Help with mavic pro photo quality

[Navigator]

Dear All

I recently bought a mavic pro and took some photos in auto mode but I'm very disappointed with photos quality. Below are some samples from mavic pro photos. Any suggestion for improve photos quality. Photos taken in RAW and use AF. Is something wrong with my settings or maybe camera problem?

 

[doccy]

What specifically do you not like about them?

I am not overly excited by the Mavic photos either - but probably just because we are spoiled with such good modern handheld cameras.

Are you used to working with RAW files? Obviously you need to adjust the exposure parameters in post processing yourself. Level the horizon. Apply sharpening and noise reduction.

You do appear to have some weird vignetting in the shots though. You didn't leave the gimbal cover on by any chance (sorry if this sounds like a stupid question - just checking).

 

[KaiservonPoopChute]

Try shooting using a 5 shot AEB or manually bracket your shots. It's the only way I've found to get decent quality out of the Mavics tiny sensor.

 

[Navigator]

What specifically do you not like about them?

I am not overly excited by the Mavic photos either - but probably just because we are spoiled with such good modern handheld cameras.

Are you used to working with RAW files? Obviously you need to adjust the exposure parameters in post processing yourself. Level the horizon. Apply sharpening and noise reduction.

You do appear to have some weird vignetting in the shots though. You didn't leave the gimbal cover on by any chance (sorry if this sounds like a stupid question - just checking).

First of all, thank you for your reply, I don't like the overall quality of the photo, for example the colors remember me, some old photos taken on 90s Furthermore details are not clear. I have seen around internet some photos taken directly from mavic and there is not any comparison, the colors are live, photos have details etc...

usually I work with light room for RAW files.

I had double check that not any cover on gimbal or any dirty on camera sensor.

 

[Navigator]

Try shooting using a 5 shot AEB or manually bracket your shots. It's the only way I've found to get decent quality out of the Mavics tiny sensor.

Thank you for your reply, I will check this method during next shot.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

These look fairly typical for the Mavic, and raw files need a lot of post processing to make them look good.

Your ultimate satisfaction will depend on what you will be using them for. If for online or small size digital reproduction, a properly post processed frame grab from 4K footage can look fantastic.

For a 16x20 print, or larger digital reproduction not so much. That's when your properly processed raw file will help as stated by doccy above.

 

[Flycaster]

You might try some ND filters...

 

[Robert Mitchell]

You might try some ND filters...

Sorry flycaster, ND filters do nothing for still photo. They are only useful for video. They only slow the shutter speed, resulting in higher ISO and noise.

A polarizer on the other hand, can be quite useful for stills in certain situations, but again you pay a price in light gathering.

 

[Memphis_Mavic]

As mentioned earlier, use the 5 shot AEB and make a HDR pic.. Also since you are using Lightroom, I would raise my color noise slider to 30-35 and the luminance noise slider to 40-50. I also play around with the dehaze slider, usually somewhere in the 10-15 area.
I think your pictures like fine, that just need some of the mentioned adjustments and maybe a little increase in the shadow areas. Here is one I took last night. I only use the Mavic for pictures.

 

[Navigator]

These look fairly typical for the Mavic, and raw files need a lot of post processing to make them look good.

Your ultimate satisfaction will depend on what you will be using them for. If for online or small size digital reproduction, a properly post processed frame grab from 4K footage can look fantastic.

For a 16x20 print, or larger digital reproduction not so much. That's when your properly processed raw file will help as stated by doccy above.

I'm more interesting for online/personal use and for example to have some beautiful aerial photos from different landscapes, cities, beaches etc...

Maybe a good solution is as you said to properly post processed frame grab from 4K footage

 

[Navigator]

As mentioned earlier, use the 5 shot AEB and make a HDR pic.. Also since you are using Lightroom, I would raise me color noise slider to 30-35 and the luminance noise slider to 40-50. I also play around with the dehaze slider, usually somewhere in the 10-15 area.
I think your pictures like fine, that just need some of the mentioned adjustments and maybe a little increase in the shadow areas. Here is one I took last night. I only use the Mavic for pictures.

Owwwwwwww!!! this is a very nice photo, this is the quality that I'm expecting from mavic pro. The colors are nice, the details of the area are clear. In my photos my big problem is that the colors looks like a old paint that has lost its sharpens from the years.

 

[Philk]

Love the last photo[emoji106]

 

[gnirtS]

You might try some ND filters...

This will do absolutely nothing for STILL photos. In fact, likely to make it worse by slowing a shutter speed so things move in the wind and blur.

ND is for video only.

A mavic raw file is like any other RAW file from any camera costing $100 to $5000. It will have noise, it will lack sharpness, it will lack contrast and it will lack saturation. That is the whole point of a RAW file - the processing is done by the user not a software engineer in china guessing how you want it to look as in a JPG.

That said yes, remember the mavic camera is probably 3 year old cell phone quality so has huge limitations. BUT because it offers manual and RAW options you can get salvageable images out of it if you work within its limitations.
Its very noisy so ISO100 always, higher is nasty rapidly. Be very careful not to underexpose even at iso100 due to the noise. The dynamic range is relatively awful hence bracketing being needed.

Lots have issues with the side of the frame being less sharp than the centre so frame the photo accordingly.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

I'm more interesting for online/personal use and for example to have some beautiful aerial photos from different landscapes, cities, beaches etc...

Maybe a good solution is as you said to properly post processed frame grab from 4K footage

You'll need to decide where your skill level is in terms of processing etc., but picking from a properly exposed and balanced frame to start with does have its benefits. That said the other techniques proposed here do provide a superior final result... if you're willing to do the work.

 

[daivatam]

You could use neat image for noise processing...all mavic are extremely noisy, you should process the heavy vignette and the center discoloration of images....

 

[doccy]

Navigator. Give us the RAW file of the 3rd pic you posted and let us have a try processing it for you - see how it looks.

One trick is to use black and white for Mavic landscapes by the way - it helps hide some of its deficiencies...

Winding road to the light by docwheeler - Photo 220653693 / 500px

 

[joshnl]

The only problem I see with the OP's posted photos is a lack of detail. It looks like noise reduction has been applied too aggressively. With video from the Mavic, I've found that in all but the most ideal lighting conditions, if you have the sharpness set to 0 or less, you'll get mushy results like what's seen in the pictures above. But with RAW files, I've actually been quite happy with the images (including the amount of detail). In fact, I'm about to print one at 36" wide. I'll know for sure once I've printed it, but from what I'm seeing on screen, I think the results will be pretty decent.

For you, I would say either you're applying too much NR in post, your focus is off, or you're not actually working with RAW files.

 

[Mfpullen]

Joshnl..you are exactly right. Look at the first photo in the mid right portion. The trees are have been hit heavily by NR. The Mavic is notorious for this. Best to leave the NR for Lightroom or other products. As far as sizing, I use On1 Resize. Brings it up the right size for large printing.

Here is one of my shots from the midwest plains area. This was a very flat, non contrasty photo out of the Mavic. But a little tone and color correction brought it to life. Even some of the fields in far distance were kept pretty sharp for a 12mp camera.

 

[joshnl]

Joshnl..you are exactly right. Look at the first photo in the mid right portion. The trees are have been hit heavily by NR. The Mavic is notorious for this. Best to leave the NR for Lightroom or other products. As far as sizing, I use On1 Resize. Brings it up the right size for large printing.

Here is one of my shots from the midwest plains area. This was a very flat, non contrasty photo out of the Mavic. But a little tone and color correction brought it to life. Even some of the fields in far distance were kept pretty sharp for a 12mp camera.

Your image looks pretty good... definitely lots of detail there. I'd say you could probably still reduce the amount of noise without sacrificing the detail too much by doing some local NR in the sky and clouds. In the detailed areas, you could probably pull back the sharpness a bit and maybe increase NR slightly - zoomed in, it looks a little artifacty (from oversharpening). But this is totally just my preference, and it looks great without these changes!

 

[shaman]

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As mentioned earlier, use the 5 shot AEB and make a HDR pic.. Also since you are using Lightroom, I would raise my color noise slider to 30-35 and the luminance noise slider to 40-50. I also play around with the dehaze slider, usually somewhere in the 10-15 area.
I think your pictures like fine, that just need some of the mentioned adjustments and maybe a little increase in the shadow areas. Here is one I took last night. I only use the Mavic for pictures.

Excellent advice, using a stack of bracketed shots and combining them in an HDR.
You mention Luminance and De-Haze sliders... do you happen to know where those settings are in the Photoshop 'Camera Raw Filter' menu? I'm sure they exist, I just don't know what they are called in PS.