change my air under warranty? I have bought it through a local, authorised reseller. Should I contact him? Thank you for your advice!

Regards,
Sz

always contact dji service first.

These look like reflections of the roofs in a water to me, if I got you right.

eYeSkYeYe Posted at 2018-2-9 13:12
These look like reflections of the roofs in a water to me, if I got you right.

these are clearly not reflections look at the 9 image pano, you can see the 3-4 red spots visible on homogenous surfaces (eg. water, sky) (as the 9 pano is made of 9 images stiched together), even in the center of the river. and no rooftops are visible in the river.

There definitely seems to be a red gradient in the images. Any filters fitted ?
It's not a reflection of front navigation lights from props, or directly onto lens surface ?

Easily proven if switched off in DJI Go 4.

heightoffield Posted at 2018-2-9 13:20
these are clearly not reflections  look at the 9 image pano, you can see the 3-4 red spots (as the 9 pano is made of 9 images stiched together), even in the center of the river. and no rooftops are visible in the river.

And what river is this? If it was blue, I would say Danube, but this brown, looks like Thames to me. But it makes no sense as Thames is not flowing through the Hungary.

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-9 13:21
There definitely seems to be a red gradient in the images. Any filters fitted ?
It's not a reflection of front navigation lights from props, or directly onto lens surface ?

no filers fitted yet, the ND Polar Pros are on their way. but yes, actually looks like a vignetting, with the reddish spot at the center and the normal color on the sides.

eYeSkYeYe Posted at 2018-2-9 13:26
And what river is this? If it was blue, I would say Danube, but this brown, looks like Thames to me. But it makes no sense as Thames is not flowing through the Hungary.

it's the Tisza, in Szeged (Southern Hungary)

Hi Sz, may I have your drone's serial number? I would like to have our engineers to check. Thank you for bringing us the attention.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-2-9 23:19
Hi Sz, may I have your drone's serial number? I would like to have our engineers to check. Thank you for bringing us the attention.

hey Thor, sent you the SN in a private message. Thanks for looking into this.

Okay, quick update: Sent it back for replacement, hope the next one will not have faulty CMOS sensor. But it will come from the same distributor, so there's a chance it's from the same batch...

Please contact technical support and return to factory for repair.

I have the exact same problem !

rd73 Posted at 2018-2-13 22:49
I have the exact same problem !

Hi, you are having a problem with anything Onyx Fly More too?

heightoffield Posted at 2018-2-13 22:52
Hi, you are having a problem with anything Onyx Fly More too?

I am having the issue with still DNGs, with Panoramas and basically with everything but videos yes.

If DJI know which batch of drones come faulty (and it looks like they do - as they can by simply S/N easy decide "return it") then this kind of practice is IMHO little worring!

an open service action (like car manufacturers do - call faulty batch for a free replace) should be happening in open with bad numbers batches clearly publish
and ussualy some compensation like a free battery or something simmilar should be given to customers who had to send back their unit and wait for a not-broken one for lost time/nerves/etc

but as I don't see any announcment (or did I miss it?) about such situation - it's a little playing "dumb" - if customer will see problem and come - we will fix it, but if not - let him do red photos with faulty unit
bad bad way of doing things

KREMi Posted at 2018-2-14 02:26
If DJI know which batch of drones come faulty (and it looks like they do - as they can by simply S/N easy decide "return it") then this kind of practice is IMHO little worring!

an open service action (like car manufacturers do - call faulty batch for a free replace) should be happening in open with bad numbers batches clearly publish

You can rest assured that if the next drone that I get is also sensor faulty, I will get my money back with a full refund and wait for new batches to reach my country. I will need a new drone by April, until then, I can wait.

Have you got it set to turn off the front lights automatically when you take a picture or record video?

Malakai_UK Posted at 2018-2-14 06:09
Have you got it set to turn off the front lights automatically when you take a picture or record video?

Yes. It's set to auto-off.

Thanks for your post.  I'm seeing the same thing on my Mavic Air, but I thought it was a feature of the Flame Red units.  I will reach out to DJI to see if I can get mine replaced as well...

Hello. Is there any progress on the subject?
I think I have the same mistake.

Is that normal?
center of the photograph :/

Same problem again.

I suspect most of you are going to find this is an artifact of the camera called Color Shading and is due to the camera's very short flange. We had the same problem on Mavic Pros, and after some time, changes were made to firmware that made the effect less noticeable.

If the circle is decentered like the OP's then that's a more complicated problem that probably requires servicing, but I believe this issue is responsible for most of the other commenters and sample images.

See one of the many Mavic Pro threads: Red Hot spot in the center of my camera

Direct link to the tech doc that explains the issue: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf8qauswt8fggei/Mavic%20Pro%20Color%20Shading.pdf?dl=0

Hope this helps.

Ex Machina Posted at 2018-4-19 09:08
I suspect most of you are going to find this is an artifact of the camera called Color Shading and is due to the camera's very short flange. We had the same problem on Mavic Pros, and after some time, changes were made to firmware that made the effect less noticeable.

If the circle is decentered like the OP's then that's a more complicated problem that probably requires servicing, but I believe most of the other commenter sample images are due to this issue.

Excellent background info.  That would have been one that was hard to find with a 'search.'  Thanks.

WebParrot Posted at 2018-4-19 09:17
Excellent background info.  That would have been one that was hard to find with a 'search.'  Thanks.

Hey, you're welcome, and agreed about the difficulties of using this forum's search feature -- I find it much faster to just use Google.

Thanks a lot.
And sorry I wrote here immediately with the excitement of the problem. I hope you will understand.
Thanks again.

photOguzhan Posted at 2018-4-19 11:53
Thanks a lot.
And sorry I wrote here immediately with the excitement of the problem. I hope you will understand.
Thanks again.

No problem, and I hope OP gets a his replacement bird soon.

Hey guys. This WAS NOT a software issue. Sent it back, got a new Air that isn't faulty. The replacement unit is flawless. This was a hardware issue. This had nothing to do with FW updates, I always had the latest on both units.

Hi, I realise this is an old thread but I have the same issue with my Mavic Air, should I contact DJI?

RoelV Posted at 1-17 16:35
Hi, I realise this is an old thread but I have the same issue with my Mavic Air, should I contact DJI?

yes, definitely. They've exchanged mine.

Hey, I am starting to have these hot spots, I think it is caused by the sensor overheating. I just posted about it then found this. I would like to ask you if you fly for long periods of times, like run through multiple batteries and if you set the drone out to take pictures or video without it flying for prolonged periods.

My issue developed after leaving the drone on a table outside for hours doing time lapses. A battery lasts about 2 hours like that. It is right after doing that stuff that I noticed it, I have had the drone for years without issues before that.

Distortionist Posted at 1-10 05:43
Hey, I am starting to have these hot spots, I think it is caused by the sensor overheating. I just posted about it then found this. I would like to ask you if you fly for long periods of times, like run through multiple batteries and if you set the drone out to take pictures or video without it flying for prolonged periods.

My issue developed after leaving the drone on a table outside for hours doing time lapses. A battery lasts about 2 hours like that. It is right after doing that stuff that I noticed it, I have had the drone for years without issues before that.

Hey, nope. this wasn't overheating, it was a faulty sensor, dji replaced my drone in the first month. hope I could help.