I've been learning the drone these past few weeks, flying it in the same area in the countryside. Whether shot in D-Log or Normal etc. all sequence so far have been nice and sharp. Today that changed. I did two five minute runs over the same area and when I came home to look at what I had the first five minute clip was very soft – unusable. After landing and taking off again the second five minute clip filmed in exactly the same area is fine. I've run a few tests since then. D-Log and Normal, with a 16 ND filter (which I was using this morning) and not, and these tests look fine. Does anybody have any experience with a sequence coming back very soft? If so is there a way to prevent this?

Thanks

John

  

Hi, John. Thank you for reaching out. Can you please share the footage with us for further checking?

This can happen if the drone focused on an object near the drone during takeoff and then did not refocus. After takeoff, you need to point at the area of the screen on the remote control where the drone should focus, everything will be fine.

Thanks for that explanation Serg.  I'm not quite sure i understand when you say: "point at the area of the screen on the remote control where the drone should focus". This lack of focus is most apparent when the drone is already high above the ground (15-20 meters) looking over a field at a line of trees in the distance.

Hi DJI Gamora. Thanks for the reply. You say: "Can you please share the footage with us for further checking?". How would I do that?

Canada John Posted at 5-10 05:33
Thanks for that explanation Serg.  I'm not quite sure i understand when you say: "point at the area of the screen on the remote control where the drone should focus". This lack of focus is most apparent when the drone is already high above the ground (15-20 meters) looking over a field at a line of trees in the distance.

Read the manual pages 76, 94
You can adjust the focus at any time, just tap the screen in the area that you want to be sharp.
Or press the button on the remote control, then the focus will be on the center of the image.

Thanks very much for the further explanation Serg. I now understand how taping on the screen on an area I want to ensure is in focus will do just that.

I went out again this morning to run some tests. I began by shooting a sequence close to the ground. It is completely out of focus – well, as I'm landing the drone it pops into focus for the last few seconds.

After this I shot some material at 15 meters height. I decided rather than one long take I'd cut this into 20 second clips, thinking that maybe each time I pressed record the focus mechanism would be activated anew. Seems not for the first four after the initial out of focus low-to-the-ground sequence were all badly out of focus. But something happened after this and the next eight 20 second clips are all in clear focus.

A bit troubling as this is a problem with the drone that has just suddenly begun to occur. Makes me wonder if there isn't some problem with my drone's computer. Trouble with all this, too, is that you can't verify focus on the remote's screen – image just to soft to begin with, sun reflection and all that. It's only once you get home that you find out that some footage is useless.

So guess from now on every time I begin shooting a sequence I'll try that “tap on the screen” method. Hopefully this will always assure what would otherwise be bad focus. Still none of this should really be happening on a drone I just bought.

Thanks again.

John

Canada John Posted at 5-10 09:34
Thanks very much for the further explanation Serg. I now understand how taping on the screen on an area I want to ensure is in focus will do just that.

I went out again this morning to run some tests. I began by shooting a sequence close to the ground. It is completely out of focus – well, as I'm landing the drone it pops into focus for the last few seconds.

Autofocus usually works well, but sometimes it may go wrong, this is not a malfunction. You can enable the function of displaying the area that is in focus, it will highlight it in red. Look at the program menu in the Camera section.

Thanks again Serg.  I've been doing more thinking, thinking about anything I may have done differently recently. There is one thing, and I'm wondering if it might be involved in this focussing problem. I've been using screen capture so that I can look back at the data of each shot. The default position for the icon that displays that screen grab is on, and for how long it is running, is bottom middle of the controller screen. That's the same place where ground warnings in yellow then red appear. So that I could read those warning I've been draging the screen grab icon to mid-left of thescreen where it is out of the way. I'm wondering now if while doing this I was also "tapping the screen" and setting focus. I also notice when I playback the screen grab video that I tap a few times on the little launching icon. Seems a few times I've be hitting the screen next to the icon before hitting the icon properly. I'm wondering now if in doing that I might also have been "tapping the screen" and re-setting focus. I'm attaching a couple of images that show the yellow square appearing as I'm launching and then that yellow square appearing as the video finally snaps back into focus.

John

Second image i tried to send was too large, so here it is, smaller.

John

Canada John Posted at 5-10 10:27
Second image i tried to send was too large, so here it is, smaller.

John

Yes, it is quite possible that you accidentally focused on a nearby object. The first photo clearly shows that the camera is focused on the foreground after turning it on. If autofocus does not happen after takeoff for some reason, the entire video will be blurry. This happened to me several times. Every time before I start recording, I tap on an area of the screen to focus on.
As I said, you can additionally enable help in determining the areas that will be in focus in the menu.

Thanks once more Serg.

I'll do some more experimenting. This time I'll not activate screen grab (and move its icon), and I'll launch using the joy sticks not the launch icon. That way no chance of inadvertently tapping on the screen.

At some point during filming I'll also try holding the focus/shutter button half way down to set exposure to the centre of the screen (my memory is that a yellow box appears when you do that). I'm assuming that after that if, for example, I come close to an object auto focus will adjust appropriately. That is, I'm assuming using the focus button does not freeze the camera to that focus for the rest of the clip.

You mentioned that there is a function that will highlight the focussed area in red, and that this setting is found in the camera settings. Look as I might I've not been able to find that.

Finally, regarding the “tap method” of focussing. The manual is not clear on this. It says tapping: “will either enable focus or spot metering. Focussing or spot metering will display differently depending on the shooting mode, focus mode, exposure mode and spot metering mode” but leaves it at that. It seems I'll have to change a whole lot of settings to get tapping to default to focus, as when I tap I'm getting spot metering.

Again, thanks. Don't know how we'd solve these problems without a site like this and the help of people like yourself.

John

Canada John Posted at 5-10 12:51
Thanks once more Serg.

I'll do some more experimenting. This time I'll not activate screen grab (and move its icon), and I'll launch using the joy sticks not the launch icon. That way no chance of inadvertently tapping on the screen.

You mentioned that there is a function that will highlight the focussed area in red, and that this setting is found in the camera settings. Look as I might I've not been able to find that

In the camera settings, this item comes next after “Histogram”. There is an explanation in small print.

But in fact, such a distinction seems useless to me.
Pressing the focus button halfway or touching the screen in the desired area is the most reliable)
Focusing is confirmed by a beep.

Serge.

Found it in "Peaking Level". Seems a red focus outline will appear but in manual focus. You're right, though it would be nice, considering what's been happening to me recently, to be able to verify focus while in flight, I think the button and tapping can do that job. When I do either I get the confirmation I need with the yellow box that briefly appears when I depress the button, or with the smaller yellow box that appears when I tap the screen (though I've yet to figure out how to remove/delete that smaller box after its done its work).

Cheers once more Serge.

John

Canada John Posted at 5-11 05:18
Serge.

Found it in "Peaking Level". Seems a red focus outline will appear but in manual focus. You're right, though it would be nice, considering what's been happening to me recently, to be able to verify focus while in flight, I think the button and tapping can do that job. When I do either I get the confirmation I need with the yellow box that briefly appears when I depress the button, or with the smaller yellow box that appears when I tap the screen (though I've yet to figure out how to remove/delete that smaller box after its done its work).

I hope you make good videos!

If is defocusing without touching the screen, there is an issue with SDCARD...
I have experienced with Sandisk Extreme Pro this issue, also some sudden disconnect from RC without warnings and also lag in image transmission.
I do not know why is this, but you should try to check the card...I replaced it and works, until then was acting very strange, in 3-5 starts, one was blurred and totally out of focus.
Cheers.