I have been busy testing my Pocket 2 for couple of days now.
And seems to find a problem...

Anyone has a very soft focus issue with their Pocket 2?


Pocket 2 - 4K 24P 1/50 ISO 100

You can see rails, floors, trees... all are look very soft.
Soft like... focus is off.
But I touched screen to make pocket to focus and tried muliple times but same result.


Pocket 2 - 4K 24P 1/50 ISO 100

You can compare with Pocket 1 image I take side by side.



Pocket 1- 4K 24P 1/50 ISO 100

You can see that Pocket 1's focus is much more sharp.



Left- Pocket 1 / Right - Pocket 2


Here is a side by side comparison.
Look at the checked pattern of the gray jacket.



Top- Pocket 1 / Bottom- Pocket 2

Floor tiles in Pocket 1 is sharp and can see the each pattern.
Floor tiles in Pocket 2 is very blurry.



Top- Pocket 1 / Bottom- Pocket 2

Sealing lights, top right coner of the frame.
You can see that lights in Pocket 2 has a focus blur toward the center of the frame.

(Chromatic aberration?)

It seems focus is getting more soft toward the edges. (most of the wide angle lens do...)
and right side is more softer than left side...


(Same book placed left and right side edge of the frame. left side is more in focus than right side.)


I suspect 3 possibilities.
1. Pocket 2 has a poor lens quality than Pocket 1.
2. It is just auto focus accuracy problem and can be fixed with firmware update.
3. It is a lens de-center problem that is unique to my camera. (and I need a technical service from DJI...)

I need someone's input and help.
Does your Pocket 2 also seems to have a soft focus issue?




*Update :


I found the cause.



I took a macro shot on my Pocket 2's lens element.



And do you see that bubble? finger print? bond? mark left on the bottom right coner of the lens?




Here I marked the location with a circle.




Also there are these three big dust inside the lens.




Zoom in of the marks.




This marks are inside, I actually take the macro shot in video and rotated gimbal to see the lens surface in different angle to be sure they are inside.




This are from the side angle.




You can see more clearly that this (finger print?) marks are covering from bottom to right side of the inside lens.

I guess this would be a simple replace of the camera.







*Update 2 :



Update more high resolution pictures.

Thanks for sharing, I also have a OP2 and will trace this if find the root cause.

That looks disappointing, but I would be very surprised if that is normal, and either an exchange or a firmware fix should get the quality back to pocket1 or better.

Joseph_pocket Posted at 11-7 08:13
Thanks for sharing, I also have a OP2 and will trace this if find the root cause.

Thanks. I need some input if this problem is universal to every Pocket 2 or not.

MKosmo Posted at 11-7 08:46
That looks disappointing, but I would be very surprised if that is normal, and either an exchange or a firmware fix should get the quality back to pocket1 or better.

I hope it's firmware fixable or just my hardware issue.

Tide Posted at 11-7 09:09
I hope it's firmware fixable or just my hardware issue.

Have you seen this guys videos, there’s a lot of pocket2 footage for you to compare.

Mine is nice and sharp so I would guess you have a rogue one.  Yours looks like the protective lens cover is still in place.  
I'm sure DJI will sort it for you.  Good luck.

Looks not normal indeed.

MKosmo Posted at 11-7 10:44
Have you seen this guys videos, there’s a lot of pocket2 footage for you to compare.

Yeah I have been seeing a lot of other people's footages but YouTube compression leaves some doubts...
But to my eyes, others seems fine and I certainly hope that is the case.

John Walker Posted at 11-7 10:55
Mine is nice and sharp so I would guess you have a rogue one.  Yours looks like the protective lens cover is still in place.  
I'm sure DJI will sort it for you.  Good luck.

Thanks John,

I send an email to DJI support, I will see how they can help with it on Monday.
From the delivery delay and now defect product, this new camera journey is getting more and more exciting.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-7 11:11
Looks not normal indeed.

Indeed.

This video showed problems with Pocket 2 image quality on photos - might be relevant??

I don't think this is a fair comparison.  He should reduce the 9200 pixel image from the P2 to the same pixel dimensions as the phone images and then compare.  Why is his hair green?

Hello there, thank you for the feedback on the DJI Pocket 2. We have already forwarded this issue to our camera team for reference.

Before we analyze the comparison, can we confirm that you shoot the photo on 16MP? Or those pictures are shot on other resolution? You can also send us the original photo on google drive, that will also be helpful, thanks in advanced.

DJI Wanda Posted at 11-8 01:28
Hello there, thank you for the feedback on the DJI Pocket 2. We have already forwarded this issue to our camera team for reference.

Before we analyze the comparison, can we confirm that you shoot the photo on 16MP? Or those pictures are shot on other resolution? You can also send us the original photo on google drive, that will also be helpful, thanks in advanced.

Hi Wanda,

I updated pictures of the lens surface where the lens defect can be found.
Please forward this additional info to your camera team.

Also above shots are screen capture of the 4K video taken from my Pocket 2.
So if you need I can send the original video including my macro shot on the lens defect.

However I already send a technical support request email, request number 3153925.
So please contact me by my email in the request. I will reply those videos by email.

Thank you.

Having seen the image of your lens Tide, I thought I should check mine.   Fortunately, it's spotless.   You are very unlucky with yours as I would have thought the DJI production line to be nearly perfect.

Possibly an early production line hiccup.  One of the downsides of being an early 'up-taker' I suppose.

Good luck with the replacement.

I’m shocked that it passed quality control. Fingers crossed you get a replacement soon.

Tide Posted at 11-7 09:09
I hope it's firmware fixable or just my hardware issue.

That's not good - I think you should send pics to support and ask for a replacement. I just checked mine w/ a photogs loupe, and i don't see that at all.

Sorry to hear that Tide   Hope you get a replacement asap.

Tide Posted at 11-8 04:21
Hi Wanda,

I updated pictures of the lens surface where the lens defect can be found.

Hello Tide, we are sorry for the product issue about the dust and fingerprints inside. You can send an email or submit an online repair request via https://repair.dji.com/repair/index for a replacement.

If you need further assistance, please fell free t contact us.
Thanks!

Apart from this being very annoying for Tide, it's a pity for the rest of us as I am sure we were all looking forward to Tide's detailed review soon!

fansfe82067d Posted at 11-9 02:55
Apart from this being very annoying for Tide, it's a pity for the rest of us as I am sure we were all looking forward to Tide's detailed review soon!

Haha thanks for having interest in my review video.

DJI scheduled me for next Monday visit to their technical service office.

Meanwhile, I will go ahead and finish editing my review video and upload in a few days.
I will leave image fidelity part out from the review but still there are tons of things to look into.
I think it is going to be 3 part review series at least.

Is there no cooling off period for online purchases in Korea? If so, I would not bother dealing with support. Return and buy a new one.

Mr Monio Posted at 11-9 04:41
Is there no cooling off period for online purchases in Korea? If so, I would not bother dealing with support. Return and buy a new one.

Unfortunatly, there is no guaranteed return period in Korea.
Many stores do generously accept returns in their own discretion but no universal no question return rule.

DJI Korea is known for its very strict return and repair policy.
Their technician requires to inspect my defect in person to decide replace or repair.
If they decide repair, it has to sent back to China which will cost about a month for the round trip.
(Hope that wouldn't happen)

Well this is an obvious factory defect. I hope they give you a new one right away...

Especially as you are a well known person with your gimbal camera reviews - I'm suprised they didn't send you a free one in the first place!

Especially as you are a well known person with your gimbal camera reviews - I'm suprised they didn't send you a free one in the first place!

Well, I sent my Pocket 2 to DJI service center and waited their inspection and today I call them to see how its going.
They said they found no problem with my camera.

So I asked to look again and give them the link to this post.
Also just uploaded few new high resolution pictures of the lens for them to reference to.
I hope it works this time...

That's crazy.  It's so obvious!!   The very first thing I did when I unpacked mine was to check the lens under a strong light, with two pairs of glasses on.  Mine's fine, but I feel your pain!

fansfe82067d Posted at 11-16 21:22
That's crazy.  It's so obvious!!   The very first thing I did when I unpacked mine was to check the lens under a strong light, with two pairs of glasses on.  Mine's fine, but I feel your pain!

Well they can over looked.
They said they will look again so hope they find it this time.

This made me to check lens under the bright light also. I think my lens are fine. Hard to test device under heavy light cos here in north with reindeers; northern lights are nearly only light source this time of the year.

I just received my replacement.
It took 10 days for the whole process but finally got it.


Now a visual inspection to make sure if the lens is ok...



There still seem to be a tiny spec of dust but might not affect the image quality.
I should take some sample footages tomorrow...

I have same issue. In Slo Mo it does not focus and just keep focusing at closet subject. I did not have this issue with my Osmo Pocket 1. But pocket 2 is full of Bugs.
1- Focus issue in Slo Mo
2- Active Tracking Horrible, gimbal movement not smooth as OP 1.
3-Mimo Keep disconnecting from Phone.
4-When using with DJI Extension Stick, it get hang and have to restart the gimbal again to control with Stick.
If issue not fixed soon with update soo, will return my unit for full refund and may buy again OP1.

I'm getting the same out of focus and lag. It's bad. Wish I still had my original pocket it was better than this.

Tide Posted at 11-19 05:02
I just received my replacement.
It took 10 days for the whole process but finally got it.

How is the picture quality now? Please update status with your new replacement.

djiuser_Tqz91ouDlJUR Posted at 12-30 22:25
How is the picture quality now? Please update status with your new replacement.

Well... I don’t really know how to put it... or should I mention it now...
I end up replacing 7 times so far... over the course of the month+

Let’s just put that I end up refunding my Pocket 2 and disheartened.

Tide Posted at 12-30 22:53
Well... I don’t really no how to put it... or should I mention it now...
I end up replacing 7 times so far... over the course of the month+

Wow, 7 times !   That’s not good.   Was it the same issue each time, or different problems ?

Tide Posted at 12-30 22:53
Well... I don’t really know how to put it... or should I mention it now...
I end up replacing 7 times so far... over the course of the month+

I was wondering why we had not heard from you. Mine will be going back as well. The quality just doesn't match the OP, no HDR, and it seems that DJI is not really motivated to address the issues. It is very disheartening for sure.

MKosmo Posted at 12-31 00:41
Wow, 7 times !   That’s not good.   Was it the same issue each time, or different problems ?

To be fair, DJI service people were very cooperative through out the process.
I made a careful documentation of each copy replaced and tested to be sure if each flaw actually affects image quality.

Out of 7 replacement / 3 produced in October and 4 produced in November.
6 had different array of dust or particle inside the lens which had a visible effecte on image quality.
One had flawless and clean lens. I really hoped to be able to keep it... but this one had gimbal motor issue.