Best Settings For Still Photos?

[RC5728]

What are the best settings for still photos? And how should they be processed afterwards?

I'm searching for this but it seems like it hasn't been covered very much.

 

[Meta4]

What are the best settings for still photos? And how should they be processed afterwards?
I'm searching for this but it seems like it hasn't been covered very much.

The reason for all the different settings is that there are so many combinations of photographic conditions and different effects you might want to achieve.
There are no one-size-fits-all "best" settings.

 

[Kilrah]

You should read some photography tutorials, it's nothing specific to the camera you're using.

 

[zocalo]

There are no one-size-fits-all "best" settings.

Pretty much this, but generally you want to shoot at around the optimum aperture setting for the lens. On my M2P this seems to be somewhere around f/4, with anything beyond f/5.6 starting to show noticeable softening of the image. For maximum average sharpness across the scene you want to be focussed around 1/3 of the way into the scene, but if you have a specific point of interest - a building or whatever - then just focus on that. If in doubt, take a few exposures with different settings.

Keep ISO as low as possible to reduce noise, but you'll need to balance this against light levels and how stable the drone is; if it's getting buffeted by gusts of wind, then you may need to increase this to keep your shutter time down. Likewise, in lower light levels around sunrise and sunset you may need to increase it in order to keep the aperture closer to the sweet spot.

Since for stills you want the drone to be static, then using "Tripod mode" (if available) will make fine tuning composition a little easier and make the drone work a little harder at keeping still when hovering.

I'd recommend shooting in Raw+JPEG if possible; you'll get a lot more DR out of Raw files, but if the JPEG is good enough that'll save you some processing time. Ultimately, images from drones (Raw or JPEG) are no different from any other camera, so any decent post-processing guide you can find via Google will do.

Andy

 

[Meta4]

Since for stills you want the drone to be static, then using "Tripod mode" (if available) will make fine tuning composition a little easier and make the drone work a little harder at keeping still when hovering.

"Tripod" mode is confusingly named.
It doesn't do anything to keep the drone more still. (The gimbal does that all the time in any mode.)
It just slows the speed right down and is best used for flying in tight spaces.

 

[calmar81]

"Tripod" mode is confusingly named.
It doesn't do anything to keep the drone more still. (The gimbal does that all the time in any mode.)
It just slows the speed right down and is best used for flying in tight spaces.

Hm... I don't know. If you want to stay in place and want to perform just slow tweaks on your position, I find tripod mode more useful as the aircraft moves slower.

 

[Meta4]

Hm... I don't know. If you want to stay in place and want to perform just slow tweaks on your position, I find tripod mode more useful as the aircraft moves slower.

Yes, it sounds like it should lock the drone's position but that isn't what it does at all.
If it was possible to lock the drone's position, DJI would make it do that all the time.

It is good for slow precise movement though.

 

[zocalo]

"Tripod" mode is confusingly named.
It doesn't do anything to keep the drone more still. (The gimbal does that all the time in any mode.)
It just slows the speed right down and is best used for flying in tight spaces.

I stand corrected; I thought it had an additional effect on overall stability as well, but having checked this apparently not the case. That means its only real use for stills - and still quite a useful one - is fine-tuning compositions, plus maneouvering in tight spaces and for really smooth, albeit slow, drone movement in video of course.

Also, while the gimbal will help with basic stability issues similar to IS on a regular camera, it won't do much if the drone itself is being pushed around so we're back to choosing exposure time appropriates for higher wind speeds. Or maybe just not flying when the drone is telling you it's a bad idea...