Lock Exposure

Skyscope · May 20, 2023

Suren said:
A Dji mod just confirmed...

That's really surprising.

Almost as if DJI technicians would display the overexposure warning a whole f-stop too early in DLog. Or imagine that the exposure of the 24mm and 70mm would be one stop different, despite the same DLog-M profile, aperture, shutter and ISO. But that will never happen, because everyone at DJI knows exactly what they are doing, when it comes to the camera(s) and image processing.

GadgetGuy · May 20, 2023

Suren said:
A Dji mod just confirmed that this can't be done on the Mavic 3 Pro in video mode that we can't set the AE to lock in Video Pro mode.

Don't believe anything they say! They know nothing!

Suren · May 20, 2023

Roy. said:
Nonsense, I was doing it all day yesterday.

Skyscope is correct, even when filming in Pro video mode, if ISO and/or Shutter and/or Aperture are set to "Auto" (yellow) then the tap and hold function (and I presume RC button assignment) to lock AE works fine.

Check this by tapping the vicinity of the data to the left of the "PRO" camera icon on the bottom right of RC, on the next menu press the aperture icon, you will then see ISO, Shutter and Aperture settings, one of these needs to be set to "Auto" (yellow) to enable AE Lock.

So do I need to have at least 1 setting in Auto when in Video Pro mode to be able to lock the AE or must all be set to auto when in Pro mode?

Robert Prior · May 20, 2023

Suren said:
So do I need to have at least 1 setting in Auto when in Video Pro mode to be able to lock the AE

Logically, at least one because otherwise there's no way for the software to change the exposure, so you don't have auto-exposure to lock in the first place…

I usually shoot full manual (when I have time to) or automatic (when I don't) so haven't experimented much myself.

Suren · May 20, 2023

Robert Prior said:
Logically, at least one because otherwise there's no way for the software to change the exposure, so you don't have auto-exposure to lock in the first place…

I usually shoot full manual (when I have time to) or automatic (when I don't) so haven't experimented much myself.

Thanks for the help

GadgetGuy · May 21, 2023

Suren said:
So do I need to have at least 1 setting in Auto when in Video Pro mode to be able to lock the AE or must all be set to auto when in Pro mode?

Yes, as otherwise your exposure is already locked, by the selected all manual settings.

Filmarik · May 21, 2023

GadgetGuy said:
Yes, as otherwise your exposure is already locked, by the selected all manual settings.

I would lock all camera setting to your desired values and only leave ONE in Auto. The one which you would not mind to be adjusted by the exposure measuring system in your drone. It could be either the ISO as the shutter speed is usually what you want to keep constant when shooting video or aperture. I would personally lean towards ISO set to Auto, as the variable setting.

GadgetGuy · May 21, 2023

Filmarik said:
I would lock all camera setting to your desired values and only leave ONE in Auto. The one which you would not mind to be adjusted by the exposure measuring system in your drone. It could be either the ISO as the shutter speed is usually what you want to keep constant when shooting video or aperture. I would personally lean towards ISO set to Auto, as the variable setting.

Agreed. Let the ISO fluctuate!

Skyscope · May 21, 2023

For me it's Auto-Aperture with the 24mm and Auto Shutter Speed with the 70 and 166, both have a finer graduation of 1/3 stops instead of the 1 stop stepping with ISO. Then I let the drone measure the overall exposure of a shot and fine-tune it with EV +/-, then I lock it in with AE-Lock.

And up to two stops of shorter shutter speed (90°-45° shutter angle) is in most times totally acceptable for me, especially with the usually very slow movement of drone footage. But a lot of noise because of high gain aka ISO isn't.

Mrktn · May 21, 2023

Filmarik said:
I would lock all camera setting to your desired values and only leave ONE in Auto. The one which you would not mind to be adjusted by the exposure measuring system in your drone. It could be either the ISO as the shutter speed is usually what you want to keep constant when shooting video or aperture. I would personally lean towards ISO set to Auto, as the variable setting.

Yep, I keep the ISO on auto on mine to enable a custom button to AE lock, on my Mini 3 Pro

GadgetGuy · May 21, 2023

Skyscope said:
For me it's Auto-Aperture with the 24mm and Auto Shutter Speed with the 70 and 166, both have a finer graduation of 1/3 stops instead of the 1 stop stepping with ISO. Then I let the drone measure the overall exposure of a shot and fine-tune it with EV +/-, then I lock it in with AE-Lock.

And up to two stops of shorter shutter speed (90°-45° shutter angle) is in most times totally acceptable for me, especially with the usually very slow movement of drone footage. But a lot of noise because of high gain aka ISO isn't.

Unless I am mistaken, Auto ISO is the one that is adjusted almost linearly, rather than stepped in 1/3 stops like aperture and shutter speed, or in full stops. That's why it is the preferred auto variable. When ISO is set manually, it may set be in full stop increments, but, in Auto, it has the finest increments of change available. Also, in low light, once you have the aperture all the way open and the shutter speed as slow as it can go based upon your video frame rate (1/30 for 30fps), ISO is the only variable left that can vary.

Skyscope · May 21, 2023

You could be right, and it might be the most convenient way to auto exposure, although for me personally it's not the best. I don't want to mess in post with different noise patterns in every shot. And dialing up ISO is degrading the image no matter if manual or auto, so I always want to be in full control of that. And in low light or at night I go with full manual anyway....

Suren · May 21, 2023

Filmarik said:
I would lock all camera setting to your desired values and only leave ONE in Auto. The one which you would not mind to be adjusted by the exposure measuring system in your drone. It could be either the ISO as the shutter speed is usually what you want to keep constant when shooting video or aperture. I would personally lean towards ISO set to Auto, as the variable setting.

Thanks for that. The Mavic 3 Pro is making me to want to learn all this. Previously normal and Auto would just do it for me.

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2023

Skyscope said:
You could be right, and it might be the most convenient way to auto exposure, although for me personally it's not the best. I don't want to mess in post with different noise patterns in every shot. And dialing up ISO is degrading the image no matter if manual or auto, so I always want to be in full control of that. And in low light or at night I go with full manual anyway....

When examining SRT CC overlays on video, I have seen the ISO change by increments of 10 under Auto, with previous DJI fixed aperture drone cameras. Small changes like that shouldn't cause noticeable degradation of the image. However, if the lighting isn't changing, full manual is definitely the way to go.

Filmarik · May 22, 2023

GadgetGuy said:
When examining SRT CC overlays on video, I have seen the ISO change by increments of 10 under Auto, with previous DJI fixed aperture drone cameras. Small changes like that shouldn't cause noticeable degradation of the image. However, if the lighting isn't changing, full manual is definitely the way to go.

I wonder if or how the Auto ISO would work if shooting D-log when we have to choose between set ISO values of 400 and 800??

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2023

Filmarik said:
I wonder if or how the Auto ISO would work if shooting D-log when we have to choose between set ISO values of 400 and 800??

Good question! Not sure. Likely not well!

guzewski · Apr 4, 2024

Suren said:
Does anyone know if you can lock the exposure in Pro mode? I was trying and can only do it when I have the video mode set to Auto, changing to Pro mode and double tapping screen only focuses but does not lock Exposure.

I'm not sure AE lock has any meaning in pro mode. The exposure is essentially locked because you set the parameters explicitly. The only reason to lock the exposure is if the camera is automatically trying to do stuff that you don't want it to do, like in auto mode.

MS Coast · Apr 4, 2024

guzewski said:
I'm not sure AE lock has any meaning in pro mode. The exposure is essentially locked because you set the parameters explicitly. The only reason to lock the exposure is if the camera is automatically trying to do stuff that you don't want it to do, like in auto mode.

In pro mode, any of the parameters can be set to auto: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance. Using exposure lock would fix the values of any parameters set to auto.

(I'm remembering that I've done that, but I've learned not to rely 100% on my memory. I'll confirm next time I fly.)

guzewski · Apr 4, 2024

MS Coast said:
In pro mode, any of the parameters can be set to auto: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance. Using exposure lock would fix the values of any parameters set to auto.

(I'm remembering that I've done that, but I've learned not to rely 100% on my memory. I'll confirm next time I fly.)

Ah yes... I actually knew that some time ago, when I first got my Mavic 3. But I could never understand exactly what will happen when only one or two parameters are in auto mode. Will the actual exposure remain constant or will it wander around like in auto mode. So back then I decided when in pro mode to make everything manual, and I have not revisited that strategy since. Maybe I'll have another look.