Air 2s Picture quality?

[pilifida]

Hello, i've read all the hype for the new drone, but taking it out in a sunny day with high contrast scenes i am sooo disappointed. I am attaching some examples of how my camera performed today. The photos are too over-contrasted, too punchy. Is there a chance to find a setting to lower the contrast? [MP1 had a image control settings in which i could adjust the contrast/shaprening etc how i wanted]. And i'm an enthusiast photographer, i'm taking photos with various dslrs for 15 years and i was quite ok with MP1 photo quality. I expected the so much "worshiped" 1" sensor to be a mind blow. But now i miss my old MP1

 

[Bobbogee]

No, there is no image quality adjustments in the A2S. Are you evaluating the JPG files produced by the camera? If so, you should process the DNG raw files to process your images after the fact. However, to me, your pictures seem a bit overexposed with a lot of blown out highlight areas. This can definitely increase the perceived contrast.

If you haven't already done so, enable the histogram and set your exposure so that all areas of the scene (especially the highlights) are not clipped on the right side. If you have clipping on both the left and right, then typically it is easier to sacrifice the shadows a bit to keep the highlights from clipping. You can usually pull detail out of the shadow areas, but blown highlights are unrecoverable.

 

[pilifida]

Thx for the answer. I know how to process the rae files but i was expecting better jpeg files, as regarding the raw photos - i usually process only the best ones, and if i want to just look on my trip's photos, i usually scroll through the jpeg files, as it is absurd to edit each photo i shoot.

 

[Severian]

I aways trash the jpegs. Never even look at them. The raw files have everything you need in Lightroom or whatever pro post-production processing software you might use.

 

[Bobbogee]

Thx for the answer. I know how to process the rae files but i was expecting better jpeg files, as regarding the raw photos - i usually process only the best ones, and if i want to just look on my trip's photos, i usually scroll through the jpeg files, as it is absurd to edit each photo i shoot.

I hope that I didn't come across as too preachy! As I am learning myself, it should improve over time as you get used to how the drone responds

 

[pilifida]

Yup. I.ll give it more tries to figure it out how it performs

 

[Dave Maine]

Quite apart from the raw vs jpeg discussion, all these pictures are damaged by being overexposed when they were shot. Without good exposure, neither raw nor jpg will give good results.you can recover slightly more from an overexposed raw than jpg, but not a lot.

 

[dkuhne]

Does the air2 not have exposure compensation? If so, put it on -1
Are you shooting in auto or manual?
The pro 2 has ‘highlight peaking’ in the photo options so show you were you are overexposed.

 

[tlswift58]

Does the air2 not have exposure compensation? If so, put it on -1
Are you shooting in auto or manual?
The pro 2 has ‘highlight peaking’ in the photo options so show you were you are overexposed.

Agree - since I don't have the "new & improved" Air2 S, but the lowly Air2 - it has MANY compensation features. If you fly mainly on Auto - without any ND filters in bright light - you're JPEG's will be blown out. The small cameras do not do well when you have a huge shift in the picture of bright and dark - so compensating as others have stated is the real way.

You also failed to mention any of the settings you took these in on the camera. So, we don't know really how to help when little to no info is provided. Simple things like flying in auto or even in manual with f/stop setting can help us help you. Some modes like SMART take most of the settings you can apply out of the equation as well - as it figures it out via the processor. Most drone folks fly in manual mode, just like most photographers shoot as well. Once you figure out the best settings for your flying location - then your pics, even in JPEG, will come out better.

 

[melmartin]

Yes, all your shots appear to overexposed. You really want to shoot in raw. When I get my SD card out of the camera the first thing I do is trash the jpegs. There is no problem viewing your raw files quickly... even on iPhone and Android there are raw viewers. I'm very pleased with the raw file image quality coming off the Air 2S. Yes, to finish them you have to edit them, but that's part of the fun for many of us. And raw files well edited can save a shot that was over or under exposed.

 

[Bobbogee]

Yes, all your shots appear to overexposed. You really want to shoot in raw. When I get my SD card out of the camera the first thing I do is trash the jpegs. There is no problem viewing your raw files quickly... even on iPhone and Android there are raw viewers. I'm very pleased with the raw file image quality coming off the Air 2S. Yes, to finish them you have to edit them, but that's part of the fun for many of us. And raw files well edited can save a shot that was over or under exposed

When all the ducks are in order, exposure wise, the raw files are pretty awesome and flexible. As well, even the JPEGs look pretty darn good as the drone does a bang up job with coming up with an image the OP should be pleased with

 

[melmartin]

I took the liberty of editing your JPEG if you don't mind. Even with the meager data in the Jpeg it can be massaged into something useable by reducing the highlights and making a few other changes.

 

[Guido Cangelosi]

I took the liberty of editing your JPEG if you don't mind. Even with the meager data in the Jpeg it can be massaged into something useable by reducing the highlights and making a few other changes.

View attachment 128665

good editing job !

 

[pilifida]

I took the liberty of editing your JPEG if you don't mind. Even with the meager data in the Jpeg it can be massaged into something useable by reducing the highlights and making a few other changes.

View attachment 128665

Too contrasty for me. Sorry. The photo i shoot is cr@p. I know all my photos are overexposed but due to the high contrast the mA2s its shooting, i didn.t wanted to have the forest too dark. So i overexposed. Next time i will try the other way: leave it underexposed and try to lighten the darken areas as it is easyer to save an underexposed photo. But still, i am willing to use the photos in a profesionnal manner so i fear of the high noise i will get after editing.
Plus that i do not want to edit all my photos. I want to edit just the very best of them, and the others i leave them be, just to look at them when i am in the mood.
With my old mavic pro i shoot raw+jpeg, edit only the very best of dng files, and leave the rest in jpeg just for memories. But most of the jpegs i left as memories from my MP1 are look-able. The photos that i took last trip with A2s are really hurting my eyes. Too much contrast. I like working with flat photos, to save as much detail as i can and then improve tho contrast to obly what i want
I always shoot in manual.

 

[melmartin]

Everybody has their own preferences for photos and how they look. When you buy a drone with a good camera, or even a semi pro camera (Nikon, Sony, Canon) when you shoot jpeg you are letting the manufacturers decide the color science, contrast levels, highlights, shadows. In a jpeg that is hard to fix. In a raw image it's easy. I have aa Skydio 2 in addition to my DJI drone. It takes excellent pictures when I use raw. in jpeg the images have a look that Skydio thinks will appeal.

I can get nice jpegs out of the Air 2S, but sometimes not. A lot depends on lighting (time of day).

If you don't want to edit, which is usually quick and easy, you'll never get the pictures you want from a drone or any camera. If you just want snapshots that sometimes look good, stick with jpeg on any camera, drone of DSLR or Mirrorless. To a degree, you are a victim of your own rigidity.

 

[JustADude]

Too contrasty for me. Sorry. The photo i shoot is cr@p. I know all my photos are overexposed but due to the high contrast the mA2s its shooting, i didn.t wanted to have the forest too dark. So i overexposed. Next time i will try the other way: leave it underexposed and try to lighten the darken areas as it is easyer to save an underexposed photo. But still, i am willing to use the photos in a profesionnal manner so i fear of the high noise i will get after editing.
Plus that i do not want to edit all my photos. I want to edit just the very best of them, and the others i leave them be, just to look at them when i am in the mood.
With my old mavic pro i shoot raw+jpeg, edit only the very best of dng files, and leave the rest in jpeg just for memories. But most of the jpegs i left as memories from my MP1 are look-able. The photos that i took last trip with A2s are really hurting my eyes. Too much contrast. I like working with flat photos, to save as much detail as i can and then improve tho contrast to obly what i want
I always shoot in manual.

You can also bracket your shots in high dynamic range scenes if you are concerned with shadow noise.

You can still accomplish what you had with your MP1 with a tad more work. In Lightroom, it's easy to apply low-contrast settings to all of your leftover files and batch convert to JPG. Yes, it's an extra step, but Lightroom makes it super fast and easy to do that in large quantities.

 

[pilifida]

Now. I edit only the ones that are the best, not every snapshot i take. And also, since a year ago i started uploading photos to stock sites: ss, adobe, istock and i.ve learned alot what they "like" and what are their expectations regarding contrast/noise/etc. Nevermind, then. Seems that only i find the A2s camera not so great, maybe it.s my fault as i jumped into buying this drone. Usually i wait for about 6 mths to see real-people's reviews. But having the ol' MP1 for 3 yrs, i was itching for a change.
Attached i added several panoramas made from at least 12[!] photos each and edited, taken with the mp1. And they were made from JPEG FILES [i also have them from the dng files] - not raw ones, because i would like to show how a propper jpeg file should look like and to break this belief that jpgs are cr@p. Just to break the "i do not edit/properly expose" opinnion that i see it has been formed
-The pano with the gorges is made in the same lighting conditions, and if the MP1 had the same contrast as A2s has, the river below should have been dark like the most darken nights out there.

 

[JustADude]

No one is saying that JPGs are bad and can't produce amazing photos. Everyone is just trying to help you solve a problem that can't be fixed the way you prefer because we are not the ones writing the software. If you just want to complain and don't want help solving your problem then say so and everyone will stop offering advice.

There's nothing wrong with the A2S camera and there is no reason you can't achieve the same results with the A2S camera as what you posted above. You'll just have to use a different workflow to get it. It seems as though you are not ok with that in spite of the many very good and viable solutions offered in this thread. If that's the case, then you should sell the drone and either go back to your MP1, buy an MP2, or wait for the MP3.

It has been known for quite some time that the DJI Fly app does not have the same features as the DJI Go app and there's a very good chance that won't change. The DJI Fly app is geared toward casual users that may favor simplicity over functionality. It seems DJI is trying to have a clear distinction between their consumer/casual drones and their pro/enthusiast drones.

 

[pilifida]

I have seen that.
For now, from this thread i received 2 viable solutions for this problem [i definitely reject the ideea of heavy editing all my snapshots]:
- Underexpose more and see how to easily save the shadows - eventually maybe i will create a macro in photoshop that will auto light the dark areas
- I will not buy a Nd filter but a circular polarization filter immediately i see that it is available for this drone. In this way i should reduce the difference between sky and light reflecting areas and the more darken spots in the photos.

 

[JustADude]

I have seen that.
For now, from this thread i received 2 viable solutions for this problem [i definitely reject the ideea of heavy editing all my snapshots]:
- Underexpose more and see how to easily save the shadows - eventually maybe i will create a macro in photoshop that will auto light the dark areas
- I will not buy a Nd filter but a circular polarization filter immediately i see that it is available for this drone. In this way i should reduce the difference between sky and light reflecting areas and the more darken spots in the photos.

I didn't see a single suggestion to heavily edit all of your photos.

What editing software do you use?