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Camera focus and sharpness.

Here are a couple of links that I sent over to Autel for review. They asked that I reset the camera and shot auto exposure at 4K 30.

I was shooting over the weekend and noticed this tower bending at the top as I approached and climbed.
That bending at the top looks abnormal to me. These two clips show serious distortion or bending.

These clips use the same protocol as requested in the previous email.

Is it abnormal?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rgxyob4jtb1juy4/Tower%20trimmed%20in%20QTPro.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tj1mstgsqszqi1s/Towner%202%20TRIMMED%20Iin%20QT.mov?dl=0
 
Here are a couple of links that I sent over to Autel for review. They asked that I reset the camera and shot auto exposure at 4K 30.

I was shooting over the weekend and noticed this tower bending at the top as I approached and climbed.
That bending at the top looks abnormal to me. These two clips show serious distortion or bending.

These clips use the same protocol as requested in the previous email.

Is it abnormal?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rgxyob4jtb1juy4/Tower%20trimmed%20in%20QTPro.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tj1mstgsqszqi1s/Towner%202%20TRIMMED%20Iin%20QT.mov?dl=0
No, it's not normal.
 
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Daniel, I downloaded your videos. They look great on my 4K monitor, nice and sharp, good color. MAX_0021 must be shot in a LOG format to gather maximum dynamic range. You can easily make correction in post by increasing contrast and saturation (or use a LUT).
The distortion you see is not unusual for a wide-angle lens, particularly when moving the camera back and forth close to something vertical like the tower. Also, expect to see distortion at the edges whenever the horizon is near the top or bottom of the screen. The fact that your horizon is almost straight, even near the top of the screen is an indication of some distortion corrections are taking place in the camera. Check out other people's drone videos on YouTube. Here's an example I shot a couple of years ago with my Typhoon H:
 
I received this response from Autel Support.

"Thank you for your patience. Here are the findings after reviewing the videos.

1.Creative Team reviewed the new videos and analyzed them in Adobe Premier, 2 of them do look soft but that appears to be from shooting at too high of an ISO setting.

2.Also all footage on our site and generally from our users is shot in LOG profile and color graded in post production.

Recommendations:

3.For best results no ISO over 400, shoot in LOG mode for post processing/color grading.

4.If shooting stills make sure to capture in RAW/DNG as the JPG compression isn’t great.

5. Creative Team believes there is no issue with the camera, however if you would like want to send the drone for camera evaluation , we can start the process and we will pass it along to creative team to shoot and review."

I think it is fair and helpful.
I will take their advice and keep trying to make better images.
Here's to hope that the next effort by Autel puts a great new camera on their awesome drone.
 
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As suggested above, try experimenting with the "style" settings (sharpness, contrast, and color) and that might bring an image you will like.
I can tell you this, I bought the EVO in Oct of 2018 and was floored by the clarity and general image quality.
In Feb of this year (2019) I (All my fault.. big oopsy trying to get a close up of a birds nest in the tree) had a bit of a "tangle" with a palm tree and the EVO fell Approx 25 feet and caused camera gimble damage, battery and a few cosmetic problems. Autel replaced the gimble and a cover and it was a very reasonably priced repair and it was completed quickly. Approx 1 month after that I had problems with the LEDs on the legs. Autel repaired it under warranty.. Approx 1 month later I started having GPS issues with the drone and sent it back and Autel repaired a control board under warranty and sent it back.... seemed ok until the 3rd flight and then the GPS wouldn't work at all. I sent it back again and this time they swapped with a "tested ..open box" unit.
That one would not read the SD card 3 out of 5 times ( had to re-boot a few times to get it to read the card) and the image quality on this replacement bird was noticeably softer than the "original" bird. Also, the remote was a newer version because it had a much louder fan and the power button had a light. I sent it all back again and they repaired it and all was OK but the Image quality was never as good as the first version. I had to adjust those settings to get the image looking sharper, etc to get it to look better but it was never quite the same.
I did not have to change those settings on the original under the same conditions...I believe there was a different camera/sensor hardware in the newer one that was not as good.
 
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Support has been good. Shipping time slow. you ha w had quite an experience. It says something about either Autel or you that you didn’t bail out long ago.

Yes, I agree the camera is soft.

I haven’t had a chance to test the adjustments yet, but this weekend is looking good.

I will follow up
 
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Support has been good. Shipping time slow. you ha w had quite an experience. It says something about either Autel or you that you didn’t bail out long ago.

Yes, I agree the camera is soft.

I haven’t had a chance to test the adjustments yet, but this weekend is looking good.

I will follow up
Yes, Plz post your experiences.
I still think the hardware has changed in the later devices including the camera itself.

Autel has been great about the service but most of the problems I had seem to be the result of not properly testing the drone before sending it back or re-labeling as a "tested open-box" as in the last experience.
Even if the first drone's problems were related to my crash, they did charge to fix it and I would assume it should be tested before return. If any other concerns were related to my crashing it, then that shouldn't have been warrantied!
It just seems they are creating a lot of "come-back" work and costs by not testing fully.
Again, I am not trying to speak negatively about their service but rather addressing a concern with the latest camera not being as "good" as the original.
 
Manufacturing to perfection is almost impossible. So defects and quality issues make it through all the time. Products can appear to be functioning normally and still have deficiencies. My drone is a perfect example. The waypoint function was not functioning. Autel fixed it, but it was a three week turn around. Sadly summer days are getting shorter.

I still haven’t had a chance to fly.
 
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