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Air 2s Picture quality?

eventually maybe i will create a macro in photoshop that will auto light the dark areas

Mostly Lightroom. And photoshop for merging panos

Why not create a preset in Lightroom that would mimic whatever settings you would choose in the DJI Go app? I'd have to imagine it would be much faster than a macro and if you spend most of your time in Lightroom then it seems to make even more sense.

I assume you are using the new version of Lightroom and not Lightroom Classic. I really don't love the new version. They removed so much functionality, like the ability to apply presets to your photos on import which would make this even easier for you. What was a 1-step process now becomes a 4-step process to do the same thing.
 
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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.
I wish I could turn off jpg altogether, however I download the images to a folder and when importing to LR I have it set to ignore jpg files and therefore it just imports the DNG's and so far I am totally satisfied with the results I'm getting.
 
And my 2¢ would be to learn the intricacies of using a CPL filter... you can't just slap it on and expect it to perform miracles, they have to be fine tuned (hence circular)... for the specific shot. If you swing around and present a different angle to the sun, the filter will present a different effect. (I beg you pardon if I am preaching to the choir)... Aloha
 
I intend on buying one as soon as they appear on market. I am aware how a cpl works as i have one stuck on my dslrs since 10 yrs ago. It will be a pain in the @ss to adjust it for each photo but for better results i hope it will be wirth it. Thx!
 
And my 2¢ would be to learn the intricacies of using a CPL filter

Can you get a plain MC-UV filter for this drone yet ?
I find one really makes a difference to photos, reducing lens flare, general glare, haze . . . colours seem to pop.
Removing UV light (not sure how much ?) seems to make the jpegs more crisp and real to colour to me.
While it also helps with video colours, these seem to be more useful in photography.
I've never done a comparo with / without, but ight try that sometime.
 
As mentioned above, You are comparing 2 completely different camera/sensor systems and there will be differences.
If all cameras shot the same image there wouldn't be a need for all the different brands? A lot of personal preference is inherent to photography in general and bottom line, you like what you like!
The sensor in the Air2 S is capturing much more light than the "old" Mavic's sensor so with everything else being the same, the image will get overexposed, If you are purposely trying to overexpose, the added light will be immediately apparent like in your examples. I would retry those shots with either less exposure or maybe a slight underexposure. I live in AZ so the bright sun is an issue and requires some added attention for either the S or the M2P.
That being said, I have found the jpgs out of the S much better than the jpgs out of the M2P and need very little ( if any) tweaking just to post, share, etc. But, I like the slightly "punchier" look anyway...It is much better than the "default auto" M2P images are.
I agree that a few "tweaking" settings would be nice but DJI is steadily trying to differentiate the "consumer" and "pro" level drones (and I am sure the price on the Mavic 3 will reflect that) so those features might not make it into something like the S! Some re-thinking/experimenting might be required for you to get optimal results for YOUR preferences.
Have you tried the "Smart" mode for photos? It does the whole HDR/contrast "leveling" in the app and the results might be acceptable if you want a good result straight out of the camera. Much better than previous hdr, etc modes on the drones.
Let the advanced processing do the work?
 
here's a contrasty scene from last week, with the air2s.
wide pano, stitched (with small errors) by dji fly, some tone editing in lightroom.
overall, the highlights and shadows held together reasonably well, IME.

QID4Sa2.jpg
 
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Ok, so i made more tests, allways with the histogram on, and now all seems acceptable. It.s getting better but not super wow. It managed to wow me, though, regarding night photography. The old mavic not only dodn.t managed to get enough light, but it wasn.t even able to hold still for those several sec needed for the photo.
The air is a great improvement regarding night photography. I attach a panorama i managed to squeeze when night falls_20210519_102244.JPG
 
If the lighting is not favorable you can process till the cows come home and you're not going to end up with something that is not disappointing IMHO. As we all know you can show a garish color snapshot to a non photographer and they will prefer it every time over a beautifully exposed black and white.
 
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