bad focusing with I1Pro

Yes. Takes sharply focused images with DJI GO. Do I have to focus to infinity with DJI GO before switching to MP? I guess I need some tips on how to get the focus right.

Fixed focus doesn't seem to work very well. It should be taking an autofocus before every image. If the target area is weird or you are moving too fast it could mess up the auto focus. This will likely be less of an issue if flying higher. 

so I should:

1. ensure the AF/MF switch on the X5 lens is on AF.

2. Turn on DJI GO.

3. Set the DJI GO to AF.

4. Do another calibration, to ensure it is done properly.

5. turn DJI GO off and MP ON?

That sounds about right. Try slowing down a bit too.

I have had some focus issues too. Especially in multiple battery missions. Focus is ok between with one or few flights, but suddenly it´s all wrong after changing battery. Like today, i shot 10 battery mission and first two of them were fine. AF was on and camera control was manual. And altitude was high, 180m (with permission)

Yesterday did same kind of mission, but using MF with DJI Focus and everything was fine, except one battery flight was out off focus. Maybe i forgot to check that focus point was right. It has to be corrected to right set every time when battery was changed.

Should you go to DJI Go after everytime you change battery and make sure that AF is really on or am i missing something?

Tomorrow i´m testing normal infinity MF without DJI Focus. It´s really hard to trust AF because you don´t know if the pictures are sharp. And it´s takes too much time to check closely the pictures in laptop between each flight. And you can´t go back to previous point to shoot that flight again.

If manual focus will work for you then by all means go for it. If you are flying high it shouldn't matter. Doing an AF while moving is certainly not ideal since it is using successive image data to maximize contrast. If the successive images are changing then it makes the AF's job harder.

So if we first set the X5 to manual focus at infinity (calibrated beforehand at say 40m) in DJI Go, close DJI Go, and start up MP, will these settings be used by MP?  Manual focus would seem to be the most reliable strategy for nadir mapping missions and might also speed up the camera to help avoid dropping frames.

On a similar note, if we use the MP shutter priority mode with the X5 can we pre-set the iso first in DJI Go to say 200 or 400 and then let MP adjust the aperture accordingly?  I found that even an 800 iso causes little noise for the X5, while the X3 get very noisy if higher than 200 iso. 

Thanks,

Rob

On lenses that have a switch on the lens itself you can set it to manual and that is how it will run. If the lens does not have a switch it will be set to auto focus no matter the setting in DJI Go. DJI Focus is a different story since it has a completely separate interface. We have not tested with DJI Focus and can't speak to its operation.

In the absence of a range finder the camera is left with contrast based auto focus which can be unreliable while in motion.

In all circumstances stopping the aperture down a bit will expand the depth of focus and minimize focus issues. Mapping at F1.7 is totally unnecessary.

great to know, thanks.

Here is few things that i have learned especially after my first quite big jobs (130 hect, 10 battery missions) with Pro X5

AF might be ok, if you are doing single or two battery mission. They can be shooted again pretty fast, if something goes wrong.

Normal MF doesn´t seem to work properly. If i set infinity and close DJI Go, open and close MP and open DJI Go again, focus has changed. And i can´t trust it, because you can´t control it during of flight.

Best and most reliable way is to use DJI Focus controller. I didn´t get it to this use, but it is very good.

First i set the correct focus and put in one of three memory places. And when the missions start, and before MP starts taking pictures in right altitude, you just choose that focus memory place. DJI Focus overrides focusing what MP might want to do. You just have to remember to do that after every battery change. And the best part is, that if light conditions change, you can also correct aperture smoothly. You can also change aperture from RC, but it´s not smooth to use.

I have tried few times to set ISO something else than 100, but MP has always changed it back to 100. Have to do some testing for that too. Sometimes ISO 200 or 400 could be good.

We will look into adding a Manual Focus setting for users that wish to use it. 

Great. Exaple if you are shooting green forest on cloudy day, auto focus just won´t work.

I just had the same experience yesterday. Using my Inspire 1 Pro and a 25mm lens at an altitude of 121 meters, I did a 10 battery survey. These flights were out of focus: 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, and 10. These were in focus: 3, 5, 6, and 8. If MP is doing AF for each shot, I would expect to see variations within the group, but all the images from the out of focus group were off, and all from the other group were sharp, The lighting conditions were consistent, (very light high overcast with well defined shadows), speed maxed out at 6.6 m/s.

The lens is calibrated. If all the images were out of focus, then I'd look to my workflow as being the problem, but the inconsistency is frustrating to say the least. Since the 25mm lens does not have an AF/MF switch, it appears that I'm stuck, right? What to do...

Thanks,

Mark

As a follow up to my previous post, even though these images are out of focus, the mission was to look for drainage issues, and not volumetrics or leaf counting. Without zooming in, they don't look too bad, which is probably why I didn't catch that they were out of focus during the flight itself. Would I be able to submit these for stitching? They have a 60/60 overlap.

Thanks,

Mark

Map Pilot is not taking an autofocus for each shot because we learned that it was hard for camera to keep up in all conditions.

Currently Map Pilot will ascend the flight altitude and pull an autofocus there that will be in place for the entire flight. This happens on all flights of a multi flight mission. If you do not trust the focus that was pulled you can pause the mission and two finger tap on the camera preview area to force an autofocus at any time. 

If the terrain is uneven for the objective distance is not equal to the objective distance at the point overhead of the takeoff location then the focus will not be valid. This is especially an issue with faster lenses that have a narrower depth of field. Terrain Awareness can be used to minimize these affects. Flying higher will also help. 

I agree, setting the focus once at the beginning of the flight is a safer approach, especially if there is water anywhere in the flight. That could really be difficult to focus on.

I flew some more multi battery missions yesterday at two locations. At the first location, all of the images were out of focus. Not terribly, but not as sharp as they should be. I'm going to upload them for stitching to see if anything usable comes of them.

At the second location, I tried changing from Auto exposure to Shutter priority, with a shutter speed of 1/1000, thinking that would make the lens stop down more and at least give me more depth of field. The aperture values were slightly smaller, but not much more than 3.2.( If I could have set the ISO higher than the 100 it was shooting at, then I would have had more depth of field and a better chance at getting sharper images. Again, I'm using the 25mm lens and flying at 221 meters. I can't fly any higher without getting into trouble...)

The images at the second location were a mixed bag. The first three flights were nice and sharp, but flights 4-8 were all soft again. As I mentioned in another post, I can't get the focus to set manually at the start of the mission using the two finger tap. The app keeps interpreting that as a single finger tap, and just shrinks the preview window down. The timing of getting both fingers to hit the screen at the same time is just too tight. Trust me, I made several attempts at this.

I'll repeat the feature request I made in that other thread here: can the manual focus action be changed from a two finger tap to a single finger press and hold? That would be much easier to execute and differentiate from a single finger tap.

REALLY need to have this focus issue fixed so I can get consistent (good) results. On each flight, I always check that the app is confirming focus success once it reaches altitude, but clearly, it's not being successful.

Thanks,

Mark