Replacement 3.9 Lens-Verdict?

[WilsonFlyer]

For those of you that have tuned the stock lens and those of you that have replaced the stock with the 3.9, what is the final verdict?

I tend to hate throwing good money at a bad problem but unless a release of a better camera and mount for substantial dollars is on the near horizon from Yuneec, something has to be done.

I'm not scared to tune or replace. Not at all. I'd just like to do the right thing one time.

Thanks in advance for any insight and advice.

-bob

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Here is my take from what I've seen so far on the subject...

If you have a camera problem (bad image, blurry image, outer distortion which is obvious, etc), then you should at least try returning it to Yuneec at least once. You may be lucky and receive a replacement camera that is of reasonable quality.

If you have already done this, and the replacement camera works fine but has a blurry image across the ENTIRE frame, then the next option would be to "consider" attempting to focus the lens yourself knowing full well that you are ending the warranty on your camera. CAUTION: If only part of the picture is blurry, then attempting to adjust the focus may cause the blurry portion to be in focus and the non-blurry portion to become out of focus. This is due to how the lens sits atop the sensor... if the frame attached to the sensor which holds the lens has been glued on at a slight angle, you probably can't fix it to perfection. In such cases send the camera back to Yuneec once again.

Personally, I would attempt focusing the stock lens before I would consider replacing the lens with the one from Peau Productions. The reason is that, you may be satisfied with the results of a nicely focused lens.

Remember, the lens is only part of the equation for a good picture. A properly focused lens makes for a clear, pleasing picture. However, the CGO3+ sensor, processor, firmware will remain the same which is still part of the final image issues currently.

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

I remember when I first saw that video I thought to myself.... Why does the Typhoon H image look poor in color and lacking in detail? I thought the guy had smudged the lens. But now, after seeing all the comments on this forum and others about the image quality, I'd say this guys Typhoon H is par for the course. If the only drone camera you have is the Typhoon H, then for most people the image is good enough. I wish there were more videos on YouTube to prove this wrong, but currently there is not.

One thing to note about the video above. In every shot where the Typhoon H took shots at a distance, the image was far to soft. However, when both cameras were side by side and taking a photo of the front porch and garden, the images are much more similar. Which then tells me that just like most of our Typhoon H cameras, the H takes better photos when the image is not as bright. If the image is bright it gets over exposed and loses detail.

 

[DroneClone]

Use manual adjustments, not Auto and I bet you will be pleased, IF, you haven't already tried!

 

[Mdracer]

I just completed the conversion. I can say that i am pleased with it but concerned slightly as the distortion angles have changed but fat better than they were before.
Below are the before and after shots so disregard the white balance changes. (that is my weak spot)
Taken at 8pm Stock Lens

Shot at 8am Lens from Carolina Dronz

I do however believe that the stock lens was not in focus as well as it could be.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

 

[OnTheRopes]

Replacement lens shows some bad barrel distortion? Maybe not a problem for standard aerial landscape.

 

[Markinter]

I just completed the conversion. I can say that i am pleased with it but concerned slightly as the distortion angles have changed but fat better than they were before.
Below are the before and after shots so disregard the white balance changes. (that is my weak spot)
Taken at 8pm Stock Lens
View attachment 1684
Shot at 8am Lens from Carolina Dronz
View attachment 1685
I do however believe that the stock lens was not in focus as well as it could be.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

It'd be helpful if you could compare shots at the same time of day as the stock shot. Nice chalk drawing

 

[DroneClone]

I just completed the conversion. I can say that i am pleased with it but concerned slightly as the distortion angles have changed but fat better than they were before.
Below are the before and after shots so disregard the white balance changes. (that is my weak spot)
Taken at 8pm Stock Lens
View attachment 1684
Shot at 8am Lens from Carolina Dronz
View attachment 1685
I do however believe that the stock lens was not in focus as well as it could be.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

Hard to tell, since they were taken 12 hours apart, whole different lighting angle?

 

[Chilcotin]

Hmmm, doesn't look like 82 fov to me. Try better positioning, outdoor shot

 

[Burntpixel]

I just completed the conversion. I can say that i am pleased with it but concerned slightly as the distortion angles have changed but fat better than they were before.
Below are the before and after shots so disregard the white balance changes. (that is my weak spot)
Taken at 8pm Stock Lens
View attachment 1684
Shot at 8am Lens from Carolina Dronz
View attachment 1685
I do however believe that the stock lens was not in focus as well as it could be.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

Very nice test. The barrel distortion with the 3.97Mm lens is quite evident when looking at the vertical lines of the white door frame.

 

[BobW55]

I am just going to wait it out another month. I want to see if Yuneec will step up to the plate and acknowledge the camera issues, and fix them. If not then I will see about swapping my lens.
Personally I would not mind a few degrees LESS in field of view (keep the motors out of the shot). I am surprised there are not 3rd party camera vendors out yet with camera/gimbals for the H.

 

[DroneClone]

Same here! and I agree with you 100%

 

[JCFlippen]

I am just going to wait it out another month. I want to see if Yuneec will step up to the plate and acknowledge the camera issues, and fix them. If not then I will see about swapping my lens.
Personally I would not mind a few degrees LESS in field of view (keep the motors out of the shot). I am surprised there are not 3rd party camera vendors out yet with camera/gimbals for the H.

Good idea, I will be doing the same. The original sales pitch was that the lens would have a narrower view for "Professional" looking results along with a high bitrate for quality. That all went out the window when the camera design engineering team went off on holiday near to launch and so the canteen manager and the cooks filled in. The trouble is all the lenses on the development work bench looked the same to them!

Only Joking.

NB. I'm still happy with my H.

 

[glider]

First, I haven't really recorded much video or pictures, but am now getting into it more deeply.

So it sounds like if a picture taken up close (say >3 ft) is crisp and clear, and the entire picture when taken from afar (>100 ft) looks blurry, you have a higher likelihood of getting overall good pictures/video if you choose to adjust the lens and not call to argue with tech support, send back the camera and possibly get one that is worse.

Does that make sense? When shooting video, the entire picture looks blurry on my H. I wouldn't call it horrible, but is very noticeable.

One has to question the QC process verifying focus adjustment during assembly.

 

[Markinter]

I am just going to wait it out another month. I want to see if Yuneec will step up to the plate and acknowledge the camera issues, and fix them. If not then I will see about swapping my lens.
Personally I would not mind a few degrees LESS in field of view (keep the motors out of the shot). I am surprised there are not 3rd party camera vendors out yet with camera/gimbals for the H.

I'd really like to think they'd re-focus our cameras if we sent them in but how long would it take with the possible amount of units they'd receive? Less fov is fine by me too I'd just like a sharper image. Filmed a friend's daughters wedding Saturday and ended up using my P3P for the important shots and the H for everything else like the dancing Big open ranch style wedding. Bummer is the first 5 mp4s worked fine but the next 7 are corrupt and cause Vegas Pro 13 to hang. Tried other pc with Pro 12 and same thing. Files play fine on WMP,VLC and QT. VLC has an option to "fix" corrupt files but it didn't work. On some files the video will work in editor but then part way through it just freezes. I always hit the stop recording button before powering off the H so the files should've been correctly written. All my sd cards are fast and the first several files are fine so not thinking it's the card write speed.

 

[Mdracer]

I'd really like to think they'd re-focus our cameras if we sent them in but how long would it take with the possible amount of units they'd receive? Less fov is fine by me too I'd just like a sharper image. Filmed a friend's daughters wedding Saturday and ended up using my P3P for the important shots and the H for everything else like the dancing Big open ranch style wedding. Bummer is the first 5 mp4s worked fine but the next 7 are corrupt and cause Vegas Pro 13 to hang. Tried other pc with Pro 12 and same thing. Files play fine on WMP,VLC and QT. VLC has an option to "fix" corrupt files but it didn't work. On some files the video will work in editor but then part way through it just freezes. I always hit the stop recording button before powering off the H so the files should've been correctly written. All my sd cards are fast and the first several files are fine so not thinking it's the card write speed.

I too have had the corrupted files, I have no idea what would cause the corruption to happen.

When it comes to the focus i would take matters into your own hands if you have the skill set. if not make the time to talk to a rep and be friendly on the phone. They hear people complain on the phone all day so it would be a nice break for them to get someone nice on the phone and who knows maybe they will go the extra mile for you.

I believe that Yuneec should acknowledge some of these issues and address them. The list of problems all over these forums are getting long in the tooth and will not earn them repeat business.

 

[Markinter]

I too have had the corrupted files, I have no idea what would cause the corruption to happen.

When it comes to the focus i would take matters into your own hands if you have the skill set. if not make the time to talk to a rep and be friendly on the phone. They hear people complain on the phone all day so it would be a nice break for them to get someone nice on the phone and who knows maybe they will go the extra mile for you.

I believe that Yuneec should acknowledge some of these issues and address them. The list of problems all over these forums are getting long in the tooth and will not earn them repeat business.

I'm going to give them a call tomorrow. I have no problem opening up the H to do the camera adjustments but would rather not have to. Even with Yuneec's acknowledgement I think a fix would be months away and a long turnaround on getting camera back.

Glad this was just a favor and not a paying gig. I brought son's P4 just in case I needed more flight time but 5 batteries for the H and 4 for the P3 was all I needed. While editing the P3P and my H's footage side by side under same shooting conditions 60fps flat/raw the P3P is easily sharper. H always seems to over expose so I shoot manual settings. I like the H better for smooth flying/locked horizon etc.