Mini Navy Pier Fall afternoon with the Mini 2

[singram]

I brought my Sony A7ii full frame for handhelds, my Mavic3 and my Mini2. These are from the Mini 2. Didnt really expect much from them, but they came out exceptionally well for some reason, IMO. The angle of the sun was a real challenge, so bracketed, denoised all 3 individually, then merged and slightly edited.

 

[djwak59]

I brought my Sony A7ii full frame for handhelds, my Mavic3 and my Mini2. These are from the Mini 2. Didnt really expect much from them, but they came out exceptionally well for some reason, IMO. The angle of the sun was a real challenge, so bracketed, denoised all 3 individually, then merged and slightly edited.

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Nice ! I used to DJ there in my 30s, REALLY nice location at night time. Anyway, did you have to get any clearance to fly there ?

 

[Dale D]

I brought my Sony A7ii full frame for handhelds, my Mavic3 and my Mini2. These are from the Mini 2. Didnt really expect much from them, but they came out exceptionally well for some reason, IMO. The angle of the sun was a real challenge, so bracketed, denoised all 3 individually, then merged and slightly edited.

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Brings back memories- I was born and raised in Chicago and only left there for further education after internship at Michael Reese Hospital. I actually took college courses there at Navy Pier long before it was for entertainment/Ferris wheel, etc. .

As far as these images go, you went there at the wrong time of the day! The sun sets in the west and you were faced with tremendous back lighting. I would try to make a trip back there before noon- preferably around 10 AM.

You have lost all of the details in the shadows. Try to shoot in RAW and open those shadows with Photoshop/Bridge shadows slider.

Dale
Miami

 

[PHZ]

Very nice shots. I think the lighting is very interesting. I had a Mini 2 for a short time and liked it a lot. It was a bit noisy compared to its successor, the Mini 3 Pro, which I really like.
I am constantly amazed at the quality of images these two small cameras can produce under most conditions.

 

[singram]

Nice ! I used to DJ there in my 30s, REALLY nice location at night time. Anyway, did you have to get any clearance to fly there ?

Thanks! No clearance needed.

 

[singram]

Brings back memories- I was born and raised in Chicago and only left there for further education after internship at Michael Reese Hospital. I actually took college courses there at Navy Pier long before it was for entertainment/Ferris wheel, etc. .

As far as these images go, you went there at the wrong time of the day! The sun sets in the west and you were faced with tremendous back lighting. I would try to make a trip back there before noon- preferably around 10 AM.

You have lost all of the details in the shadows. Try to shoot in RAW and open those shadows with Photoshop/Bridge shadows slider.

Dale
Miami

Hey Dale-

Yeah, the lighting definitely was not ideal. I brought the Mini, the Mavic3 and my handheld Sony A7ii for a photoshoot day. By the time I got to the end of the pier, it was the Mini's turn and the lighting was atrocious.

I tried to counter this by bracketing(in Raw, I always shoot in Raw). within Lightroom, I denoised each shot prior to merging(it never occured to me to do this before!!), then added an Adaptive Sky preset and a tasteful global edit. I tried to open the shadows, but actually prefer the moody subdued effect. Not ideal, I know, but I really like the end result for some reason.

These shots were more or less throw away as I wasnt really expecting much from them directly from the drone till I started post processing. They started to grow on me.

 

[singram]

Very nice shots. I think the lighting is very interesting. I had a Mini 2 for a short time and liked it a lot. It was a bit noisy compared to its successor, the Mini 3 Pro, which I really like.
I am constantly amazed at the quality of images these two small cameras can produce under most conditions.

Hey man, thanks for the compliment! The lighting aspect you're referring to is probably due to bracketing( -02, 00, +02) which was my attempt at salvaging shots in horrible lighting.

I agree with the camera quality of the Mini. I brought my 2 drones and my full frame handheld for a photoshoot fun day. Wasnt expecting much from the Mini, but am very impressed by the end results.

 

[djwak59]

Thanks! No clearance needed.

Cool. Of course when I was a DJ there, I was playing at night. The skyline there at night is AMAZING.

 

[GFields]

Nice photos!