Donnie Frank
Well-Known Member
I'm looking for some basic help here getting good video from the Mavic Air. I know some of you are photographers who take this type of thing for granted, but I've only played a photographer on television (I do have a Sony NEX which is semi-legit, but no real skills with it). Or perhaps there is a "Mavic Air video settings for NEWBS" post that you can direct me to...
I shot the following using auto exposure. I haven't been having the greatest of luck with setting up the right exposure/speed, etc., so I decided to just use auto. I'm thinking I should just use manual though. Everything looks pretty gray to me in this. Any advice?
I'm using no filters here on auto... I do have an ND 32 and ND 64, but didn't use them for this. I'm flying in cinematic mode in 4k. Slight wind, around 6:30pm, it's a little overcast so not the BEST day for the shot but I wanted to get a practice run in, and I still think there could be a bit more color in it.
Here's the video:
My settings are attached... it seems the only thing you can change in auto mode is EV. What is EV, BTW?
(And tomorrow is another snowboarding day, so looking forward to getting some good footage in the mountains with your advice as well!)
Thanks!
Never trust auto. Sometime the White Balance changes in the middle of a shoot, which is completely unacceptable.
If you MUST shoot Auto, make sure EV = 0 or -3. SLIGHTLY underexposed is much easier to fix than "blown out."
You want to brave manual settings, on a Sunny day, go with these:
ND filter = 2 stop (ND4)
White Balance = 5200K - 6000K (adjust to taste)
Color Space = Normal (I always shoot D-Log, but you will probably want to shoot "Normal" mode or "None." I forget what DJI calls it.
Contrast = 0
Brightness = 0
Sharpness = +1 (this is important to reduce "normalizing," which shows up as distortion at certain times and places in video - mostly vegetation).
f/2.8 (is fixed on the Mavic)
ISO = 100 (Some like native 200 or 400, but on a sunny day, I like 100)
Shutter = (whatever it takes to achieve an EV of 0 or -3)
Enable Histogram, and use it. "EV" is okay, but isn't accurate. Get friendly with your Histogram.
Good luck!
