How to refocus your DJI FC 200 camera

Well I'm glad you have everything finally sorted out.

It's a shame about the P2V because, as far as I am concerned, its two main components (i.e. the quadcopter and the camera) are at opposite ends of the quality scale. The camera obviously suffers from serious quality control issues. Some buyers are lucky and get good examples, others get poor focus to one side, and others (like me) just get poor results right across the image. In short, it's a lottery - so much so that you could probably swap it three times and get a bad one each time. In the mainstream photography market that would be completely unacceptable (and disastrous for the company concerned). DJI, however, don't seem to care. I have sent two emails to DJI Europe, with sample images, and I have not even received an acknowledgement.

However, my brief flirtation with the P2V convinced me that the quadcopter itself is a very good piece of kit and so I'm patiently awaiting a P2 fitted with a DJI-iOSD-mini and a Dronexpert platform designed to carry a Sony RX100. I should have it here within a couple of weeks.

The wait gives me time to sort out the documentation and permits required for me to use all of the above In France without fear of prosecution!
 
Jre said:
Thanks. I tried B&H, but they advised that since it was past 30 days that I would need to contact the manufacturer. Had a bit of a wait when calling DJI, but it was less than 30 minutes. I was asked to send an e-mail to the agent to open an RMA, and that I would need to send the camera back in to get a brand new replacement. They wanted me to send the whole unit in, but I said that's not gonna fly. :roll:

Just so I know that I'm not crazy, there is definitely a soft focus issue on the right side:

156qxko.png


Correct?
I had the exact same issue, except it was reversed, the soft focus was on the left side. I contacted DJI support and they had me send them a couple of photo's and they said 'Yes' its bad and replaced the entire Phantom. The new one is fine.
 
Im not sure if my camera is just bad or if it needs to be refocused. Here are two shots. One was taken from a cropped RAW image in Lightroom and then converted to jpeg. The other is cropped from the matching jpeg. Whats surprising in the cropped RAW image is very poor compared to the stock large jpeg but neither is as sharp as some of the photos Ive seen posted here. I wonder if I just need a new camera? Maybe refocusing?
 

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Aside from the excessive noise (I force mine to 100 ISO), the Raw file looks TONS better than the JPEG. I immediately delete all the JPEGS. I never even touch them.

Can you post a full size version (reduced in size is fine)? Without seeing the original uncropped version, it's hard to visualize. But at first glance your focus doesn't seem TOO bad. <shrug>

Of course, the easiest way to check is to DE-FOCUS the lens and then re-focus it.
 
MrDRC said:
Whats surprising in the cropped RAW image is very poor compared to the stock large jpeg...
Waiter! My RAW food is cold, and hardly cooked at all! It's much worse than the cooked food! :)

This shouldn't be surprising. RAW images are deliberately saved with NO processing. No sharpening. No noise reduction. No contrast. No color correction. Nothing.

JPEGs - on the other hand - are processed or "developed" by the camera before saving, according to whatever the camera thinks will look best. The whole idea of RAW is that the photographer (YOU) will perform all the processing/developing steps later, using software on a computer. In theory, you're smarter than then camera and can do better. But if you skip this step, then of course RAW images will look "worse" than JPEG.
 
just received my replacement p2v from b&h. pretty good turnaround time. 1 week. looks like it may be a refurb. cant tell for sure. camera has same or worse focus problems. called dji. they are unable to supply any images taken with the fc200. wow!! they said if i sent the camera to them they would test it to see it was up to standard. couldnt tell me what the standard was or how they determined it.. sounds like another crap shoot to me. called rage. very helpful and knowledgeable up to a point. knew about this type of camera but seemed to not know anything about actual photography. gave me 3 or 4 interesting options. also told me how to refocus. never mentioned anything about a razor blade. did say a hair dryer for about 10 seconds would loosen whatever holds the lens in. i have many images at www.flyinghighfoto.com there is 1 under the property's section that is dated. taken with the replacement. lame
 
sprung said:
called rage. very helpful and knowledgeable up to a point. knew about this type of camera but seemed to not know anything about actual photography.

LOL!! So true. This was my experience when emailing them, too.

Interesting about the hair dryer idea. I hadn't thought about that. I'm leery of baking the camera like that. But maybe it softens the glue just enough...
 
FSJ Guy said:
mchad said:
Just to clarify, this will be a futile attempt for me to correct my right side soft focus issue, I assume? Considering the left 2/3rds of the images are perfectly sharp, with only the right 1/3rd being out if focus, would be more of a mount alignment issue, rather then a general focus issue, yes?

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. And if you try to adjust it and end up sending it back anyway, I can (rightfully) see DJI saying that you tampered with the camera and charge you for a replacement.

I have not heard of anyone successfully fixing the problem you are describing. But maybe you can? <shrug> I'd send it back if I were you. Wide angle optics can do some really weird things.

FSJ Guy First of all thnx for this great tutorial , I haven solved mine yet , but I gave a bloke here in Sweden the url to this thread today and he as I also had blury/out of focus on the right side of his photos.
He followed your instructions and then sent me a new photo after refocusing his lense.
And boy what a difference.
Conclusion is that your method can fix the problem when 1/3 of the photos right hand side is blurry .
Just wanted to drop you guys this feedback I will fix mine before I get my rotorpixel gimbal.
 
AndySwe said:
FSJ Guy First of all thnx for this great tutorial , I haven solved mine yet , but I gave a bloke here in Sweden the url to this thread today and he as I also had blury/out of focus on the right side of his photos.
He followed your instructions and then sent me a new photo after refocusing his lense.
And boy what a difference.
Conclusion is that your method can fix the problem when 1/3 of the photos right hand side is blurry .
Just wanted to drop you guys this feedback I will fix mine before I get my rotorpixel gimbal.

Great news! Good to hear that it worked for your friend.
 

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