Noise/Grain

[DeLorean2015]

Went out this evening to get some footage of the sunset. All of my pictures and videos (D-Cinelike & HDR) came out though with a lot of noise/grain. I know this is a small sensor and all but I feel like I should be getting much less grain than this.
Any advice? (I'm a newbie)
ISO @ 100

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Like you said it is a small sensor and this kind of image with a very high dynamic range is going to be a challenge for it. Perhaps you could get slightly better results if you shoot RAW in AEB mode and merge these in to a HDR image yourself.

 

[DeLorean2015]

Ah, well a little bit of a bummer but makes sense. Wanted to ask to make sure I wasn’t missing something obvious that would help. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Ah, well a little bit of a bummer but makes sense. Wanted to ask to make sure I wasn’t missing something obvious that would help. Thanks!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to imply that is the absolute best you can get. I don't yet own the MA2 but I have owned the MA1 for more than a year and I have shot sunsets more times than I care to count. I have faced the same issue time and time again. While the MA2 has a larger sensor than the MA1, it is still tiny as camera sensors go and it will struggle to capture the full dynamic range in a setting like this. However, I can almost certainly say that you can do better; much better. It will however require a lot more effort on your side.

First, maximize the dynamic range the camera captures. That means shooting in RAW and shooting in AEB. 5 exposures will give you a lot more dynamic range in the final image than just one*. Yes, the in drone HDR feature already does this to an extent but you will most likely do better if you save the RAWs of the individual exposures and merge them yourself in Lightroom or Photoshop. In addition to greater control over the HDR merging and toning, it will also allow you to use other tools such as graduated filters, sharpening and noise reduction, and so on. So if you want to make the best out of the camera, learning to edit is half the job.

Second, lighting. The sun is still too strong at the time you took that shot. It is really hard to capture a good image in that kind of harsh lighting with any camera. A little later and you might have done much much better. Just two pointers from my limited experience

And one final tip (which may be the most important one). Unless the sun itself is the focus of your image - which is often the case when shooting sunsets of course - you will get much better results if you shoot at about a 90 degree angle to the sun. The light will be even and a lot less harsh and will often produce a much pleasing picture than when you are shooting towards the sun. Here is one of my favourite images as an example, shot with the MA1.

_____________________________________
* I think I have read somewhere the MA2 has a 7 exposure AEB setting (or was that something I imagined?). If true, 7 is definetly better than 5; especially more so since the exposure stepping in DJI's AEB setting is quite small; 0.7 EV if i remember correctly)

 

[DeLorean2015]

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to imply that is the absolute best you can get. I don't yet own the MA2 but I have owned the MA1 for more than a year and I have shot sunsets more times than I care to count. I have faced the same issue time and time again. While the MA2 has a larger sensor than the MA1, it is still tiny as camera sensors go and it will struggle to capture the full dynamic range in a setting like this. However, I can almost certainly say that you can do better; much better. It will however require a lot more effort on your side.

First, maximize the dynamic range the camera captures. That means shooting in RAW and shooting in AEB. 5 exposures will give you a lot more dynamic range in the final image than just one*. Yes, the in drone HDR feature already does this to an extent but you will most likely do better if you save the RAWs of the individual exposures and merge them yourself in Lightroom or Photoshop. In addition to greater control over the HDR merging and toning, it will also allow you to use other tools such as graduated filters, sharpening and noise reduction, and so on. So if you want to make the best out of the camera, learning to edit is half the job.

Second, lighting. The sun is still too strong at the time you took that shot. It is really hard to capture a good image in that kind of harsh lighting with any camera. A little later and you might have done much much better. Just two pointers from my limited experience [emoji4]

And one final tip (which may be the most important one). Unless the sun itself is the focus of your image - which is often the case when shooting sunsets of course - you will get much better results if you shoot at about a 90 degree angle to the sun. The light will be even and a lot less harsh and will often produce a much pleasing picture than when you are shooting towards the sun. Here is one of my favourite images as an example, shot with the MA1.

_____________________________________
* I think I have read somewhere the MA2 has a 7 exposure AEB setting (or was that something I imagined?). If true, 7 is definetly better than 5; especially more so since the exposure stepping in DJI's AEB setting is quite small; 0.7 EV if i remember correctly)

This is really helpful advice. Thanks for taking the time to write this!

*Awesome photo too (couldn’t see it in the app)

 

[Deleted member 94047]

This is really helpful advice. Thanks for taking the time to write this!

Just re-circulating some good old received wisdom I myself learned from this very forum

 

[floridabeachbum]

One general rule of thumb from my photography side:

If you think of the path of the sun across the sky, your ISO settings should match.

• 400-800 at sunrise,
• 200-400 the two hours after
• 100 at the noon hours
• and back the other way until the sun has set.

I struggle with it in practice myself (flying takes up a lot of mental bandwidth), but it's a good guideline.

 

[Thomas B]

One general rule of thumb from my photography side:

If you think of the path of the sun across the sky, your ISO settings should match.

• 400-800 at sunrise,
• 200-400 the two hours after
• 100 at the noon hours
• and back the other way until the sun has set.

I struggle with it in practice myself (flying takes up a lot of mental bandwidth), but it's a good guideline.

I always keep my ISO as near 100 as possible and never over 300 unless shooting at night. Filters midday if needed.