Phatom 3 Pro Camera Not Sharp?

allengambrell · Jun 4, 2015

I am a professional photographer and I just got a Phantom 3 Pro yesterday.
The camera does not seem sharp at all! It is like the lens is out of focus. I cannot find anything that is really sharp in the image
I have had a P2 with a GoPro3 and it was much sharper than this, but distorted.

Could someone else look at the images below and tell me it all Phantom 3's are like this? Or ist it just mine?

If it is just mine, what is the best thing to do to get a replacement?

Here is a full rez crop from the center of the image with links to a dng and jpg image straight off the card.

DNG Image: https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D1639336_93239935_206508
Jpeg Image: https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D1639336_93239935_206519

Thanks

bobomet · Jun 4, 2015

Did you remove the plastic film from the lens ...?

allengambrell · Jun 4, 2015

Yea I took the plastic off the front of the lens and the foam thing from between the gimbal and the body.

Steezynickel · Jun 4, 2015

What are your settings on the camera and are you shooting manual or auto?

Hovtech · Jun 5, 2015

Steezynickel said:
What are your settings on the camera and are you shooting manual or auto?

I'm having trouble going back to auto. Where is that darn 'auto' button located?
Thanks for the help

Steezynickel · Jun 5, 2015

Bottom right button shouldn't be blue to be in "Auto" it should be gray

4wd · Jun 5, 2015

The conifers do look kind of fuzzy, foreground not too bad and responds quite well to a basic run through Lightroom.
I'd try a few more shots in different lighting before rushing to conclusions.

There does seem to be a rather vague soft spot in the centre of the frame which is a known feature of the P3 wide lens (not having fish-eye)
In some shots this is quite noticeable.
I suspect here that's part of the problem in this, and the bright sun on part of the frame maybe isn't helping.

allengambrell · Jun 5, 2015

The image was shot in auto and looks like 1/590 of a sec shutter speed. I will take it up later today and turn up the iso to get the shutter speed higher and see if that help, but it looks more like a lack of sharpness than motion blur to me.

nickruss_wales · Jun 5, 2015

Here's another thread on this subject. They are soft out of the camera, but come up a treat with some processing: http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/p3pro-soft-still-images.43228/#post-399839

happydays · Jun 5, 2015

I had the same issue with a PV+ - fuzzy video. Turns out I had sharpness turned to soft. Out it back to normal and all was well.

dhaslam · Jun 5, 2015

Low light will take a lot out of sharpness but I am not sure whether that is caused by ISO, shutter speed or a mixture. However in normal light conditions the photographs should be very sharp all the way up to 100% display on screen. Assuming that your test was done in good light It probably is a problem with the lens construction rather than focus but as a photographer you could be able to test the latter fairly easily.

neilw · Jun 5, 2015

Be sure the "plastic" you removed is the not-so-obvious clear film on the lens, not just the plastic gimbal lock. I know. I've been a pro photographer for a lot of years and I didn't notice the clear film on the lens until the second flight. Thought the first flight's pics/video were not as clear as I hoped. A bit embarrassed when I found out why!

ianwood · Jun 5, 2015

Looks pretty normal to me. I see the normal noise from the imager which is tiny for it's pixel capacity. The hardware is really best suited for video in that respect. There could also be some vibration from the gimbal/P3 if it was a long exposure. Important to dial out all vibration.