Video footage not sharp (enough)

[fuji91]

Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum. I bought a spark last week and I really enjoyed it so far.
Photo's are sharp enough, but I hate the video footage of it. Way too blurry. Footage is from the MicroSD card.

Example: here.

So what's your opinion? Sharp or blurry? And the most important question: How can I fix this?
What I tried:
- Remove lens protection film;
- Make sure the lens is clean.
- At the above video, there was no wind (1-2 Bft).
- Used auto settings (ISO 100, 1/200s etc.)

I hope someone can help me with this.

Regards,

 

[Spark 317]

Is this footage direct from the SD card or from your device?

If from the device, it's cached footage which is poor quality.

The 1080p footage will be on the card.

 

[fuji91]

Its from the SD card

 

[MySpark53]

If you do a forum search with the term 'poor video' you'll get a bunch of hits.
One report addresses using optimal quality read / write speed micro SD cards in the Spark.

Video Compression

Just a thought.

How the SD card is formatted comes to mind too...quick format on PC is less preferrable to full format....format button on Spark exists too...someplace...

Formatting SD card in the Spark

 

[fuji91]

I searched indeed, but no solution found so far.
I use a Samsung EVO Plus 64 GB MicroSD (supported card said DJI). I format the card via the format button in the DJI app.

I see footage of the Spark on YouTube under the same conditions that's far better than mine.

 

[Andre Levite]

Those Samsung Evo come in two flavors. The U3 card will outperform the U1 cards by a long shot. It's very easy to confuse them but important to get the better ones.

Check the fine print on the card its self to see which you have. The newer U3 are still super cheap from ongoing "Black Friday" sales on Amazon

The 64GB card is just $11 here.

The 128GB card is just $20 here.

Now I use my older U1 cards just for emergency backup. I put a new Evo U3 in my Spark, Mavic Pro, digital SLR and GoPro. Plenty and capacity and big improvement in quality and speed

They've never been cheaper

 

[fuji91]

Those Samsung Evo come in two flavors. The U3 card will outperform the U1 cards by a long shot. It's very easy to confuse them but important to get the better ones.

Check the fine print on the card its self to see which you have. The newer U3 are still super cheap from ongoing "Black Friday" sales on Amazon

The 64GB card is just $11 here.

The 128GB card is just $20 here.

Now I use my older U1 cards just for emergency backup. I put a new Evo U3 in my Spark, Mavic Pro, digital SLR and GoPro. Plenty and capacity and big improvement in quality and speed

They've never been cheaper

I checked and I have the Evo U3 (newest one). So I don't think the error has something to do with my MicroSD card.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Is the lens clean? So before any editing you are saying its blurry? Do you have a dropbox account or google drive where you could post an example of an unedited clip from your micro sd card? We could get a look that way.

 

[fuji91]

Lens is clean . Yes no editing on the video above. So straight ouf of camera the pictures are good (sharp enough), video is kind of blurry / out of focus.

I uploaded it to OneDrive. Click here to download. (Click button "Download" at top of page")

 

[Richard Ruckert]

That looks to be about what to expect from the Spark. Can you sharpen further in post?

 

[fuji91]

Hmmm.. There is also another strange thing.
I play the video with GOM Player and VLC. Check the difference in sharpness (VLC is sharper), playing exactly the same videofile!

GOM Player (screenshot)
VLC (screenshot)

How is this possible?

 

[KevinRussell]

That looks to be about what to expect from the Spark. Can you sharpen further in post?

I agree, I think your video looks fine.

 

[KevinRussell]

Hmmm.. There is also another strange thing.
I play the video with GOM Player and VLC. Check the difference in sharpness (VLC is sharper), playing exactly the same videofile!

GOM Player (screenshot)
VLC (screenshot)

How is this possible?

I played one of my Spark video files through VLC and it looks fine. Don't know about the GOM Player. Perhaps GOM player cannot play Spark's high bitrate video and has to compromise... I was surprised that the Spark produced a higher bitrate video than my iPhone 6. Spark's video shows as 1920 X 1080 at 24364kbps. I had older video editing software that couldn't handle the Spark's bitrate and the video output was poor. I upgraded the video software and the video is sharp.

 

[Multikoe]

If I download the video file and look at the properties, it says: 1280x720, 4901 kbps, 29.97 frames per second. This is strange, because when I look at one of my own files (straight from sd-card) it says: 1920-1080, 24222 kbps, 29.97 frames per second. It looks like your settings are different, or the video went through some processing somewhere.

 

[fuji91]

Thanks for the fast response guys. I will look into it and maybe I can sharp the footage afterwards with Video Editing tools.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

One of he challenges with with the spark is the low bitrate. And its variable. Compared to the big drones, its like a quarter to a third of what they capture at. So with movement, the faster you go the more blur you will get. You can check this out by simply flying straight forward fast, then stop and hover in place with no other movement for 30 seconds or so. Compare the output.

I love my Spark, but this is one of the main reasons I am lusting after a Mavic Pro/Zoom series bird.