Mavic 3 Blurry Long exposure shot

[legolas120499]

So, recently I got a Mavic 3. This is my first Mavic. I tried using the variable aperture to take a long exposure shot for car light trails. I got a few pictures and most of them were blurry like this one!! Here are my settings: ISO - 100, f/11 and 8 seconds of exposure.

My guess is the micro vibrations due to wind but it wasn't that windy and Mavic should be able to handle that. Is there something I can do to mitigate this?

 

[Starz]

Step down the exposure time. ISO needs to be higher.
May be some information here.

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[tstr14]

What Starz said. 8 seconds is a long exposure. It may have been calm at ground level but breezy at the level of the drone. Crank up the ISO to lower the exposure time.

 

[Felix le Chat]

View attachment 183600

So, recently I got a Mavic 3. This is my first Mavic. I tried using the variable aperture to take a long exposure shot for car light trails. I got a few pictures and most of them were blurry like this one!! Here are my settings: ISO - 100, f/11 and 8 seconds of exposure.

My guess is the micro vibrations due to wind but it wasn't that windy and Mavic should be able to handle that. Is there something I can do to mitigate this?

I think you'll find this is down to PDAF/CDAF failing to nail focus. Switch to MF: and have the peaking option set to high for better on-screen display as to when you hit best focus.

I had the same problem with night shots using my Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom, manually racking focus using peaking gave me much better shots.

 

[MS Coast]

I think you'll find this is down to PDAF/CDAF failing to nail focus. Switch to MF: and have the peaking option set to high for better on-screen display as to when you hit best focus.

I had the same problem with night shots using my Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom, manually racking focus using peaking gave me much better shots.

For that scene with distant subjects, would you not just set the focus to infinity?

 

[Meta4]

Here are my settings: ISO - 100, f/11 and 8 seconds of exposure.

Eight seconds is too long an exposure to expect the drone to be able to manage.

My guess is the micro vibrations due to wind but it wasn't that windy and Mavic should be able to handle that. Is there something I can do to mitigate this?

Even at two seconds, I would shoot several times to have a better chance of having one good one to use.

 

[RAC DJI]

View attachment 183600

So, recently I got a Mavic 3. This is my first Mavic. I tried using the variable aperture to take a long exposure shot for car light trails. I got a few pictures and most of them were blurry like this one!! Here are my settings: ISO - 100, f/11 and 8 seconds of exposure.

My guess is the micro vibrations due to wind but it wasn't that windy and Mavic should be able to handle that. Is there something I can do to mitigate this?

I took this one a couple of months ago which I thought turned out ok. Settings are attached.

 

[legolas120499]

Step down the exposure time. ISO needs to be higher.
May be some information here.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Thank you so much!

 

[legolas120499]

I think you'll find this is down to PDAF/CDAF failing to nail focus. Switch to MF: and have the peaking option set to high for better on-screen display as to when you hit best focus.

I had the same problem with night shots using my Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom, manually racking focus using peaking gave me much better shots.

Okay. I never thought about that. I will try that out tonight and see if that makes difference.

 

[legolas120499]

I took this one a couple of months ago which I thought turned out ok. Settings are attached.View attachment 183606

That is much better but I think it is also the nature of the image. Some of the images I took were sharp but majority had that blur.

 

[waynorth]

I think you'll find this is down to PDAF/CDAF failing to nail focus. Switch to MF: and have the peaking option set to high for better on-screen display as to when you hit best focus.

The blur in the photo is typical for camera movement during exposure, it is not caused by focus error.

 

[Starz]

typical for camera movement during exposure

Certainly possible at 8 seconds.

 

[jephoto]

View attachment 183600

So, recently I got a Mavic 3. This is my first Mavic. I tried using the variable aperture to take a long exposure shot for car light trails. I got a few pictures and most of them were blurry like this one!! Here are my settings: ISO - 100, f/11 and 8 seconds of exposure.

My guess is the micro vibrations due to wind but it wasn't that windy and Mavic should be able to handle that. Is there something I can do to mitigate this?

8sec is a HUGE slow exposure. Almost no way you won’t get some movement.
It’s true that you CAN do up to eight second exposures, but I cannot imagine anyone getting an actual sharp image unless it was sitting on the ground at that shutter speed.

I’ve done 1 sec exposures with acceptable sharpness, but rarely longer. I know some have.
This is 1sec w/Phantom 4 Pro
I have most luck at 0.8 sec.

And I shoot a lot of frames to be sure to get 1 sharp one.
Also you can shoot multiple frames and combine them in Photoshop using a blend mode that only reveals the highlights to “grow” your traffic trails.
I shot continuously for 10 min and select all the sharp frames and combined them to do this. All at approximately 0.8 sec each. Waited for car movement on the bridge before shooting

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[MS Coast]

8sec is a HUGE slow exposure. Almost no way you won’t get some movement.
It’s true that you CAN do up to eight second exposures, but I cannot imagine anyone getting an actual sharp image unless it was sitting on the ground at that shutter speed.

I’ve done 1 sec exposures with acceptable sharpness, but rarely longer. I know some have.
This is 1sec w/Phantom 4 Pro
I have most luck at 0.8 sec.

And I shoot a lot of frames to be sure to get 1 sharp one.
Also you can shoot multiple frames and combine them in Photoshop using a blend mode that only reveals the highlights to “grow” your traffic trails.
I shot continuously for 10 min and select all the sharp frames and combined them to do this. All at approximately 0.8 sec each. Waited for car movement on the bridge before shooting

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

With frames shot over a 10-minute period, how is it that the pushboat and barges aren't blurred? Did you mask that area out in most of the frames?

 

[jephoto]

The way this site adds attached files always puts them at the bottom, compared to my Dropbox link that went in like text.

The Barge shot is 1 sec, single exposure.
100 iso, f2.8

The Michigan Ave shot was with the Mavic 3, I believe .8 sec, f2.8:100 iso, I shot many frames manually waiting for cars to move on bridge or Wacker Drive (left of river).

 

[jephoto]

The original YouTube tutorial I found the technique on said to shoot all the frames as jpgs on continuous to get the 2 sec interval, then Raw for the last frame for the overall scene.
Unfortunately this doesn’t work as the raw files -DNGs- and jpgs are a slightly different proportion- which was maddening to me- as there was no way to align them all.

So I did use JPGs for this one. But still I chose when to shoot as even a 2 sec interval is too long on a street with stop lights and many frames would have no movement if I did that.
Also, since we have a 6 frame buffer for burst shooting by hitting the shutter manually I got many more frames with cars moving because I could hit the shutter faster than 2 sec myself for each time cars started to move.

Next time I’ll do all raw so I can have my main scene on a raw file or even and HDR if I want and all will align.