Phantom 4 Pro - How to focus to avoid blurry imagery
There is nothing more frustrating than flying an entire flight only to return and discover that there was an issue with the imagery. The DJI Phantom 4 Pro is known to have issues with blurry photos. Not everyone who flies the Phantom 4 Pro will encounter this issue, as there is no known cause for the blurry imagery. If you are experiencing blurry imagery with your DJI Phantom or other DJI drone, the process outlined below is your best way to to ensure images are as crisp as possible. Simply, you'll use the DJI app to focus your camera during each flight after takeoff. Focusing process:
Ensure FieldAgent is the ONLY app running on your iOS device. Force close any other apps.
Open FieldAgent.
Click the gear icon in the upper right to open settings. Navigate to Drone Settings and Minimum RTH Altitude. Ensure your RTH altitude is to equal your intended data collection altitude (e.g. 50 ft or 15 meters).
Plan your flight like normal or navigate back to a flight plan if this is a battery swap.
Takeoff and let the drone climb to flight altitude.
As soon as the drone starts translating to the first waypoint (at the flight altitude), but BEFORE it reaches the first waypoint, press the physical [PAUSE] button on the RC Controller (top right corner of RC controller), this should cause the drone to stop and hover.
Open DJI Go 4 (note, this app should NOT be running yet until you open it fresh while paused). Do not force close FieldAgent. FieldAgent should remain open in the background.
Confirm in the DJI Go 4 video that the camera is pointing straight down and the drone is at data collection altitude.
Tap on the screen to force the camera to autofocus on the ground. You can do this more than once. Ensure the camera refocuses perfectly on the ground while at flight altitude.
Force close DJI Go 4. This is critical. After force closing DJI Go 4, there should only be 1 application running in the background: FAiOS. To force close DJI Go 4:
Open app switching mode by either double-tapping on the circular home button, or partially swiping up from the bottom of the screen until the open apps are displayed.
Swipe up on DJI Go 4 to force close it.
Click to open FieldAgent, which should have been still running in the background.
Press the physical [PAUSE] button again on the RC Controller (top right corner of RC controller), this should cause the drone to resume flight.
Observe that the drone continues to take photos once it reaches the data collection area.
Repeat this process after every battery swap.
Deviations from the above method can result in unexpected behaviors, such as:
Continued flight, but skipped photos
Missing a flight pass from the flight plan after swapping batteries
Continued blurry photos