Someone talk me out of returning my X5 Pro

[Steven Jurick]

I have a few flights on my new Inspire 1 Pro Black Edition and I must say I'm not happy. I bought a Yuneec Q500 last year around this time with it's first 1080p camera, then upgraded to their 4K camera. Although the image was not super nice, at least it was IN FOCUS.

Like I said I've had about 4 flights on my I1 and have been doing tests around my house. I cannot for the life of me get a video pass that I'm happy with (IN FOCUS). Stills are in focus all day. I just took what I thought was awesome sunset footage and all the trees and anything on the ground was WAY out of focus.

I have been searching for any information on how to correctly setup and use my camera but very little information, especially from DJI. Right now, love the quad, hate the camera.

I have calibrated the camera, tried Aperture Priority to force lens to stop down to t 11 or 16, etc. I cannot seem to get a consistent focus range with video. Even tried using the Landscape mode to ensure everything was in focus (lack of manual doesn't really mention which modes work only in Still or Video or both)

So, what am I doing wrong? I understand that this is a more professional camera and not a point-n-shoot like the phantoms / yuneecs of the world, but dang, I have spent $5K on a system that looks worse than them.

What is the secret to getting stuff in focus with these X5 cameras? I've seen footage online that shows comparison between a Sony and the X5 at night and BOTH look super sharp at 1.7 aperture so I'm pretty sure its my focusing and not that.

Please help me understand how to use this camera before my 30 days is up cause right now its pretty much worthless to me.

 

[rilot]

Re-calibrate your lens then use manual focus set to the hyperfocal distance. Job done.

 

[DennisR]

I have a few flights on my new Inspire 1 Pro Black Edition and I must say I'm not happy. I bought a Yuneec Q500 last year around this time with it's first 1080p camera, then upgraded to their 4K camera. Although the image was not super nice, at least it was IN FOCUS.

Like I said I've had about 4 flights on my I1 and have been doing tests around my house. I cannot for the life of me get a video pass that I'm happy with (IN FOCUS). Stills are in focus all day. I just took what I thought was awesome sunset footage and all the trees and anything on the ground was WAY out of focus.

I have been searching for any information on how to correctly setup and use my camera but very little information, especially from DJI. Right now, love the quad, hate the camera.

I have calibrated the camera, tried Aperture Priority to force lens to stop down to t 11 or 16, etc. I cannot seem to get a consistent focus range with video. Even tried using the Landscape mode to ensure everything was in focus (lack of manual doesn't really mention which modes work only in Still or Video or both)

So, what am I doing wrong? I understand that this is a more professional camera and not a point-n-shoot like the phantoms / yuneecs of the world, but dang, I have spent $5K on a system that looks worse than them.

What is the secret to getting stuff in focus with these X5 cameras? I've seen footage online that shows comparison between a Sony and the X5 at night and BOTH look super sharp at 1.7 aperture so I'm pretty sure its my focusing and not that.

Please help me understand how to use this camera before my 30 days is up cause right now its pretty much worthless to me.

Its all in calibrating the lens. There's a lot to read here how to.

 

[Quadpilot]

I have a few flights on my new Inspire 1 Pro Black Edition and I must say I'm not happy. I bought a Yuneec Q500 last year around this time with it's first 1080p camera, then upgraded to their 4K camera. Although the image was not super nice, at least it was IN FOCUS.

Like I said I've had about 4 flights on my I1 and have been doing tests around my house. I cannot for the life of me get a video pass that I'm happy with (IN FOCUS). Stills are in focus all day. I just took what I thought was awesome sunset footage and all the trees and anything on the ground was WAY out of focus.

I have been searching for any information on how to correctly setup and use my camera but very little information, especially from DJI. Right now, love the quad, hate the camera.

I have calibrated the camera, tried Aperture Priority to force lens to stop down to t 11 or 16, etc. I cannot seem to get a consistent focus range with video. Even tried using the Landscape mode to ensure everything was in focus (lack of manual doesn't really mention which modes work only in Still or Video or both)

So, what am I doing wrong? I understand that this is a more professional camera and not a point-n-shoot like the phantoms / yuneecs of the world, but dang, I have spent $5K on a system that looks worse than them.

What is the secret to getting stuff in focus with these X5 cameras? I've seen footage online that shows comparison between a Sony and the X5 at night and BOTH look super sharp at 1.7 aperture so I'm pretty sure its my focusing and not that.

Please help me understand how to use this camera before my 30 days is up cause right now its pretty much worthless to me.

You shouldn't be using apertures of f/11 or f/16, as diffraction at those small apertures results in images much less sharp than those that can be obtained at the sweet spot for most MFT lenses of f/4-f/5.6. To get acceptable shutter speeds for video down to the 180 degree rule use appropriate ND filters. All this assumes that you have properly calibrated lens for infinity. Lens calibration discussion here.

 

[gruvpix]

I have a few flights on my new Inspire 1 Pro Black Edition and I must say I'm not happy. I bought a Yuneec Q500 last year around this time with it's first 1080p camera, then upgraded to their 4K camera. Although the image was not super nice, at least it was IN FOCUS.

Like I said I've had about 4 flights on my I1 and have been doing tests around my house. I cannot for the life of me get a video pass that I'm happy with (IN FOCUS). Stills are in focus all day. I just took what I thought was awesome sunset footage and all the trees and anything on the ground was WAY out of focus.

I have been searching for any information on how to correctly setup and use my camera but very little information, especially from DJI. Right now, love the quad, hate the camera.

I have calibrated the camera, tried Aperture Priority to force lens to stop down to t 11 or 16, etc. I cannot seem to get a consistent focus range with video. Even tried using the Landscape mode to ensure everything was in focus (lack of manual doesn't really mention which modes work only in Still or Video or both)

So, what am I doing wrong? I understand that this is a more professional camera and not a point-n-shoot like the phantoms / yuneecs of the world, but dang, I have spent $5K on a system that looks worse than them.

What is the secret to getting stuff in focus with these X5 cameras? I've seen footage online that shows comparison between a Sony and the X5 at night and BOTH look super sharp at 1.7 aperture so I'm pretty sure its my focusing and not that.

Please help me understand how to use this camera before my 30 days is up cause right now its pretty much worthless to me.

What video mode are you shooting in and what firmware? Your lens is calibrated just fine if your stills are sharp.

 

[Floaf]

In worst case scenario, buy an X3 camera to your drone.

 

[seanmclean]

I don't understand the calibration issues people are having. Even following the super simple calibration procedure (point it at something 50m and tap calibrate), my focus is razor sharp. Even on lenses that I haven't bothered to calibrate yet.

 

[DaveInspire]

Check your aperture, turn on focus peaking and manually focus. Also see: Solving focus issues with the DJI X5 series cameras

 

[Quadpilot]

Check your aperture, turn on focus peaking and manually focus. Also see: Solving focus issues with the DJI X5 series cameras

Sorry, but that post is rife with errors. Please see my response to Kerry's blog post here:
RC Groups - View Single Post - Inspire 1 Owner's Thread - First Page has Support Information and FAQ's

 

[gruvpix]

I'm willing to bet everyone posting in this thread is wrong and you are still on firmware 1.3 which has a known issue of default sharpness being way too soft on d log and d cinelike modes. Try shooting video in 'none' and let us know if it's sharp. Unless you're long gone by now!

 

[AllanM]

Check your aperture, turn on focus peaking and manually focus. Also see: Solving focus issues with the DJI X5 series cameras

That link seem just a little erm, inaccurate. Perhaps he forgot to press the 'calculate button'.
On 2x crop 15mm at F11 everything is going to be in focus, from a few feet out.

As an aside, closing up the aperture and worrying about diffraction is plain daft. Video doesn't need the sharpness stills do, I rather shoot at F22 than put a bit of suspect glass in front of a decent lens.

I regularly shoot macro stills at F22 and even smaller.

Edit. Sorry I didn't see the link above, my post is irrelevant, but I'll leave rather than delete

 

[howard rockliffe]

That link seem just a little erm, inaccurate. Perhaps he forgot to press the 'calculate button'.
On 2x crop 15mm at F11 everything is going to be in focus, from a few feet out.

As an aside, closing up the aperture and worrying about diffraction is plain daft. Video doesn't need the sharpness stills do, I rather shoot at F22 than put a bit of suspect glass in front of a decent lens.

I regularly shoot macro stills at F22 and even smaller.

Edit. Sorry I didn't see the link above, my post is irrelevant, but I'll leave rather than delete

You make a very good point about adding more glass in front of the lens Allan, but to be fair, providing it is a good filter, there shouldn't be a problem. But if it is of poor quality glass, then it could prove more troublesome than the issue you're trying to correct!