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Why is the 4K Anafi video quality so blurry and smeared?

fuzzybabybunny

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There are screenshots taken from 4K video shot in the middle of the day at 30fps using P-log.

They may have a resolution of 4K, but they certainly don't resolve a 4K-level of detail. There is a TON of smearing going on.

You can see the whole gallery here (the last four with the punchy color are from a GoPro Hero 4 Silver at 1080p):

Anafi and GoPro Sample Shots - fuzzybabybunny

vlcsnap-2018-12-23-19h08m46s493.pngvlcsnap-2018-12-23-19h11m01s348.pngvlcsnap-2018-12-23-19h12m15s954.pngvlcsnap-2018-12-23-19h17m21s874.png

By comparison, these are 1080p GoPro Hero 4 screen grabs shot using 60fps and ProTune. The level is detail I would say is on par with the 4K Anafi:

vlcsnap-2018-12-23-19h23m26s973.pngvlcsnap-2018-12-23-19h23m58s166.png
 

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I am by far no expert with video but I would think since you are shooting in Plog, the image becomes flat and desaturated. The only time I would shoot in Plog is if I planned on color editing the video like adding a LUT.
 
I am by far no expert with video but I would think since you are shooting in Plog, the image becomes flat and desaturated. The only time I would shoot in Plog is if I planned on color editing the video like adding a LUT.

Flat color and loss of detail are different things. If you look closely at the images there's very little detail information captured in the image. It's just a smeary mess. No amount of post processing is going to bring out detail that's just not there.

Flat color with details retained is something I like to work with.

The Anafi 4K is way worse in detail resolution than my Sony a6500 when shot at 4K using Sony's flat picture profile. It's basically resolving 1080p-levels of detail, if that.
 
Well now you are comparing apples to oranges. There is no way you can compare a small UAV camera's sensor to a DSLR or Mirrorless Digital Camera .
 
Well now you are comparing apples to oranges. There is no way you can compare a small UAV camera's sensor to a DSLR or Mirrorless Digital Camera .

No I'm not. 4k is 4k. It's the resolution. The number of pixels representing detail that is captured.

My Samsung Galaxy S9 captures 4k video at a level of detail that I expect from 4k. So does my GoPro 7. So does video shot with the DJI Mavic Pro. If I remember correctly even my old Samsung S5 shot 4k video that looked like a normal 4k video. You would know instantly when something is in 4k.

I look at the Anafi and can tell instantly that this isn't real 4k. It's 1080-level of detail.
 
I also have a Phantom 4 V2 and when I want picture quality I use that.
In virtually every other way Anafi is better than the P4PV2.

This video shot in full auto with no post processing (4K30).


My latest Anafi video also shot in normal 4K mode.

 
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No I'm not. 4k is 4k. It's the resolution. The number of pixels representing detail that is captured.

My Samsung Galaxy S9 captures 4k video at a level of detail that I expect from 4k. So does my GoPro 7. So does video shot with the DJI Mavic Pro. If I remember correctly even my old Samsung S5 shot 4k video that looked like a normal 4k video. You would know instantly when something is in 4k.

I look at the Anafi and can tell instantly that this isn't real 4k. It's 1080-level of detail.

Sounds like you are very unhappy with your product. This is why they have customer support to assist you and if you cannot get satisfaction from them there is always the option to sell or return it and move on to something that will make you happy.
 
I agree with you. This is the reason why I could send back my Anafi to Amazon. There is too much smoothing particuraly with the foliage. Not all the time but very often. I found the camera to be great except this excessive smoothing.
The camera probably lacks on the details chapter, OK this is not a high end camera, I can live with that when considering the price. But this smoothing is really to much important and for me it ruins the result. I think that a better firmware could improve this but as I thought I was alone to speak about that, It is not sure that improving the internal algorithm is a priority for Parrot
 
What are your exact settings?

Note that the anafi is tiny and less than half the weight of a Mavic Pro. It's a lightweight drone with a 2-axis gimbal, meaning it has to "cheat" with electronic stabilization to stabilize yaw. It's not supposed to be the drone with the best video quality out there, just a good compromise on the low end of the weight/size scale.
 
I tested all possible combinations and this smoothing is always too important.
It is better not to use the HDR mode. P-log allows something a very little better as the dark tones are less dark and then less smoothed

I have to test further but when making still photos the picture is a little blurry (the pictures are not as sharp as my Mavic's pro one this is sure) but not so smoothed. I presume that the still pictures are better. But I didn't take much still photos yet to confirm
This is why I think that the internal algorithm could be improved for the videos
 
Stills are very good on the anafi provided you shoot RAW - the built-in processing is also very poor.

This is an example to download
My footage is a lot more detailed than that... almost seems like the lens is out of focus.
 
A friend of mine orded the Anafi the same day as mine. We should be able to compare soon if the wheather is ok
He sent to me some rushes that seem to be less blurry that mine. But we will compare the same thing at the same moment with the same setting.
Depending on the results I will sent back my Anafi
 
If you guys look at the blurring it occurs really badly when there is motion. It's blurry when the framing is locked still, but it smears and leaves a short trail when there is even a slight hint of motion, like the camera is shooting with a shutter speed of 1/10s or something, which is impossible in the middle of the day unless you have a super dark ND filter.

I've had two Anafis in two different countries. Both exhibited the same thing.
 
You are totally right. We have to take into account only when the framing is locked still. This is what I did even when the speed is 1/1000s in the middle of the sunny days with ISO100. In such conditions I find my pictures to be smeared and smooth, not always everywhere in the picture but more or less particularly in the foliage
Sometimes it looks more or less OK but very often, with the same battery in the same flight it is really soft

You could check what I mean with this file P1190165.MP4 (1.3 GB) and look at 0:0':49" when the Anafi don't move. My setting was sharpness+1 and contrast -1. Some parts of the foliage are sharp, even oversharp, but mostly everything is rather soft, don't you thing so ?
And now at the same place (but some days later) look at this P1260174.MP4 (800 MB) at 0:0':20" when the Anafi don't move! My setting was normal all by default 4K 30fps. All the picture is bad. It is overall a little oversaturated but no matter we can see that everything is smeared
This is why I said that sometimes my picture is more or less acceptable, though on the soft side, and sometimes it is too bad for me. And sometimes it is acceptable in some parts of the picture and not elsewhere
 
You are totally right. We have to take into account only when the framing is locked still. This is what I did even when the speed is 1/1000s in the middle of the sunny days with ISO100. In such conditions I find my pictures to be smeared and smooth, not always everywhere in the picture but more or less particularly in the foliage
Sometimes it looks more or less OK but very often, with the same battery in the same flight it is really soft

You could check what I mean with this file P1190165.MP4 (1.3 GB) and look at 0:0':49" when the Anafi don't move. My setting was sharpness+1 and contrast -1. Some parts of the foliage are sharp, even oversharp, but mostly everything is rather soft, don't you thing so ?
And now at the same place (but some days later) look at this P1260174.MP4 (800 MB) at 0:0':20" when the Anafi don't move! My setting was normal all by default 4K 30fps. All the picture is bad. It is overall a little oversaturated but no matter we can see that everything is smeared
This is why I said that sometimes my picture is more or less acceptable, though on the soft side, and sometimes it is too bad for me. And sometimes it is acceptable in some parts of the picture and not elsewhere

Well, keeping the framing locked isn't necessary. Even with movement, having a fast shutter speed will freeze motion and allow for a non-blurred image. Anything 1/250s and faster will accomplish this. 1/125s can be acceptable even, especially during a gentle panning motion.

The amount of blurring that I'm seeing is what I would expect if I were shooting with a shutter speed of 1/15s or slower, which is totally impossible in the middle of the day if you're shooting without an ND filter. Basically I'm shooting at 1/500s but the level of smearing looks like stuff shot at 1/15s or slower. So the physics of light and shutter speed isn't what's causing the blurring - it's something to do with the Anafi's image signal processing.
 
Yes I think so. This is why I haven't sent back my Anafi to Amazon yet. I was waiting for some improvement with the released firmware but nothing has changed. I reset everything to be sure.
Yesterday I carefully looked at my friend's Anavi videos and I found that overall it was better than mine.

The same day of my P1260174.mp4 we were together and this is his recording P0200023.MP4. I think it is better on the sharpness chapter. And I could see other videos it took in other places and I found they were quite OK. This one would be the worst one.
This is why we'll try to have ours Anafis fly at the same moment with the same framing and settings, still, as soon as the wheather will be OK. I want to compare and decide if I send my Anafi back
 
My yesterday's video looked better to me (also on default settings). Perhaps a tweak in the latest firmware?


I tried one with Sharpness +1 (that is as high as it goes and setting not saved) and it looked worse so won't be trying that again.

 
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