DJI Mini 3 Pro noise reduction and ISO

[Chapperz]

C

I've been shooting with ISO 100 with my Mini 3 Pro. Haven't even tried other settings.

Can I ask what your go to ev value is when using ETTR on your mini 3 pro please?

 

[Robert Prior]

C

Can I ask what your go to ev value is when using ETTR on your mini 3 pro please?

I don't have one, really.

With the drone I almost always shoot bracketed, either AEB for single shots or manually for spherical panoramas.

If I won't be able to use HDR exposure-blending, I use the histogram and zebra stripes to adjust the exposure. And then still use AEB because I'm also flying and with my old eyes it's easy to miss something on that small display!

For my panoramas I usually shoot 1/8000, 1/2000, 1/500, and so on — six stops between exposures. Sometimes I only need two brackets to capture enough dynamic range, sometiems I need four or more — really depends on the scene and where the sun is in the sky.

Here is a pretty good explanation of what David was saying.

Exposing to the Right Explained

Exposing to the right, or ETTR, is an approach to photography that is as helpful as it is controversial. On one hand, exposing to the right is yet another technique to remember while shooting, and it can potentially ruin your exposure if utilized incorrectly.

photographylife.com

This is the kind of shot I usually do with my drone, for which ETTR isn't much use:

Sunset over Gibsons Harbour, British Columbia, Canada 360 Panorama | 360Cities

360° panorama photo from Canada by Robert Prior. Gibsons is a lovely town on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, famous as the location "The Bea...

www.360cities.net

 

[Chapperz]

I don't have one, really.

With the drone I almost always shoot bracketed, either AEB for single shots or manually for spherical panoramas.

If I won't be able to use HDR exposure-blending, I use the histogram and zebra stripes to adjust the exposure. And then still use AEB because I'm also flying and with my old eyes it's easy to miss something on that small display!

For my panoramas I usually shoot 1/8000, 1/2000, 1/500, and so on — six stops between exposures. Sometimes I only need two brackets to capture enough dynamic range, sometiems I need four or more — really depends on the scene and where the sun is in the sky.

Here is a pretty good explanation of what David was saying.

Exposing to the Right Explained

Exposing to the right, or ETTR, is an approach to photography that is as helpful as it is controversial. On one hand, exposing to the right is yet another technique to remember while shooting, and it can potentially ruin your exposure if utilized incorrectly.

photographylife.com

This is the kind of shot I usually do with my drone, for which ETTR isn't much use:

Sunset over Gibsons Harbour, British Columbia, Canada 360 Panorama | 360Cities

360° panorama photo from Canada by Robert Prior. Gibsons is a lovely town on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, famous as the location "The Bea...

www.360cities.net

Ahhh that's the article I read and is why I asked about your ettf settings... Method two is the way I'm going to try to go... I suppose I have to do a bit of trial and error to see what I can get away with...

After reading quite a bit I've come to this conclusion.

If the scene is highly dynamic but nothing is moving then then bracketing and merging is the way to go.

If the scene is highly dynamic but things are moving then ETTR. Duplicate the image and in Lr expose one for the shadows and one for the highlights and merge the two.

Low dynamics and still.. ETTR. I figure if I ETTR I can create as many duplicates as I need because the data/detail is there. That way I can avoid ghosting.

 

[Robert Prior]

Ahhh that's the article I read and is why I asked about your ettf settings... Method two is the way I'm going to try to go... I suppose I have to do a bit of trial and error to see what I can get away with...

After reading quite a bit I've come to this conclusion.

If the scene is highly dynamic but nothing is moving then then bracketing and merging is the way to go.

If the scene is highly dynamic but things are moving then ETTR. Duplicate the image and in Lr expose one for the shadows and one for the highlights and merge the two.

Low dynamics and still.. ETTR. I figure if I ETTR I can create as many duplicates as I need because the data/detail is there. That way I can avoid ghosting.

Turn on the zebra stripes (if you haven't already) and use them and the histogram to check whether you are blowing any highlights that matter. Then bracket anyway because memory is cheap and there's a better chance that one of those images will be easier to work with. (Also gives you the option of processing as an HDR image.)

My personal bugaboo is fast-moving clouds. Great clouds make a scene, but moving clouds make stitching a panorama, never mind an HDR panorama, a lot of work.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Ahhhh... I just read that contrary to the literature, the mini 3 Pro dual ISO works at 100 and 500. So the fact that I noticed a big increase in noise from 400 to 800 stands to reason for me... As in it wasn't linear... It was like an on/off switch.

Actually, I think you were right with 100/800, but I haven't looked at this in detail in some time.

A quick googling turned up a spate of review and technical articles on the Mini3P that all referred to 100/800 dual ISO, FWIW. None I looked at mentioned anything about ISO 500.

 

[Chapperz]

Actually, I think you were right with 100/800, but I haven't looked at this in detail in some time.

A quick googling turned up a spate of review and technical articles on the Mini3P that all referred to 100/800 dual ISO, FWIW. None I looked at mentioned anything about ISO 500.

This is one thing I found that references ISO500... there's something else I found that states that dji says it uses 800 but it actually uses 400... Thafs why I was thinking that has something to do with why I have noticed that when in 48mp mode it seems to my eye noise seems to increase linearly from 100 to 400 but as soon as I switch from 400 to 800 it's like switching a light on... But that's to my eye and I'm just a noob trying to figure things out.

Mini 3 Pro low light finally off the lead! Second native iso of 500.

Finally DJI listened to feedback and given us what we wanted: ability to switch off in camera denoising / sharpening as well as partially given us ability to engage true second native iso. Iso 500 is not selectable from the camera settings but it can be achieved by engaging Pro mode, setting...

forum.dji.com

 

[Jake 61]

This is one thing I found that references ISO500... there's something else I found that states that dji says it uses 800 but it actually uses 400... Thafs why I was thinking that has something to do with why I have noticed that when in 48mp mode it seems to my eye noise seems to increase linearly from 100 to 400 but as soon as I switch from 400 to 800 it's like switching a light on... But that's to my eye and I'm just a noob trying to figure things out.

Mini 3 Pro low light finally off the lead! Second native iso of 500.

Finally DJI listened to feedback and given us what we wanted: ability to switch off in camera denoising / sharpening as well as partially given us ability to engage true second native iso. Iso 500 is not selectable from the camera settings but it can be achieved by engaging Pro mode, setting...

forum.dji.com

As a self confessed 'noob', you might want to watch something like this to get some tips on the basics. There's a lot of talk about fairly complex and not so easy to grasp procedures, RAW, (DNG), being one of them.
I've been into photography for a long time and always shoot RAW using the JPEG files as back up, or something to quickly check if a photo is worth the effort of post processing.
To deal with RAW files properly, you do need to be using something like Photoshop and or Lightroom. Only then will you see your M3P files starting to pop, but it takes time to learn the processes you need to make this happen.
Remember, a drone is only the vehicle for positioning the camera where you want it and although the automated functions are very clever, they only do what they want to do.

RAW is definitely worth making the effort.



This was taken with my M3P on pretty much standard DNG settings, but using an ND8 filter.
Post processed in Lightroom.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

And at every setting the jpeg looked decent when zoomed in but the DNG was utter trash!!!

It looks like the style (sharpness and noise reduction) settings do nothing at all to raw. Can someone please tell me if that's normal and if so, what's the point of having the settings in the 1st place?

Raw means very specifically the data straight out of the AtoD converters for each bucket, before the raw data is debayered.

All of those fun things like levels, sharpening, etc… are after debayering.

Raw is the maximum original quality captured. But to be useful you need Lightroom, photoshop, or some other raw image editor.

Also regarding exposure: essentially you’ll be under exposing unless you clip highlights. I generally recommend recording so that highlights are just barely clipping. Use the zebra bars.