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Video shots over water flicker
1054 17 2018-8-20
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Jenbleyes!
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I'm new to flying my drone and I've noticed several times now that I get these great shots over water but on playback  I'm seeing these
fluctuations in the colors of the water.  It's sort of a jittering or pixelizing thing happening.  Could these be fixed by using a certain type of filter?
Any suggestions is greatly appreciated!   Here's a clip with this issue  

2018-8-20
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DJI Stephen
DJI team
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Hi there, thank you for reaching out. Regarding with that I would suggest using an ND filter seems the jitter effect coming from the sun as what I notice it from the left side of the camera and it seems the sun is positioning there.
2018-8-20
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ALABAMA
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Geebax is the camera expert.  He can tell you exactly what that is.
2018-8-20
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Jenbleyes!
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Dji Stephen I was using an ND 16 filter. To me it almost seems like the frame rate is low or the camera is struggling to keep up with the frame rate. Not sure how to explain. Have you had this issue with the sun reflecting and is the correction to always fly away from the sun? I've recorded some incredible aerials over water going towards the sunrise before, but was flying at a much slower speed.
2018-8-20
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KEJ
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United Kingdom
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Jenbleyes! Posted at 2018-8-20 08:27
Dji Stephen I was using an ND 16 filter. To me it almost seems like the frame rate is low or the camera is struggling to keep up with the frame rate. Not sure how to explain. Have you had this issue with the sun reflecting and is the correction to always fly away from the sun? I've recorded some incredible aerials over water going towards the sunrise before, but was flying at a much slower speed.

What are your full video settings ?

include shutter, ISO, fps, modes, white balance etc......everything(will help to hopefully pinpoint the issue),

And state the obvious after that, shutter speed twice frame rate usually.

Over water I use a Polarised filter to minimise any glare potential issues as well.
2018-8-20
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Nigel_
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Are you using H264 or H265?  If H265 then maybe try H264...

I'm thinking it must be caused by the props casting shadows on the lens, keeping the sun behind the aircraft would help.

Do you actually need the ND filter, if your not moving or panning quickly then you may be better off without it.
2018-8-20
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Geebax
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Australia
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I would try reducing the sharpness in camera settings, try a value of -1 and see if it improves.
2018-8-20
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RedHotPoker
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Flight distance : 165105 ft
Canada
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Suppose a petal lens hood wouldn’t help correct this.

Aim the lens down slightly too...


RedHotPoker
2018-8-20
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Geebax
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Australia
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Nigel_ Posted at 2018-8-20 12:56
Are you using H264 or H265?  If H265 then maybe try H264...

I'm thinking it must be caused by the props casting shadows on the lens, keeping the sun behind the aircraft would help.

It is not a problem of shadows or light, it is macro-blocking, meaning the camera is have trouble encoding the images. Reducing sharpness makes the encoding process a little easier.
2018-8-20
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Nigel_
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Geebax Posted at 2018-8-20 15:53
It is not a problem of shadows or light, it is macro-blocking, meaning the camera is have trouble encoding the images. Reducing sharpness makes the encoding process a little easier.

It looks a bit like macro-blocking, but the algorithms that cause the macro-blocking really shouldn't cause some of those effects.  I think it may be an interaction between H265 compression and flickering shadows caused by the props, never seen H264 do that.
2018-8-20
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Cetacean
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Geebax Posted at 2018-8-20 15:53
It is not a problem of shadows or light, it is macro-blocking, meaning the camera is have trouble encoding the images. Reducing sharpness makes the encoding process a little easier.

Aloha Geebax,

     Is this related to the similar effect we used to get with grass and some tree foliage?

Aloha and Drone On!
2018-8-20
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Geebax
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Nigel_ Posted at 2018-8-20 17:31
It looks a bit like macro-blocking, but the algorithms that cause the macro-blocking really shouldn't cause some of those effects.  I think it may be an interaction between H265 compression and flickering shadows caused by the props, never seen H264 do that.

I couldn't see any prop shadow effect in that clip, but there is a lot of very fine detail in the water surface, and I think that is triggering the blocking.
2018-8-20
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Geebax
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Cetacean Posted at 2018-8-20 21:20
Aloha Geebax,

     Is this related to the similar effect we used to get with grass and some tree foliage?

I believe so.
2018-8-20
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Jenbleyes!
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So I had converted the original video which is of course 4k, down to 1080 so it would cooperate with the editing software I use (yes, it's old and doesn't like 4k) I went back and rendered the clip in full 4k using Adobe elements and it it much better. Will see if I can share the 4k clip. I'm learning still about all the technical aspects of video, even though i have owned my own video production business for 7 years.  This drone stuff seems to require a lot more knowledge so I'm learning. ;-)
2018-8-21
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KEJ
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United Kingdom
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Jenbleyes! Posted at 2018-8-21 04:53
So I had converted the original video which is of course 4k, down to 1080 so it would cooperate with the editing software I use (yes, it's old and doesn't like 4k) I went back and rendered the clip in full 4k using Adobe elements and it it much better. Will see if I can share the 4k clip. I'm learning still about all the technical aspects of video, even though i have owned my own video production business for 7 years.  This drone stuff seems to require a lot more knowledge so I'm learning. ;-)

That potentially sounds like the issue, if the original 4k video is perfect.

2018-8-21
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Nigel_
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Jenbleyes! Posted at 2018-8-21 04:53
So I had converted the original video which is of course 4k, down to 1080 so it would cooperate with the editing software I use (yes, it's old and doesn't like 4k) I went back and rendered the clip in full 4k using Adobe elements and it it much better. Will see if I can share the 4k clip. I'm learning still about all the technical aspects of video, even though i have owned my own video production business for 7 years.  This drone stuff seems to require a lot more knowledge so I'm learning. ;-)

Find some better software for resizing, good software wouldn't cause effects like that!  And make sure that the new file is being written with a decent bitrate, if you have used the default output settings then that may be your problem.

If you plan on resizing straight to 1080 then you may find it helps to keep the sharpness setting low like Geebax suggested, otherwise you can get moire type artefacts appearing which could be part of the issue.
2018-8-21
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Jenbleyes!
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Nigel_ Posted at 2018-8-21 07:40
Find some better software for resizing, good software wouldn't cause effects like that!  And make sure that the new file is being written with a decent bitrate, if you have used the default output settings then that may be your problem.

If you plan on resizing straight to 1080 then you may find it helps to keep the sharpness setting low like Geebax suggested, otherwise you can get moire type artefacts appearing which could be part of the issue.

Thank you!
2018-8-21
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Jenbleyes!
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Nigel_ Posted at 2018-8-20 12:56
Are you using H264 or H265?  If H265 then maybe try H264...

I'm thinking it must be caused by the props casting shadows on the lens, keeping the sun behind the aircraft would help.

Honestly, I've been flying so far (3 weeks newbie here) using just auto camera settings as I learn.  Baby steps I suppose.  ;-)  I'm learning my filters right now and I will definitely be learning more about shooting in manual mode and how to adjust the many different settings for both the camera and the drone.  So much to learn!!
2018-8-21
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