P3 Adv camera sharpness

[skyofdrone]

Hello guys. I read lot of posts describing sharpness issues with the p3 and after buying a new camera for my p3, i see also this problem after some short videos.
I decided to disassemble the camera to understand where the issue is. I don't want to use app setting to improve quality of the video. I think artefacts are only used to generate some effects but original picture or video has to be as sharpness as the lens and ccd sensor can deliver. So after reading basics of ccd and lens and mathematic formulas between them i made several tests to change focus on this camera. I will give you the results because the results are possible.

 

[alokbhargava]

Wow you are so knowledgeable. We are waiting for your findings and ways to test and improve the results. Thanks in advance.

 

[skyofdrone]

Sure you would be the first to answer

 

[skyofdrone]

This evening, i will post a short video to show you as an example the perfect sharpness of a gimbal part recorded at 2 inch from the lens. And after making modifications to the sensor support, how to modify the focus distance.

 

[MrZenga]

Hi skyofdrone! I bought a P3A about a month ago, been flying every weekend since I got it .... but since I'm a photographer I hate the quality of stills. I'm really hoping to see your results and see if it got any better!

 

[skyofdrone]

Yes of course. You will have to do some chirurgical modifications to the camera . Especially to the support of the ccd sensor.

 

[skyofdrone]

Anyway, i am not a photographer but when i compare the camera of my phantom 2 vision and this one, i'm agree with you.

 

[skyofdrone]

Hi. You can see in this video, i think, a perfect video of as an example a gimbal motor. What do you think about it ?

 

[DanMan32]

There have been posts in the past about adjusting the lens for better focus. Personally the before and after photos had angle and distance differences making comparison of sharpness difficult, including clarity of house number.
Remember, these are fixed focus cameras. I doubt the aparature is small enough to give a wide depth of view and maintain sharp focus.

 

[skyofdrone]

Yes you right. Today lot of phantom has the same problem as mr zenga. So yes it is possible to adjust even a little. The problem is that the sensor is separate from the lens and the board where the sensor is soldered is tightened with 4 little screws and the holes are too large to adjust perfectly the ccd sensor on the lens. The goal is to adjust properly the board on the lens on each side to have no partial blur on a picture and adjust the depth to by installing one gasket or 2 if necessary to adjust the final focus. That what i am trying to do since 3 days. The result will be fine for sure

 

[Numone]

There have been threads and a fix on this subject, like this
http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/blur-focus-problem-in-images-how-to-easily-fix-it-on-the-p3-advanced.73101/#post-737653
and this
http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/just-adjusted-the-focus-of-my-p3p-wow.98841/#post-1019926
but it'll be interesting to see your "before and after" shots. If you can also show what you've used to make the adjustments and what you have done to stop the movement if the sensor board in the future, that would be great too. I haven't adjusted my lens and sensor positions, as the pictures obtained from this tiny sensor and the low quality lens on my camera is pretty amazing, abeit these sensors are inherently "noisy". Look forward to seeing your results too.

 

[DanMan32]

The lens is screwed on so it can be turned to adjust overall focus. No need for shims to do that. But you do need to remove the 4 screws to get to the lens so you then need to realign the sensor.
You can even replace the lens with a different focal length/field of view.

 

[skyofdrone]

I will take a look to your posts numone. Thank you. I'll do several tests after holidays in a week. It's difficult to adjust the board while the camera is mounted on his motor so i will disassemble it before testing. Danman did you test the depth with some shims. You will see that there is a big difference in the (depth of field ) not sure it is the correct word. I tried to unscrew the lens but i can't do that because of the glue.

 

[skyofdrone]

I took a look. I have already seen one of them after doing a lot of tests with my camera. So the process is the same. Good question is: what is the MP capacity of the dji lens ? I saw on peauproductions.com that the MP of the lens is critical to take good shots. May be i will change the lens to a better one. But now did you already unscrew the dji lens without damage it? If i can change the focus it will be better than add some shims under the board.

 

[Numone]

I took a look. I have already seen one of them after doing a lot of tests with my camera. So the process is the same. Good question is: what is the MP capacity of the dji lens ? I saw on peauproductions.com that the MP of the lens is critical to take good shots. May be i will change the lens to a better one. But now did you already unscrew the dji lens without damage it? If i can change the focus it will be better than add some shims under the board.

Not true. Once you get over 6mp, the pixel count on the sensor is not a critical factor to the quality of the captured picture. The size of the sensor is far more important. The 12mp DJI sensor is tiny and unfortunately, some people seem to expect DSLR 12mp standard, but the sensor in the DSLR is two or three times the size of the DJI unit and this, together with the quality of the lens will be far better too, even the cheap "kit" lenses.

 

[DanMan32]

Depth of field is mainly affected by aperture which the phantom has a fixed aperture so depth of field can't be adjusted. However by adjusting the focus, you can set at what distance you get perfect focus. Nearer or further from that distance will be out of focus but with a small aperture, the areas outside of the focus distance won't be too out of focus. Remember those pinhole cameras you made or learned about in school?
By shimming, you're doing the same thing as adjusting the lens.
I haven't done it myself but I've seen a few YouTube videos about it including replacing the lens with a different one.

 

[skyofdrone]

I have successfully unscrew the lens with a plier. Next week i try to adjust the lens. See you

 

[Oso]

I have successfully unscrew the lens with a plier. Next week i try to adjust the lens. See you

Perhaps also read this thread before adjusting for some additional pointers. Good luck.

 

[skyofdrone]

Thank you.

 

[skyofdrone]

Hi guys. I've just adjusted the lens and the image is more sharpness than never ! For informations it is not possible to disassemble the camera from his motor axle to test it because the initial sequence is out and the motor of the camera is turning and turning... so i had to adjust the lens and the four screw inside the camera while it is mounted and powered on. After one hour the result is acceptable. This week i will recording one video outside my house to see the difference.