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Best Photo and Video Settings

Piper J3

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Joined
Jul 21, 2020
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What camera settings should I use for best still photo quality and also highest definition video with smooth motion? Camera is being recorded directly to mini 5 iPad. When I play back video after the flight it is choppy and not smooth.
 
No one can tell you what camera settings to use from one minute to the next. There are too many variables, given location, lighting, speed of moving subject, just to name a few. You either know how to set a camera or you learn to. DJI's system includes various features such as over exposure alert (Zebra Stripes) and a histogram. You will need to do your own experimentation along with numerous YouTube vids to get a basic understanding on which manual functions need to be adjusted when and where.

As to "recording" to your iPad, that is cache video and low definition. All Main Hi Res videos/pictures are recorded to your SDCard. From there you will take them to a computer with a video editor if you wish. Video with smooth motion is generally obtained with a higher frame rate so 60Fps is preferred, also with smooth control stick input...all things you will just need to practice. The use of ND's to add a motion blur and more cinematic feel can be used...again plenty of YouTube tutorials to explain their function. There simply isn't any "Magic bullet" you will need to learn to use the settings you have and know how to adjust them to your shoot site.
 
Thank you for info. I will download the same video from the SD card and compare to video cached on the iPad.

Appreciate the help...
 
For pics on the Air2 - 48mp is top mark. Video at 4k 30 / 60 fps is top mark on that one. All that being said - running those ALL the time will use a ton of storage space. If you need that kind of quality - then by all means set your drone up for that. If going to mainly post to YouTube / FB / Social Media - it's kind of a waste; as it will be downgraded to fit those site and few people would actually have equipment to watch a 4k video at full rez. Same as 48MP in camera mode. The flip side to that is you would have the best quality videos / pics still for future use, but again requires a ton of storage on hard drives once you take them off the SD card. Believe me - those files ADD UP QUICK, esp video.

I shoot much of my video at 1080p and 25 FPS. I haven't gotten any jerky videos and they come out pretty darn good. Even using 4x in daylight, the vid's are pretty decent. 4x in low light is not advisable - lots of grain, but 2x is pretty decent there.

You and you alone have to make the decisions based on all the factors. For commercial use - always go high as you can always downsize the output later in post processing - you can't go up though. For rec use - find a middle of the road setting that works and go with it. Expect to buy some large hard drives (2+ Terabytes) though if you fly a lot. I'd suggest a NAS system of a minimum of 2 drives for backing up your main drive in case of failure. Once gone, always gone.
 
In addition to the above, there are some good threads on this subject. Tap the magnifying glass at the top right of this screen and type in your question. These guys are a wealth of information. Best wishes.
 
The H265 is problematic playing back on even modern machines. Saying that, being cache files, they are at a lower resolution so the codec thing shouldn't be an issue. The hi-res files however will most likely drop frames on all the the best CPU machines.
 
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