New Peau 3.37mm lens installed - a bit disappointed..

tracer · Feb 21, 2018

I sent my Go Pro Black off to the west coast to get a new Peau 3.37 mm lens installed. I have grown tired of removing fish-eye. I ran some test footage the other day, and I wasn't really thrilled with the leaning-tower-of-Pisa effect I'm getting around the edges. I have watched a lot of footage that others have posted on here with the Peau, and I haven't seen this effect. Perhaps they are editing it out?

See pic below. The TV tower behind our street is, in reality, straight. The houses along the right side of the street look very distorted. The horizon has a dip at its center. This pic was shot in 7MP medium. Its even worse when I shoot 4k wide.

Thoughts?

Solo Keith · Feb 26, 2018

tracer said:
I sent my Go Pro Black off to the west coast to get a new Peau 3.37 mm lens installed. I have grown tired of removing fish-eye. I ran some test footage the other day, and I wasn't really thrilled with the leaning-tower-of-Pisa effect I'm getting around the edges. I have watched a lot of footage that others have posted on here with the Peau, and I haven't seen this effect. Perhaps they are editing it out?

See pic below. The TV tower behind our street is, in reality, straight. The houses along the right side of the street look very distorted. The horizon has a dip at its center. This pic was shot in 7MP medium. Its even worse when I shoot 4k wide.

Thoughts?
View attachment 7975

I had the same company do the same mod (Feb 2016) to my GP Silver4. I wish i had never let them. You will not win an argument with them even if they totally screwed your camera.

tracer · Feb 26, 2018

They said the results I got were normal. Here is their answer:

"We would recommend using the 3.37mm Hero 4 Black for 4k video and modifying the Hero 4 Silver with the 8.25mm for photos for the best all around setup on the 3DR SOLO. Simply swap cameras depending on if you're capturing photos or video.
If you really balance the props and gimbal, properly adjust shutter speeds and use ND filters you may be able to use the 8.25mm for jello free video.
Video mode using less of the edges of the lens so you'll see less of the stretching/distortion that you first messaged about. You can also take a frame from the 4k video and it will be 8.4MP vs the 12MP photo mode."

I've seen folks post footage from the 3.37mm lens on here. They must be cropping the pictures and/or photos in order to remove the distortion..

kweeni · Feb 27, 2018

I went through some footage to find an example to compare and mine also does have that blur and stretch when an object gets in the corner of the shot. (I'm not using the pneau, I'm using the GitUp one)

Edit, wow I didn't see that tv tower, I'm going to check through my footage again.

David Boulanger · Feb 27, 2018

tracer said:
They said the results I got were normal. Here is their answer:

"We would recommend using the 3.37mm Hero 4 Black for 4k video and modifying the Hero 4 Silver with the 8.25mm for photos for the best all around setup on the 3DR SOLO. Simply swap cameras depending on if you're capturing photos or video.
If you really balance the props and gimbal, properly adjust shutter speeds and use ND filters you may be able to use the 8.25mm for jello free video.
Video mode using less of the edges of the lens so you'll see less of the stretching/distortion that you first messaged about. You can also take a frame from the 4k video and it will be 8.4MP vs the 12MP photo mode."

I've seen folks post footage from the 3.37mm lens on here. They must be cropping the pictures and/or photos in order to remove the distortion..

Peau is correct. Both the 3.37 and 3.97 will give distortion around the edge and to objects close up. The 8.25 will work great if you do some very minor post stabilization. With the 8.25 it is all about shutter speed, filters, and a little post work. Master Airscrew props help also in my opinion.

brianuc4 · Feb 27, 2018

After researching lenses for the GoPro 4 black I decided to go with a cheap Chinese lens instead of Peau. Yes Chinese. The results are almost identical and I paid a heck of a lot less. Only paid 40 dollars and I'm more than happy with it. I did pay the 50 bucks to download the pink corner fix though.

Joe Horn · Feb 27, 2018

The subject of eliminating image distortion keeps coming up. However, image distortion MUST occur for ANY photograph. The reason is simple: what the camera is looking at is exactly the same as the inside of a big sphere, and the camera is at that sphere's center. (Imagine a camera floating in the center of a spherical movie screen, looking at what's projected there. THAT is essentially what all cameras always do.) But the resulting image obviously must be flat. The ONLY way to map a section of a sphere onto a flat surface is by distorting it. Map makers have many ways of dealing with this. So do cameras. Nothing can totally eliminate the distortion; the only solution is to pick a different way to present it.

The only time a photo looks "correct" is when the field of view is so narrow that the distortion isn't noticeable, such as a telephoto shot, a narrow FOV shot, or a cropped shot. A very tiny piece of a large sphere is almost flat. But no lens or software can eliminate ALL distortion.

so low still grounded · Feb 28, 2018

No lens can match the human eye. The lens correction should be for a planar surface because the principle for light never changes so maybe one day someone will write a software application that will do good lens distortion correction for a planar surface and not a curved lens.

To prove the point I took your image shifted it in 3d space and corrected the distortion only on the x y 2D and only shifted z 3Dand then on a flat 2D surface and corrected the x and y only . so what changed? The horizon. That tells you how the issue can be corrected if the correction is for a planar surface x and y only. You have to wonder why we still have this issue?

Mauiwind · Mar 5, 2018

brianuc4 said:
After researching lenses for the GoPro 4 black I decided to go with a cheap Chinese lens instead of Peau. Yes Chinese. The results are almost identical and I paid a heck of a lot less. Only paid 40 dollars and I'm more than happy with it. I did pay the 50 bucks to download the pink corner fix though.

Where do you imagine Peau is getting their lenses from?

KDan · Mar 6, 2018

Mauiwind said:
Where do you imagine Peau is getting their lenses from?

I can almost guarantee you they also come from China - possibly even the exact same factory which makes lenses that sell at a small fraction of the price.
I installed a 4.35mm lens in one of my Hero 4 Blacks, and it only cost me around $10. The installation was a bit tricky, but the result was pretty good. Got rid of the fisheye. There is a trade-off however.

The pincushion distortion is unavoidable in a short focal length lens. With a longer the focal length lens you'll get less of it. That's why it is always easy to tell a photo or video shot with a long focal length telephoto type lens. The pincushion distortion is almost non-existent.

Unfortunately, the increased image magnification of a longer focal lens makes keeping the camera steady much more critical. I can definitely see a difference in the apparent gimbal shake on the Solo after putting the 4.35mm lens in the Hero 4 Black. I personally would not go any longer in FL if you want decent looking video. The boxy shape of the GP Hero camera (bad aerodynamics), and the stiff HDMI cable on the Solo gimbal combine to make it a real challenge to get smooth video sometimes.

Mauiwind · Mar 6, 2018

KDan said:
I can almost guarantee you they also come from China - possibly even the exact same factory which makes lenses that sell at a small fraction of the price.
I installed a 4.35mm lens in one of my Hero 4 Blacks, and it only cost me around $10. The installation was a bit tricky, but the result was pretty good. Got rid of the fisheye. There is a trade-off however.

The pincushion distortion is unavoidable in a short focal length lens. With a longer the focal length lens you'll get less of it. That's why it is always easy to tell a photo or video shot with a long focal length telephoto type lens. The pincushion distortion is almost non-existent.

Unfortunately, the increased image magnification of a longer focal lens makes keeping the camera steady much more critical. I can definitely see a difference in the apparent gimbal shake on the Solo after putting the 4.35mm lens in the Hero 4 Black. I personally would not go any longer in FL if you want decent looking video. The boxy shape of the GP Hero camera (bad aerodynamics), and the stiff HDMI cable on the Solo gimbal combine to make it a real challenge to get smooth video sometimes.

There are several mtg. In China. I know who makes the Peak re-sell. (It's a poorly kept secret) a couple years ago I had discussed buying the lenses for end users directly, but no one seemed intetested. What is available is more than $10 and looks great. The lenses are ridiculously easy to install.

KDan · Mar 7, 2018

Mauiwind said:
There are several mtg. In China. I know who makes the Peak re-sell. (It's a poorly kept secret) a couple years ago I had discussed buying the lenses for end users directly, but no one seemed intetested. What is available is more than $10 and looks great. The lenses are ridiculously easy to install.

They aren't really ridiculously easy to install if you follow the Peau procedure of dismantling the camera. A lot of people have gotten into trouble with the small ribbon cable at the top right side.

If replacing the lens directly from the outside (without dismantling the camera) these problems are avoided, but it takes a lot more brute force to remove the original lens and you can possibly break it. If you don't care about that, it probably makes more sense to try it the easy way first.

BTW, I paid $10.52 for my lens and a couple bucks for shipping. I'm pretty sure it's the same lens that Peau sells for $99.

tracer · Mar 14, 2018

Sorry for the late response, I haven't been receiving notifications on this thread for some reason. Anyways, thank you "so low" for the video on correcting the distortion. Its a fascinating lesson on how lenses work.
I understand how the short focal length creates distortion, however, I cannot find nearly the distortion with pictures taken by my iPhone7. Now Apple could be correcting it, or they could be cropping it before I see it, I dunno. I just want that same technology in my GoPro, thats all

I have noticed that my videos are more impacted by vibration of the drone. I will be doing some simple mods to reduce vibration. I also noticed that the lens really brings out how slow the gimbal is on the yaw axis, even if I'm flying slow.
I did capture this photo following a big snowfall here in Lex. Its shot with the Peau lens, GoPro black, native white balance, protune on. I shot it with a more narrow view so less distortion.

Joe Horn · Mar 14, 2018

tracer said:
I just want that same technology in my GoPro, thats all

That's what the GoPro's "Linear" FOV feature does (introduced in firmware version 5), and it's surprisingly sharp. Did you ever try it before you replaced your GoPro's lens? If not, and if you have access to a GoPro with its original lens, I highly recommend trying the Linear FOV feature. What we really need is a side-by-side comparison shot of the same scene, one taken with a Peau lens, and another taken with GoPro's Linear FOV mode.

tracer · Mar 14, 2018

Joe Horn said:
That's what the GoPro's "Linear" FOV feature does (introduced in firmware version 5), and it's surprisingly sharp. Did you ever try it before you replaced your GoPro's lens? If not, and if you have access to a GoPro with its original lens, I highly recommend trying the Linear FOV feature. What we really need is a side-by-side comparison shot of the same scene, one taken with a Peau lens, and another taken with GoPro's Linear FOV mode.

I just watched a quick YouTube video on it. He says its not available for 4k video, just 2.7 and 1080p. However, I do have a GoPro Silver on my other drone and I will have to check this out! Unfortunately, I will have to remember to manually control the power on the camera when I do that firmware update. Thanks for the tip, and I will post some results back here when I get a chance!

Here's the link to the video (with comparison shots):

tracer · Mar 15, 2018

I have upgrade the firmware on my Silver 3.0 to 5.0. I turned on linear FOV from the camera (you cannot do it from the 3DR app - haven't tried Solex). I set the camera to 1080p and shot some video. Here is a pic with the TV towers on the horizon:

Not bad! I switched the camera to 2.7k from the 3DR app, but "linear" was not an option. I had to land the drone, and manually switch it. Not too hard with the Silver's screen. I launched, and got to approximately the same spot and grabbed this frame:

Even better! Now I will just fly the Silver in 2.7k linear, and keep my Black with the Peau which can do 4k. The only drawback is that I have to manually turn the camera off/on with my Silver. I have to turn my Black on manually after the Peau update, but it will turn itself off with the drone.

Remember, linear mode is not applicable to still photos, just video, on the GoPro 4's.

pyrate · Mar 15, 2018

the linier view is just on board de-fishing the image.
It will never be as good as a glass solution, ever
It might be as good as a bad lens, but if your lens is good, and focused correctly a software fix will not be able to touch it
Plus I think linier is only available in lower resolution.

I am considering buying a hero 6, but if I do I will price it with a lenticular lens

tracer · Mar 22, 2018

Here's a video I shot last week with the Black and the Peau 3.37 lens. I had some issues with the horizon swinging when I turned on the yaw access in the first clip; I will need more practice. Otherwise, I did not correct for distortion and I did not do any color correction. Shot in 1080p w/native white balance. I did stabilization in post.

teo58 · Feb 1, 2019

Excellent video, especially the first half – shot in low light conditions. From my own research & discussions with a few lens manufacturers, for a GP4 - for both Video & Photo, the best solution is still the 3.37mm Lens.

I have just finished replacing my stock GP Lens with a cheaper Chinese 3.37mm Lens – which could be the same as the Peau lens, or not… Anyway, the replacing process, in my case, was quite difficult. The large amount of glue, made impossible to unscrew the stock lens, from outside. I had to dismantle my GoPro completely and re-assembling it back, needed a lot of time and patience, but I am, so far, happy with the new lens.

Purchased from Lyx Lens, I paid only $55 for the 3.37mm lens, including shipping. The first land results are promising and next, I will fly my Solo and check a new “undistorted” world

KDan · Feb 28, 2019

I bought one of the cheap $12 Chinese lenses and found it to be pretty sharp and it eliminated the barrel distortion. It was more susceptible to lens flare when flying into the sun though. And no, it was not fun to install.
However, the worst part was that the reduced FOV amplified the shaking of the 3DR gimbal that always happens when flying fast into the wind. Both of my Solos do it and nothing I've tried (damping material, flex HDMI cables, etc) eliminates the problem completely. Because of that, I actually prefer to fly my other Solo which has an unmodified H4B.