Christmas lights help

[jlynde]

Hi everyone!

I have been tasked with getting video and pictures of the Christmas lights throughout the park and rec I work for now. I will be using a DJI Mini 3 Pro to capture the footage. Does anyone have some tips that could help me out?

 

[slup]

If videoing in dark conditions (sounds like it...) note that a lower framerate will give you access to slower shutter speeds which will let in more light without cranking up the ISO (60FPS=slowest 1/60s, 24FPS=slowest 1/24s). Just bear in mind that with a slower shutter the motion blur will increase... so fly slower & smoother to counter that.

 

[RogerDH]

If you shoot before it gets completely pitch black, you will get some sky, building and structure detail that will add depth and fill in the dynamic range. (You can then shoot some more when it's completely dark to see which you prefer.)

 

[sancap]

Here is an image I took the other night with a Mavic 3. I shot this in manual, 1/5 sec shutter, ISO 100 and 2.8 f-stop.

 

[globetrotterdrone]

The f1.7 aperture should come in quite handy from the Mini 3 Pro. Roughly 1 stop more light than the Mavic 3 (however having the smaller sensor).

I would suggest rather than filming in pitch black, use the blue hour for an interesting and yet balanced lighting without too much noise/high ISO.

 

[RogerDH]

The f1.7 aperture should come in quite handy from the Mini 3 Pro. Roughly 1 stop more light than the Mavic 3 (however having the smaller sensor).

I would suggest rather than filming in pitch black, use the blue hour for an interesting and yet balanced lighting without too much noise/high ISO.

There's another thread from a user who is furious to discover that the Mini 3 Pro doesn't support waypoint missions, and here's a perfect example why he should be furious. It would be great to be able to plan this video as a mission and run it several times as the evening progressed, possibly making any quick adjustments, then pick the one that had the best lighting. If you looked at all of them and decided they would be better with a slightly different path, you could edit the mission and run it again the next night.

 

[jlynde]

Here is an image I took the other night with a Mavic 3. I shot this in manual, 1/5 sec shutter, ISO 100 and 2.8 f-stop.

That is beautiful!

 

[jlynde]

There's another thread from a user who is furious to discover that the Mini 3 Pro doesn't support waypoint missions, and here's a perfect example why he should be furious. It would be great to be able to plan this video as a mission and run it several times as the evening progressed, possibly making any quick adjustments, then pick the one that had the best lighting. If you looked at all of them and decided they would be better with a slightly different path, you could edit the mission and run it again the next night.

I downloaded litchi for my personal drone that is a DJI Mini 2. Could I do missions with that?

 

[RogerDH]

I downloaded litchi for my personal drone that is a DJI Mini 2. Could I do missions with that?

Yes, Litchi can work with the Mini 2 using virtual stick commands. (This means the app is flying the mission through the controller rather than the drone flying itself, so it requires that the drone stay connected, but continuing a mission after loss of control is illegal anyway.)

 

[russpury]

Use a fixed rather than auto exposure so it doesn't compensate for changes in the light levels as you move about. That can be very distracting.

 

[CWassam]

Here is an image I took the other night with a Mavic 3. I shot this in manual, 1/5 sec shutter, ISO 100 and 2.8 f-stop.

Awesome shot!

 

[PatrickMicc]

Hi everyone!

I have been tasked with getting video and pictures of the Christmas lights throughout the park and rec I work for now. I will be using a DJI Mini 3 Pro to capture the footage. Does anyone have some tips that could help me out?

Here was my experiment from last year. Shooting at dust was my best result and manual iris, good luck ! Lets see what you get, please.

xmas.mp4

drive.google.com

 

[dgibbphoto]

Here is an image I shot last year of a Christmas Tree lighting event.

 

[jlynde]

Use a fixed rather than auto exposure so it doesn't compensate for changes in the light levels as you move about. That can be very distracting.

What settings do you suggest?

 

[slup]

What settings do you suggest?

That would be impossible to answer ... it depends on how much light you have available when doing the shoot, how you chose to prioritize between shadow & highlight coverage, how much quality degradation you can allow due to the ISO setting & if using a slow shutter, how you handle possible motion blur.

I suggest you go out and test different settings out in similar lightening conditions you will have when doing that Christmas light shoot.

 

[GregS]

If videoing in dark conditions (sounds like it...) note that a lower framerate will give you access to slower shutter speeds which will let in more light without cranking up the ISO (60FPS=slowest 1/60s, 24FPS=slowest 1/24s). Just bear in mind that with a slower shutter the motion blur will increase... so fly slower & smoother to counter that.

Wonder if these settings work with the Phantom 4 Pro? I want to get video of the Christmas lights in our town just as the sun is setting. I was thinking just using Auto and see how that turns out. Will fly in tripod mode.

 

[slup]

Wonder if these settings work with the Phantom 4 Pro? I want to get video of the Christmas lights in our town just as the sun is setting. I was thinking just using Auto and see how that turns out. Will fly in tripod mode.

What I wrote isn't a setting... It's just general about how the frame rate relates to the accessible shutter speeds when videoing.

No video camera can have a slower shutter than 1/frame rate... either you can't dial in a slower value or the video will look really crappy if you can. This should also apply to the P4P... if you want as much light in as possible you go with the lowest frame rate possible, as that gives the opportunity to use a slower shutter speed & deal with an increased motion blur but benefits from a lower ISO which gives a cleaner video with less noise.

Nothing wrong with testing auto... but as all difficult video circumstances usually require prioritizing between shutter speed, ISO, amount of motion blur, highlight or shadow coverage... the end result usually becomes better if you decide yourself.

 

[Dbez1]

In these circumstances, you might find that under exposing produces better color in the lights. There are a couple ways to do this, but the easiest is through your EV compensation. That’s not always the best way though as noted above.

 

[jlynde]

Here is one of the pictures I was able to capture on Friday morning.