Help needed with pictures and clarity

[PackManDan]

Hey everyone. I was hoping you guys could review some pictures of mine and let me know if I am doing something wrong. I know the camera on the Mavic Pro isn't the best camera in the world but I've seen pictures posted by many people and they all seem to be much more clear than any images I'm getting.

I've tried taking video and then grabbing still images from the video as well as pausing the video, auto focusing, and then snapping a picture. Nothing I do seems to make the pictures super clear like many I have seen on here.

My settings are +1 0 0 and I'll typically do manual settings with ISO: 100/200 and shutter speed typically at around 600 or so because if I go lower than that I don't get a good picture (no filter).

Is my problem that the shutter speed is too high and if I go lower it will clear my pictures up? Do I need a filter? Am I doing something wrong? Let me know. Thanks.

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[melmartin]

I don't see anything really wrong with your photos, but that doesn't mean they could not be improved a great deal. Are you shooting RAW? If not, you should be. Then use an editor on your computer than can take RAW files and edit them.. you could push saturation a bit, and do some gentle sharpening... if you are going to do a lot of photography perhaps enroll with an Adobe Photographer subscription.. ten bucks a month gets you Photoshop and LightRoom. Or find some free alternatives. Generally what comes out of any camera can be a bit flat.. you have to invest some time to edit your photos... there does not seem to be inherently wrong with your drone or camera. P.S. Grabbing still frames from video is pretty much a wasted effort. Get stills shot in raw. Even better to do exposure bracketing, which DJI Drones support nicely.

 

[RecceGuy]

hmm - Looks overexposed - an ND filter may have helped.
Take props off Mavic, fold the legs and use Mavic as a gimbilized video platform. Try different settings (camera) at same subject.
What editing program are you using? Lots of free LUTS out there for Adobe Premiere to help tweek exposure issues.
Good luck

 

[black_magic100]

I don't see anything really wrong with your photos, but that doesn't mean they could not be improved a great deal. Are you shooting RAW? If not, you should be. Then use an editor on your computer than can take RAW files and edit them.. you could push saturation a bit, and do some gentle sharpening... if you are going to do a lot of photography perhaps enroll with an Adobe Photographer subscription.. ten bucks a month gets you Photoshop and LightRoom. Or find some free alternatives. Generally what comes out of any camera can be a bit flat.. you have to invest some time to edit your photos... there does not seem to be inherently wrong with your drone or camera. P.S. Grabbing still frames from video is pretty much a wasted effort. Get stills shot in raw. Even better to do exposure bracketing, which DJI Drones support nicely.

How come grabbing frames is a wasted effort? I am curious. Is the quality somehow worse even if I'm shooting in dlog and color correcting afterwords?

 

[melmartin]

Yes.. in my view a grabbed video frame does not equal a still image.
4K video frame size = 4096 x 2160 = 8.8 MP
Stills image size is 4000 x 3000 = 12 MP

 

[black_magic100]

Yes.. in my view a grabbed video frame does not equal a still image.
4K video frame size = 4096 x 2160 = 8.8 MP
Stills image size is 4000 x 3000 = 12 MP

so what settings do you recommend for pictures?? I use +1,-1,-1 dlog for videos

 

[melmartin]

For stills, I leave everything at 0 and adjust the RAW files in Lightroom. There are plenty of other RAW editors around as well. Find something that is inexpensive and suits your needs. For video, again, adjustments are best made in post. I'm a little retro with video, as my main focus is still photography, not video. But I use iMovie on my Mac. It's free, allows for sharpening and color adjustments while editing. At some point I'll graduate to Final Cut Pro or Premiere.

 

[Gastone360]

for pictures (stills), just use raw and edit in lightroom, theese images are just overexposed, you need to play with curves, contrast and saturation......

 

[LivinLarge]

Your results are typical of the Mavic Jpeg processing. The over aggressive noise reduction makes your images look like a watercolor painting. Shoot the same image with DNG and JPG and you will see the difference. Your first image is a bit overexposed. ND filters won't help for still images. They would just give you a slower shutter speed which is useful in video but may blur the still images. There are some circumstances where a polarizer will improve saturation but you can get similar results with post processing for many images.
Download RawThreapee and watch some tutorials to learn how to use it. It's free and works very well. RawTherapee Downloads
Learn to use the histogram feature in the Go4 app. This is can avoid blown highlights as in your first image.

 

[genesimmons]

i use luminar to process then noisless to finish, luminar has a few presets for drones and they work greeat, i think the best tool in liminar is micro contrast, it seems to be a much better option than sharpening, it seems to add lots of detail to mavic dng files, this is an example, was shot very high and is a stich of many images,

 

[jbjeep]

My eyes are not up to seeing if this is a focus issue. If it is just tap the screen. The mavic does not have adjustable f stops like the Phantom 4 Pro. ND filters can be used to decrease the light entering the camera and can increase depth of field.

 

[LivinLarge]

My eyes are not up to seeing if this is a focus issue. If it is just tap the screen. The mavic does not have adjustable f stops like the Phantom 4 Pro. ND filters can be used to decrease the light entering the camera and can increase depth of field.

ND filters will not increase depth of field.

 

[melmartin]

i use luminar to process then noisless to finish, luminar has a few presets for drones and they work greeat, i think the best tool in liminar is micro contrast, it seems to be a much better option than sharpening, it seems to add lots of detail to mavic dng files, this is an example, was shot very high and is a stich of many images,

I second the vote for Luminar. It handles RAW files and does have some nice presets for drones, but in general I prefer to edit and make my own choices.