Dear Mother of God SHARPNESS!

[HarryMerkin]

Okay so I'm into the mavic around 2 weeks now and I've read so many different **** opinions on settings to get a sharper image and video. Some say turn up the sharpness +1 others say -1. Some say shoot in 1080p others say shoot in 2.7 and in post turn it into 1080p. I'm just a simple guy who wants a good picture. I'm not really familiar with all these camera settings and so there's got to be a general setting that everybody agrees on. I don't need to do a bunch of fancy stuff in post afterwards. I want to set it and forget it. Maybe that's asking too much of trying to have a basic setting on this flying camera. I can learn all this stuff later I just want to have some good quality video now that I can show family and friends. They're already amazed with auto settings. But if I can make them a little better without having to become a serious photographer that would be great. Not that I don't want to learn how you make my results as sharp as possible, I just don't want to burn myself out trying to learn everything about the mavic in a short amount of time. I'm slowly messing with different things like follow and spotlight. Sorry for the noob question.

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Filters, ND etc. Simplest way to change things.
There are going to be many different opinions so take it all onboard and try different settings to see which please you most.

 

[LAF100]

Sounds like your frustrations are similar to mine!

I've come to accept that because I have never owned a DSLR I have several learning curves:
1. Learning all the Mavic set up, safety, flight modes etc.
2. Underdasting and trying all the many camera settings.
3. Getting better a choosing a location, framing a shot and flying/filming smoothly to get a watchable/entertaining result.

Apart from auto modes, there can never be "set and forget" settings due to differing lighting conditions at every use.

I have to remind myself that I haven't just purchased another quad/drone, but an aerial camera platform - and its awesome!!

 

[smallman28]

I think the general consensus is to take the camera out of auto and into manual to get the best results.
As far as video is concerned what I have read suggests setting it to 2.7k as opposed to 4k.
While it is capable of 4k it is a relatively small small sensor size and I think that 4k is asking a lot
I shot stuff on 4k and 2.7k on a Gopro 4 that has similar settings to the Mavic and personally I couldn't visibly see a difference other than the file size
I filmed in 2.7k and 1080p and then did the video itself in 1080p.
The stuff that was originally shot in 2.7k was visibly better in terms of clarity and definition that what was shot in 1080p even when "converted" to 1080p.
There are options for NTSC and PAL,this affects the frame rate available but in a digital form NTSC and PAL is irrelevant,set it at NTSC as this gives you 30fps as opposed to 24fps in PAL.
Then,set the shutter speed at twice the frame rate,so in this instance that would be 1/60th,set the white balance to manual and play with the choices available,you basically need to get whites that look white
This will usually involve choosing the "custom" option and adjusting the slider till the whites look white,not too "blue" or "warm" looking.
Matching the shutter speed to the frame rate stops the video looking too sharp and processed,we are used to seeing some motion blur in moving images and when there is none the image tends to looks too processed and not "real"
If the slow shutter speed of 1/60th of a second makes the image look too bright then we start getting into the realm of filters,usually ones referred to as "neutral density" (ND) ,this has the "effect" of reducing the shutter speed without physically reducing the shutter speed itself.
As can be seen in the link below.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Neutral_density_filter_demonstration.jpg

 

[madman4049]

My 2 cents make it sharp, you can always dull it down in editing if needed.

 

[Robbyg]

Okay so I'm into the mavic around 2 weeks now and I've read so many different **** opinions on settings to get a sharper image and video. Some say turn up the sharpness +1 others say -1. Some say shoot in 1080p others say shoot in 2.7 and in post turn it into 1080p. I'm just a simple guy who wants a good picture. I'm not really familiar with all these camera settings and so there's got to be a general setting that everybody agrees on. I don't need to do a bunch of fancy stuff in post afterwards. I want to set it and forget it. Maybe that's asking too much of trying to have a basic setting on this flying camera. I can learn all this stuff later I just want to have some good quality video now that I can show family and friends. They're already amazed with auto settings. But if I can make them a little better without having to become a serious photographer that would be great. Not that I don't want to learn how you make my results as sharp as possible, I just don't want to burn myself out trying to learn everything about the mavic in a short amount of time. I'm slowly messing with different things like follow and spotlight. Sorry for the noob question.

One of the reasons it becomes so frustrating is that most people are trying out all of these settings while flying. So they end up spending a lot of flights just trying to figure out what is best for them. If your not interested in 4K video and grading etc. then I suggest just shooting in 1080P @ 30 FPS and set the shutter for 1/60th. That is one major decision out of the way.

Now most of the other stuff is what takes forever to get right while your flying but can be done simply if you take flight out of the equation.

Just set your Mavic outdoors on a table or something and point it at a group of objects like a house with a tree next to it, make sure that they are at least 60ft away and do it while the sun is at an angle lighting up that spot.


Next slap on an ND filter that gives you proper exposure EV=0 while at ISO 100. Most likely this will be an ND8 or ND16 filter. Now you have solved your second problem.

Next go through and shoot short 30 second clips trying out the various modes like D-Cinema, ART etc. No need to try them all, some will look terrible when you look at them on your phones screen. As you record each clip make a notation on paper of the order that you filmed each one and the settings used. You can repeat the mode settings again using +1 and -1 for the sharpness. The whole process took me about 1 hour while sitting in a chair sipping a beer.

When I had about 20 clips on my SD card, I packed up everything and went back in the house and looked at the video on my computer and found the one that I liked the best.

Problem solved without trying to juggle flying and finding the correct settings at the same time. I should also mention that while manual focusing is better, the implementation of it in the App is horrible. I use Auto focus! After taking off I point the camera at something 60-70ft away and tap the auto focus. That is typically the only time I focus during the flight.

You may have to do minor changes sometimes to the ISO or shutter speed but most of the time it's going to be very close to what you want.

Hope this helps

Rob

 

[flipf]

Another very-well written and informative post, It never ceases to amaze me the amount of time, energy and valuable knowledge that people are willing to share on this forum,mostly time. Thanks! That only leaves one question,
" what kind of beer ? " is best for MavicPilots research.

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Guinness.

 

[Robbyg]

I do love a ice cold Heineken on a hot day.

Rob

 

[dewster]

This video made a world of difference for me. My videos were too noisy/soft. Lock your white balance to a setting like "sunny", "cloudy" etc. choose a color profile like "natural". Find one that represents the color that you see. Check out the vid:

 

[Bazzam]

Okay out of the box...simple set up...
Custom +1/-1/0 D cinelike. 2.7k 24fps. Set white balance to either sunny/cloudy and one last purchase..ND filters will make a major improvement in footage...with zero post production effort. Try something like these....TACO-RC Snap on ND filters set 5-pack (UV/ND4/8/16/32) for DJI Mavic:Amazon.co.uk:Camera & Photo

 

[Brojon]

Next slap on an ND filter that gives you proper exposure EV=0 while at ISO 100. Most likely this will be an ND8 or ND16 filter. Now you have solved your second problem.

Next go through and shoot short 30 second clips trying out the various modes like D-Cinema, ART etc. No need to try them all, some will look terrible when you look at them on your phones screen. As you record each clip make a notation on paper of the order that you filmed each one and the settings used. You can repeat the mode settings again using +1 and -1 for the sharpness. The whole process took me about 1 hour while sitting in a chair sipping a beer.

Here's how ND filters work with "normal" phtography. I confess I don't get why the ND filter are so high with drones...
Here's why:
The best explanation given for using them is that the longer shutter speed removes the stripes caused by the rotor blades.
The general rule that works for ALL cameras is the "Sunny 16" rule which states that to take a perfectly exposed picture on a sunny day set the aperture to f16 and the shutter speed to 1/ISO. So if you're shooting at ISO 400 pick the shutter speed closest which would be 1/500 or possibly 1/320 if your camera can do 1/2 or 1/3 stop increments.
An ND 8 filter reduces the exposure by 8 stops - which is either an f stop or shutter speed.
Now you want to keep your ISO low as possible to reduce noise. Set it at 100 for best image quality.
So the Mavic has one really dumb design decision - the lens is a fixed f2.8. This is 4 stops down from f16 (f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16) , This means you're letting in 4 times as much light - to get a correct exposure with the Mavic the shutter speed is increased by that same 4 stops which at ISO 100 is 1/100, 1/200, 1/400, 1/800, 1/1600. That's pretty dang fast and will freeze action and show the stripes.
Adding the ND8 reduces the light by 8 stops. So at ISO 100 this results in a shutter speed of -4 from the base ISO of 100 so the new shutter speed with the ND8 would be 1/100, 1/50, 1/25, 1/12. This shutter speed is slow enough to turn waterfalls into cotton candy. Nice if you want to get artsy fartsy but 1/60th is actually likely where we'd like to be - so to speed it back up we need to bump the ISO by two stops so now we're ISO 200, 400. Not too bad as far as noise goes.
But an ND 16 would add another 8 stops into the mix meaning either a really slow shutter and a really fast ISO. If you balanced you'd have to give 3 to ISO making it ISO 3200 (800, 1600, 3200 [max]) and -5 to the shutter for 1/50, 1/25, 1/12, 1/6, 1/3, 1 second. This just doesn't seem rational making me think I'm missing something.
Anyway - **** shame they didn't provide an aperture with the Mavic.

 

[CamoGreg]

Really interesting things here ! Thanks guys !

 

[kakao]

Great info, thank you!

 

[colinfowler]

I do love a ice cold Heineken on a hot day.

Rob

id like a hot day, cant remember the last one

 

[CamoGreg]

id like a hot day, cant remember the last one

Same here....

 

[LivinLarge]

There is no single magic setting that will give you great images and videos for all situations. You can leave exposure and white balance on auto and get results that would be OK for many folks. You will get better results if you set the white balance according to the current conditions, sunny, cloudy etc. and set exposure manually by pointing the camera at a middle tone and locking it.
For video, definitely set the sharpness to +1 to get rid of the Mavic's aggressive noise reduction. Add a neutral density filter if you want to avoid prop shadows and get a smoother transition between frames. Use the lowest ISO possible.
For the best stills, shoot DNG files instead of jpeg. Mavic jpeg files have noise reduction that crushes the details and you can't turn it off. No need for ND filters when shooting stills unless you are trying to blur movement in the image such as smoothing waterfalls.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

id like a hot day, cant remember the last one

41c here today.
I'm not flying anything today, because I don't fly indoors