Evening / Night quality problems and confusion

[JohnRobinson]

Hi everyone.

I have been playing around with my Mavic now for the last 2 weeks trying to get some decent pictures and video in late evening and at night. I see some videos out there like this one: Youtube 1 and this one: Youtube 2 and I cannot get anywhere near this quality. I have watched and tried the recommended settings of 10-12 YouTube videos but still my results are terrible. I have uploaded the unedited footage and pictures for you to see what I mean here: Dropbox

I have tried firmware 0.07, 0.08 and 0.09 with the same results. Tried low and high ISO, sharpness adjustments frame rates and all are less than awful.

So could someone tell me if I have missed one very basic setting somewhere or whether there is a problem with my camera? I understand the Inspire 1 x3 camera was good and the pictures and video I took with that were 10 times better.

I mean how is this possible????

Both much cleaner and crisper than I can achieve.

Thank you for your time and help. Have a great day!

 

[CamoGreg]

Maybe the result is due to the color grading.

 

[doccy]

They are probably filming in much lighter conditions than you expect... just after the lights go on in buildings / on cars - but before it gets dark.

Then really altering the exposure in post to make it look like it is night time.

Using a noise reducing prog such as neat video is probably essential as well.

 

[JohnRobinson]

They are probably filming in much lighter conditions than you expect... just after the lights go on in buildings / on cars - but before it gets dark.

Then really altering the exposure in post to make it look like it is night time.

Using a noise reducing prog such as neat video is probably essential as well.

Thanks for the replies. So you think its just settings and nothing wrong with the camera? I know a lot of people say do the work in post, however due to my pictures and videos being so grainy whenever I edit at all in post they look awful. I know its trial and error however every time I try it gets worse!

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Hexagon]

I have been reading and practicing alot in terms of night photography (not video) with my mav and I am not a professional. I got some decent shots which were latest processed in photoshop. Trick was to use iso 100, shutter at 2 seconds and raw format not jpeg. However this can only be achieved in calm weather since air gusts and high wind will ruin your shots in big shutter - long exposure settings. Moreover, as doccy states above, most amazing shots are done before it gets dark and are later processed via software to look like it is night time

my 2 cents

 

[Jake Galloway]

I can chime in on this. You're right in that getting night shots to look great is difficult, but a majority of it comes from post. Color grading and adjustments to contrast and brightness are used, but you'll also notice that a lot of those shots are in somewhat well lit areas in the dark (i.e city lights). When a decent amount of the background is dark, its hard for the Mavic to adjust its camera settings and even focus correctly. Also, noise reduction software is used. The problem with that is too much noise reduction will make the video look kind of blurry or soft. Here's a video I did in Philadelphia at night, you can see how soft some of the video is due to noise reduction. The preview I had in final cut looked a lot sharper then it did after uploading lol

 

[Maxheadspace]

I can chime in on this. You're right in that getting night shots to look great is difficult, but a majority of it comes from post. Color grading and adjustments to contrast and brightness are used, but you'll also notice that a lot of those shots are in somewhat well lit areas in the dark (i.e city lights). When a decent amount of the background is dark, its hard for the Mavic to adjust its camera settings and even focus correctly. Also, noise reduction software is used. The problem with that is too much noise reduction will make the video look kind of blurry or soft. Here's a video I did in Philadelphia at night, you can see how soft some of the video is due to noise reduction. The preview I had in final cut looked a lot sharper then it did after uploading lol

Your Philadelphia vid is actually pretty decent. My few feeble attempts at dusk did not achieve anything this good.

 

[JohnRobinson]

I can chime in on this. You're right in that getting night shots to look great is difficult, but a majority of it comes from post. Color grading and adjustments to contrast and brightness are used, but you'll also notice that a lot of those shots are in somewhat well lit areas in the dark (i.e city lights). When a decent amount of the background is dark, its hard for the Mavic to adjust its camera settings and even focus correctly. Also, noise reduction software is used. The problem with that is too much noise reduction will make the video look kind of blurry or soft. Here's a video I did in Philadelphia at night, you can see how soft some of the video is due to noise reduction. The preview I had in final cut looked a lot sharper then it did after uploading lol

Thanks to all that have replied. That video is brilliant compared to anything i have done. Are you able to give me a rough idea about your setting, white balance, exposure, ISO, frame rate etc please? I know there are people who take the video at dusk and make it look darker in editing however I would love to capture the sunsets and wonderful night sky thereafter but as soon as I do it becomes so grainy. Your video makes me think there is something wrong with my camera.... Hmmm, more investigating. Thanks again.