Best settings for video and photo? (Quality Issue)

[savan.b]

Why am I getting grain in shadows from my Air?

Settings:
ND 4
4k 30fps
1/60 shutter.
D-Cinelike
Standard Profile

Mild sunny

Am I doing something wrong with the settings? I get noticeable grain jitters in the dark spots(shadows) for some reason.

Photography, I get insane amount of grain in my photos. They don't look as good as what you find on internet from other pilots.

 

[casisa24]

Same thing happenig to me. I am not using a filter.

 

[savan.b]

Same thing happenig to me. I am not using a filter.

I am gonna try few more times.. I have 90 day return policy. If I dont get the results, I am going to return it.

 

[bayou7]

What is it like when you fly using Auto exposure?

 

[savan.b]

What is it like when you fly using Auto exposure?

Didnt try. I will try and get back

 

[CanadaDrone]

There are no magical settings - you need to be paying close attention to your histogram. There will always be more noise in shadows than highlights, that is unavoidable.

Too much sharpening also exaggerates noise.

Also remember it is still a VERY tiny 1/2.3" sensor, and is is going to have visible noise at base ISO (100) and will start to get very noisy above that. If you want better you need to buy a Mavic 2 Pro or Phantom 4 Pro.

You need to post examples with full EXIF data for anyone to help you - settings will be different for every shot.

I have no problems with my Air at ISO 100 for properly exposed shots - it's exactly what I would expect out of a 1/2.3" sensor. If you inspect things at ridiculous magnification that nobody would ever view at, you will always be disappointed as well.

99% of the time these complaints are due to the user not understanding exposure or drone settings (I mean this in a positive way - more than likely there is nothing wrong with your drone). There will ALWAYS be some grain in the shadows if there are brighter areas in the same frame, especially if you are inspecting it at high magnification.

 

[casisa24]

There are no magical settings - you need to be paying close attention to your histogram. There will always be more noise in shadows than highlights, that is unavoidable.

Too much sharpening also exaggerates noise.

Also remember it is still a VERY tiny 1/2.3" sensor, and is is going to have visible noise at base ISO (100) and will start to get very noisy above that. If you want better you need to buy a Mavic 2 Pro or Phantom 4 Pro.

You need to post examples with full EXIF data for anyone to help you - settings will be different for every shot.

I have no problems with my Air at ISO 100 for properly exposed shots - it's exactly what I would expect out of a 1/2.3" sensor. If you inspect things at ridiculous magnification that nobody would ever view at, you will always be disappointed as well.

99% of the time these complaints are due to the user not understanding exposure or drone settings (I mean this in a positive way - more than likely there is nothing wrong with your drone). There will ALWAYS be some grain in the shadows if there are brighter areas in the same frame, especially if you are inspecting it at high magnification.

What you describe is what happened to me. I was filming a person outside in a sunny day and behind that person was a tree, the shadows under and behind the tree looks noisy. That is why i must be getting noise in my shots, because of the little sensor that the camera has. Thanks for your explanation. Now i know there is nothing wrong with my MA.

By the way, I do not understand how histogram works. I have hear that the curves and lines must be centered, but i have no idea how to make it work or what it means.

 

[CanadaDrone]

What you describe is what happened to me. I was filming a person outside in a sunny day and behind that person was a tree, the shadows under and behind the tree looks noisy. That is why i must be getting noise in my shots, because of the little sensor that the camera has. Thanks for your explanation. Now i know there is nothing wrong with my MA.

It's not entirely due to the small sensor, but it is exaggerated due to the small sensor. My $4500 full frame DSLRs have bad shadows too if I underexpose them, which is sometimes unavoidable depending on the subject matter. I think you will find that in brighter areas, highlights, etc. there is little to no noise at ISO 100 unless you are inspecting the footage at high magnification. Because any camera can only expose for one thing at a time, if you have bright things in your footage, your shadows are going to be underexposed if you have the exposure set to not blow the highlights - that is unavoidable. It's all a balancing act. In more evenly lit scenes (for example when it's cloudy or overcast) it is easier to get everything exposed properly.

I think you will find that when playing the footage back at normal magnification, the noise is not really visible unless you go looking for it, and everything will look pretty great provided that you had a correct exposure to begin with.

 

[savan.b]

There are no magical settings - you need to be paying close attention to your histogram. There will always be more noise in shadows than highlights, that is unavoidable.

Too much sharpening also exaggerates noise.

Also remember it is still a VERY tiny 1/2.3" sensor, and is is going to have visible noise at base ISO (100) and will start to get very noisy above that. If you want better you need to buy a Mavic 2 Pro or Phantom 4 Pro.

You need to post examples with full EXIF data for anyone to help you - settings will be different for every shot.

I have no problems with my Air at ISO 100 for properly exposed shots - it's exactly what I would expect out of a 1/2.3" sensor. If you inspect things at ridiculous magnification that nobody would ever view at, you will always be disappointed as well.

99% of the time these complaints are due to the user not understanding exposure or drone settings (I mean this in a positive way - more than likely there is nothing wrong with your drone). There will ALWAYS be some grain in the shadows if there are brighter areas in the same frame, especially if you are inspecting it at high magnification.

Here is the actual footage

Dropbox - DJI_0004.MP4 - Download for full resolution. (Notice the backyard grass and overall footage.

 

[gottahavit]

looks pretty good to me, I don't see much noise, watching on 2k amoled display at full brightness. I do notice a lot of bright color I dont normally see filming dcinema. did you post process?

 

[savan.b]

looks pretty good to me, I don't see much noise, watching on 2k amoled display at full brightness. I do notice a lot of bright color I dont normally see filming dcinema. did you post process?

No i dont think I color graded this footage. 100% not color graded. I used ND 4 and standard profile.

 

[JDawg]

Raw or auto?

 

[savan.b]

Raw or auto?

RAW

 

[theDRONEranger]

This may help, or not.

Camera Settings - Get the most out of your DJI Mavic Air

 

[CanadaDrone]

Here is the actual footage

Dropbox - DJI_0004.MP4 - Download for full resolution. (Notice the backyard grass and overall footage.

I watched the footage, and I don't know how it was edited or what settings you used, but the backyard grass is massively underexposed which is the reason for your disappointment. You have sunlight reflecting off the rooftops which you seem to be exposing for, so anything darker than that is going to be very underexposed. That is why it looks so bad in the shadows. You will notice that the highlights and properly exposed areas look quite good.

The reason for this is how image sensors work - they achieve best image quality when they have been saturated with light to the point that they can reach their full well capacity (where the ADC reaches maximum value, which is at base ISO). If the bright/highlight areas are properly exposed, that typically means far less light has been collected by the photosites responsible for the dark areas, and as a result they are going to be full of noise. When you raise the ISO, the ADC is told to reach maximum value much earlier, hence the dynamic range reduction at higher ISO levels, because it is working with far fewer electrons before it reports a maximum value. This is also why you see grain/noise at higher ISO levels, because the ADC is reporting maximum value with only a tiny fraction of the light collected compared to base ISO FWC, and light is collected randomly (noise also occurs randomly, which is why stacking multiple high ISO images is an effective form of noise reduction).

This is not a problem unique to DJI or the sensor in the Air - no camera can expose all areas of a scene like that with such high dynamic range. There will always be more noise in the shadows, and the 1/2.3" sensor isn't giving you a ton of flexibility - it's essentially the same sensor in many modern smartphones today. Shooting high contrast scenes like that is simply not ideal because you can only expose for the shadows or the highlights - not both. Choosing the light that you fly in has one of the biggest effects on how good your footage will look, and that goes for 'standard' photography as well. Any time you have ultra high contrast and strong shadows, the result just isn't going to be good. What you usually want is for your subjects to be very evenly lit, and then you can pick a single exposure for the whole scene and everything will look great.

The best settings for the Mavic Air if you're going to be doing color grading are:

Sharpening: 0
Contrast: -3 (this will all you to use all the dynamic range of the sensor)
Saturation: -2

The footage straight out of the drone will look very flat, but it allows for the most leeway when grading.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Raw or auto?

The Mavic Air cannot shoot RAW video, unfortunately. The closest you get is D-Cinelike but that is not like D-Log on higher end drones.

 

[savan.b]

I watched the footage, and I don't know how it was edited or what settings you used, but the backyard grass is massively underexposed which is the reason for your disappointment. You have sunlight reflecting off the rooftops which you seem to be exposing for, so anything darker than that is going to be very underexposed. That is why it looks so bad in the shadows. You will notice that the highlights and properly exposed areas look quite good.

The reason for this is how image sensors work - they achieve best image quality when they have been saturated with light to the point that they can reach their full well capacity (where the ADC reaches maximum value, which is at base ISO). If the bright/highlight areas are properly exposed, that typically means far less light has been collected by the photosites responsible for the dark areas, and as a result they are going to be full of noise. When you raise the ISO, the ADC is told to reach maximum value much earlier, hence the dynamic range reduction at higher ISO levels, because it is working with far fewer electrons before it reports a maximum value. This is also why you see grain/noise at higher ISO levels, because the ADC is reporting maximum value with only a tiny fraction of the light collected compared to base ISO FWC, and light is collected randomly (noise also occurs randomly, which is why stacking multiple high ISO images is an effective form of noise reduction).

This is not a problem unique to DJI or the sensor in the Air - no camera can expose all areas of a scene like that with such high dynamic range. There will always be more noise in the shadows, and the 1/2.3" sensor isn't giving you a ton of flexibility - it's essentially the same sensor in many modern smartphones today. Shooting high contrast scenes like that is simply not ideal because you can only expose for the shadows or the highlights - not both. Choosing the light that you fly in has one of the biggest effects on how good your footage will look, and that goes for 'standard' photography as well. Any time you have ultra high contrast and strong shadows, the result just isn't going to be good. What you usually want is for your subjects to be very evenly lit, and then you can pick a single exposure for the whole scene and everything will look great.

The best settings for the Mavic Air if you're going to be doing color grading are:

Sharpening: 0
Contrast: -3 (this will all you to use all the dynamic range of the sensor)
Saturation: -2

The footage straight out of the drone will look very flat, but it allows for the most leeway when grading.

Thank you. I did change my settings from standard to your settings. Hopefully I will get different results. I will post here whenever I can film. Waiting for good weather.

Do you use same settings for pictures too?

 

[CanadaDrone]

Thank you. I did change my settings from standard to your settings. Hopefully I will get different results. I will post here whenever I can film. Waiting for good weather.

Do you use same settings for pictures too?

For pictures I shoot RAW so the drone picture settings (contrast, saturation, white balance, etc.) are completely irrelevant.

 

[savan.b]

For pictures I shoot RAW so the drone picture settings (contrast, saturation, white balance, etc.) are completely irrelevant.

I got tons of grain in my pictures too.. Maybe it was underexposed as well. I will try again and follow the histogram and see what I get. I'll post the results soon.

 

[CanadaDrone]

I got tons of grain in my pictures too.. Maybe it was underexposed as well. I will try again and follow the histogram and see what I get. I'll post the results soon.

Honestly the Mavic Air still photos are pretty average - it's a 12MP 1/2.3" sensor and even at base ISO you're going to see a noise. Basically the same sensor in a smartphone or cheap point & shoot camera. You definitely need to manage your expectations there. The 1" sensors like the Phantom 4 Pro and Mavic 2 Pro offer enormously better still image quality.

Also try not to pixel peep everything at 100%, as things you see there will never impact a print or web photo.