Anyone have any info on the quality of the RAW files with the Autel Nano+?

Darkmatterx76 said:

I've read somewhere (can't remember where) that some people were disappointed in the quality of the RAWs. I know people are not happy with the price increase.

Were the other tech issues ironed out? I'm trying to avoid DJI for their fence, but Autel has really blundered this launch. On top of that, we may get a Mini 3 soon. Who knows.

Thanks

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Did you read this thread?

That's a big negative. Reading now.

Thanks!

Edit: Wow. So.... did they ever fix the gimbal jello or sport mode speed issues? And now there's this... It's not looking to good for Autel on the nano's.

The price increase also sucks, but the whole "world situation" sucks right now, so it's not exactly hard to see that part happening. Just look at gas prices.

I was trying to avoid DJI, but now I'm not so sure. Any word on a Mini 3?

DM

Darkmatterx76 said:

That's a big negative. Reading now.

Thanks!

Edit: Wow. So.... did they ever fix the gimbal jello or sport mode speed issues? And now there's this... It's not looking to good for Autel on the nano's.

The price increase also sucks, but the whole "world situation" sucks right now, so it's not exactly hard to see that part happening. Just look at gas prices.

I was trying to avoid DJI, but now I'm not so sure. Any word on a Mini 3?

DM

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I am on my first drone but I have to say the Air2s that is have is darn impressive.

Oh also, what was this on the other forum about 12MP raws or 50MP jpgs and the jpgs have less detail then the raws? Of course, jpg is lossy, but are they advertising it as a 50MP camera that can only do 50MP for jpgs???

Thanks

From what little I read, it doesn't appear 50mp photos are enabled currently. I have a Galaxy S21 Ultra so I already take claims of crazy high resolution with a health dose of skepticism

From what I saw on YT it looks like the Nano's process even the raw files. They looked less sharp and I saw what looked like artifacts that were similar to jpg compression.

Also, the videos I watched mentioned that 10bit is not enabled, and there was something about a "lock" not being unlockable? I wasn't sure what that meant.

/sad

DM

These were the only raw files I could find from the Nano+. Not too encouraging.

https://www.techdronemedia.com/download-1

Sigh.

What is this, a demo on "How to completely botch your product launch in several easy to use steps!"

Darkmatterx76 said:

From what I saw on YT it looks like the Nano's process even the raw files. They looked less sharp and I saw what looked like artifacts that were similar to jpg compression.

Also, the videos I watched mentioned that 10bit is not enabled, and there was something about a "lock" not being unlockable? I wasn't sure what that meant.

/sad

DM

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The bitrates on the Autel Nano is also pretty miserable, i.e. no better than the Mini 2.

DJI Mini 3 is coming shortly and if recent form is anything to go on (Mavic 3) I'm expecting the new model to be quite a bit more expensive, maybe with a big sensor. However the reality with the sub-250 gramme drones to date is that they are have serious comprises, and they're only worth it if you specifically need this weight-class.

When you say the bitrate is bad for the nano, did you mean the nano+?

Hi,

I got the Nano+ this week. Currently it only produces 12MP DNG files in the "raw" setting. Adobe products have a hard time with the RYYB sensor decoding, so the images have a yellow cast. I have tried producing a custom camera profile and that helps, but still not where you'd want to be from a color perspective. In Lightroom I use the color grading tool to add back some Red into the image and that improves it a lot. Not ideal, but a lot better than where I was at the start of the week.

This appears to be a weakness in Adobe Camera Raw processing -- it assumes an RGB Bayer array sensor. You can see there are similar Adobe camera raw problems with the Huawei P30/P40 phones as they use the same Sony RYYB sensor.

12MP DNG files converted to black and white are very clean with good contrast. The JPGs out of the drone are very good indeed, even in low light. You can only get 50MP images in JPG (no RAW) in the current firmware -- maybe they will fix this later.

I had a DJI Mavic Air 2 previously, and I would say the Nano+'s JPG files are of similar quality -- though DJI drone has an RGB sensor so there is no issue with DNG files in Adobe products. 48MP photos are a bit "soft" in the Air 2.

The much publicized "jello" effect is fixed in the current firmware too, and the drone flies well and produces good video. I re-calibrated everything (IMU, compass, gimbal) after upgrading firmware, and then restarted the drone and it's working well for me.

4K video is great. Love it.

Overall, for a 249g drone the Nano+ punches well about its weight. And the 249g limit matters a lot to me. It's a better drone than the Mini 2 for sure. Since all we have for the Mini 3 are rumors, hard to tell. But if the Mini 3 has the same camera as the Air 2, then it'll be OK but not great. I suspect the Nano+ camera can be in the "great" category with the right firmware as the hardware is better.

Darkmatterx76 said:

When you say the bitrate is bad for the nano, did you mean the nano+?

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Both the Nano and Nano + have a 100Mbps bitrate, which is the same as the Mini 2.

The Autel Nano and + can shoot in H.265 whereas the Mini 2 can only do H.264, so that will be better quality files. However I am not aware that the Nanos feature any kind of log files, so that is a limit on dynamic range (the Mini 2 doesn't have log video either).

Basically the Nano and Nano + are better than the Mini 2 but lack some features that would be nice for video, especially 4k60p.
https://www.autelrobotics.com/productdetail/24.html#jsgg

Thanks for the first hand info! I'd love to see some more raw or jpeg samples in good light, if you don't mind posting some. I was really hoping the Nano+ would be within spitting distance of the Air 2s in image quality but maybe that's asking too much.

Sure -- Dropbox link here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jhqx8m36vdw4h1n/AAD-7FA5dHJ5nj2KYE9Q_fj-a?dl=0

I think the image quality is very good for the sensor size -- especially video. The folder above has H.265-encoded video, RAW files and a 50MP JPEG.

Thanks for the link. I was curious as well. Hopefully Autel will get this worked out. I wasn't crazy about the jpgs. But thanks, again.

Thanks, much appreciated!

Thanks for the upload.

The "50MP" jpgs are a joke! It looks like this is their version (wording) for "digital zoom." lol

mlodge said:

Sure -- Dropbox link here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jhqx8m36vdw4h1n/AAD-7FA5dHJ5nj2KYE9Q_fj-a?dl=0

I think the image quality is very good for the sensor size -- especially video. The folder above has H.265-encoded video, RAW files and a 50MP JPEG.

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I agree the 50MP image has lots of artifacts and "jaggies" at 1:1. I have not been shooting stills at 50MP (I just took that one 50MP image on that flight) so will take some more -- it's possible I hit digital zoom by mistake when changing the settings on the Autel Sky app.

I believe that the sensor is the Sony IMX700, which is truly 50MP and has the RYYB Bayer array. It's used in Huawei smartphones.

They're doing pixel binning for the 12MP images (combining several pixels on the sensor) and for the 4K video. It reduces noise so you get much cleaner images.

Which, sounds like one of those things that would be great as an option for the user to decide on.

mlodge said:

I agree the 50MP image has lots of artifacts and "jaggies" at 1:1. I have not been shooting stills at 50MP (I just took that one 50MP image on that flight) so will take some more -- it's possible I hit digital zoom by mistake when changing the settings on the Autel Sky app.

I believe that the sensor is the Sony IMX700, which is truly 50MP and has the RYYB Bayer array. It's used in Huawei smartphones.

They're doing pixel binning for the 12MP images (combining several pixels on the sensor) and for the 4K video. It reduces noise so you get much cleaner images.

Click to expand...