Nothing is more aggravating than charging the batteries and doing pre-takeoff inspections to realize that you can’t take clear pictures!
So, what are your options if your drone images are blurry? Before contacting the manufacturer, do the following seven basic checks.
Table of Contents
Is the image coming from the SD card?
One of the first things you should do is make sure you’re downloading the image from the drone’s SD card. NOT the one that was streamed to your phone or tablet.
Many compression artifacts will appear in the live stream and stored snapshot on your phone, making the image grainy and fuzzy.
Because the live picture on your screen or phone is a real-time image broadcast to your phone, it may have signal artifacts from faulty or weak signals.
That is included in the photograph to provide the image to you faster.
Connect your camera to your computer and view the file stored on the SD card to solve the problem.
Using a USB cord, connect the drone to your computer and go to the picture file that your drone stores.
You should find the photo in the quality you instructed your drone to store it in.
If your photographs are still grainy and fuzzy, check the next items on the list, but I hope this has resolved the problem for you!
Fingerprints on the Lens Will Make Drone Photos Blurry
It may sound stupid, but we handle our drones a lot, which might cause issues.
Take it out of the bag or case, remove the lens cover, unfold the legs, and connect the battery.
This entire drone setup is completely manual! It’s no surprise that you can accidentally touch the camera’s lens.
Smudges and fingerprints should be checked on the lens cover or neutral density filter of the camera.
Cleaning the lens should be done regularly as a preventative measure. You may use any soft cotton or microfiber towel for this. If necessary, moisten a little portion of it.
You may also wipe the lens with the cloth included with your glasses or sunglasses case.
There’s also a neat little gizmo called a lens pen, which you can learn more about here. It’s a pen that can be used to clean your drone’s lens.
Moisture Is Important
Moisture may seep behind the lens cover of drone cameras, which is a typical problem.
Drones are flown in various weather situations, and even if you haven’t flown in the rain or other wet weather, condensation can form behind the lens cover.
If you fly your drone frequently in cold and cloudy weather, this issue can become very problematic.
There are a few things you can do to solve the problems:
- Place the silica packs that come with goods (you know, the ones that advise not to eat them) in the case with your drone. If they’re old, put them in the oven for an hour at 70 degrees, then let them cool before using. This removes any remaining water and is similar to what I used to do in the chemical lab.
- Place the camera in a warm area for a week or more to ensure that all moisture has evaporated, then continue to step 3 below.
- Before launching, let the drone acclimate to the ambient temperature. Place the drone in its bag, outside in the weather you want to fly in. The idea is to gradually introduce these temperature and humidity variations.
This has been reported in a few different drone models, and if the issue persists, you should contact the manufacturer.
Some forum members claim that the manufacturer has regularly replaced devices with this problem.
Shutter Speed Matters
Whether it’s a drone or not, the shutter speed of a camera dictates how long it takes to capture an image.
It has a significant impact on the quality of your photos and might be the cause of your blurry drone photo.
MOTION BLUR is the most important effect for drone footage.
If you choose a slow shutter speed, the thing you’re photographing will be blurred in its movement.
Alternatively, if your camera is moving (like a drone does to compensate for wind and other variables), the image may blur in the direction that your drone is flying.
Low-light situations can also be compensated for by using faster shutter speeds. Consider whether your shot was taken in poor light.
The drone sensor catches much more light when you utilize lengthy shutter speeds; thus, the shot will be significantly brighter. It’s also true in the other direction.
The sensor is exposed to less incoming light while employing fast shutter speeds, resulting in a darker shot.
You may try to use your drone’s default settings to see if it produces a less fuzzy image.
You may also manually slow down the shutter speed; however, this would diminish the image’s brightness.
For movies, the ideal shutter speed is double the frame rate.
Higher shutter speeds ‘freeze’ the motion, resulting in an unnatural video/image.
Higher shutter speeds can accentuate particular motions and give a natural blur in action situations, such as in sports when there is a lot of movement.
Exposure Setting
When not in Auto mode, it’s quite simple to generate an image that’s too dark or too bright.
Some drone pilots, for example, could utilize Manual mode and a slow shutter speed to get some great night time photography.
The problem is that you could neglect to adjust the camera for shooting in daylight lighting settings, resulting in a solid white image.
When manually adjusting the exposure, turn on the histogram because the phone screen does not fully represent what is taken on the SD card.
If all of the above is too much for you, remember that auto exposure is an option.
The disadvantage is that the drone camera software may perform exposure adjustments when capturing your movie that appears odd to the viewer – these parts can be edited out later.
Check auto-focus is ON
There’s nothing magical about this one; double-check that you’re looking at the appropriate section of the image!
Switch to autofocus if you’re still receiving hazy shots after touching the screen to focus your image (AF in some drones). When the autofocus isn’t working in the dark, you’ll have to switch to manual focus mode!
In a nutshell, make sure autofocus is turned on!
Make Sure That All of Your Drone’s Calibration Settings Are Correct
A drone camera is not a stand-alone device. The ability to capture stunning images relies on the drone’s whole system operating together.
Everything must work together to produce the ideal shot, from the propellers to the gimbals and camera lens.
Take the time to tune the gimbal and advanced settings on your drone. This is how it appears on the DJI Go 4 app:
General settings > calibrate your gimble > main controller settings > advanced settings > scroll until you locate the sensors icon > calibrate your IMU/compass
Follow all of the on-screen directions for your drone, then re-calibrate if something still doesn’t seem right.
You may repeat the calibration stages as many times as necessary to ensure crystal clear your photographs and videos!
Why Are My Dji Drone Photos Blurry?
A quicker shutter speed can help with this. As the camera moved during the 1-second exposure, an unexpected camera blur developed.
Why Are My Drone Photos Grainy?
Your drone footage may be grainy because of one or more of the following reasons: the camera sensor size, the light circumstances you’re filming in, automated camera settings, file compression settings, or the usage of digital zoom. Simple changes to your flight or camera settings will alleviate these reasons for blurry drone footage.
Why Are My Photos Coming Out Blurry?
The most common reason for a blurry photo is an incorrect use of shutter speed. The faster your shutter speed is, the less chance for a camera shake. This is particularly true when shooting handheld. There is no way that anyone will be able to handhold a camera steady enough at slow shutter speeds.
Why Are My Mavic Pro Photos Blurry?
Enter the camera settings and turn ON “AFC”. Regarding the video (washed), this is an exposure issue during brightness. You need to shoot manually and adjust the exposure.
Why Is My DJI Spark Video Blurry?
When camera settings are in auto – it is worse than in manual settings. Your drone was taken with auto settings and with wind conditions were causing the trees to move and the drone had to work to stabilize the flight and this gave blurry video.