There are lots of reccommnedations regarding sharpness settings but so far I have seen none that are based on real measurement. Here are pictures of test image at different sharpnes settings. They all are shot 4K @ 30 fps in D-Log. The images are not scaled, only cropped and saved at highest JPEG settings.

Conclusion: Best picture is at +3 +2 and +1 while the worst are 0 -1 -2 and -3. Honestly I don't see much difference in all positive settings and all negative settings. It looks DJI merely deceives customers and there are only TWO real sharpness settings
+3

+3

+2

+2

+1

+1

0


-1

-1

-2

-2

-3

-3

Here are more tests - now white on black. Again I can't see difference between positive sharpness settings
+3

+3

+2

+2

+1

+1

0

WOW! Thank you very much for doing this for us! I really appreciate you taking the time to get this done.
I do see a very very slight difference between the positive value settings, but very minimal. In my opinion +1 sharpness looks the best with very few artifacts in the shadows.
The lighting will also play a big role on the image quality, but for sure positive values are the way to go

Thanks for the testing!

I do think the real answer to the question of what's the best sharpness setting is going to be "It depends."

In real world shooting you're going to come across varied lighting conditions, which are likely going to call for different settings for optimal video. Some lower-light scenarios will benefit from positive sharpening, some very bright scenarios will look too crispy sharpened and might even benefit from slight negative sharpening. Different profiles might also be more or less sensitive to sharpness settings.

It's a lot to figure out. So far, and for me, the "best" sharpness setting for casual general-subject video has been the default of zero, sharp enough to keep the mush away, not so sharp my eyes burn and the noise too obvious. YMMV.

utkin Posted at 2017-6-7 08:18
Here are more tests - now white on black. Again I can't see difference between positive sharpness settings
+3
[view_image]

This is the perfect example of why positive values help in low-light settings. Put enough light on your keyboard and the zero setting would be fine.

Ex Machina Posted at 2017-6-7 11:45
This is the perfect example of why positive values help in low-light settings. Put enough light on your keyboard and the zero setting would be fine.

Here are couple of things though.
1. The keyboard was actually lit enough - at least according to the histogram
2. Real shooting conditions nearly always have poorly lit areas
3. I shot at 100 ISO and Mavic firmware could be smarter to only enable noise reduction at higher ISO

On 0 sharpness settings (keyboard images) I see some aliasing so I suspect the poor noise reduction simply averages adjacent rows therefor reducing image resolution.
All in all after these tests I will never go lower than +1

utkin Posted at 2017-6-7 18:44
Here are couple of things though.
1. The keyboard was actually lit enough - at least according to the histogram
2. Real shooting conditions nearly always have poorly lit areas

100% agree with you.  +1.

i think +1 0 0 is ok

1. The keyboard was actually lit enough - at least according to the histogram

It looks way underexposed to me, see attached histogram.

2. Real shooting conditions nearly always have poorly lit areas

Not always, but I'd allow often enough to justify +1 sharpness when needed.

3. I shot at 100 ISO and Mavic firmware could be smarter to only enable noise reduction at higher ISO

Except that's just the way it is.

By all means, if +1 or better works for you for what you shoot, go for it.

For me, in bright light, 0 sharpening seems too sharpened for some scenes (I don't think a zero setting for sharpness actually means no sharpening applied) but it's not so sharp that I've actually bothered to reduce it yet -- I'm still learning how to fly!

Ex Machina Posted at 2017-6-7 21:28
1. The keyboard was actually lit enough - at least according to the histogram

It looks way underexposed to me, see attached histogram.

I will try to shed more light on the test images and we'll we what I will get

+1 -1 0 is what I use

Ex Machina Posted at 2017-6-7 21:28
1. The keyboard was actually lit enough - at least according to the histogram

It looks way underexposed to me, see attached histogram.

Tried shooting the keyboard under better light conditions. Good news - the letters are now readable at 0 sharpness. Bad news - even under good lighting 0 sharpness produces flat images missing fine details.

+1

+1

  
0