Just received my p3 4k, image seems very soft (video)

phantomzord · Dec 19, 2016

Hello everyone,

I have just received my p3 4k, and it flies pretty well, however the image seems to lose sharpness quite much with the distance (up to 10m, seems ok, then it goes bad quite quickly compared to some videos that are tack sharps that you can find on youtube).

Yesterday, I went to fly it for the first time, setted it in 4k 24 FPS, auto exposure, log mode, with -2 in sharpness, -3 in contrast, -2 in saturation.
It seemed to lack a lot of sharpness compared to what I could see with my eyes, especially after 15m.

So today I redid a test without flying, 4k 30 fps, ISO 100, shutter speed 60 and sharpness, contrast, colors to 0 and same thing, seems pretty soft to me!

So I suspect that there is an out of focus issue, as mentionned in this thread for example: Phatom 3 Pro Camera Not Sharp?

I have uploaded the video i have recorded today (so sharpness at default setting: 0): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Xa--RlDCNmcjVGMGVVSWpqMVk (500 mb)

You can compare the sharpness with theses 2:

Mine seems really soft compared to theses, I just have no details in the plants that are a few meters away :/

Do you guys think I should return it? Or it looks ok for you?

Ellis Hughes · Dec 19, 2016

Since you've turned down the sharpness in the settings you would have to sharpen it again in post to improve the image.
Try editing the video a bit, adding some sharpness and have a play with the contrast and saturation and I think you will end up with image quality that you'll be happy with.

phantomzord · Dec 19, 2016

Ohh, nop, excuse me if it wasn't clear, but in today sample, the one I posted, all the settings are default (so sharpness is at 0). And the details that aren't there cannot be sharpen (you can clearly see it in the vegetation that is a few meters away, it's just a big pixel blur ^^. And I am not even viewing it at 100% pixel as my screen res is 1600*1200 :/

Ellis Hughes · Dec 19, 2016

Apologies I read the post incorrectly I thought the issue you were having was -2 sharpness I did not see that you re-filmed it on 0
I just viewed the video on 2k on my laptop and it looks pretty good but it definitely doesn't look as good as other P3 4k's I've seen.
Hopefully one of the guys with a 4k can help you out.

phantomzord · Dec 19, 2016

Thank you for looking at it, and no need to apologize! I modified the 1st post to make it clearer.
If others can confirm it would be nice yep, but I really think I am gonna return it, no need to keep it if I am not 100% happy. I hope they can send me a new one, or I will buy another one!

Ellis Hughes · Dec 19, 2016

phantomzord said:
Thank you for looking at it, and no need to apologize! I modified the 1st post to make it clearer.
If others can confirm it would be nice yep, but I really think I am gonna return it, no need to keep it if I am not 100% happy. I hope they can send me a new one, or I will buy another one!

I guess you could try DJI support but I've heard mixed things about them.

phantomzord · Dec 19, 2016

Ellis Hughes said:
I guess you could try DJI support but I've heard mixed things about them.

Yep same, that's why i would rather return it I think ^^. I still have a few days to do it, so it's alright, will just cost me the posting fees (and the sadness to not be able to play with it xD)

puredata · Dec 19, 2016

phantomzord said:
Yep same, that's why i would rather return it I think ^^. I still have a few days to do it, so it's alright, will just cost me the posting fees (and the sadness to not be able to play with it xD)

How much did you pay for it and where did you buy it? Nowadays holiday return periods are active for the most big names. Also keep checking for other drones deals.

As far as I was able to comprehend, there are not a lot of P34Ks therefore there are no good deals for them -or I couldn't see any otherwise I'd stick with it- but it seems like they are trying to get rid of Pro and Standard faster

I have bought a P3S for $369 on black friday which was a great price but I have returned it for a Phantom 4 for $850.

Best buy was selling P3Pro for $699 a couple of days ago as well.

stuka75 · Dec 19, 2016

Make sure there is plastic film over the lens. Some of the units arrive with film over them, and are really hard to see.

phantomzord · Dec 20, 2016

When you say "for a Phantom 4 for $850." I am totally disgusted

. I live in France, and Phantom 4 is 1100-1200 euros

(but to be honest, as it's my first drone, I would rather crash a not too expensive one ^^)

The pro isn't in discount here (900 euros) , but the price of 4K was lowered, it's around 640 euros at the moment.

An nop, no plastic film on Camera, I double checked :/

So I would return it and try to get a new one, thanks everyone for having a look!