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3 Low light and Mavic 3

Vic Moss

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I did a little low light test a couple of weeks ago with the Mavic 3. While there are some well known issues with the drone itself, the still photo low light capabilities are pretty phenomenal.

I buddy of mine and I went down to Union Station in Denver, and were planning on just shooting it, but I saw the lights were on at Coors Field and new I had to shoot it too.

Anyway, all shots were f/5.6, ISO 200 or ISO 100, and 5 shot AEB. Exposures were from 1/15 to 1.3 seconds, shot DNG.

I'm really impressed with just how clean the M3 is under these circumstances. These files were super clean, and there was plenty of shadow detail.

All images were processed in Lightroom, blended in Aurora HDR, and finished in Photoshop. Even with all the issues with the current flight issues of the M3 (DJI has heard them, and hopefully will address them soon), I love this little bird. I actually bought a second one as a back up.
 

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I did a little low light test a couple of weeks ago with the Mavic 3. While there are some well known issues with the drone itself, the still photo low light capabilities are pretty phenomenal.

I buddy of mine and I went down to Union Station in Denver, and were planning on just shooting it, but I saw the lights were on at Coors Field and new I had to shoot it too.

Anyway, all shots were f/5.6, ISO 200 or ISO 100, and 5 shot AEB. Exposures were from 1/15 to 1.3 seconds, shot DNG.

I'm really impressed with just how clean the M3 is under these circumstances. These files were super clean, and there was plenty of shadow detail.

All images were processed in Lightroom, blended in Aurora HDR, and finished in Photoshop. Even with all the issues with the current flight issues of the M3 (DJI has heard them, and hopefully will address them soon), I love this little bird. I actually bought a second one as a back up.
Those are fabulous images. Makes we want to buy the M3 but I am still holding off until DJI makes it "whole."

Dale
Miami
 
Those are fabulous images. Makes we want to buy the M3 but I am still holding off until DJI makes it "whole."

Dale
Miami
That would be my advice. I'm actually holding onto my Mavic 2 Pro for a while longer until they get this bird finished. My hope is that when they do push out the update, many of the issues we're seeing (including in both of mine) will be fixed. Hopefully before.

This drone is way too good for them to not make it whole! They already have a black eye over this, they really can't afford to not make it whole.
 
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Nice shots!Would a truer test of low light capability be a higher ISO,F/2.8 in an even darker location?A higher ISO would also allow a higher shutter speed if needed to stop motion of subject or help stabilize the drone if very windy.I have gotten good results at 2 or 3 seconds with an M2P but that requires taking 2 or 3 shots separately(counting burst shot as 1).
 
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Nice shots!Would a truer test of low light capability be a higher ISO,F/2.8 in an even darker location?
Not for me. I test for what I'd be using in a real world scenario. And for me, that's the lowest possible ISO, and keeping the shot around 2 seconds max. To me that's the ideal combination.
A higher ISO would also allow a higher shutter speed if needed to stop motion of subject or help stabilize the drone if very windy.I have gotten good results at 2 or 3 seconds with an M2P but that requires taking 2 or 3 shots separately(counting burst shot as 1).
We did get some shots at different ISO. The highest was 2860. The noise was definitely higher than the ISO 200 file, but that's to be expected. I would have tried longer shots, but with the wind we had that night, I figured I'd wait until it was calmer. And you definitely need to do multiple AEB bursts when you're at longer exposures. I've had success at 8 seconds on the M2P, but the sharpness success was only around 15%.
 
Super crisp shots. It’s amazing we can capture shots like this. I’m sure filming at these spots at night would look great too!
 
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Wow, those photos are stunning. The first one in particular. I think this is the first time I've seen something from the M3 that really shows the advances made with the camera.

Great work!
 

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