High Noise in low ISO - RAW image

[patkszen]

Hi All, I'm relatively new to drones and photography. I noticed from the day one that there is noticeable amount of noise in pictures,

Check two photos in .dng, one shot against the sun - looks really bad, the other with the sun behind - not as noisy but still

According to metadata of the pictures ISO was set to 100

CAS-2590726-F2W8P3 - Google Drive

 

[GregD]

Which drone are you capturing the images with?
Are you also capturing jpg images? If so, do they display the noise? If the jpg images are noise free it is possible that the noise is an artifact of the conversion from RAW to dng. You might tell us what your workflow is.

 

[sar104]

RAW images need some processing. For example - your first image:

 

[patkszen]

Thanks for the reply GregD

Sorry I thought that would be obvious as we are in mavic 2 zoom section. It is mavic 2 zoom.

Pictures are shot in raw as above. There was no work flow as nothing has been done to the pictures if I'm understanding you correctly. I simply copied them from my SD and opened in photoshop. If you check the link to my Gdrive there are two DNG files copied straight from the drone.

 

[patkszen]

Hi sar104 first for the input

Ok so would you say after processing this is acceptable in terms of noise, considering low IOS setting?

Also what about second picture? It seem much much worse.

 

[GregD]

Thanks for the reply GregD

Sorry I thought that would be obvious as we are in mavic 2 zoom section. It is mavic 2 zoom.

. My bad.

I had assumed you had processed the images. Like sar104 said, RAW files need some processing to make them shine. Adjusting things like white balance, exposure, contrast, sharpness etc will have a huge impact.

 

[sar104]

Hi sar104 first for the input

Ok so would you say after processing this is acceptable in terms of noise, considering low IOS setting?

Also what about second picture? It seem much much worse.

The second one is extremely challenging for the small sensor in the M2Z, due to the dynamic range of the scene. If your priority is low-noise, high-dynamic-range images of this kind then you should be using the M2P. I would say it's pretty good, all things considered.

 

[patkszen]

Thank you very much both. I'm just trying to figure some sort of baseline of quality and not having any of DJI drones previously it's a bit tricky.

Are you sar104 then saying that this is the way sensor on m2z deals with dynamic range and it's an acceptable level of noise? I started thinking there's something wrong with the camera

 

[sar104]

Thank you very much both. I'm just trying to figure some sort of baseline of quality and not having any of DJI drones previously it's a bit tricky.

Are you sar104 then saying that this is the way sensor on m2z deals with dynamic range and it's an acceptable level of noise? I started thinking there's something wrong with the camera

I don't see anything wrong with the camera - that level of noise from a small sensor is quite normal. The M2Z is not going to get you the same quality of image that you can expect from the larger sensor in the M2P.

 

[macfawlty]

You were filming in very low light conditions. Dusk, cloudy, sun low on the horizon, contrasty. With filming into a sunset/sunrise, you have little choice but to expose for the sky, leaving everything else essentially black/silhouette. Your sunset videos will look better when you're flying lower so you have some silhouettes to contrast against the sunset and provide drama as you move past them. Don't expect to get good exposure on trees and ground plane when flying/filming into the sun. After flying into the sun, turn the drone around, change the exposure and you'll get the trees on the sunny side. The challenge is that to get proper sky/sunset exposure, you have to use a dark ND filter otherwise, the sky/sunset is blown out (blown highlights are basically unrecoverable), but when you're flying away from the sun, that dark ND filter is gonna force a higher ISO (and more noise). So basically, you can't have it both ways. To get the best image quality in dusk/sunset lighting, you have to land and switch out your dark ND filter with the clear one in order to get proper exposure on the sun-lit subjects. It's a pain and it wastes precious daylight time, but that's the reality of filming.

It's always a balance where you have to choose what's most important to have at the proper exposure. There's often a wide exposure range shooting in mid-day sun. When filming or photographing, whatever you chose for proper exposure should fill most of the frame, so if the sky is really bright, frame the shot with minimal sky. If you're exposing for the sunset, use the silhouettes and movement to create the drama.

Take some time to learn and use manual camera settings at all times. Did you set the aperture and shutter speed yourself? In terms of order of priority: Set shutter speed to 1/50 or 1/60 (depending on frame rate); Set aperture between 2.8 to 5.6 optimally (smaller apertures 8 and above are not as sharp). Set ISO as low as possible. If it's darker and you're already at f2.8, you'll have to go to ISO 200 or 400. Noise can be corrected in your video/photo editor to some degree. More difficult with video.

 

[CanadaDrone]

There is lots of noise even at base ISO on any 1/2.3" sensor - that is just physics. Above base ISO it gets really awful really fast, especially if you're picky. Anything other than a perfect exposure will exaggerate this as well. Dynamic range is also very poor on that tiny sensor (again a property of the sensor, not the drone itself). Still image quality is quite poor, unfortunately, but if you process them well and post them at web-size they can look decent. It's the exact same type of sensor you find in a cheap smartphone or cheap point & shoot camera. I have the same sensor in my Mavic Air and it's surprisingly decent for video, but I don't even bother to use it for stills. With such limited file malleability, it's extremely important to nail the exposure right out of the drone.

If you're really into stills photography with your drone, the Mavic 2 Pro is an enormous step up with the 1" Sony sensor and 12-bit RAW depth.

 

[macfawlty]

We all wish these cameras performed well in low light conditions, but they don't. You have to keep in mind these limitations when shooting your scenes. Video is more challenging than photos, which can be greatly enhanced/corrected in LR. Sunsets, sunrises, nighttime cityscapes, heavy cloud cover, shade, and high contrast can be a challenge deciding what to expose for. Blown highlights are the biggest problem. Overall though, the camera on the M2P yields great video and awesome photos.