New Mavic Mini owner, could use some help.

[MavicMaverick92]

So I just got my MM yesterday afternoon and took it out for a few test flights after letting everything charge, and it went well. Just encountered this issue tonight after turning my drone on and getting everything connected. Basically my screen is black except my tv which the camera picks up, and my ceiling light is on lighting up the room pretty well, even on my crappy phone camera.

I've adjusted the shutter speed as quick as it will go and even messed with the ISO, but that just washes everything out. I should mention that it only happens when I switch to video mode. The same settings on picture mode show the camera view like it should be, but the video mode just darkens everything considerably.

Worried I might have got a defective drone or worse, that's just how it is with the MM. Even my Spark handles the same situation better. I'm running the latest firm ware in the drone, controller and app. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy A6 and the app is DJIFly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll post some pics of what the drone camera is picking up and then a pic from my phone. The screenshot is of the drone camera, obviously. Lol. Thanks y'all!

 

[ShadowCat]

As with anything involving a camera

So I just got my MM yesterday afternoon and took it out for a few test flights after letting everything charge, and it went well. Just encountered this issue tonight after turning my drone on and getting everything connected. Basically my screen is black except my tv which the camera picks up, and my ceiling light is on lighting up the room pretty well, even on my crappy phone camera.

I've adjusted the shutter speed as quick as it will go and even messed with the ISO, but that just washes everything out. I should mention that it only happens when I switch to video mode. The same settings on picture mode show the camera view like it should be, but the video mode just darkens everything considerably.

Worried I might have got a defective drone or worse, that's just how it is with the MM. Even my Spark handles the same situation better. I'm running the latest firm ware in the drone, controller and app. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy A6 and the app is DJIFly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll post some pics of what the drone camera is picking up and then a pic from my phone. The screenshot is of the drone camera, obviously. Lol. Thanks y'all!

As with anything involving a camera and photography there is a balancing act between Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed. Aperture controls the amount of light entering the camera, i.e. how wide or small the eye of the iris in the lens opens or closes. Generally the lower the f-stop the wider the aperture the more the light and visa versa. ISO is controls the sensitivity of the light hitting the sensor. ISO 100/200 is generally for normal photography, ISO 400/800 Indoor and ISO 1600 upwards for night time. Shutter speed is for how long the shutter remains open. so the longer it is open the more the saturation of light. the shorter the duration the less the light. What you have to do is juggle these settings and is the trick and art of photography.

Just by looking at the first photo your ISO is 100 try ISO 400 or 800 bears in mind the higher the ISO the more the noise on the photo. A wider Aperture is also worth looking at ie. a lower F-stop number. Shutter Speed the longer the exposure the more jitter or blur is introduced.

 

[Meta4]

A wider Aperture is also worth looking at ie. a lower F-stop number.

Since he's talking about a Mini (which has a fixed aperture) .. all that talk about the aperture will be irrelevant for him.

 

[Meta4]

Worried I might have got a defective drone or worse, that's just how it is with the MM.

The reason things look dark is that your camera settings are wrong.
If you don't know what you are doing with camera settings, just set it to auto and let the camera's meter work things out for you.

 

[Gratton]

The reason things look dark is that your camera settings are wrong.
If you don't know what you are doing with camera settings, just set it to auto and let the camera's meter work things out for you.

That's a great 1st step in triaging the problem. Automatic may not give you the very best results but they should be much better than the pictures included by the OP. If it is still that dark, I'd think it's likely that there's something wrong.

mikeg

 

[MavicMaverick92]

The reason things look dark is that your camera settings are wrong.
If you don't know what you are doing with camera settings, just set it to auto and let the camera's meter work things out for you.

Yeah I know my camera settings pretty well so I don't want to use auto. I shouldn't have to either, like I said my Spark doesn't have this problem. Lol. It also literally only does this in video mode. I turn it to camera mode with the same shutter speed and it looks much better.

 

[Meta4]

Yeah I know my camera settings pretty well so I don't want to use auto. I shouldn't have to either.

It's still a good way to eliminate some possibilities and start sorting out the issue.

 

[MavicMaverick92]

It's still a good way to eliminate some possibilities and start sorting out the issue.

True, I guess. Well I've set it to auto and it does capture the light in my room. I just don't know why it only does this in manual video mode. Manual camera mode is fine, but manual video is where it has this problem.

 

[Meta4]

but manual video is where it has this problem.

How about screen shots from the app in video mode, showing it in auto and manual modes?

 

[Steel63]

Greetings from ?florida

 

[wjkrysak]

Welcome to the forum. You will find helpful advice and support here. We look forward to your participation and seeing your part of the world.

 

[lannes]

So I just got my MM yesterday afternoon and took it out for a few test flights after letting everything charge, and it went well. Just encountered this issue tonight after turning my drone on and getting everything connected. Basically my screen is black except my tv which the camera picks up, and my ceiling light is on lighting up the room pretty well, even on my crappy phone camera.

I've adjusted the shutter speed as quick as it will go and even messed with the ISO, but that just washes everything out. I should mention that it only happens when I switch to video mode. The same settings on picture mode show the camera view like it should be, but the video mode just darkens everything considerably.

Worried I might have got a defective drone or worse, that's just how it is with the MM. Even my Spark handles the same situation better. I'm running the latest firm ware in the drone, controller and app. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy A6 and the app is DJIFly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll post some pics of what the drone camera is picking up and then a pic from my phone. The screenshot is of the drone camera, obviously. Lol. Thanks y'all!

Your exposure compensation value is -3.0 stops which is why the image is so dark, in auto mode you'll notice this is metered at 0.0
As you using manual mode, in a dark room, you need to lower/ slow the shutter speed (to let more light hit the camera sensor) and/or increase the ISO speed (to make the camera sensor more sensitive to light).
When you do this the -ve exposure compensation value will move towards 0.0 and the overall image will be brighter

 

[Tolly]

As with anything involving a camera

As with anything involving a camera and photography there is a balancing act between Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed. Aperture controls the amount of light entering the camera, i.e. how wide or small the eye of the iris in the lens opens or closes. Generally the lower the f-stop the wider the aperture the more the light and visa versa. ISO is controls the sensitivity of the light hitting the sensor. ISO 100/200 is generally for normal photography, ISO 400/800 Indoor and ISO 1600 upwards for night time. Shutter speed is for how long the shutter remains open. so the longer it is open the more the saturation of light. the shorter the duration the less the light. What you have to do is juggle these settings and is the trick and art of photography.

Just by looking at the first photo your ISO is 100 try ISO 400 or 800 bears in mind the higher the ISO the more the noise on the photo. A wider Aperture is also worth looking at ie. a lower F-stop number. Shutter Speed the longer the exposure the more jitter or blur is introduced.

To much confusing info and mini is fixed aperture so I don't believe the problem is as simple as camera settings!

 

[Chetk7677]

Welcome from Florida.

 

[JamieK]

The way I see it, if you’re going to use 2.7k 30 then your shutter should be 1/60 then crank your ISO until your exposure is correct

 

[MavicMaverick92]

How about screen shots from the app in video mode, showing it in auto and manual modes?

I'll try to get that tonight, unless I find some issues during daytime then I'll post those too. Lol.

 

[MavicMaverick92]

The way I see it, if you’re going to use 2.7k 30 then your shutter should be 1/60 then crank your ISO until your exposure is correct

Yea but too much ISO causes film grain and in my experience, over exposure. On my Spark I keep the ISO at 100 and adjust the shutter speed as needed. Hell, this is a pic I got on my Spark. No filters or editing, just adjusted the shutter speed. I'm hoping my MM can achieve the same but the skies have been too hazy to try and test it accurately.

 

[DanMan32]

I didn't realize they added manual settings for video on the Mini. Originally all you had was auto with EV settings, though you could lock the exposure to current settings.

As for maintaining shutter double frame rate, that's mainly to soften motion, and reduce bars in the video caused by prop chopping light reflections at low sun angles. The latter isn't much of a problem with Mini as it is with Phantom. At low light none of it matters.

 

[MavicMaverick92]

Ok so I found out my Spark has the same shutter speed as the Mavic Mini during video mode and the same during photos. Thanks all for the help, but I was just being wildly ignorant and looking for a flaw I guess. Lol. I guess it doesn't hurt to use auto mode inside and just save manual for outside, where it's really needed. I'm very new to this and still trying to fully understand the difference in each shutter speed when it comes to differences in lighting conditions and visual effect like a long exposure on a passing car. I'm just hoping for a sunny day soon so I can feel as good about my Mavic as I do about my Spark. Thanks again everyone for your help.

 

[Meta4]

I'll try to get that tonight, unless I find some issues during daytime then I'll post those too. Lol.

No need for that now.
Post #12 shows the cause of the issue and the solution.