[Phantom 3 Standard] Quality Issue - Help wanted

[benoitbelgium]

Hi everyone,

Been reading up on P3S quality debate (D-log, bitrate, etc.) but I can't seem to get anything decent out of my camera. Below a few screenshots. If anyone has any pointers, please let me know.

D-LOG | 2.7K | 30fps | -1, -1, -1
Ungraded Screencap
Graded Screencap

Is this the normal output of D-log? I'm barely able to bring back ANY color The only thing that looks remotely acceptable is the road.

AUTO | 1080 | 30fps | 0, 0, 0
Ungraded Screencap
Graded Screencap
Youtube to Graded Footage

This is a little better, but in the dark areas there is still some jitter going on. Thoughts on what's causing that?


I am going on a road trip soon and I thought I could get footage like this because it's the same kind of drone. I am assuming I'm doing something wrong. Help!

Cheers

 

[RodPad]

Welcome to the forum!
Well I'm not good on images, but these are stills, or stills from video?

Since your new here, and I guess with Phantoms.
Where are you getting your videos and stills. Mobile device or SD card?

Rod

 

[cprevost]

What are you using to color grade? What you show looks pretty normal for this camera. The sensor size is the same as in a budget consumer level camera. Not going t be anywhere close to what you get with a DSLR or other big sensor camera.

 

[benoitbelgium]

Welcome to the forum!
Well I'm not good on images, but these are stills, or stills from video?

Since your new here, and I guess with Phantoms.
Where are you getting your videos and stills. Mobile device or SD card?

Rod

Hi Rod!

These are stills from video. I am getting them from a 64GB Extreme SanDisk card into my computer. I guess I am wondering if with this particular camera it is still advisable to shoot in D-LOG as it really loses quality and information. Pretty hard to bring back any color in either Premiere or After Effects.

Any ideas on the flicker in the shadow as seen in the short youtube clip?

Thanks!

 

[benoitbelgium]

What are you using to color grade? What you show looks pretty normal for this camera. The sensor size is the same as in a budget consumer level camera. Not going t be anywhere close to what you get with a DSLR or other big sensor camera.

I am using Premiere Pro and After Effects, interchangeably. I realize that it won't come out as well as a high end DSLR, but I've seen videos with the same camera that look sharper and seem to contain more information (like this).

Am I just causing a sensor overload because of all the trees and leaves? Would you recommend still shooting in D-LOG as it really loses quality and information. Pretty hard to bring back any color in either Premiere or After Effects. With settings on auto, and even none, the grading went a little better as seen in the youtube clip I posted. Shooting in 1080 seems to yield better results than shooting in 2.7K.

Also, any idea what causes the jitter in the shadows? Is this just compression because of P3S bitrate and not a fix for that?

Any pointers would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[Peter Hartmann]

PHANTOM 3 photo quality question, cont:

I am VERY pleased with both the color saturation and fairly high resolution of both video and "stills" taken with my Phantom 3 "standard". Certainly at least as good as any "high grade amateur level" cameras I have had in the past.

Obviously, we cannot control the "f" stops on this camera. What we CAN do is effectively control the exposure with the digital equiv. of shutter speeds. Go into your "CAMERA" menu and try different "speeds". I find the "1200" setting on mine gives great balance on all but the darkest early morning and late evening shots.

 

[cprevost]

You are out of my depth here. I did find this article useful.
Thoughts on Shooting with the 4K DJI Phantom 3 & Grading the Footage to Look Awesome
He's specific about exposure and other camera settings for best quality. I think that getting the exposure exactly right is going to be key in these small sensors.

 

[cprevost]

Honestly I think the camera on my Nexus 6P cellphone is better for sharpness, lens quality, and ISO performance. I get serious distortion and lack of sharpness near the edge of the frame and noise at any ISO above 100. But, my cellphone won't take videos and photos from 400 feet...

 

[Peter Hartmann]

........ I did find this article useful. DJI Phantom 3 & Grading the Footage to Look Awesome......He's specific about exposure and other camera settings for best quality. I think that getting the exposure exactly right is going to be key in these small sensors.

............................................
What am I missing here ? What article - by whom ? There is a way to control exposure other than by shutter speed ? Exactly where is the "f stop / exposure adjustment on a Phantom 3 "standard"...?

 

[RodPad]

Thanks for you guys helping out!
I have no idea what "D-LOG" and few other terms.

Today, this is not important for me.

Rod

 

[120CCPM]

To the OP: check out this video, which explains why people who color-grade their footage should use D-Log and -3 -3 -3 (footage is from a P4, but I would assume the same principles apply to the P3S, even if the video quality is nowhere near). In general, I'd say this: unless you really know what you're doing, you're better off going with AUTO settings, and use exposure compensation in case of very bright or dark subjects.
On a bright day, you might want to consider using an ND filter: many people say it makes a big difference (I actually ended up buying a set, but I have yet to use them, so I can't comment).
Lastly, the YouTube video you mentioned as a great example of P3S footage, in my opinion doesn't look that good, it's too saturated.

 

[benoitbelgium]

To the OP: check out this video, which explains why people who color-grade their footage should use D-Log and -3 -3 -3 (footage is from a P4, but I would assume the same principles apply to the P3S, even if the video quality is nowhere near). In general, I'd say this: unless you really know what you're doing, you're better off going with AUTO settings, and use exposure compensation in case of very bright or dark subjects.
On a bright day, you might want to consider using an ND filter: many people say it makes a big difference (I actually ended up buying a set, but I have yet to use them, so I can't comment).
Lastly, the YouTube video you mentioned as a great example of P3S footage, in my opinion doesn't look that good, it's too saturated.

Hi, thanks for the pointer! Will definitely look into that! I agree on the ND's, I've been testing an ND8 which works miracles for shutter speed so very happy with those. I have a background in film and know why to shoot in something like LOG but with the P3S, it seems redundant. You mention it would be the same as the P4 but that one actually shoots in a higher bitrate (up to 60mbps) compared to the P3S (up to 40bps) meaning even less information will be retained. From all of the testing I've done over the past few days, I've been able to figure out when the camera works well and when it doesn't (sensor-overload with trees, grass, etc.)

My one question would be in this case: shooting in -3, -3, -3 D-log, how can you bring back the detail with this P3S? In my opinion, you really can't all that well.

Lastly, I didn't really mean to point to that footage as 'a great example' but more as a way of saying: "how is my footage to mushy and unclear when this guy's is pretty crips?". That's the main thing I'm trying to find out - how to shoot at -3 DLog but still being able to get decent and sharp video. Hope that makes sense?

Thanks again!

 

[120CCPM]

It seems you know what you're talking about, so if you say that D-Log on the P3S doesn't actually help, I believe you. As a matter of fact, I did some experiments a while ago, trying to find some good settings for night flying, and D-Log made things worst (I wasn't trying anything fancy in post, just some basic brightness/contrast adjustments and de-noising).