Chinthurst Hill

[Rubik]

No, you're right - it isn't a proper RAW mode - it's not even a greater bit rate ! But it does respond best of all modes to grading in DVR I find, although Natural is a close second, and is what I used to use. But for currently unexplained reasons I keep getting these weird dimming flashes in my footage, which are only minimized to the point where I can't really notice them in Raw mode, so I'm kinda stuck with it ! Even sent the cam back to Yuneec at one point, who sent it back saying they couldn't find anything wrong with it :/

I get those white flashes in my CGO3+ 4k Natural mode videos also. They are only a single frame. I usually just cut them out. I'll try the Raw mode to see if they are sufficiently minimized.
Beautiful video, BTW. Would love to see it in 4k.

 

[Rubik]

Yes I do mean exactly that, and you are the first person so far to actually acknowledge that it happens to someone other than me !!! Even Yuneec denied it, and I very much suspect they were not telling the truth when they said they had never seen this problem before ! But I've started whole threads about this, and nobody could concur with me that they had the same problem ! So I am most relieved to hear I am NOT going mad, and that you have noticed it too. It's actually a bit of a game changer for me - and Yuneec's inability to confirm or fix it probably means the next UAV I buy will have Autel written on it rather than Yuneec. It is a HORRIBLE flaw with the cameras that have it - almost makes the whole endeavour pointless !!
And yet I watch so many TH videos that don't appear to have the problem at all, so can't believe it's every camera, or there'd be more flawed footage out there. I wondered if it might be a shielding thing, and the camera was getting interference from somewhere, but I don't really know what to do to test or improve this..

I have found that it happens worst if your exposure is ever much under what it should be - the brighter the recorded result the less it happens, which is how I'm getting away with it here ! My skies are blown out for a reason !

OK, I see you are referring to a different problem. No, you are not MAD. I get that 1/sec pulsing occasionally also, but not consistently. As AH-1G suggested, it may be associated with auto setting for white balance or exposure. I sometimes shoot in Auto exposure when moving from bright sunlight to deep shadows. I'll have to go back through my videos and flight diary to see if there is a pattern.

I saw a video recently on YT from a frequent poster using a Phantom 3 Pro. It pulsed 1/sec badly. In that video, it seemed to be the sharpness setting that was pulsing. He was shooting a river rapids in the shadows. Ruined an otherwise beautiful video. The poster blamed it on shooting at 24 fps and posting at 30 fps or vice versa.

 

[AeroJ]

Thanks for the suggestion, @Rubic, but alas no, we can confirm it's not the same white flashes you get in Auto Mode - I also had them of course, but like you said, only when testing Auto WB, and I have never used that since without locking it - and I'm always using manual exposure these days...

The dimming flashes me and @Ren57 are getting are something else, though we don't know what Interesting that you found a similar symptom in P3 footage (I'd like to see that if you still have a link), but I can eliminate that frame-rate mismatch hypothesis in my case because I am extremely careful to set my projects up at 29.97, which matches what I am shooting at (unhelpfully described as 30FPS, but is actually 29.97). I did also test at other frame rates before I sent the cam back to Yuneec, but I had the flashes in all of them.

What is most interesting is that you mentioned sharpening. I agree - it does look like sharpness is changing (as well as brightness) on those odd frames, which might go some way to explaining why Raw mode (the least sharpened of all them) exhibits the problem least.

I should also mention again the complete absence of the problem when filming at 1080, which for me is one of the most curious / inexplicable things.
The mystery continues...

 

[Ren57]

I should also mention again the complete absence of the problem when filming at 1080, which for me is one of the most curious / inexplicable things.
The mystery continues...

OK. I'd forgotten the last video I did with the H. I was doing some playing around with settings, just to see what it looked like. This short clip was shot in Natural at 1080 @ 120fps. AeroJ, tell me if you see the same thing that I'm seeing in this clip? Interesting I think.

I then tried natural in 1080 at 30fps, like you nothing, nada, nowt! No pulsating effect that my old eyes can detect anyway.

 

[Ren57]

oops, forgot to put in the link, d'oh! Here it is Pulsating Effect 120fps.mp4

 

[AeroJ]

This short clip was shot in Natural at 1080 @ 120fps. AeroJ, tell me if you see the same thing that I'm seeing in this clip? Interesting I think.

That seems to have random flashing and not enough bitrate to have any detail in the trees ! I've never done anything at 120 FPS, and looks like I'm not missing much
I really really don't understand why the 4k (all framerates) and 1080 120FPS would flash when other 1080 modes don't - that seems to defy all logic to me !

 

[AH-1G]

I tried 120fps once, not good results. When I set up Image as raw it affected my video also, poor results.
When setting for AWB I toggle the camera in the most up right position while on the ground then lock WB.
I have Gorgeous view set also, makes a big difference when shooting video, from there I set my ISO and Shutters manual.

 

[Ren57]

I really really don't understand why the 4k (all framerates) and 1080 120FPS would flash when other 1080 modes don't - that seems to defy all logic to me !

No, you're not missing much.Apart from the fact the at 120fps, you seem to get a zooming effect? But I'm seeing the pulsating happening about every half second or about twice as fast? If that is the case, then it does appear to be something to do with the settings?

 

[AH-1G]

This is a video where I had Image set at Raw. you can see the lack of color. Also it causes it to blur.
Even though I played this through GomPlayer the saturation wasn't able to help.
I like using GP, for viewing and for my customers to view, before doing any post production.

 

[Rubik]

Interesting that you found a similar symptom in P3 footage (I'd like to see that if you still have a link). The mystery continues...

Here is the P3P footage with 1/sec pulsing that is severe and seems to be associated with sharpness:

 

[Rubik]

This is a video where I had Image set at Raw. you can see the lack of color. Also it causes it to blur.

I think the blur that you see is the lack of sharpness. Adding a little sharpness in post usually works better than the in-camera over-sharpening associated with Natural and Gorgeous. I've turned down the in-camera sharpness settings on my cameras.

 

[AH-1G]

Me like very much! What a great scenic place to fly.
Frustrating when you spend all this time planning a mission and the results are less than expected.
like the music also, it goes well with the vid.

 

[AeroJ]

Here is the P3P footage with 1/sec pulsing that is severe and seems to be associated with sharpness:

Very odd. Thanks for sharing it. That flashing seemed to be more sporadic and quite frenetic, rather than the regular blinks we're getting on the H.

I'm wondering if there's any way I can add some additional screening to the craft to try and eliminate that interference, if that's what it is...

Probably nothing I can do before tomorrow's flights, which if luck and weather are on my side will be from the summit of the highest hill in Hampshire... hoping my video is of the no-flash variety

 

[Ren57]

That seems to have random flashing and not enough bitrate to have any detail in the trees ! I've never done anything at 120 FPS, and looks like I'm not missing much
I really really don't understand why the 4k (all framerates) and 1080 120FPS would flash when other 1080 modes don't - that seems to defy all logic to me

Maybe something to do with the file size. In 4K a 5 minute shoot will give you a file of over 1Gb. It's the same with 5 minutes of 1080 @ 120fps, the file size is over 1Gb. On the other hand, 5 minutes of 1080 @ 30fps gives you about a 300Mb file....?

 

[Uneek_Pilot]

Beautiful colors.

 

[Rubik]

OK. I went back over the last 1-1/2 years of shooting video with my TH to see if I can find any correlation between the 1/sec pulsing and any of the camera settings or circumstances of the flight. Although it happened rarely, here's what I have found:
1. It only occurs in UHD (3840x2160x30fps) videos.
2. It only occured when I set color to Natural. It does not occur with RAW setting (I have no examples of Gorgeous to examine).
3. It is usually noticeable when the camera is not moving but complex scenery is moving, such as:
4. It can be seen in the stationary portions of a scene when the view is dominated by flowing or rippling water.
5. It is usually visible in the darker, heavily textured areas of the view, such as trees, gravel, crops, etc. in the above situations.
6. It does not appear when the camera is moving.
7. It occasionally happens in grossly underexposed scenes.
8. The pulsing may only be apparent for a small portion of the video.
9. The pulsing appears to be fluctuation of sharpness.

What I conclude from this is that ND filters, white balance and normal exposure settings do not cause this problem. It appears to be situation dependent. The UHD dependence (1.), flowing/rippling water (4.) and heavily textured areas (5.) suggest that the camera is struggling with making in-camera sharpness corrections in those situations. We don't see the pulsing when the camera is moving because the image is already blurred by motion. BTW, I always use U3 microSD cards but the actual write speed may vary.

Based on this, I plan to shoot video in "RAW" mode more often, especially if I'm flying over water.

 

[AJan]

In a whole week of pretty much constant wind and rain we had a freak day of sun and no wind yesterday, so I strapped on my H and headed uphill to make the most of it...
Having done all the good hills in Hampshire now I moved a little further north, and this time we're in in the foothills of Surrey, just south of Guildford.

Also a couple of panoramas...

Chinthurst Hill, 40 ft
Chinthurst Hill, 400 ft

AeroJ

Very nice indeed!

 

[Ren57]

OK. I went back over the last 1-1/2 years of shooting video with my TH to see if I can find any correlation between the 1/sec pulsing and any of the camera settings or circumstances of the flight. Although it happened rarely, here's what I have found:
1. It only occurs in UHD (3840x2160x30fps) videos.
2. It only occured when I set color to Natural. It does not occur with RAW setting (I have no examples of Gorgeous to examine).
3. It is usually noticeable when the camera is not moving but complex scenery is moving, such as:
4. It can be seen in the stationary portions of a scene when the view is dominated by flowing or rippling water.
5. It is usually visible in the darker, heavily textured areas of the view, such as trees, gravel, crops, etc. in the above situations.
6. It does not appear when the camera is moving.
7. It occasionally happens in grossly underexposed scenes.
8. The pulsing may only be apparent for a small portion of the video.
9. The pulsing appears to be fluctuation of sharpness.

What I conclude from this is that ND filters, white balance and normal exposure settings do not cause this problem. It appears to be situation dependent. The UHD dependence (1.), flowing/rippling water (4.) and heavily textured areas (5.) suggest that the camera is struggling with making in-camera sharpness corrections in those situations. We don't see the pulsing when the camera is moving because the image is already blurred by motion. BTW, I always use U3 microSD cards but the actual write speed may vary.

Based on this, I plan to shoot video in "RAW" mode more often, especially if I'm flying over water.

Yes. Raw for me from now on. I'll just have to learn how to colour grade it better than I have been doing....

 

[Rubik]

Yes. Raw for me from now on. I'll just have to learn how to colour grade it better than I have been doing....

For me, the pulsing problem has been pretty rare. So, for most of my aerial videos, I will continue to use Natural.

I went back to look at your "Pulsating Effect.mp4" in comment #25 of this thread. It seems to defy many of the situations that I listed above except the presence of complex or textured areas in the view. Tell me, did you record that at 3840 and post at 1080? And, what speed of microSD card did you use (U1, U3)?

 

[Ren57]

I went back to look at your "Pulsating Effect.mp4" in comment #25 of this thread. It seems to defy many of the situations that I listed above except the presence of complex or textured areas in the view. Tell me, did you record that at 3840 and post at 1080? And, what speed of microSD card did you use (U1, U3)?

The video was shot in 3840 and rendered to 1080 microSD card was U1.