DJI Mini 3: Vignette Issues for Pro Shooters
The new DJI Mini 3 Pro has received great initial reviews for it’s flight time, rotating camera and 60fps 4K video. We’ve been putting the Mini 3 Pro through some testing recently and there’s an unexpected camera issue that jumped out at us: unintentional vignetting.
A lot of pro photographers who will carry a mini in their gear bag for special situations or convenience. This is especially true for real estate photographers working near areas of airspace control.
Yesterday my friend James, who has been a professional photographer for several decades, reached out to ask if I had noticed the vignette effect that appears on the 12MP DNG pics taken with the Mini 3Pro. So far I haven’t, but a quick check of the DJI Forum revealed that my friend is not alone with the aberration in his photos.
If you’re not familiar with Vignetting basically it’s an image problem that causes visible darkening around the edges of a photograph, and it’s especially noticable at the corners. Shooting with wide-open apertures like an f/2, or ones (like the Mini 3) that are even smaller at 1.7 are most susceptible to the problem.
Camera makers will use the camera’s software to correct this problem, but it appears the firmware of the Mini 3 Pro doesn’t yet include this fix.
Most Visible in 12MP DNG
The Mini 3 Pro vignetting issues stands out the most when shooting in DNG at 12MP. Since most professionals shoot exclusively in DNG (also known as RAW) the vignetting issues is really impacting them.
We’ve reached out to DJI on whether they are aware of the issue and if it will be addressed in an upcoming firmware update.
Until then, there are ways to reduce or eliminate the vignette effect.
Two Fixes
One reader noticed that the vignetting was reduced when the front lens hood on the Mini 3 Pro was removed. We haven’t tested that yet, but we’ll post some images as soon as we do. If you check out the identical images below you can see the difference. Both photos were shot within seconds of each other at the same ISO and shutter speed. The are straight out of the camera (SOOTC) so any difference you see is entirely because the lens hood has been removed.
The second fix is more exact because it uses the power of Lightroom to address the problem. Adobe Lightroom is our favorite photo editing software when it comes to adjustments and corrections. It used to be a tool that only professionals would use but now it’s a lot friendlier even for occassional users. And if you’re shooting in DNG you should be using Lightroom.
Once the image is imported to Lightroom, click over to Develop mode and all you have to do is drag the Vignette slider until the effect is gone. It’s literally that easy.
If you move the slider on the image below you can see just how much unwanted vignetting was occurring in 12MP DNG photos.
While correcting the Mini 3 Pro camera problem with post-processing software is nice to be able to do, it’s just a workaround until DJI can solve the problem with software. Since the Mini 3 Pro is just arriving in the hands of photogs in the last week or so, you should expect to hear a lot more chatter about this until it’s resolved.
How does one remove the lens hood on the Mini 3 Pro?
Twist counterclockwise to remove. Reverse to reinstall.
Aren’t you not supposed to fly with that hood on to begin with?
The lens hood I’m referring to is the black plastic frame around the lens, not the clear plastic gimbal protector.
RAW is called raw, because it is raw – unprocessed. You cannot expect unprocessed file to be corrected.
You are correct in that raw is unoprocessed and uncompressed. RAW files store the largest amount of data allowing photogs to capture almost every detail there is in an image. But there is literally never a time when a camera sensor or software should be ADDING an artifact like unintentional vignetting to any image. Ever.
they can call it RAW or DNG or whatever they want but clearly there is some post processing going on given the dark sides. i don’t think it is purely a “vignette” as it appears to me (on my dng images from my Mini 3) the dark shading occurs down both the left and the right sides, albeit a bit stronger in the corners. That is not, strictly speaking, a vignette and while LR helps, as the OP pointed out it is not a real cure. My dng files show noticeably darker mid-side areas and the corners even darker so the vignette option in LR is not terribly useful. I will await a solution from DJI but if I learn -some- Mini 3 users are “vignette” free I will return it when I get to the point where I can spare it, which won’t be for a few months.