Oops!
I’ve recently noticed a darkened area in the exact same position of all images taken with my Mini 4. The mark appears similar to those from a dirty DSLR sensor, but we can’t clean the sensor inside the DJI camera. Darkening the images for a closer look made the affected area look like two merged circles. I cleaned the lens and all my ND filters before checking them, the artefact remains!
I think I know what may have caused the mark, perhaps others have experienced something similar, but I’m sharing this so others can avoid the problem. I was recently trying to capture a sunset behind a local castle using interval shots from the same location and shooting towards the sun… I realised that this may be where I made a mistake…
The tiny cameras have no mechanical shutter, so their sensors are receiving light all the time, meaning that the IR heat of the sun can be focussed onto a small area of sensor for the full duration! So, like focussing sunlight through magnifying glass to burn objects, the relatively short series of shots may have been long enough to burn or damage some image sensor receptors where the lowering sun was focussed!
DJI are going to fix it, but next time I try a sunset series, I’ll fit a much more dense ND filter. It may make exposure duration so long that motion blur may become an issue, but it’s better than sensor burn!
There have been so many drone time-lapse and videos of sunsets posted on GADC (and YouTube/social media in general), that I’m pretty sure this won’t be the issue.
Just something internal in the camera and just a coincidence, I think you’d find.
That’s what I thought, and was convinced that a mark had got onto a previously clean image sensor, but it was clear before that day out. Perhaps not a coincidence, just something to consider. I wouldn’t post a sunset series if the shots all had a darkening artefact near the centre of frame, would others?
That wasn’t very mature Nik, If information about this is widely known, perhaps instead of trolling, some useful links would help us to understand these hidden risks. I made the post because I bet there have been many disappointed sunset photographers finding out about shutterless cameras after the damage is done. Most drone sensor mark/artefact searches lead to irrelevant guidance on how to clean the lenses and filters. “Wich eny-wun shood no”.
That comment was in no way intended to be a troll.
Do forgive any presumed familiarity on my part.
I, myself have taken a ‘small’ number of both panoramic and hyperlapse which includes both sun rises and sets.
I considered your point was worth looking into. Hence the ‘lemme check something’ comment.
I know excessive IR will trigger warnings and closed shutters on one of my drones so i was curious.
A brief summary so far is that i’ve noticed zero image degradation on either a mini 4 or 5. I don’t use ND filters.
This would lead me to think either i got lucky, which i doubt given two seperate drones over the course of a couple of years. You may have had a ‘bad’ drone with an overly sensitive cmos.
Your use of ND filters may have something to do with it or filming such things as you mention have nothing to do with the issue you experienced.
I still havent gone through many previous shots but the few offerings i’ve posted on here haven’t garnered any, ‘whats that black spot’ comments althought one did get a ‘sort your stiching out, mate’ or words to the effect.
I am still curious, i know older CCD were sensitive but CMOS were meant to be more forgiving.
Whatever else, I’m honestly glad DJI are making you whole, so to speak on this.
Thanks for clarifying. You knew what you were trying to express, but the words didn’t say that.
The Mini 4 Pro image artefacts were 1st noticed the day after the hyper lapse sunset trial. All ND filters and the lens were cleaned and test images taken against a flat sky. The artefact was present on all shots, confirming a sensor fault or overheated zone, right around where the sun was in the shots.
I too believed that in a shutterless camera, the sensors would be resilient to accidental focusing of high intensity light/IR. That’s why I raised the subject. DJI quickly diagnosed a "noisy signal’ and sent a replacement drone. The lack of responses regarding similar artefacts suggest that perhaps the sensor was at the lower end of specifications and the heat sent it down beyond the line. I’ll be more careful and use a much higher density filter if sustained sunlight will be included like in a hyper lapse, or may be taking time with composing the shot.
Unlike composing and taking a single shot, Hyperlapse involves the drone hovering and focusing a mainly static image continuously throughout the full duration.
You mention a triggered warnings and closed shutter after a drone sensing some kind of excessive heat/signal, the warning would be helpful, but most of these drones don’t have any physical shutter. With mine appearing to be the only reference to “sensor sunburn” (overheating), we will only know if the actual risk is real when others consider image artefacts and their possible cause.
is truly a high risk unless others consider the risk or possible cause of their
