Mavic Pro Photo Exposure Changing

Papa72 · Oct 24, 2022

I have a Mavic Pro. While taking photos in the mountains, I noticed that the exposure would vary. When I would see a bad exposure on my phone, I tried using the the wheel that varies the exposure, but I couldn't get it to look as good as another photo that looked right. I have it set on Auto. I'm not sure where to start. The ISO was 100 for both.

I noticed it for the first time a week ago while trying to get a photo of a sunset. It seemed like if I aimed down a little, it would go into the "bad" exposure. Aiming up made it right again.

Any suggestions on what I should do to keep it from changing to a bad exposure? I don't even know what to call it--underexposed? too sharp? It looks washed out. Thanks for any help!

slup · Oct 24, 2022

This is how photography with auto settings will behave ... the software in the camera will look at the present motif & average the exposure. So if a lot of bright is present (like a snowy sunlit landscape) it's common that cameras in auto will under expose... & if it's a lot of darker areas (like when you try to shoot a bright sunset & take to much dark ground into the picture) the picture will normalize the shadows & over expose the brighter parts.

The difference in the 2 pics you've attached is that in the first you don't have any bright sky, instead a lot of that darker forrest... meaning the camera will chose a longer shutter to brighten them up & the few bright parts in the pic will be slightly over exposed (compare that white minibus in the center between your 2 pics). The second pic have instead a bright sky... which makes the auto setting to chose a shorter shutter time in order to not over expose it... this leaves the forrest a bit darker in the pic & that also preserve more contrast which brings out more color in the leaves.

The EV setting can be a tool to use when using auto... but it depends on if the EV steps are enough fine to get what you want ... if shooting a tricky motif (for instance that sunset composed with a lot of dark ground & less bright sky) I would use manual settings & dial in a shutter after you have composed the motif... a shutter speed that preserve the colorful sunset sky instead of, with auto, brighten up the dark ground & over expose the sky... or you chose a middle way with a bit brighter less colorful sky & instead get some detail in the darker ground.

Meta4 · Oct 24, 2022

Papa72 said:
I noticed it for the first time a week ago while trying to get a photo of a sunset. It seemed like if I aimed down a little, it would go into the "bad" exposure. Aiming up made it right again.

On auto, your camera's metering looks at the whole frame and gives an exposure that's about right for the average of the whole frame.
That's fine when the whole scene has similar brightness.
But if the subject is half bright sky and half dark foreground, no single exposure setting will give proper exposure for both halves.

Papa72 said:
Any suggestions on what I should do to keep it from changing to a bad exposure? I don't even know what to call it--underexposed? too sharp? It looks washed out.

If an image looks washed out, it's overexposed.
If it's too dark, it's underexposed.