Is anyone impressed by the Phantom 4 Pro's still image quality?

Recently upgraded from a Phantom 3 Pro and have thus far been a bit let done in the improvements of the image quality and overall sharpness of the 4 Pro's images. Would love to see some examples of your best shots so far!

really want to see some video and stills. Stills should be as good as the sony xr100 because that is the sensor in the drone. Looking at them here they are pretty nice for a small sensor

I am reasonably impressed, though you do need your "hype filter" on. As others have said online, it does have the same sensor as the rx100 III, but the lens must surely be a compromise (weight restrictions etc). I also have the Phantom 4 (don't ask...) and I do notice an improvement in both resolution (possibly because of the 20MP) and noise characteristics. Here is a photo (DNG) - processed in LY - levels adjusted and sharpness set to 25.







Malcolm

I am finding that I have to keep the f stop between f/3.2 and f4.5 for get acceptable sharpness. Shooting raw it needs a good dose of sharpening as well. Still getting used to it but I expected a bit more than I am seeing so far.

Well, I certainly don't hate it and am getting used to it more and more. It has more dynamic range than he Phantom 3 pro for sure but not as much as I thought it would have. My advice so far is to not underexpose, and to know you will need to sharpen in post quite a bit. Also keep your aperture around f/3.5 for maximum sharpness... Regards... Dave

I have worked with the Phantom 3 Pro and Phantom 4 quadrocopters during the last two years and the image quality was always a big problem (speaking as a photographer). The glued lens unit (with no autofocus, just a fixed glued lens like in the gopro cameras with a fixed f/2.8 aperture and a mini sensor) was a nightmare. Temperature changes led to thermal expansion and a focus shift which could not be corrected. I thus disassembled the lens unit and made them adjustable (nothing for the faint-hearted, it meant opening the camera). Unfortunately, you had to adjust the lens for every temperature change. Even with these changes the only reasonable thing to do was stitching several photos and removing various soft zones in Photoshop.

Coming from the Phantom 3 Pro and Phantom 4, the new Phantom 4 Pro is a big step ahead, a game-changer. I'm deeply impressed by the image quality of the new camera & sensor. It's not DSLR quality (it's a 1 inch image sensor after all) but close enough. And the DJI Phantom drones are wonderful machines to fly.

For those on the edge I have uploaded two sample images on my website:

http://www.utopia-photography.ch/upload/P4P.html

These are not the beautiful images requested in this thread but just two sample images to play around (in JPG and DNG format) and get a feeling for the image quality.

Best wishes,

Markus

I am a commercial photographer and I can tell when I see a good photo. I have to fully agree with you on the previous DJI offerings. I even tried and tested the original Inspire 1 with X5 camera and I did not find it even half decent. The images looked like watercolor paintings, no matter how much I tried to tweak them in LR and PS, the fine details were smeared to color blotches. The latest cameras in P4P and X4S for Inspire 2 seem to be a step in the right direction. I have just downloaded a few DNGs samples kindly provided by one of the new X4S owner in www.rcgroups.com forum dedicated to Inspire 2 and applied my own settings in LR and PS. I have to say that even though they are much better than what ever I have seen so far from DJI camera drones, I am still not 100% convinced. Your photos look very nice though and I would even say that they might have a slight edge over the X4S camera. That however might have something to do with the samples provided at RCG suffering from a decentered lens. Unfortunatelly that does not boost my confidence in DJI manufacturing tolerances and quality control when contemplating the Inspire 2 with X4S purchase....

Don't forget you have to touch the screen to focus. The previous phantoms were focused to infinity and you didn't have to worry about it. For me this is the main reason I'm not upgrading to phantom 4 pro.

I thought you only need to do it once when shooting from the same distance, like broad landscape shots and than the camera retains its focus. Do you have to re-focus by touching the screen every time before each new shot?? That would imply that the focus changes by itself after each shot. I can't blieve that that is the case, or is it ??

Moonwalker said:

I have worked with the Phantom 3 Pro and Phantom 4 quadrocopters during the last two years and the image quality was always a big problem (speaking as a photographer). The glued lens unit (with no autofocus, just a fixed glued lens like in the gopro cameras with a fixed f/2.8 aperture and a mini sensor) was a nightmare. Temperature changes led to thermal expansion and a focus shift which could not be corrected. I thus disassembled the lens unit and made them adjustable (nothing for the faint-hearted, it meant opening the camera). Unfortunately, you had to adjust the lens for every temperature change. Even with these changes the only reasonable thing to do was stitching several photos and removing various soft zones in Photoshop.

Coming from the Phantom 3 Pro and Phantom 4, the new Phantom 4 Pro is a big step ahead, a game-changer. I'm deeply impressed by the image quality of the new camera & sensor. It's not DSLR quality (it's a 1 inch image sensor after all) but close enough. And the DJI Phantom drones are wonderful machines to fly.

For those on the edge I have uploaded two sample images on my website:

http://www.utopia-photography.ch/upload/P4P.html

These are not the beautiful images requested in this thread but just two sample images to play around (in JPG and DNG format) and get a feeling for the image quality.

Best wishes,

Markus

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May I ask you a question. All your sample shots have 3:2 ratio. The samples I obtained from RCG have 4:3 ratio and when converted to TIFF they have the same hight as yours but they are actually a fair bit shorter to represent the more square 4:3 ratio and the file size is smaller too. Have you cropped and adjusted the size of your pictures? Very beautiful photos BTW!!

mmarian said:

May I ask you a question. All your sample shots have 3:2 ratio. The samples I obtained from RCG have 4:3 ratio and when converted to TIFF they have the same hight as yours but they are actually a fair bit shorter to represent the more square 4:3 ratio and the file size is smaller too. Have you cropped and adjusted the size of your pictures? Very beautiful photos BTW!!

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mmarian,

the 1" sensor of the new Phantom 4 Pro has 3:2 ratio while the older Phantom 4 / 3 had 4:3 ratio (which I didn't like). You get maximum file sizes with the Phantom 4 Pro by choosing the 3:2 format (and of course DNG file type). I think that's not the standard setting of the Phantom 4 Pro so quite a few people haven't figured that out. My files should offer maximum file sizes and are uncropped.

Best wishes,

Markus

mmarian said:

I thought you only need to do it once when shooting from the same distance, like broad landscape shots and than the camera retains its focus. Do you have to re-focus by touching the screen every time before each new shot?? That would imply that the focus changes by itself after each shot. I can't blieve that that is the case, or is it ??

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In theory, you are correct mmarian. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a focus shift after a couple of images though (see further down my posting).

My workflow:

1) I touch the screen once until the green rectangle appears (signaling the AF is now activated). You have to do that once before taking your series of images.

2) Then I take the image with the release button.

3) For the next shot, I softly press the release button (sort of half-press like with a DSLR) without touching the screen at all. The green rectangle changes size for a second and a beep sound can be heard, both signaling AF has been adjusted for the next image. Then I hard press the button and take the image.

For the next image, again, I first "half-press" to refocus and watch whether the green rectangle chances size for a second. Then I hard press and so on.

So I only touch the screen one time at the very beginning of a new flight. It's basically like with a DSLR. The only difference: You have to touch the screen once when you start taking your series of photos (without it AF is not enabled at all).

Now if you do it like you suggested, there is the risk of screwing up focus because the camera might misinterpret pressing the button as a half-pressing of the button and if there is white snow in the AF field, autofocus might get screwed (sorry about my English).

Best wishes,

Markus

Hello mmarian, thanks for posting the DNGs, very useful! Two questions:

(1) Can the camera be rotated to be in portrait format? I am asking because I like to use portrait format and turn the drone to acquire panoramas.

(2) Would you have any shots which include the sun so we can see what happens about flares? It would also say a lot about the dynamic range.

Presently I use a NikonCoolpixA slung under a Phantom 2 (see: https://www.natur-und-landschaft.ch). This camera has massive dynamic range, is very sharp and has a superb lens. However I have to fly "blind", i.e. I cannot remotely see through the camera. I am waiting for an affordable drone to appear on the market which transmits images _and_ is somewhat near the optical quality of the Nikon.

Many thanks again and best wishes

Juerg

Juerg Alean said:

Hello mmarian, thanks for posting the DNGs, very useful! Two questions:

(1) Can the camera be rotated to be in portrait format? I am asking because I like to use portrait format and turn the drone to acquire panoramas.

(2) Would you have any shots which include the sun so we can see what happens about flares? It would also say a lot about the dynamic range.

Presently I use a NikonCoolpixA slung under a Phantom 2 (see: https://www.natur-und-landschaft.ch). This camera has massive dynamic range, is very sharp and has a superb lens. However I have to fly "blind", i.e. I cannot remotely see through the camera. I am waiting for an affordable drone to appear on the market which transmits images _and_ is somewhat near the optical quality of the Nikon.

Many thanks again and best wishes

Juerg

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Hi there, Juerg. That's nice to meet you at dpreview. Maybe you remember me, I'm an amateur astronomer & physicist from your region. Always admired your work in astronomy. I once met you at the observatory in Bülach.

Though I'm not mmarian, if your questions concern the Phantom 4 Pro:

1) No, you cannot take images in portrait format. Just landscape format.

2) Flaring is quite nasty. But maybe a hood could solve that problem. I'll try to include an image which shows it:





Being able to view images live is vital. The Phantom 4 Pro really performs well at that.

Thanks Markus for the explanation of your routine to achieve focused images. I did not know about the half pressing of the shutter button on the remote controler activating the AF system like on a DSLR. It sounds like a good system. Your last paragraph is a bit confusing though. If I understand this correctly, when you touch the screen to activate the AF you need to choose a nice contrasty subject to establish the focus correctly, right? Then when you halfpress the button, the green AF square always appears on the same spot where you touched the screen the first time?? It will not search for the easiest area to focus on, right?? Like if it was a snow in the next shot where you originally touched the screen on the first shot, will it refocus on another subject somewhere else, if it would not be able to establish focus on the snow??

I find it hard to believe that the X5 would disappoint being M43 and all.... But I think the P4P is a step in the right direction for us Phantom users... Nit perfect yet but certainly workable!

mmarian said:

Your last paragraph is a bit confusing though. If I understand this correctly, when you touch the screen to activate the AF you need to choose a nice contrasty subject to establish the focus correctly, right?

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That's correct.

mmarian said:

Then when you halfpress the button, the green AF square always appears on the same spot where you touched the screen the first time?? It will not search for the easiest area to focus on, right??

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Exactly.

mmarian said:

Like if it was a snow in the next shot where you originally touched the screen on the first shot, will it refocus on another subject somewhere else, if it would not be able to establish focus on the snow??

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No, it would not refocus on another subject somewhere else.

It's the way I use a DSLR. I manually choose the AF sensor and it stays there unless I move it manually. With the DJI Phantom 4 Pro, I would have to touch the screen somewhere else to move the active AF "field".

I don't have a problem with this routine. It's very straightforward. Quite often I take two shots with the same framing to make sure everything is in focus.

Best wishes,

Markus

Follow-up: I didn't have any problems with focus so far. Snow wasn't a problem either. It's just something one might have to watch out for. When taking 60-80 shots for a panorama it might be a problem (e.g. with extended fog). So far I didn't half-press the button in these situations (so it didn't refocus) and was fine with it.

Markus

Moonwalker said:

Follow-up: I didn't have any problems with focus so far. Snow wasn't a problem either. It's just something one might have to watch out for. When taking 60-80 shots for a panorama it might be a problem (e.g. with extended fog). So far I didn't half-press the button in these situations (so it didn't refocus) and was fine with it.

Markus

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Thanks a lot Markus! Your input has been invaluable and I learned from it.

Hello back! ;-) Thanks for posting the image against the sun - most useful regarding flare. That is a problem as I like to include the sun in panoramas - have a look:

https://www.natur-und-landschaft.ch

I find that the Nikon Coolpix A is excellent RE flaring. Anyway, drone image quality seems to have improved a lot lately. All the best!

Juerg