So I've finally put my P4 out for a decent test today in Sri Lanka.  Turns out it takes absolute rubbish photos and video of the same quality.  Unusable as far as I'm concerned.  This thing cost me £1300 and included a case and two extra batteries.  A good chunk of money.  Turns out, I might as well be shooting with a Nokia 3310 for the quality I get out of it.  Absolute rubbish.  Before I put in for a refund, take a look at an example image (video looks similarly blurry and noisy - and it was not very dark at all.  Samsung S7 edge camera showed no sign of trouble).  If you find this to be poor, then I will send it back.  I'd tested this previously several times and have always had the same rubbish quality.  Have tried a few different things to no difference.  

http://imgur.com/a/bBpsH

I expect £1300 to at least provide a decent photo - this is utter cr@p and unless there is a 'oh yes you simply need to make this setting change', then I feel like I'm entitled to send it back.  If it's not usable out of the box, then it's cr@p as far as I'm concerned.  Potentially I got a faulty one, but that's not a road I'm interested in going down.  That to my mind means poor manufacturing QA and therefore, no good.

In addition to this, despite being up to date with all updates - the follow me doesn't work reliably (loses me at every opportunity), the app itself crashes randomly and the DJI support is nonexistent.  All in all, terrible experience.

Are you getting the images from the SD card in the phantom itself, or are you getting them from your phone/tablet? The card in the phantom displays full resolution, the video on the phone/tablet only has video at 720p, not sure what resolution the pictures are at but I would assume alot lower resolution than what is inside the phantom.

fansb1fe1104 Posted at 2017-1-22 12:23
Are you getting the images from the SD card in the phantom itself, or are you getting them from your phone/tablet? The card in the phantom displays full resolution, the video on the phone/tablet only has video at 720p, not sure what resolution the pictures are at but I would assume alot lower resolution than what is inside the phantom.

Sounds like he's getting the pictures from his phone if you ask me

uh oh, forgot to FOCUS again !

ok, the deal is this: the 4k30 is compressed 1:80, while better than gopro black (4k24). unless you have a sticker on the lens or use an sdcard worse than the lexar 16GB which came with the drone, there is no reason to have 4k videos any worse than with a gopro4 black.i would check the video settings and check the video quality of the movies recorded on sdcard.
the focus is auto, like on gopro.

Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience, we'd like to help you.
Please confirm your aircraft firmware firstly, then upload several original pictures directly from SD card to Dropbox and post the link here, make sure you do not edit them at all, we'll check that.

MrPinaColada Posted at 2017-1-22 13:57
Sounds like he's getting the pictures from his phone if you ask me

A quick "properties" check of the uploaded image shows that its resolution is 728x410 pixels. If that's the original size then it's clearly not off the SD card. Either that, or the camera is set for a very low quality. I personally find the photos and videos off my P4 to be excellent quality.

JockC Posted at 2017-1-22 18:58
A quick "properties" check of the uploaded image shows that its resolution is 728x410 pixels. If that's the original size then it's clearly not off the SD card. Either that, or the camera is set for a very low quality. I personally find the photos and videos off my P4 to be excellent quality.

Weird when I save the image it says its 4000x2250.

I also think the vid and pics are of a good quality even off my tablet.So I suggest you do a few checks of your camera settings and try again.Im just a begginer and have found this forum and youtube very informative.Ask questions watch tutoruals try everything first then if no satisfaction then feel free to have a whinge.

I cannot see any way to download the picture. It would be a lot better if everyone simply used Dropbox.

Looks like  a colour profile is applied. Try setting it to "none" or resetting the camera to default in the app and try again.
Uploading the original image that includes the EXIF would be useful too if it's not the above mentioned issue.

TJF059 Posted at 2017-1-22 19:57
I also think the vid and pics are of a good quality even off my tablet.So I suggest you do a few checks of your camera settings and try again.Im just a begginer and have found this forum and youtube very informative.Ask questions watch tutoruals try everything first then if no satisfaction then feel free to have a whinge.

This was takwn with my P4. As far as Im concerned it takes a great photo

TJF059 Posted at 2017-1-22 19:57
I also think the vid and pics are of a good quality even off my tablet.So I suggest you do a few checks of your camera settings and try again.Im just a begginer and have found this forum and youtube very informative.Ask questions watch tutoruals try everything first then if no satisfaction then feel free to have a whinge.

This was taken with my P4 as far as Im concerned they take a great photo.

Hi all.  Thanks for all the input.  I've tried several things today and have come up with some better quality at least, which is a great start.  Seems like changing settings and then putting them back had an immediate effect, which in my mind means a software issue.  Of course the upload was from the SD card, as an FYI.

I'll try a few more tomorrow (raining) and see what comes up.  From there, I'll upload video/photo examples and we'll move forward after that.

Thanks much for all suggestions team.  

staffsarge Posted at 2017-1-23 02:03
Hi all.  Thanks for all the input.  I've tried several things today and have come up with some better quality at least, which is a great start.  Seems like changing settings and then putting them back had an immediate effect, which in my mind means a software issue.  Of course the upload was from the SD card, as an FYI.

I'll try a few more tomorrow (raining) and see what comes up.  From there, I'll upload video/photo examples and we'll move forward after that.

Are you using DNG profile (RAW), if so then I wonder if the viewer is seeing the full resolution DNG, or if it is viewing a 960x720 embedded jpeg.

Just love how people come in here and first thing they want to do is complain, rather then asking questions and figuring out what they are doing wrong..  pretty hard to have a bad 4K image.. but that's just my opinion.
Good Luck

Geebax Posted at 2017-1-22 19:58
I cannot see any way to download the picture. It would be a lot better if everyone simply used Dropbox.

All you have to do is right click and save picture.

fansb1fe1104 Posted at 2017-1-23 10:56
All you have to do is right click and save picture.

Yes, but then all you are getting is a copy of the image as it is posted on Imgur, not a copy of the original. Imgur is processing that image, and it looks awful.

Warnberg Posted at 2017-1-23 10:26
Just love how people come in here and first thing they want to do is complain, rather then asking questions and figuring out what they are doing wrong..  pretty hard to have a bad 4K image.. but that's just my opinion.
Good Luck

Good constructive advice mate.  Well done - you're a champ.....

So I've done some thorough troubleshooting and have determined 3 things:

1.  By default, the image quality (both video and photo) are very poor.  
2.  Changing the 'Colour' setting to anything, and then back to whatever it is you want - results in the image quality that I've seen elsewhere and expect.
3.  The camera gimbal requires a recalibration every time I fly.  It also sometimes tilts the video noticeably higher on the left side DURING flight, which as you can guess is a ballache.


So now that I know how to manage these issues, I can use the equipment.  It's a shame that these software issues exist however.  I'm looking to go the Inspire for the better quality video, but it warrants a significant amount of research before dropping that amount of money.

In any event, many thanks for all the constructive advice - it's been very helpful.  For those without constructive advice?  *Post has been edited by a mod for vulgar language*

Can consider this mystery solved.

staffsarge Posted at 2017-1-27 18:59
For those without constructive advice?  D0uchebags...

Lol you did bring that on yourself with such a provocative title!

staffsarge Posted at 2017-1-27 18:59
So I've done some thorough troubleshooting and have determined 3 things:

1.  By default, the image quality (both video and photo) are very poor.  

It was only a mystery to you apparently.

@staffsarge = Brilliant

Yes I poked the bear
This guys video is just terrible right??  please....

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... D368%26typeid%3D368

Sounds like you are having same problem as I am.  Thing is I got my drone last year in march back when they had software that worked.   It took amazing pictures and video then,   now it a pc of sht

Warnberg,  that link is amazing,  that's how it's supposed to work......here is a recent one from me
https://goo.gl/photos/jHNSkZZunXrZmhSR9

fans617b9cdc Posted at 2017-2-18 16:17
Warnberg,  that link is amazing,  that's how it's supposed to work......here is a recent one from me
https://goo.gl/photos/jHNSkZZunXrZmhSR9

Was that the file recorded on the sd card in the aircraft ?

Lol, try to change the resolution and the flie type and settings, maybe your setttings are bad.

I've been happy with the quality of my P4s photographs.  I'd look at your settings before you get too concerned.

As far as the app crashing, I haven't had one crash yet.  I have heard the iOS app is better in this regard than the Android app.  I haven't used the 'droid app so I can't say first hand, but if you're on an Android I'd consider trying a friends iPhone with the app and see if you that fixes it.

And as far as the image being "not level", there is a setting for that in the adjustments.  I don't have it in front of me to tell you exactly how to get there, but it's something like "gimbal calibration" or whatever.

staffsarge Posted at 2017-1-23 02:03
Hi all.  Thanks for all the input.  I've tried several things today and have come up with some better quality at least, which is a great start.  Seems like changing settings and then putting them back had an immediate effect, which in my mind means a software issue.  Of course the upload was from the SD card, as an FYI.

I'll try a few more tomorrow (raining) and see what comes up.  From there, I'll upload video/photo examples and we'll move forward after that.

What firmware and app version are you using?

staffsarge Posted at 2017-1-23 02:03
Hi all.  Thanks for all the input.  I've tried several things today and have come up with some better quality at least, which is a great start.  Seems like changing settings and then putting them back had an immediate effect, which in my mind means a software issue.  Of course the upload was from the SD card, as an FYI.

I'll try a few more tomorrow (raining) and see what comes up.  From there, I'll upload video/photo examples and we'll move forward after that.

What firmware and app version are you using?

Aardvark Posted at 2017-2-18 16:54
Was that the file recorded on the sd card in the aircraft ?

yes this file was recorded in drone on sd card