I can't seem to get sharp footage from my X5S.
Some shots are borderline ok for lesser commercial work but nowhere near as sharp as I would expect it to be.
I have to shoot far more video than is needed just to get enough 'almost in focus' footage. Most of it isn't passable and gets filed in the 'out of focus' file.

Settings/Setup:

X5S Camera
DJI 15mm + Olympus 45mm lenses
Formatt-Hitech filters (Top Quality)
Aperture mainly between 4 and 8
Generally shoot in 4K but not exclusively
Use double frame rate for the shutter speed
ISO between 100-800 (usually as low as possible)
Recalibrate every time I swap lenses
Often focus and re focus several times (doesn't help)

This set up cost far too much to make do with blurry/out of focus footage.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas they will be greatly appreciated.

The Osmo Pocket is producing far better (sharper) footage.

Orrus Posted at 5-29 07:32
The Osmo Pocket is producing far better (sharper) footage.

Upload the image of the Osmo and the X5S otherwise, we can't tell anything from just words.  In Photography it's down to the lens, not just the camera body.  Usually the lens determines the sharpness quality.

Here's a couple of examples. They've been edited/rendered in Resolve to reduce file sizes a bit. They are still a good representation of what I can get out of the X5S and DJI 15mm lens.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfucvpcgfwmjnop/Apertures.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/agugutka35rpur8/Bad%20Quality.mp4?dl=0

The 'apertures' footage has been adjusted to improve the footage as much as possible, Including some slight sharpening.
The 'bad quality' footage shows unedited/edited footage.

'Apertures' is pretty much the best I've managed to get from the X5S and DJI 15mm Lens.
I also have an Olympus 45mm lens which looks a little better than most of the footage captured using the DJI 15mm but it's still not as good as I would expect.

hi, you didn´t say if you are recording h264 or dng/proress ?

Flo the Pirate Posted at 5-30 02:32
hi, you didn´t say if you are recording h264 or dng/proress ?

Hi, recording h264.

I had wondered if it was just limited quality due to using h264 and recording to an SD but I've seen some great sharp footage from that combination.

i looked at your two sample files but I think it´s really hard to say how good it (apartures) really is after web compression. "arpartures" looks in focus for me but "bad quality" looks soft even when you add contrast. Also note the "bad quality" shot has hight detail what would benefit from better compression rate (starting) in camera with dng and it´s higher bit rate / better compression. I mostly shoot stopped down to f2.8 - f5.6 on the x7 and never have a problem while trying to balance the lens/camera/gimbal as good as possible.

what could cause a soft look :

your focusing : use the tap auto focus - no need to do a lens profile. manual focus is mostly way harder to nail so only use it if you pull focus in you shot ....
your picture profile setting: could be set to no sharpening in camera so you need to do it in post , shooting flat - you need to add contrast to sharpen ....
non balanced gimbal / broken gimbal / broken vibration isolator  : micro jitters can add motion blur so all footage turns out soft ( looks like here could be your problem as the non flying shot is sharp )
broken/wrong flange distance : something could be wrong with the lens (probably not as you have the problem with both lenses) or sensor in camera is wrong aligned .
software : i would try to reset all firmware just to rule it out - sometimes funny things happen during updates.

hope this helps , let us know how you get along !

Thanks FTP there's a bit to go on there.

Just to rule out a couple of your points:

'Apertures' does look better than most of my footage but still isn't on par with most of the X5S footage available online.
Until recently I've mainly used the tap auto focus. recent MF attempts have been an attempt to improve the bad quality footage.
I have it set to -2 sharpness, as most recommend reducing the sharpness in online tutorials. Adding contrast and sharpening in post doesn't seem to help much.
I balance the gimbal to the best of my ability. If it doesn't sit level without powering on the drone I make adjustments.

I'll definitely look into the other suggestions.
Thanks again.

Flo the Pirate Posted at 5-30 02:32
hi, you didn´t say if you are recording h264 or dng/proress ?

recording in h264 .mp4 or .mov are long GOP codec what means one "real" picture is recorded followed by view pictures that don´t hold the full information until the next "real" image is recorded every other 7 frames. On a high detail picture ( like many small moving leaves ) or moving camera angels like on drones this can cause the footage look muddy. Recording Dng image sequences is the best way to counter this problem.

But there might be a different problem with your shots ... hard to say

Orrus Posted at 5-30 03:39
Thanks FTP there's a bit to go on there.

Just to rule out a couple of your points:

looks like u are doing everything right ...

you have this problem since you bought the i2 ? you bought it new ? did you crash or hard land it once ?

Just had a look at the footage I took the first time I flew the I2 (Bought new) and it looks better than the recent stuff. MUCH Sharper.

I haven't crashed or had a hard landing. To my knowledge there hasn't been any incident that might have caused damage to the drone or camera/gimbal. I'm the only person that has flown the drone.

I think my next step will be to reset all of the settings and see what happens.

Orrus Posted at 5-30 05:59
Just had a look at the footage I took the first time I flew the I2 (Bought new) and it looks better than the recent stuff. MUCH Sharper.

I haven't crashed or had a hard landing. To my knowledge there hasn't been any incident that might have caused damage to the drone or camera/gimbal. I'm the only person that has flown the drone.

Try to recalibrate the lens. Note that some lower quality codecs adds sharpening to compensate for the lesser quality. But you say that your first shots with the I2 was better than now, so I would say that you start by recalibrating the lens and see if it makes a difference.

Orrus Posted at 5-30 05:59
Just had a look at the footage I took the first time I flew the I2 (Bought new) and it looks better than the recent stuff. MUCH Sharper.

I haven't crashed or had a hard landing. To my knowledge there hasn't been any incident that might have caused damage to the drone or camera/gimbal. I'm the only person that has flown the drone.

i think that´s a good starting point for your investigation - i would try and reset the picture profile settings all to zero so you can see if it looks at least as good as when it was brand new! try to get some shots with the iris wide open to really see where your focus is in the picture , shoot towards the horizon so things can be unsharp in the for- and background and not straight down without much depth.

Rob W Posted at 5-31 04:43
Try to recalibrate the lens. Note that some lower quality codecs adds sharpening to compensate for the lesser quality. But you say that your first shots with the I2 was better than now, so I would say that you start by recalibrating the lens and see if it makes a difference.

i believe lens calibration is only necessary to mark infinity focus while in manual focus mode - when tap auto focusing even a wrong calibration should not matter at all ... let me know if you think i´m wrong

Flo the Pirate Posted at 5-31 10:03
i believe lens calibration is only necessary to mark infinity focus while in manual focus mode - when tap auto focusing even a wrong calibration should not matter at all ... let me know if you think i´m wrong

Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong, but my guess would be that if the calibration is bad, it will also affect auto focus, since the calibration values are wrong for the lens. Anyway, a calibration is quickly done and it can't hurt, so it is one option of several in investigating your problem. Hope you find something that helps!

At least show the footage of what is not sharp.  You can crank the sharpness to the max and see.  Maybe your autofocus or manual focus is incorrect.

@ RobW - I have calibrated the lens quite regularly. It never seems to help.

@ FTP - I'll try that suggestion next time I fly

@ AntDX - Sorry I don't understand the first sentence

I reset the the camera settings the other night. Initially it seemed better but I flew today and I'm not convinced that much has changed. It looks a bit sharper but the sharpness setting is now at 0 rather than -2.
This doesn't seem right as most others use -2 or -3 and get good footage.

Distance seems to be a factor. Objects around 5 metres are very sharp. The further away things get, the more out of focus they seem. I often notice when using manual focus I feel limited at infinity, like I need to scroll just a bit further to get things properly sharp.

Orrus Posted at 6-1 04:22
@ RobW - I have calibrated the lens quite regularly. It never seems to help.

@ FTP - I'll try that suggestion next time I fly

Did a quick test on the 45mm and it looks a bit sharper.

The problem with the 45mm is that the footage ever so slightly wobbles. The drone was stationary (on the ground) when I took the video.

So now I have a second issue to resolve.

Orrus Posted at 6-1 06:24
Did a quick test on the 45mm and it looks a bit sharper.

The problem with the 45mm is that the footage ever so slightly wobbles. The drone was stationary (on the ground) when I took the video.

I have the wobble issue with the 45mm lens, too. I can't get rock stable footage with it. It's a shame, since it is such a nice lens. I also get gimbal movement when the aircraft is on the ground, both with my two inspire 1 drones and the Inspire 2.

Sorry, I then have no more ideas about the 15mm and the out of focus issue. It could be an issue with the lens itself.

Orrus Posted at 6-1 04:22
@ RobW - I have calibrated the lens quite regularly. It never seems to help.

@ FTP - I'll try that suggestion next time I fly

I meant to show not shot the footage.  Also, I've said the lenses can determine sharpness if not crank your sharpness levels to the max and see.  You can have a very expensive camera body but if the lens sucks the image will not be sharp.

there are a couple of dropbox links to the footage in the 4th comment.

I have tried putting the sharpness to 0. This is a higher setting than most recommend and it still isn't sharp enough. This demonstrates there is a problem somewhere.
After looking at the 45mm lens again, the footage looks better than the 15mm. There is definitely a wobble going on though.

I have sent the DJI support team links to some footage. Not sure how much luck I will have with that one but I'm certain there is an issue. I suspect the 15mm lens isn't working as it should and possibly the gimbal isn't right also, hence the 45mm wobble.

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this guys.
Fingers crossed the support team will agree there is an issue and get it sorted.

Rob W Posted at 6-2 22:00
I have the wobble issue with the 45mm lens, too. I can't get rock stable footage with it. It's a shame, since it is such a nice lens. I also get gimbal movement when the aircraft is on the ground, both with my two inspire 1 drones and the Inspire 2.

Sorry, I then have no more ideas about the 15mm and the out of focus issue. It could be an issue with the lens itself.

i used to properly balance my 45mm on the x5r by velcroing different size/weight coins on the back of the camera and on the tilt motor and roll motor + balancing ring .



when the drone is turned off the gimbal camera must stay put in every position you bring it - then you know it´s perfectly balanced.

Flo the Pirate Posted at 6-8 07:52
i used to properly balance my 45mm on the x5r by velcroing different size/weight coins on the back of the camera and on the tilt motor and roll motor + balancing ring .

[view_image]

After noticing the wobble I spent quite some time balancing with the 45mm lens. The wobble persisted.

I contacted DJI. A week later they've checked the footage I sent them and have asked me to send in the camera and drone for repairs, as the footage shows there is a problem.

They stopped short of confirming I will not be charged for the repairs though, since it is less than a year old and hasn't been crashed or anything. Hopefully I wont be sent a huge repair bill.

Not entirely sure how to post the huge box!

Orrus Posted at 6-11 13:30
After noticing the wobble I spent quite some time balancing with the 45mm lens. The wobble persisted.

I contacted DJI. A week later they've checked the footage I sent them and have asked me to send in the camera and drone for repairs, as the footage shows there is a problem.

that sounds good ! i hope all your problem get solved soon ! let us know what they did for you ...