X3 Camera out of focus

[Ferdi]

Had a strange and upsetting experience on a shoot yesterday.

We flew 2 batteries in location 1. Footage as expected from the X3.
Moved 200m up the road to location 2 and flew 2 more batteries. All the footage out of focus (only saw this when I got into edit this morning).
Moved 100m to location 3 and flew 1 battery. Footage fine again.

This is the first time this has happened to us. We used an ND64 throughout. We changed nothing other than location during the entire shoot.

App version 2.6.0 (iPad Air2)
AC version 1.5.00.30
RC version 1.5.7
Camera version 1.5.00.30

Camera settings as follows:
1080p/50
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/50
MOV
PAL
WB Sunny
Style Custom (Sharpness -3, Contrast -2, Saturation -1)
D-Log

Bitrate seem consistent throughout, around 40MB/s.

Image 1 is from location 1: Footage as expected from the X3.



Images 2 & 3 are from location 2: All the footage out of focus






Image 4 is from location 3: Footage as expected from the X3.



Any one else had this happen before? This really worries me cause we couldn't tell on location that the image was soft. If this happened on our previous shoot it would've been absolutely disastrous!

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[John Alan]

As someone who has had X3 cameras apart changing stock lenses out for aftermarket ones...
I'm dumbfounded how your stock X3 unit could go out of focus and then come back...
The lens assy is an M12 screw type that the factory sets and then glues to lock... it takes much force to crack it loose...

Speculation/thought...
Could this have been moisture on the inside surface of the filter?
A light fogging...
The camera is not well sealed... has a cooling fan even on the back above the USB port...
Condensed after pic 1... evaporated before pic 4...
Only thing I can think of that may explain your issue,,,

 

[Ferdi]

Speculation/thought...
Could this have been moisture on the inside surface of the filter?
A light fogging...
The camera is not well sealed... has a cooling fan even on the back above the USB port...
Condensed after pic 1... evaporated before pic 4...
Only thing I can think of that may explain your issue,,,

Hi John. Yes, I agree that fogging might've been the culprit. However, I've had fogging before, and it's always given me a soft, glowing look, like the "pro-mist" filters of old. Somehow this genuinely looks like soft focus, but that seems impossible given the build of the camera.

The ND filter was not removed between flights and the "focus" stayed equally soft from start to finish on flights 3 & 4. I'm puzzled...

 

[The Editor]

Had a strange and upsetting experience on a shoot yesterday.

We flew 2 batteries in location 1. Footage as expected from the X3.
Moved 200m up the road to location 2 and flew 2 more batteries. All the footage out of focus (only saw this when I got into edit this morning).
Moved 100m to location 3 and flew 1 battery. Footage fine again.

This is the first time this has happened to us. We used an ND64 throughout. We changed nothing other than location during the entire shoot.

App version 2.6.0 (iPad Air2)
AC version 1.5.00.30
RC version 1.5.7
Camera version 1.5.00.30

Camera settings as follows:
1080p/50
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/50
MOV
PAL
WB Sunny
Style Custom (Sharpness -3, Contrast -2, Saturation -1)
D-Log

Bitrate seem consistent throughout, around 40MB/s.

Image 1 is from location 1: Footage as expected from the X3.
View attachment 6894
View attachment 6899

Images 2 & 3 are from location 2: All the footage out of focus
View attachment 6895
View attachment 6900

View attachment 6896
View attachment 6901

Image 4 is from location 3: Footage as expected from the X3.
View attachment 6897
View attachment 6902

Any one else had this happen before? This really worries me cause we couldn't tell on location that the image was soft. If this happened on our previous shoot it would've been absolutely disastrous!

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

What was the ambient temp at the location?

 

[World Media]

Maybe transported in an air conditioned vehicle between locations! had it happen on regular cameras to me on many occasions,

 

[Ferdi]

What was the ambient temp at the location?

Thanks. The ambient temp was 25 deg Celsius with 61% humidity.

 

[Ferdi]

Maybe transported in an air conditioned vehicle between locations! had it happen on regular cameras to me on many occasions,

It is looking more and more like John Alan is correct in his guess that it was fogging. It must've been quite bad fogging to cause that kind of softness. We did travel in an air-conditioned vehicle, then hiked to our flight location 5-8 mins walk away. After those 2 flights with the soft footage we walked 10mins to the next location for the last flight with no softness of footage.

I'm kinda hoping it was fogging, cause then it's something I can check and work around... First time that this happened so I was rather thrown. Those 2 foggy flights was some of the hardest I've flown because of strong gusty winds, low altitude, and lots of obstacles. Don't think I breathed the entire time, so was bummed when the footage turned out to be useless... Anyway, we live and learn...

Thanks guys! Appreciate your input!

 

[The Editor]

Thanks. The ambient temp was 25 deg Celsius with 61% humidity.

OK, it's not that then, temp well within spec of the camera.
I would tend to agree with others and go with the condensation theory.