Camera Quality of Phantom 4 Pro v2

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So I am fairly new to droning and have somehow managed to end up with a Mavic Pro and a Phantom 4 Pro v2. (Long Story).

From my basic usage I have been quite dissappointed with the quality of the Photos and Videos of the P4P compared to the Mavic Pro. I have checked all of the Camera/Video settings and I cannot find anything obviously wrong. To me the picture quality looks soft and unable to be enlarged as much as possible. This is if anything worse in the video.

I am going to try to take my drone back to the place of purchase so they can take a look but wondering if there has been any issues with camera quality on the P4Pv2?

Thanks
 
I am going to try to take my drone back to the place of purchase so they can take a look but wondering if there has been any issues with camera quality on the P4Pv2?
You should be seeing image quality at least as good as what the Mavic 2 gives.
It's hard to know what the issue is without seeing examples.
Can you post some?
 
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Rather large difference in picture quality between the two.
Return if possible. Or you will probably be up for some form of repair process.
 
Was the P4P new when purchased? If so, return. Should give awesome vids and pics. Better than original Mavic pro. I assume you have checked the lens cap for flaws. Unscrew the clear cap and check with light. I had to straighten the lens of a 4Pro v1 that was visibly crooked behind the UV lens cap causing blur. DJI logo should be horizontal. Mine was used, Don’t try if under warranty.
If the screw-on lens cap shows flaws, easy to purchase and replace
 
The P4 2 have the best image sensor. There is probably something else causing the issue.

What resolution are you using? Best: Video - 4K, stills

How and where are you viewing the image?

What codec are you using?
 
So I did a comparison on the stills. Took both drones up 100m and took a straigh down shot of the house. I believe stills are supposed to be similar resolution but P4P has larger sensor. Still detail looked very similar. Little more colour depth fom the P4P. I have attached samples from the 2 drones (cropped to protect the guilty).

I took the P4P into the official dealer in Sydney where I bought it. They offered a couple of possible explanations on my concerns. I am not 100% convinced but will do some more testing.
1. Shutter speed to FPS ratio. ( i was in auto)
2. Not viewing on a 4K screen.
3. Possibly not fast enough storage. Samsung SD was rated for just under 100mb/s

Another thing I raised and they were also a little concerned about was the Manual tilting adjustments of the Gimbal were a little 'off'. It was not a smooth consistent change to the tilt but rather a delayed, almost inperceptible movement followed by a distinct jump in position. Certainly not as consistent, responsive and predictable as my Mavic Pro. They said they were happy to send it back based on this but I am not sure it is worth the effort for this alone.

I will do some more testing on the video and post samples.

MavicPro_Cropped.jpg
P4Pv2_cropped.jpg
 
I assume that the top pix is the phantom. There is no question that it is terrible.

What or how did you focus the phantom’s lens? The phantom has a focus control. From the picture it looks as if the lens focal point was shifted to a point closer to the drone than the actual subject.

For maximum sharpness for stills and video, shoot at a higher speed 1/48 sec or 1/60 sec will blur if there is rapid motion. I usually shoot at 1/500 sec or more. I don’t find that motion blur created by slow shutter speeds works for drone footage.

Was the lens spotlessly clean? Was a filter used?

The remaining possibility is that the lens itself is defective. I haven’t heard of that happening, but the image is really bad.
 
Sorry top one is Mavic. Bottom P4P.

Both images are a cropped image about 1/6 of original. I will take it to a more suitable place where I can take and upload uncropped/unedited photos videos. I will keep an eye on the settings perhaps do a manual shot but they were both taken on Auto with a 'tap to focus'.
 
Yes, top would definitely be the MP. Much better sharpness and color on the lower picture.Having had the MP since 2017, not hard for me to pick it out.
 
Puzzling. Even with that crop, it should be sharper, although you have thrown away 83% of the pixels with the crop.
 
I believe stills are supposed to be similar resolution but P4P has larger sensor.
If you are talking about a Mavic 2 pro the sensors and resolution are the same.
If you mean the original Mavic pro, it's sensor is smaller and so is the resolution (4000 x 3000 vs 5472×3648)
Or if you had the Mavic 2 Zoom, it has the same small sensor and resolution of 4000 x 3000.
Just for certainty, which Mavic are you asking about?
Still detail looked very similar. Little more colour depth fom the P4P. I have attached samples from the 2 drones (cropped to protect the guilty).
The main issue I see is that one is significantly overexposed.
I can't see anything to say that there's a problem with sharpness or focus
1. Shutter speed to FPS ratio. ( i was in auto)
3. Possibly not fast enough storage. Samsung SD was rated for just under 100mb/s
I will do some more testing on the video and post samples.
If you want to properly check image quality, forget about video and compare stills.
Post the complete image files so that image metadata can be looked at.
The speed of the SD card is fine.
A faster card won't make any difference to image quality
 
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Don't rate the pic. quality according to your camera which is out of order obviously. I can say that haven't seen the picture from Mavic to be better than Phantoms'. Usually is vice versa.
 
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So I am fairly new to droning and have somehow managed to end up with a Mavic Pro and a Phantom 4 Pro v2. (Long Story).

From my basic usage I have been quite dissappointed with the quality of the Photos and Videos of the P4P compared to the Mavic Pro. I have checked all of the Camera/Video settings and I cannot find anything obviously wrong. To me the picture quality looks soft and unable to be enlarged as much as possible. This is if anything worse in the video.

I am going to try to take my drone back to the place of purchase so they can take a look but wondering if there has been any issues with camera quality on the P4Pv2?

Thanks
1) Turn on focus peaking - fine. This will show you on the screen what the lens is focused on.
2) When focusing you can either you use auto or manual. Beginners should use auto. Turn on auto, click on the screen where you want the focus to be and make sure it focuses. Then turn back to manual for the actual pix or flying so he focus doesn't change.
3) Don't use F stops higher than 5.6. F 4 is good. Higher f stops tend to not be as sharp.
4) Set the ISO as low as possible - preferably 100.
5) Turn on the mechanical shutter for still pictures.
6) Make sure your shutter speed is relatively fast so there's no camera motion.
7) Shoot jpeg + RAW. Raw will give you best results.

_rob
 
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I seen on youtube recently someone having the same problem with soft images on the P4P now his fix/remedy was to do a camera reset apparently in the camera setting there is a reset button he said it solved his issue completely! Worth a go I reckon!
 
So I did a comparison on the stills. Took both drones up 100m and took a straigh down shot of the house. I believe stills are supposed to be similar resolution but P4P has larger sensor. Still detail looked very similar. Little more colour depth fom the P4P. I have attached samples from the 2 drones (cropped to protect the guilty).

I took the P4P into the official dealer in Sydney where I bought it. They offered a couple of possible explanations on my concerns. I am not 100% convinced but will do some more testing.
1. Shutter speed to FPS ratio. ( i was in auto)
2. Not viewing on a 4K screen.
3. Possibly not fast enough storage. Samsung SD was rated for just under 100mb/s

Another thing I raised and they were also a little concerned about was the Manual tilting adjustments of the Gimbal were a little 'off'. It was not a smooth consistent change to the tilt but rather a delayed, almost inperceptible movement followed by a distinct jump in position. Certainly not as consistent, responsive and predictable as my Mavic Pro. They said they were happy to send it back based on this but I am not sure it is worth the effort for this alone.

I will do some more testing on the video and post samples.

View attachment 120321View attachment 120322
The top (Mavic) photo is so obviously inferior to the bottom (P4P 2) that I'm amazed at your comment, "From my basic usage I have been quite disappointed with the quality of the Photos and Videos of the P4P compared to the Mavic Pro." I would have complained differently.
 
Yes, the top one is Mavic. I could predict that the Phantom's is better and that's and so it is in general.
If someone gets better pictures with Mavic, then something is wrong with the Phantom!
 
So I did a comparison on the stills. Took both drones up 100m and took a straigh down shot of the house. I believe stills are supposed to be similar resolution but P4P has larger sensor. Still detail looked very similar. Little more colour depth fom the P4P. I have attached samples from the 2 drones (cropped to protect the guilty).

I took the P4P into the official dealer in Sydney where I bought it. They offered a couple of possible explanations on my concerns. I am not 100% convinced but will do some more testing.
1. Shutter speed to FPS ratio. ( i was in auto)
2. Not viewing on a 4K screen.
3. Possibly not fast enough storage. Samsung SD was rated for just under 100mb/s

Another thing I raised and they were also a little concerned about was the Manual tilting adjustments of the Gimbal were a little 'off'. It was not a smooth consistent change to the tilt but rather a delayed, almost inperceptible movement followed by a distinct jump in position. Certainly not as consistent, responsive and predictable as my Mavic Pro. They said they were happy to send it back based on this but I am not sure it is worth the effort for this alone.

I will do some more testing on the video and post samples.

View attachment 120321View attachment 120322
I'm certainly no expert when it comes to photography as I still think an F stop is a position played in baseball. But your bottom photo, labeled P4Pv2.jpg, is noticeably sharper and clearer than the top one. Yet your original post at the top states that your Phantom photos were of lesser quality than your Mavic. Excuse my confusion. Just trying to figure out where and why my understanding got derailed.
 

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