Terrible image quality - Any ideas?

A-SCOTT85 · Jul 13, 2015

Hi all,

I purchased the DJI Inspire 1 about a month ago and have been getting terrible picture quality.

It looks like distortion/artifacting/noise/compression in the high detail areas such as grass and trees.

The below examples are based on in-camera settings:

4K MOV
Standard ND
Manual exposure
100 ISO
LOG profile
Sharpness - 1
Contrast - 3
Sat -1

I found this combination by researching in forums and testing against other variations to try and combat the issue. It is far far worse when filming in Standard/Auto.

I have uploaded a raw clip to download via wetransfer here:

http://we.tl/9rgdFejSoa
(Will be deleted on 17 July, 2015)

I know transcoding and uploading to Vimeo has its own effects on footage but here are 2 links (one 4k scaled to 1080p and one 100% 4k crop) that show the issue in a variety of different shots. You’ll see the distortion is the same as the raw wetransfer example…

I advise you click through to Vimeo to watch these as the scaled embed in this post may not be the best viewing platform.

(both passwords are ‘dji’)

---

Is anyone else having this or not?

Any info based on your own experiences would be very helpful!

Thanks,
AS

Solid · Jul 13, 2015

Try and expose to the right.
I know this sounds stupid to say on a drone where you can barely see how you are exposing your image, but in my experience this is what you should do.

Push the exposure until the brightest point is already over exposed. Sometimes this is not all bad, if it is for example a sun reflection in the water, or a white cloth reflecting light, I firmly believe those kinds of situations are no only OK but kind of should be over exposed.

What you want is to have a picture as bright as you can without over exposing the whole thing. The image quality isnt all that great, specially in 4k, because shooting in 4k means pushing the camera to the limit, so there isnt a whole lot of information on the pixels. If you underexpose and try to push the colors and brightness in post, you will push the noise and artifacts and all those bad things no one wants.

It's always better to have a bright clear, colorful image and (if you want something darker) push the brightness and color down, than the opposite.

Im used to shooting in a very "flat" mode, regarding light and color. But im shooting on a very high bitrate, dynamic range, and very capable in general camera. There is so much information in each frame, you can go find colors that you didnt see before on the picture in post production. Dont do this on the inspire, you will try to push colors that arent there, and ruin the image.

I'm starting to repeat myself because I want to be as clear as possible and my english isnt all that great, and my vocabulary is limited.

Also, in my recommendation, only shoot 4k if its broad day light and with very still images. The more you move, the worst, too much motion blur and problems. The only moving shots that work in 4k, is a slow aereal "dolly shot" (just moving forward) as long as you are distant from the subject, so that in reality doesnt matter if you move fast or slow, you wont see anything moving fast in the picture.

I shoot 1080p 50fps most of the time!

Edit- forgot to mention one thing - dont put low ISO values just because you have loads of light, the ISO sometimes can make up for the low dynamic range in the camera!

Hope this helps

Kauaigene · Jul 13, 2015

Down converting 4k will always have issues.
How's it look on a 4k display?

A-SCOTT85 · Jul 13, 2015

Sti

Kauaigene said:
Down converting 4k will always have issues.
How's it look on a 4k display?

Still looks bad. I uploaded the raw 4k file here:

http://we.tl/9rgdFejSoa
(Will be deleted on 17 July, 2015)

A-SCOTT85 · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks. Some really great info. I shoot flat with my other cameras as well... Do you try and film LOG profile with the Inspire or just try and get the best baked in look possible? Can I ask what in-camera settings you use? LOG? Standard? Sharpness -1 compensation?

Solid said:
Try and expose to the right.
I know this sounds stupid to say on a drone where you can barely see how you are exposing your image, but in my experience this is what you should do.

Push the exposure until the brightest point is already over exposed. Sometimes this is not all bad, if it is for example a sun reflection in the water, or a white cloth reflecting light, I firmly believe those kinds of situations are no only OK but kind of should be over exposed.

What you want is to have a picture as bright as you can without over exposing the whole thing. The image quality isnt all that great, specially in 4k, because shooting in 4k means pushing the camera to the limit, so there isnt a whole lot of information on the pixels. If you underexpose and try to push the colors and brightness in post, you will push the noise and artifacts and all those bad things no one wants.

It's always better to have a bright clear, colorful image and (if you want something darker) push the brightness and color down, than the opposite.

Im used to shooting in a very "flat" mode, regarding light and color. But im shooting on a very high bitrate, dynamic range, and very capable in general camera. There is so much information in each frame, you can go find colors that you didnt see before on the picture in post production. Dont do this on the inspire, you will try to push colors that arent there, and ruin the image.

I'm starting to repeat myself because I want to be as clear as possible and my english isnt all that great, and my vocabulary is limited.

Also, in my recommendation, only shoot 4k if its broad day light and with very still images. The more you move, the worst, too much motion blur and problems. The only moving shots that work in 4k, is a slow aereal "dolly shot" (just moving forward) as long as you are distant from the subject, so that in reality doesnt matter if you move fast or slow, you wont see anything moving fast in the picture.

I shoot 1080p 50fps most of the time!

Edit- forgot to mention one thing - dont put low ISO values just because you have loads of light, the ISO sometimes can make up for the low dynamic range in the camera!

Hope this helps

tweaker · Jul 13, 2015

Try a bit of sharpening in post if you haven't done so already

Also get some ND Filters as the stock one will not do on bright days.

I always film LOG with -3 Sharpness.

HTH

Welcome to the Inspire and the frustrating school of trial and error.......

Richard T · Jul 30, 2015

tweaker said:
Try a bit of sharpening in post if you haven't done so already

Also get some ND Filters as the stock one will not do on bright days.

I always film LOG with -3 Sharpness.

HTH

Welcome to the Inspire and the frustrating school of trial and error.......

Hi,
Just received a complete set of Renaat filters and at a loss of where to start with them.
I have seen on You Tube of suggested start settings of -3 sharpness, -1 in contrast and -1 in saturation...Totally confused of why they are suggesting this from the get go.
You said that you always shoot in LOG with -3 Sharpness but then you say to do a bit of sharpening on post ??
I do try and watch the histogram when I film and adjust with the right exposure dial and wonder if I am doing the right thing in doing so...Any suggestions that you may have would be greatly appreciated.
You are so right when you said
"Welcome to the Inspire and the frustrating school of trial and error"

tweaker · Jul 30, 2015

Richard

to get the best results when filming video you MUST film in manual mode using all the rules for video-180 Rule etc etc.

Yes the settings I use are LOG,-3Sharpness,-1Contrast,-1Saturation.

This is open to debate I just prefer to add a little sharpness if I need to in post. Some people may be happy with -1 or 0 sharpness if filming buildings/man made structures.

Its just finding what works for you when out on the ground and when back in the studio wrt settings. I suggest you just take the inspire out and do not fly so the battery lasts ages and film/photograph whilst grounded /table/whatever using different settings to see what works for you etc.

ND Filters lower amount of light entering camera enable you to lower the shutter speed to double your frame rate so you have smooth buttery video/control exposure etc. I have the same filters as you-they are a must.If find them excellent and the service provided by Renaat top notch. Generally ND8 gets most use for me up till 1030-1100am. Then ND 16 from 1100-1500pm ish then back to ND 8. It all depends how bright it is and more importantly what your histogram is doing. If its still bright go up a filter-trial and error.

On photographs you can either spot meter or ev your exposure for photographs. After you have your exposure nailed remember to lock the setting in (little white padlock top right) then all being well =nailed exposure/perfect photgraph............

Note after every photograph the padlock will unlock. Bit of a pain just remember to lock back in.

HTH

Richard T · Jul 30, 2015

tweaker said:
Richard

to get the best results when filming video you MUST film in manual mode using all the rules for video-180 Rule etc etc.

Yes the settings I use are LOG,-3Sharpness,-1Contrast,-1Saturation.

This is open to debate I just prefer to add a little sharpness if I need to in post. Some people may be happy with -1 or 0 sharpness if filming buildings/man made structures.

Its just finding what works for you when out on the ground and when back in the studio wrt settings. I suggest you just take the inspire out and do not fly so the battery lasts ages and film/photograph whilst grounded /table/whatever using different settings to see what works for you etc.

ND Filters lower amount of light entering camera enable you to lower the shutter speed to double your frame rate so you have smooth buttery video/control exposure etc. I have the same filters as you-they are a must.If find them excellent and the service provided by Renaat top notch. Generally ND8 gets most use for me up till 1030-1100am. Then ND 16 from 1100-1500pm ish then back to ND 8. It all depends how bright it is and more importantly what your histogram is doing. If its still bright go up a filter-trial and error.

On photographs you can either spot meter or ev your exposure for photographs. After you have your exposure nailed remember to lock the setting in (little white padlock top right) then all being well =nailed exposure/perfect photgraph............

Note after every photograph the padlock will unlock. Bit of a pain just remember to lock back in.

HTH

Thank you so very much for your reply and great suggestions of which I will follow.
A big adventure to say the least but having a ball learning...
Again thank you.

RT

damoncooper · Jul 30, 2015

I use an ND16 for regular sunny days and I've settled on 0, 0, 0 for sharp, contr, saturation and LOG with 4k, 30fps, 1/60.

The latest Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015 makes color grading a snap (finally) with the Lumetri sliders and new coloring workspace.

Just click on a timeline scene, click "auto" on the Basic Lumetri panel to do the machine analysis, then adjust white, black and exposure and add saturation (120-200%) depending on scene.

Hope that helps.

A-SCOTT85 · Aug 19, 2015

Hi all,

Just to update...

After taking on everyones advise and talking to a pilot in the US who was featured by DJI I am now trying the below settings with MUCH better results!

4K
25fps
MOV
Manual mode
LOG
Sharpness -1
Standard ND
No contrast change
No sat change

But probably the best piece of advise was to not underexpose! Try to overexpose slightly if you can and try to shoot for an in-camera image - not to aim for a flat balance between sky and ground and hope to grade after. Whilst some grading can be done after... trying to save underexposed grass and trees with a -3 contrast just ended up with a terrible image which really could not be made better in post.

Again I reiterate Tweaker's comment "Welcome to the Inspire and the frustrating school of trial and error"