Mavic 3 not shooting in RAW at nighttime

[lonestarmehul]

I have noticed on several shots that despite my RAW + JPG camera setting, the M3 only shoots in JPG on night shots.

Has anyone else experienced this & what might be the workaround? Thank you in advance!

Mehul

 

[BSauce955]

I have noticed on several shots that despite my RAW + JPG camera setting, the M3 only shoots in JPG on night shots.

Has anyone else experienced this & what might be the workaround? Thank you in advance!

Mehul

And it's shooting normally in daytime photos? To be honest, DJI must have their hands full with all the issues I've heard people experiencing with the Mavic 3. Hopefully, it's an easy fix.

 

[lonestarmehul]

And it's shooting normally in daytime photos? To be honest, DJI must have their hands full with all the issues I've heard people experiencing with the Mavic 3. Hopefully, it's an easy fix.

Yes. Only nighttime & with the main lens. I understand the Zoom lens is only JPG. Have to say that the DNG image quality is wonderful.

Want to make sure that I'm not missing something here in settings or technique.

 

[Skybuyer]

I think ultimately DJI will get the bugs and omissions fixed over time. But IMO, functionally I think the M3 was released prematurely, but I'm sure was rushed to stay ahead of Christmas, much like giving birth in the 2nd trimester.

 

[lonestarmehul]

What I'm not understanding is what conditions cause the M3 to "decide" not to shoot in RAW?

I am attaching the subject files for reference.

 

[BlairAir]

Question: Any chance you are in "Discovery" or "Scouting" mode? Not shooting on the 7x lens, but perhaps leaving the binocular icon yellow when this occurs? I've noticed the drone starts with it enabled sometimes, perhaps based on status at shutdown. I'm sure you are experienced enough to know what you are shooting with, I'm actually just trying to look at possibilities as you troubleshoot this. It's very odd that the software would know its night except... That got me thinking What other parameters do you change for night work? Full 2.8 aperture, high ISO (obviously) slower shutter speeds etc.

I would try setting up as for a night shot - the screen will be pure white, perhaps for in grounded, in the house.

There must be some trigger point that disables the raw capture & save. Start with daylight photo settings, then slowly change to your low light/nighttime settings, taking an exposure at each change. At some point the raw will be disabled and skipped. This doesn't FIX it, but helps define the issue, which can define the fix, or workaround.

Do it in the name of science, lol! Let us know if you learn more about what the conditions are when it occurs to help frame the issue. (PUN stuff)

I hope you get some answers. No raw at night is a serious shortcoming.

Good luck, and keep us in the picture so everyone isn't in the dark on this. If it's true, we need to expose these problems.

 

[lonestarmehul]

Question: Any chance you are in "Discovery" or "Scouting" mode? Not shooting on the 7x lens, but perhaps leaving the binocular icon yellow when this occurs? I've noticed the drone starts with it enabled sometimes, perhaps based on status at shutdown. I'm sure you are experienced enough to know what you are shooting with, I'm actually just trying to look at possibilities as you troubleshoot this. It's very odd that the software would know its night except... That got me thinking What other parameters do you change for night work? Full 2.8 aperture, high ISO (obviously) slower shutter speeds etc.

I would try setting up as for a night shot - the screen will be pure white, perhaps for in grounded, in the house.

There must be some trigger point that disables the raw capture & save. Start with daylight photo settings, then slowly change to your low light/nighttime settings, taking an exposure at each change. At some point the raw will be disabled and skipped. This doesn't FIX it, but helps define the issue, which can define the fix, or workaround.

Do it in the name of science, lol! Let us know if you learn more about what the conditions are when it occurs to help frame the issue. (PUN stuff)

I hope you get some answers. No raw at night is a serious shortcoming.

Good luck, and keep us in the picture so everyone isn't in the dark on this. If it's true, we need to expose these problems.

Good analysis & suggestion BlairAir!

Don't think I was in Explore mode as I was shooting wide open (f/2.8) in all of the shots. Believe that Explore currently limits to f/4 only. My night settings were just as you describe: wide open, slow shutter speed, high ISO.

Will report back..

 

[Meta4]

What I'm not understanding is what conditions cause the M3 to "decide" not to shoot in RAW?

I am attaching the subject files for reference.

I seriously doubt that the camera makes such a "decision".
There is no reason that it would and no other DJI camera has done that before and no other M3 user has commented on it.
There will be another explanation for the issue, but it might take a little more testing to find out what that was.

 

[Crashdummytest]

Question: Any chance you are in "Discovery" or "Scouting" mode? Not shooting on the 7x lens, but perhaps leaving the binocular icon yellow when this occurs? I've noticed the drone starts with it enabled sometimes, perhaps based on status at shutdown. I'm sure you are experienced enough to know what you are shooting with, I'm actually just trying to look at possibilities as you troubleshoot this. It's very odd that the software would know its night except... That got me thinking What other parameters do you change for night work? Full 2.8 aperture, high ISO (obviously) slower shutter speeds etc.

I would try setting up as for a night shot - the screen will be pure white, perhaps for in grounded, in the house.

There must be some trigger point that disables the raw capture & save. Start with daylight photo settings, then slowly change to your low light/nighttime settings, taking an exposure at each change. At some point the raw will be disabled and skipped. This doesn't FIX it, but helps define the issue, which can define the fix, or workaround.

Do it in the name of science, lol! Let us know if you learn more about what the conditions are when it occurs to help frame the issue. (PUN stuff)

I hope you get some answers. No raw at night is a serious shortcoming.

Good luck, and keep us in the picture so everyone isn't in the dark on this. If it's true, we need to expose these problems.

This "perhaps leaving the binocular icon yellow when this occurs?" was the correct answer, I would bet. I shoot nighttime DNGs all the time with my M3, using Adobe to convert them for Darktable.

 

[lonestarmehul]

Question: Any chance you are in "Discovery" or "Scouting" mode? Not shooting on the 7x lens, but perhaps leaving the binocular icon yellow when this occurs? I've noticed the drone starts with it enabled sometimes, perhaps based on status at shutdown. I'm sure you are experienced enough to know what you are shooting with, I'm actually just trying to look at possibilities as you troubleshoot this. It's very odd that the software would know its night except... That got me thinking What other parameters do you change for night work? Full 2.8 aperture, high ISO (obviously) slower shutter speeds etc.

I would try setting up as for a night shot - the screen will be pure white, perhaps for in grounded, in the house.

There must be some trigger point that disables the raw capture & save. Start with daylight photo settings, then slowly change to your low light/nighttime settings, taking an exposure at each change. At some point the raw will be disabled and skipped. This doesn't FIX it, but helps define the issue, which can define the fix, or workaround.

Do it in the name of science, lol! Let us know if you learn more about what the conditions are when it occurs to help frame the issue. (PUN stuff)

I hope you get some answers. No raw at night is a serious shortcoming.

Good luck, and keep us in the picture so everyone isn't in the dark on this. If it's true, we need to expose these problems.

BlairAir,

You hit it on the head!

When I started up the drone, the binocular icon was indeed yellow, albeit set at 1x zoom. Toggling it off restored my Pro mode settings, including DNG + JPG.

Need to make sure & survey all of the settings at startup to avoid this type of issue for sure! So appreciate everyone's comments & tips. Happy Holidays!

Mehul