Blurry Pics

[loonie01]

Need a little help people. For the past couple of flights, I've been getting some blurry pics. I'm flying a P4 Advanced. Today there was no wind at all. Most of my shots were night shots also. Any help would be great.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Need a little help people. For the past couple of flights, I've been getting some blurry pics. I'm flying a P4 Advanced. Today there was no wind at all. Most of my shots were night shots also. Any help would be great.

Yeh does look bit out of focus,just 1 idea I had was restore to factory settings on camera,then start off in your settings again,,hope dis help a bit ????nice pictures too

 

[With The Birds]

Would be helpful to know what your shutter speed was- you may need to increase ISO and or open your aperture. Good chance this is excess movement during the exposure (known as camera shake in terrestrial photography). The stabilisation of the gimble is good but only up to a point.

 

[Paul2660]

Does look like blur due to camera shake. I agree what was the shutter speed? The drone can shoot slow exposures but I have doubts as to how slow without vibration induced blur as there is no VR or IBIS or IS. Vibration reduction systems common in DSLRs.

Surprised also you could take off there. My city is blocked by a NFZ due to main airport.

Paul C

 

[loonie01]

Here are the same pics with the info in them. My ISO's were at 100 on each pic. I'm still learning.

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

Need a little help people. For the past couple of flights, I've been getting some blurry pics. I'm flying a P4 Advanced. Today there was no wind at all. Most of my shots were night shots also. Any help would be great.

Without getting too deep into the different camera settings - in low light situations your camera has 3 ways to get brighter pics
1 - increase ISO (sensor sensitivity)
2 - open the aperture so that while the shutter is open, more light reaches the sensor (only if you have p4p or p4a, regular p4 is open at a fixed amount)
3 - or leave the shutter opened longer so more light hits the sensor
I suspect that your automatic setting is opting to leave the shutter open longer in order to gather more light ie a slower shutter speed. Any shake that occurs during the fraction of a second that the shutter is open will result in blur. One solution is to open the aperture to the max and set ISO to the highest you can stand without too much noise (graininess) which will allow your shutter speed to be fast. Okay i think i was a little long winded but i tried to be brief

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

Also do you know the half push = autofocus, wait for the beep, then full push the camera button?

 

[loonie01]

I didn't know about the half press focus. I'm about to try again with these pics. Learning manual mode is tough.

 

[Meta4]

Learning manual mode is tough.

Why bother with manual mode?
The Phantom's camera has very good metering and is able to create great images most of the time without worrying about manual mode.
If you aren't an experienced photographer, here's a tip for easy photography that will get good pictures most of the time.
Put the camera into aperture priority mode, set the aperture to f5.6 and the camera will pick an appropriate shutter speed for you.

There are only a few circumstances where you would do better with manual settings would get a better image.
But not knowing what you are doing and messing around with manual settings, you're likely to get less good images than if let the camera take care of the metering.

 

[roosta]

Checking your later screens you've posted, your dilemma is dealing with night-time (low light) shots and slow shutter speeds...

So @With The Birds response perfectly sums up your issue. If you bump up the ISO you're likely to introduce more grain/noise in your images...but I must say, I've not tried touching my P4P photos in post-edits that were taken at night time, mostly because I don't fly at night!

My suggestion is keep trying - Try to shoot in manual mode with a FASTER shutter, don't go TOO crazy on boosting the ISO number, select the desired aperture (the lower the better in your case, ie a larger number...but you'll have to play around to make sure you're capturing the desired detail) and take the photo. You can then use the raw DNG file in Light room and then just bump up the exposure or add a few different layer edits.

Alternatively, as most enthusiasts will do, if it's during the day, you can leave it in auto mate and the results are generally very good, as Meta4 stated.

Post the result?

Suggest reading up on the exposure triangle, if you aren't already familiar:
Google Image Result for https://cdn.photographylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/triangle.jpg

 

[Meta4]

My suggestion is keep trying - Try to shoot in manual mode with a FASTER shutter, don't go TOO crazy on boosting the ISO number, select the desired aperture (the lower the better in your case, ie a larger number...but you'll have to play around to make sure you're capturing the desired detail) and take the photo.

I'm curious about your suggestions.
Why would you particularly recommend manual mode - what the benefit of that is?
Why you would suggest a smaller aperture - what difference would that make?
Why aim for a faster shutter speed? The Phantom can easily handle long exposures in calm conditions.

You can then use the raw DNG file in Light room and then just bump up the exposure or add a few different layer edits.

This is my personal opinion and I'm aware I'm swimming against the current, but ...
Shooting raw images is widely recommended in forums as the "best" thing to do but for most users there's really no need to shoot raw.
Unless you want to spend time and effort in Photoshop or Lightroom and already know your way around those programs, I think users would be a lot better off keeping things simpler and just shooting jpg.
That way they get reasonable looking images without having to also master post processing.

Here's an example of how the Phantom can get good low light images using auto settings:

 

[Travis Brown]

Here's an example of how the Phantom can get good low light images using auto settings:

That’s a nice picture!

 

[roosta]

I'm curious about your suggestions.
Why would you particularly recommend manual mode - what the benefit of that is?
Why you would suggest a smaller aperture - what difference would that make?
Why aim for a faster shutter speed? The Phantom can easily handle long exposures in calm conditions.

1) Presumably, most drone enthusiasts have an interest in learning and/or developing their skills at aerial photography...so, for photography enthusiasts in general, many teachers will recommend learning and experimenting in manual mode. The benefit is better quality results https://photographyconcentrate.com/10-reasons-why-you-should-be-shooting-raw/
... or greater flexibility in post-edit. Hence my suggestion of keep trying...It's great experience (admittedly at the expense of shorter flight times if you don't know what you are doing mid-flight)...

2) Thinking of other solutions really when using manual mode - Given the tiny size of the P4P's cam; it's wide angle lens and the fact that the P4P is generally going to be positioned a LONG distance from its subject in most cityscape images (kinda like the OPs), all together mean that more often that not, the photos in auto mode will turn out as great as the example you have provided. Otherwise, in general photographic terms (with all else equal) when using manual mode - a smaller aperture, while reducing light let into the P4P's camera sensor, will help increase the depth of field (DOF) and bring more scene into focus, especially important when you're changing shutter/ISO parameters. I'm also taking into account the OP's images appear much closer to its subject than your cityscape example, meaning it's one key factor to help reduce blur if they chose to keep experimenting in manual mode

3) First to admit I've not had as much experience playing with the P4P's manual modes as I would like (different story on my Canon 7DII however), purely because I don't have many batteries and plan well ahead what I want to photo/record and with what settings at a given time of day. But, a faster shutter speed (once again) in manual mode will reduce light in the sensor; but with the right aperture and a boosted ISO, it would be good to see the result the OP was able to capture with settings modified this way...

This is my personal opinion and I'm aware I'm swimming against the current, but ...
Shooting raw images is widely recommended in forums as the "best" thing to do but for most users there's really no need to shoot raw.
Unless you want to spend time and effort in Photoshop or Lightroom and already know your way around those programs, I think users would be a lot better off keeping things simpler and just shooting jpg.

That way they get reasonable looking images without having to also master post processing.

Here's an example of how the Phantom can get good low light images using auto settings:

You've nailed it on the head. It's very much a time/effort based equation. If you have time and want to put in effort, results can be breathtaking. As a beginner and most intermediates, you're right...editing RAW files aren't really going to be all that noticable if you aren't already familiar with Lr or Ps

I personally feel I've produced better results by editing my photos in Lr. I don't use photoshop to "add" anything unnatural; I mostly use it to make my colours pop...as editing a JPG can sometimes look more artificial.

PS: is that your image above? If so, what time was it taken?

 

[Meta4]

1)

An alternative view
I think it's a good idea for beginners to use the automated camera metering and get good results from the start.
Those that want to get further into photography can make as complicated as they want but being able to get reasonably good images without having to learn a whole new technology is a great introduction and can help to get people interested and started in photography.

2) ... a smaller aperture, while reducing light let into the P4P's camera sensor, will help increase the depth of field (DOF) and bring more scene into focus, especially important when you're changing shutter/ISO parameters

If there's one thing the Phantom's lens has, it's lots and lots of depth of field.
At any aperture it has so much DoF that this is never a consideration.
Add to this, the fact that as an aerial camera, it's (almost) never going to be used with a close foreground subject and other elements at varying distances.
This example is as close as I can find of this kind of composition.

Depth of Field is the last thing you ever need to consider when shooting with a Phantom.

3) .... a faster shutter speed (once again) in manual mode will reduce light in the sensor; but with the right aperture and a boosted ISO, it would be good to see the result the OP was able to capture with settings modified this way...

Because of the small sensor size, the images produced by the Phantom get quite noisy as the ISO sensitivity is increased.
It's better to keep the ISO at 100 and when that's not enough, open the aperture and save increasing ISO as the last option when everything else has been used.
The Phantom can shoot down to 2 secs in calm conditions and produce sharp results.

PS: is that your image above? If so, what time was it taken?

Yes .. it's mine. Shot at sunset.

 

[upthedowns]

The Phantom can shoot down to 2 secs in calm conditions and produce sharp results.

Indeed it can.

 

[roosta]

Like buying a Nikon D810/Canon 7DII and telling its user who once again, we presume is a photog enthusiast to some extend, "hey - it produces really good results on auto mode. So don't use anything else".

If it's there to play with, then experiment, get used to it, as results may fascinate.

RoOSTA

 

[Videojim]

This photo has a long exposure look at the cars in the lower right they show that the exposure could have been up to a full second.
https://phantompilots.com/attachments/dji_0639-jpg.101586/