Camera Settings; Auto, A, S or M ?

[Tim3459575]

Hi,

I’m curious as to recommendations for the camera settings as regards, Auto, S, A or M. I’m shooting at 30 fps, so apparently I should have a shutter speed of 1/60 sec. To achieve that I believe my choice has to be M or S in order to force the desired shutter speed. I’ve been using M but have to keep changing the aperture as the lighting changes. Perhaps S would be be better ? Any advice on this topic would be much appreciated.

 

[tlap]

There as a number of videos on YouTube that go into depth on the proper camera settings. I suggest you look them up. The problem with shooting video on Auto is that the brightness can change visibly on sunny days when the drone points in different directions. Therefore, M is the best way to go. Again, for specific setting, look at some videos.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

You are correct that logically, Shutter priority is the way to go. That way, you keep your chosen SS to match your frame rate and the camera adjusts the aperture and/or exposure compensation as needed.

TROUBLE WITH S-PRIORITY: One trouble I've had, and I admit that I have just avoided figuring out why, is that shutter priority gave uneven results for me. That is, when I would turn the craft (or change the pitch of the gimbal), the light would change which caused the aperture to change setting (as expected), but you could SEE the light changes in the video. It should be a smooth gradation from one setting to another, but instead, it would slowly get brighter, then the aperture would clamp down and you would see it get a bit darker suddenly.

I need to go back and deep dive to find out what the issue is, but I guess I really haven't needed S priority (haven't done much video since then, and most of my still photo work is A priority (and it's not video anyways, so wouldn't show that issue).

TROUBLE WITH FULL MANUAL: The other trouble I've had with full Manual mode: it's not full manual because the aircraft changes the exposure compensation (+/- 3 stops, so a 6 stop range is very significant).

If anybody has inside to either of the above 2 issues, feel free to chime in. It would benefit the OP, me, and probably others.

If this were still camera photography, I probably would have done the troubleshooting already. The difference is that you often encounter these things while your aircraft is in the sky and you still have that to deal with, so you punt, do what you can to get the shots / video, then land and go home (and some of us then procrastinate).

Chris

 

[Tim3459575]

You are correct that logically, Shutter priority is the way to go. That way, you keep your chosen SS to match your frame rate and the camera adjusts the aperture and/or exposure compensation as needed.

TROUBLE WITH S-PRIORITY: One trouble I've had, and I admit that I have just avoided figuring out why, is that shutter priority gave uneven results for me. That is, when I would turn the craft (or change the pitch of the gimbal), the light would change which caused the aperture to change setting (as expected), but you could SEE the light changes in the video. It should be a smooth gradation from one setting to another, but instead, it would slowly get brighter, then the aperture would clamp down and you would see it get a bit darker suddenly.

I need to go back and deep dive to find out what the issue is, but I guess I really haven't needed S priority (haven't done much video since then, and most of my still photo work is A priority (and it's not video anyways, so wouldn't show that issue).

TROUBLE WITH FULL MANUAL: The other trouble I've had with full Manual mode: it's not full manual because the aircraft changes the exposure compensation (+/- 3 stops, so a 6 stop range is very significant).

If anybody has inside to either of the above 2 issues, feel free to chime in. It would benefit the OP, me, and probably others.

If this were still camera photography, I probably would have done the troubleshooting already. The difference is that you often encounter these things while your aircraft is in the sky and you still have that to deal with, so you punt, do what you can to get the shots / video, then land and go home (and some of us then procrastinate).

Chris

Thanks Chris, I’ve not tried Shutter mode, but in manual, I find that I have to change the aperture on the fly as the lighting changes and when I do, it causes sudden shifts in the exposure that can’t be fixture in post other than cutting those sections out.

 

[Made2Phly]

The problem with shooting video with anything other than manual is that one notices the change of shutter or aperture created by the camera in the midst of the video, much like if one sets the white balance to auto. I have not noticed any change of exposure to due to EV compensation

When shooting stills, it doesn't matter nearly as much, except in pano. I find that when I shoot certain pano's on manual, one or more columns of the stitched images are slightly too dark and noticeable as such. So i have been shooting panos in full auto.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

You are correct that logically, Shutter priority is the way to go. That way, you keep your chosen SS to match your frame rate and the camera adjusts the aperture and/or exposure compensation as needed.

TROUBLE WITH S-PRIORITY: One trouble I've had, and I admit that I have just avoided figuring out why, is that shutter priority gave uneven results for me. That is, when I would turn the craft (or change the pitch of the gimbal), the light would change which caused the aperture to change setting (as expected), but you could SEE the light changes in the video. It should be a smooth gradation from one setting to another, but instead, it would slowly get brighter, then the aperture would clamp down and you would see it get a bit darker suddenly.

I need to go back and deep dive to find out what the issue is, but I guess I really haven't needed S priority (haven't done much video since then, and most of my still photo work is A priority (and it's not video anyways, so wouldn't show that issue).

TROUBLE WITH FULL MANUAL: The other trouble I've had with full Manual mode: it's not full manual because the aircraft changes the exposure compensation (+/- 3 stops, so a 6 stop range is very significant).

If anybody has inside to either of the above 2 issues, feel free to chime in. It would benefit the OP, me, and probably others.

If this were still camera photography, I probably would have done the troubleshooting already. The difference is that you often encounter these things while your aircraft is in the sky and you still have that to deal with, so you punt, do what you can to get the shots / video, then land and go home (and some of us then procrastinate).

Chris

If I had to guess (and that's totally what it is) The aperture "steps down" instead of smoothly contracting like a zoom lens when you change focal length.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

If I had to guess (and that's totally what it is) The aperture "steps down" instead of smoothly contracting like a zoom lens when you change focal length.

Yeah, we might be expecting too much of these little cameras. A pro cinematic lens will have variable aperture (that is, it won't step down on detents so visibly) and this is part of the reason a film crew will flood the scenes with light (even in full sun), to control the light so the aperture doesn't have to change at all with camera movement. We don't have that luxury up in the sky, eh?