All summer long, my P4P shot beautifully tack sharp 4K video without me doing a thing to the camera settings.

Today, it was in the forties outside and I flew for about 18 minutes. Unfortunately, all the footage is soft, not in sharp focus. Is this the thermal shrinkage problem that I have been reading about on earlier Phantoms?

It's impossible to judge the focus quality on the small monitor, so I'm flying blind basically until I get the footage up on a 4K monitor. I shot some beautiful footage flying amoung a large flock of 100 or so hawks today, but the footage is no good. The details are not up to the usual quality of P4P footage.

Wow. Yet another case where you get the bull by the wrong end. You claim to be a pro, yet you manage to keep coming here time and time again with completely illogical issues that clearly demonstrate you don't have a clue.  Thermal shrinkage??? WTF?

Geebax Posted at 2018-10-20 15:08
Wow. Yet another case where you get the bull by the wrong end. You claim to be a pro, yet you manage to keep coming here time and time again with completely illogical issues that clearly demonstrate you don't have a clue.  Thermal shrinkage??? WTF?

I read a thread a while back that some of the Phantoms have focus problems when the temperature changes. Today was the first time I flew my P4P in cold weather and the first time I got out of focus footage. Just wondering if there's a known issue with the cameras in cold weather. No need to be condescending.

I would suggest there might be a condensation issue with going out into the cold after being warm?  But I have to say I haven't experienced any problems like that with my winter flights.  :-D   

Hi Mark, thanks for reaching DJI Forum. We do feel sorry for the issues you had recently with the footage you took. Would it be possible to share the video for us to doublecheck? Also, can we also ask for the camera setting when you took the shot(s)? We're here to help you. Thank you.

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-10-20 16:22
lol soft video?  Thermal shrinkage... there's a joke there somewhere...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcovHHOCtpQ

Condensation has caused soft footage in cold weather in the past.

DJI Gamora Posted at 2018-10-21 02:58
Hi Mark, thanks for reaching DJI Forum. We do feel sorry for the issues you had recently with the footage you took. Would it be possible to share the video for us to doublecheck? Also, can we also ask for the camera setting when you took the shot(s)? We're here to help you. Thank you.

I've grabbed some stills from the video. Normally the treeline is sharp to the pixel on my 4K production display. Here, the overall image has a fuzzy look to it,

I'm using 4K 24P, auto focus, D-Log. Normally these settings get me really sharp, sometimes TOO sharp (aliasing occurs on roof tiles and other repeating surfaces) images and video.


Phantom 4 Pro 2.0 images in cold weather


Labroides, I'll remove the polarizing filter, which was installed in July at high humidity. That is a possibility I had not thought of. Maybe taking the filter off and letting it dry out in this lower humidity season may help.