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No focus in low light and outdoor lights switched on
1106 8 2017-3-26
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seleznev
lvl.1
Flight distance : 45627 ft
Russia
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I tried to shoot pictures of evening time of city. It was not dark, outdoor lights just switched on. I found that Mavic cant focus in well in this conditions. I even did some experiment - fixed Mavic on tripod and use autofocus for several part of picture: trees, roads, houses with lights, outdoor lights. No any focusing. It very strange for me because my iPhone for example do it well. Of course I can use manual focus, but is it normal???

Here is the sampe. This is the best result from more then 10 tries.


example

example
2017-3-26
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CuaC
First Officer
Flight distance : 369626 ft
Germany
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I wouldn't say it's a focus issue (although on such situation you would have to manually focus infinity or click on high contrast areas of the image to get good AF, never AFC) I think your image just suffers trepidation from a long exposure.

According to the EXIF your exposition is:

Exposure:Manual exposure, 0.4 sec, f/2.2, ISO 162, Compensation: +0.7

So basically you're keeping the shutter open for almost half a second. To get a good still in such conditions you need to have the drone really really stable, if you have some wind... you can easily get movement.
2017-3-26
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seleznev
lvl.1
Flight distance : 45627 ft
Russia
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CuaC Posted at 2017-3-26 23:43
I wouldn't say it's a focus issue (although on such situation you would have to manually focus infinity or click on high contrast areas of the image to get good AF, never AFC) I think your image just suffers trepidation from a long exposure.

According to the EXIF your exposition is:

No, it is not because long exposure. As I said, I did some tests using tripod. And focusing is not depends on exposure. And I got cristal clear picture using manual focusing with exposure app. 1sec.
2017-3-27
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CuaC
First Officer
Flight distance : 369626 ft
Germany
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seleznev Posted at 2017-3-27 22:23
No, it is not because long exposure. As I said, I did some tests using tripod. And focusing is not depends on exposure. And I got cristal clear picture using manual focusing with exposure app. 1sec.

Tripod? Tripod mode on the drone? That doesn't get rid of the wind. In fact, in tripod mode the drone can drift easier that on normal mode while on the wind, as less power is applied to the motors to try to keep it more stable.

Do one quick test, go out with your drone tonight to somewhere with a similar light condition, put it on the ground or on top of something stable and take some pictures (Don't take off!) and see if the focus is allright.

You're taking pictures at almost half a second exposure on a thing that flies... you really need some good conditions to avoid trepidation...
2017-3-27
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seleznev
lvl.1
Flight distance : 45627 ft
Russia
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CuaC Posted at 2017-3-27 23:32
Tripod? Tripod mode on the drone? That doesn't get rid of the wind. In fact, in tripod mode the drone can drift easier that on normal mode while on the wind, as less power is applied to the motors to try to keep it more stable.

Do one quick test, go out with your drone tonight to somewhere with a similar light condition, put it on the ground or on top of something stable and take some pictures (Don't take off!) and see if the focus is allright.

I wrote that I fixed drone on tripod. Not in fly mode. Just drone, tripod and tape. The problem not in exposure. Just look to this picture that I shoot in manual focus mode:

2017-3-28
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Ex Machina
Captain
Flight distance : 1806362 ft
United States
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All cameras to some extent suffer reduced autofocus capability in lower light conditions, so this is to be expected. Manual focus along with Focus Peaking is the way to go.

Cool shot, btw!


2017-3-28
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CuaC
First Officer
Flight distance : 369626 ft
Germany
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seleznev Posted at 2017-3-28 10:32
I wrote that I fixed drone on tripod. Not in fly mode. Just drone, tripod and tape.  The problem not in exposure. Just look to this picture that I shoot in manual focus mode:

[view_image]

Oh, so the drone wasn't flying... I'd say make some few tests. To be honest, I've only tested low light focus while at home checking something on the drone and it worked ok. Aim for the highly contrasted areas of the image and it should do fine. No way this or any camera will focus properly on a shadowish part of an image.
2017-3-29
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Belphnaque
New
Flight distance : 106119 ft
Hungary
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Hi ! have you found any solution to fix the problem? I just experienced tha same issue. I was unable to find focus neither on bright nor less bright surfaces, neither
close nor far details. I am so disappointed.
2017-3-30
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Asainz320
Captain
Flight distance : 1061594 ft
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United States
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I have also had issues with low light focusing. I always use manual focus and the zoom feature to make sure my shots are tack sharp. I dont trust focus peaking it has shown me elements to be in focus when I can clearly see that they are blurry lol.

Amazing shot!
2017-3-30
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