Vertical lines and dots on videos and photos

[TheDroneFlyer]

My DJI X3 camera has all of a sudden started to show vertical lines and dots in different colors on the videos and photos.

The camera has been working perfectly until recently when it started to show these problems. It started by itself without anything happening to the camera.

When i look carefully i can actually see that the dots that looks to be in random places is actually part of vertical lines but the lines are not visible on all places so it looks like dots in random places.

The vertical lines is over the whole picture, and the dots is visible in different places on different photos/videos.

I have asked around on other places but haven't got any good answers, and I'm a noob myself, so if anybody has an idea what is going on and what needs to be done to fix this i would highly appreciate. Thanks.

 

[Overread]

This is clearly data corruption and not something optical as a result it could be

1) That your sensor has become damaged.
2) That the interface between your camera and the memory card is damaged
3) That the memory card itself is damaged.

You can test this by using a different memory card and if you get the same error then you know its likely damage to the camera; whilst if it resolves itself then you know its the previous memory card. You can also use teh cameras built in feature to format the memory card which should resolve most corruption issues (its always best to format in camera not your computer with regard to memory cards).

If formatting/changing the card doesn't work then there's a slim chance that if you use a card reader that it might be damaged; but its more likely that something in your camera is damaged.

 

[TheDroneFlyer]

Thanks for your answer. Yes i suspected it is something wrong with the camera. I have tried with another SD card but its the same problem.
The lines and dots are also visible on the FPV screen that i use, so thats why I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the SD card.

Sometimes when i reset the camera settings it gets a good picture, but after a very short while the lines and dots gets visible again.

But is it common that the sensor / camera gets damaged all by itself all of a sudden? Or are there some things that are known to cause them to break?
The camera is bought in August 2015.

What is the most likely thing in the camera that is broken, would it be the sensor?

EDIT: I managed to snap one picture that didn't have any visible lines or dots. Don't know if that makes any difference to as what the problem can be?

 

[Overread]

Electronics are funny things. It could be that there's just a small area of the circuit board that isn't properly soldered down and thus you're getting the intermittent error. Could be that you used it in an area with high humidity or that it got out in the rain a little and something has dried on causing contact problems. Could be it was knocked or bumped or had water or a drink spilt on it (esp if there are others living in your home). Could be a dodgy battery connection or battery caused some damage.

What caused it could be anything so without opening it up and having a look its impossible to guess.

Sensors will fail over time, but that's normally the mechanical shutter mechanism.

In the end the only choice is to either repair or replace

 

[dennybeall]

Data from the sensor is captured in a stream and if there is a data loss somewhere in that stream you will get this problem. Could be a weak component but frequently is just a slightly corroded connection. If you are capable of opening it up and reseating connections that may do it.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Are you on the latest firmware, or can maybe step back to the one before? DJI regularely updates the firmware of its products and there are sometimes strange things that happen. Maybe this could be one of them - I´m only guessing though.

My DJI X3 camera has all of a sudden started to show vertical lines and dots in different colors on the videos and photos.

The camera has been working perfectly until recently when it started to show these problems. It started by itself without anything happening to the camera.

When i look carefully i can actually see that the dots that looks to be in random places is actually part of vertical lines but the lines are not visible on all places so it looks like dots in random places.

The vertical lines is over the whole picture, and the dots is visible in different places on different photos/videos.

I have asked around on other places but haven't got any good answers, and I'm a noob myself, so if anybody has an idea what is going on and what needs to be done to fix this i would highly appreciate. Thanks.

 

[TheDroneFlyer]

Thanks for your answers. I have tried to move around the cables that is on the outside of the camera that goes from the camera to the drone, but there was no change at all in the vertical lines on the screen.

I will have to open it up and see if i can notice something obvious?

I dont know how much you guys know about drones, but i wonder if the fact that the vertical lines is also visible on the mobile phone screen and not only on the recordings on the SD card says something about the location of the problem.
So the vertical lines gets transmitted to the mobile phone screen as well and i guess that is separate from the SD card recordings, so i wonder if that means that the problem is on the sensor, or can it still be a solder?

 

[TheDroneFlyer]

Are you on the latest firmware, or can maybe step back to the one before? DJI regularely updates the firmware of its products and there are sometimes strange things that happen. Maybe this could be one of them - I´m only guessing though.

Yes i have tried both to downgrade the firmware and to update, no change at all.

Unfortunately i cant get hold of another X3 camera to try on the aircraft, but im pretty sure its on the camera, i think atleast??

 

[photo1x1.com]

Too bad!
I´d try to contact DJI. They usually are very quick in replying, at least here in Europe - unfortunately it takes a while longer for the inspire to get "back home". But I´m afraid the longer you wait, the longer the time you can´t use your drone. Maybe DJI has some tipps for you too, but in general there isn´t much you can do with modern cameras.

Are you on the latest firmware, or can maybe step back to the one before? DJI regularely updates the firmware of its products and there are sometimes strange things that happen. Maybe this could be one of them - I´m only guessing though.

Yes i have tried both to downgrade the firmware and to update, no change at all.

Unfortunately i cant get hold of another X3 camera to try on the aircraft, but im pretty sure its on the camera, i think atleast??

 

[TheDroneFlyer]

Yes i have contacted them through email but haven't got an answer yet.
Unfortunately I'm out of warranty, but our local DJI distributor said it will be cheaper to have it repaired than buy a new one.
So i will see what the say?

 

[dennybeall]

I didn't understand your system from the initial post. If the camera is mounted on a drone it could be one of the motors on the drone has a problem and is interfering. With no motors running is the picture clear? Can you connect the camera to the PC without the drone?

 

[TheDroneFlyer]

I didn't understand your system from the initial post. If the camera is mounted on a drone it could be one of the motors on the drone has a problem and is interfering. With no motors running is the picture clear? Can you connect the camera to the PC without the drone?

No that is not possible to connect it to the computer, it has a special interface that connects to the drone, but it has those vertical lines even when motors are not running.

The more i think about it the more it feels like it is a sensor fault on the camera unfortunately.
The only thing that surprises me is that it has worked perfectly fine and all of a sudden these lines and dots start to show up, no crashes or water damage nor anything else, as a matter of fact i always handle it very carefully.