Video is great but photos are blurry

[PhantomRay]

You are using Windows 10 I see. Fwiw, I have issues with their photo viewer where I had to disable it as MS decided to "automatically enhance files as it sees fit" by default. Their old Windows 7 and 8 worked a lot better as it did not enhance.

Try and locate exiftool by Phil Harvey (freeware), leave the exiftool icon on the desktop, and drag just the files from the camera onto it once its on your desktop. It will show you a lot more data and get around whatever screen capture or viewer you are using which I suspect is your problem since you are not using a DNG which you should be for a RAW file, else you are looking at the crummy JPG extracted form the DNG. You can try using it both with the RAW/DNG file as well as the JPG, and your video MOV or MPG too.

Lacking a RAW converter, you can use RawTherapee 4.2.1 (also freeware) as it will read the DJI DNG file. It's pretty complex at first looks (Try Auto for most all settings first time through to get used to it.), but it can do a heck of a lot too and probably pull better overall looks and sharpness out of your image too. There is a Lens profile correction within it too for the Phantom P3 RAW which is much the same as the P4. It's graduated density does a nice job on skies too.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into that. Do these freeware apps come with adware or ad popups?

 

[With The Birds]

There is no question, the images posted suggest the apparent focus of the video screen grab is significantly better than that depicted in the image file. You don't seem to have a mechanical issue with the camera, focus is good.

In the absence of knowing the actual settings at the time of capture at a guess I would say, given you were shooting in auto, the camera has selected higher ISO in preference to lowering shutter speed in the still shot. The lack of detail is typical of that often seen in images captured by the P3 at higher ISO's. I have looked at some of my images taken in low light and pulled frames out of video from the same flight (shooting in auto) and the stills frequently appear softer.

I would suggest powering up the phantom on the ground and taking a couple of test shots in manual mode, ISO 100 and adjust shutter to get EV0. This should reveal if you have an issue or not.

 

[GMack]

... Do these freeware apps come with adware or ad popups?

No.

Here is how to turn Windows 10 Photos "Auto Enhancement" feature on and off:
How to disable auto-enhance in Photos on Windows 10

Also, I downloaded and ran your JPG through RawTherapee and it turned out sharper than your movie screenshot. No doubt if it were a DNG file it would even be better than the movie one. So no problem with your drone's camera, just need to concentrate on your post processing.

 

[PhantomRay]

No.

Here is how to turn Windows 10 Photos "Auto Enhancement" feature on and off:
How to disable auto-enhance in Photos on Windows 10

Also, I downloaded and ran your JPG through RawTherapee and it turned out sharper than your movie screenshot. No doubt if it were a DNG file it would even be better than the movie one. So no problem with your drone's camera, just need to watch concentrate on your post processing.

I downloaded that RawTherapee and it sure is pretty complex. I'm surprised its free. Would you be able to upload that edited photo that you said you processed. I want to see what it looks like. Also thanks for all the help. Its nice to know that my camera is not out of focus.

 

[GMack]

I downloaded that RawTherapee and it sure is pretty complex. I'm surprised its free. Would you be able to upload that edited photo that you said you processed. I want to see what it looks like. Also thanks for all the help. Its nice to know that my camera is not out of focus.

Attached it.

Told you it was complex! More you use it the easier it gets to navigate within it. You should be able to do far better with it than Windows 10 Photo viewer than mine off a crummy JPG fille since you have the DNG.

It's pretty highly regarded for landscape shooters in Luminous Landscapes, and some like it more than Lightroom too which does the DJI DNG images too.

 

[BrettW]

One issue solved, one issue remains.

Thanks to you guys, I have found out what the problem was with the photos "appearing" to be so blurry, compared to HD video.
The problem is definitely the PHOTOS program bundled with Windows 10. Thanks @GMack for persuading me to look into this.
To be clear, it wasn't the PHOTOS Auto-Enhancing feature causing an issue, as I had disabled that default "feature" a year ago.
It is simply the PHOTOS program itself. I have never seen it display images so bad before. And it is horrid when displaying 16:9 (4000 x 2250 pixel "9MP") photos taken by the P4, even at fullscreen (Slideshow mode).

I have several descent photo editing programs, but for quick viewing of images, PHOTOS has always been the go to app. But wow, I'm blown away by just how bad it is. As a Microsoft Certified Professional, I'm surprised I haven't picked up on this earlier. Heck, even the old Windows Photo Viewer displays photos better than Windows 10 PHOTOS app.

I now use FastStone Image Viewer as my default app in Windows 10. It's a 1000% better.


Now for the issue that still remains.

It is still evident that when switching from video mode to photo mode in the DJI GO app, the screen image is degraded (blurred).
Note: When I took these screenshots on my iPad Mini 4, there was no wind at all (zero breeze) and settings were set to Auto.
Have a look at each screenshot fullsize.

Video Mode Photo Mode

Video Mode Photo Mode

Video Mode Photo Mode

I read somewhere (I think it was on this forum) that a known issue from an earlier firmware build had caused a blurry screen image in the DJI GO app when in video mode, but was later fixed with an updated firmware.
I guess I can only hope that DJI fix this issue with Photo mode, in a firmware update.

 

[GMack]

I doubt if DJI will be able fix it due to hardware limitations of the tablets and phones and slowing down their software even more. It's a compressed JPG thumbnail based on some VGA profile made back in 1987. Maybe compressed 60% too. The Movie ones are a lot more recent and are continuing on being updated, but the old JPG compression is what it is. DxO Optics 10 has some PRIME conversion process that takes up to two minutes to render a RAW file into a JPG or TIFF off a Nikon, and they become very huge files too.

Pretty much it is what it is unless you get the DNG off the mini-SD card and into a real computer with a good conversion software to fix it. I don't know if there is a good app converter out there yet for DNG to JPG/TIFf on the tablets or phones. I just treat the tablet's screen, as well as the LCD screen on the back of my D800E, as an approximation. If it looks 'good' there, it can look a lot 'better' in post when I get it out of the device onto a real computer.

 

[Matt B]

Sure, some viewing programs can be worse than others, but that is not the case here, as I'm viewing both images (photo & video frame screenshot) from the same program. There's a definite discrepancy between both images.
The issue is unquestionably coming from the drone. It just doesn't make sense why.

Hey, just wondering whether you ever fully resolved your issue?

I now have a PS3 standard and have the very same problem. I only ever film in 1080p or lower. Yet the freeze frame stills even from 720p are so much more crisp and detailed than the best quality photograph that I can get it to take.

I have tried keeping it on the ground so that there is zero movement. The photos are still really bad quality?