Overexposure in RAW format?

[Southern Phantom]

Is anyone experiencing overly bright RAW pictures with the Mavic?

I know how to change the EV and other settings. But with default settings, the basic results seem odd.

I've had a P3P for over 19 months, and have not had the same issue. And as a photographer, I shoot in RAW format with my DSLRs all the time, so I understand what they are, and know how to manipulate them with the assorted Adobe products.

Regardless, I'll check everything again next time I fly.

 

[Dougie]

I could ask the above exactly myself. have a couple of good slrs and always use raw but since the last firmware update I can't see any over exposure warning and it's very hard to get the exposure right with the histogram

 

[Kilrah]

Yes, the RAWs nearly all need to be dialed down when processing. I find they require quite a bit of work to get right compared to those of other cameras I've used.

 

[Ryan Reynoso]

I was feeling the same about this raw format. I thought I accidentally adjusted the settings. It doesn't have that flat look that dslr/mirrorless cameras produce when shot in raw


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[Kilrah]

Note the RAW converting software and its defaults play a lot in this and major cameras typically get "optimized" starting points, which isn't the case with the Mavic, at least for now. Adobe added profiles for a few DJI machines after a while, no idea if they will do it fot the Mavic as well.

 

[Southern Phantom]

I'm just catching up on this thread. Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments!

I think, for now, I'll just dial down the EV value and see what happens. I'll also shoot using both RAW and JPEG formats simultaneously, so I can compare them.

 

[Deckyon]

RAW format will not compensate for mistakes made in dealing with the hardware aspect of photography. It can not change the shutter speed, it can not change the aperture, it can not change the ISO. If you overexpose a photo because of any of those three, RAW cannot fix it. It can help compensate, but it will not fix it. The photo will be blown out when it hits the chip, and there is no information in the overexposed areas.

Learn to expose properly first, do not expect miracles from RAW.

 

[Southern Phantom]

I truly appreciate your comment. But I'm a professional photographer who has used RAW format on several platforms, including several DSLRs, point & shoots, and my Phantom 3 Professional drone (over 18 months). I believe I understand what it can and can not do.

My point is that my new Mavic seems to create overexposed photos in RAW format on the chip even though the picture on the controller's screen (using two different phones) is fine, when everything else is equal. No backlighting or overly light or dark subject. I've even reset the camera to its defaults and then changed a few settings back to my preferences carefully!

I'm just throwing this out for feedback. It might well be my unit.

So, I just installed a new firmware update, and will continue to experiment.

Thanks, folks! Happy holidays!

 

[Deckyon]

Have you done anything other than auto? show a shot that you think is over exposed, and post the camera settings (ISO, Shutter, et al) then change it.

 

[Palliz]

I truly appreciate your comment. But I'm a professional photographer who has used RAW format on several platforms, including several DSLRs, point & shoots, and my Phantom 3 Professional drone (over 18 months). I believe I understand what it can and can not do.

My point is that my new Mavic seems to create overexposed photos in RAW format on the chip even though the picture on the controller's screen (using two different phones) is fine, when everything else is equal. No backlighting or overly light or dark subject. I've even reset the camera to its defaults and then changed a few settings back to my preferences carefully!

I'm just throwing this out for feedback. It might well be my unit.

So, I just installed a new firmware update, and will continue to experiment.

Thanks, folks! Happy holidays!

I'm a Pro Photog & always shoot in RAW with my DSLR's I am also shooting RAW on the Mavic & YES it does over expose even in Manual settings - I dial down exposure to a point where it really doesn't look at all correct on my screen but it does help - In Photoshop I STILL find I need to drop exposure even more to get it looking the way it should. Also it helps to have your histogram up on screen to turn down the EV. I am on the DJI GO 4 app firmware updated etc.
I use android - dunno if it works out better with iPhone device?

 

[Southern Phantom]

Not meaning to belabor this ... But I did some tests today in a nearby park. The RAW format on my particular Mavic seems to work best with a minus-1 EV setting. Zero is too bright. Some of the comments above mention that Adobe doesn't yet have the Mavic profile, as it does for the Phantom and all my other cameras. That might be the issue. So we'll see what happens as time passes. Thanks for all the input!

 

[Palliz]

Not meaning to belabor this ... But I did some tests today in a nearby park. The RAW format on my particular Mavic seems to work best with a minus-1 EV setting. Zero is too bright. Some of the comments above mention that Adobe doesn't yet have the Mavic profile, as it does for the Phantom and all my other cameras. That might be the issue. So we'll see what happens as time passes. Thanks for all the input!

I tried to get back to this link again but couldn't find it so opened up another :-
Shooting in RAW - Overexposed!
Would be happy to her from other Mavic owners who shoot RAW & have same problem - AND who have managed to overcome/overcompensate.
Don't think it has anything to do with Adobe not having the Mavic profile yet - just think the RAW is VERY light sensitive & shouldn't be this bad. Adobe only really profiles the lens on the Phantoms which have a much wider FOV compared to the Mavic - I believe the new Phantom 4 Pro has the closest to the Mavic FOV - don't have specifics as I'm just here to sound out other mavic owners shooting in RAW with the same problem.
Cheers

 

[AAPhoto]

RAW just captures more info to allow you more breathing room when editing. It shouldn't have any "control" over the exposure. Are you using the Histogram? If so, what does it show? Does it show crushed highlights? Favoring the right side? I always check the histogram and adjust exposure accordingly, because in my experience, the histogram never lies (unlike my phone screen, DSLR LCD, or my computer monitor).

If the histogram is showing crushed highlights or favoring the right side, check the ISO and shutter speed. If shooting in a very bright area, it's possible (unlikely though) that the ISO is all the way down and the shutter speed is at its max leaving no room for compensation (moving the exposure wheel in this case will do nothing). If that's the case, an ND filter will reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor and hopefully buy back some room for adjustments in that particular scenario.

Another, more likely, scenario is to see if your exposure is locked. If it is, moving the wheel will have no affect. To tell if the exposure is locked, look for the padlock on the top right above the camera settings. If it's blue and in a locked position, it is locked and could be the cause of the problem. Tap the lock to unlock it and set it back to auto exposure.

Last but not least, ensure you're in auto mode and not manual and try exposing to different areas of the image to see if any changes occur. I set up my directional pad on the controller to toggle between focus and exposure if I push "up" so I can manually "touch to expose" for different areas at any given time.

Hope this helps!

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[AAPhoto]

Also note that shooting in JPG applies a color profile (RAW does not) which could add contrast to the image, making it appear darker than when shooting in RAW. This may account for the difference some people are seeing.

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[Palliz]

Also note that shooting in JPG applies a color profile (RAW does not) which could add contrast to the image, making it appear darker than when shooting in RAW. This may account for the difference some people are seeing.

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Thanks for your input my friend - always good to hear others opinions on topics posted here. All valid points & I've pretty much tested out all of the above but still the histogram doesn't represent what I am actually seeing on my screen before taking the shot. I noted your advice -------

" If the histogram is showing crushed highlights or favoring the right side, check the ISO and shutter speed. If shooting in a very bright area, it's possible (unlikely though) that the ISO is all the way down and the shutter speed is at its max leaving no room for compensation (moving the exposure wheel in this case will do nothing). If that's the case, an ND filter will reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor and hopefully buy back some room for adjustments in that particular scenario."

Didn't want to admit that I may need ND filters but may actually be the case! Most everyday here is bright sunshine...................
I always manually adjust the EV & keep my eye on the histogram at the same time before composing & shooting stills.
Thanks again for your input - I'll keep experimenting!
Cheers

 

[Kilrah]

Most cameras base the histogram on "how it would end up once their internal JPEG treatment is applied" so is somewhat useless for RAW capture.

 

[AAPhoto]

Most cameras base the histogram on "how it would end up once their internal JPEG treatment is applied" so is somewhat useless for RAW capture.

This is a good point to mention, but I wouldn't go as far to say the histogram is useless. Shooting RAW, you increase the dynamic range. Therefore, if you see any clipping on the histogram, you know to make an extra adjustment to bring it back down. For example, a jpg image may show the highlights right up against the right side of the histogram, but not yet crushed. In RAW format, those same highlights will most likely be crushed, so it's smart to bring the exposure down a bit too compensate. This is why many people mention their best RAW images are shot at -1 EV.

 

[Kilrah]

Funny becasue the theory, usual recommandations and my experience say exactly the opposite - since the sensor indeed captures more dynamic range than what a JPEG can encapsulate it has to clip or compress both ends - wich means that when you look at a JPEG that clips highligts and shadows when you take the RAW you can very well have neither of them clipped.

Hence the difficulty about the histogram, if you limit yourself to where the histogram or zebra clips when shooting RAW you're actually wasting the extra headroom your sensor would provide - and you may want to overexpose by a stop or so to make use of it, and use the extra light to your advantage to have lower shadow noise. Look up ETTR (expose to the right).
Obviously this is highly dependent on the camera, each brand/model will behave very differently in that regard so you need to make your own experimentation with each. Never heard of any where shooting -EV was beneficial though, and it really wouldn't make sense.
One of my DSLRs a few years ago had really massive headroom above what was shown as clipped on the histogram and output in the JPEG (>3EV). It was also quite noisy in "normal" use, so if I needed the best quality setting +2EV (and ending up with a totally overexposed JPEG preview) then recovering in the RAW processor was actually the best thing to do. Newer models of the same manufacturer have adjusted that a bit (they also finally understood that shifting the "window" further towards the highlights also allows them to get lower noise and fare better in reviews/comparisons) so my current camera "only" has about 1-1.5EV highlight headroom, and it's not worth intentionally overexposing anymore.

 

[AAPhoto]

That is interesting. I did some research and this article also states the histogram is based on the JPEG rendition (all the way at the end of the article... and posted below).

How to Read Your Camera's Histogram | B&H Explora

"Another thing to mention: the histogram and blinkies are usually based on a JPEG rendition of your image. If you are shooting a RAW file, your actual image will have a slightly greater dynamic range and, the clipping, if there is some, should be reduced."

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[Jooweee]

Regarding this Raw format post...

I just got the Mavic Pro a couple days ago and I can't seem to figure out how to change the photo format from jpeg to raw format. Nothing in the Manual stating how to...The "camera" option in settings on the app is in grey so I cant access it. While I was flying my drone today I met another guy with the Phantom 4 and he was having the same problem.

Does anyone know how to solve this?