Photo Quality - Mavic Mini

[BGloss18]

So I've had the mini a few weeks now and the camera is impressive to say the least. Last night I took it out and took a few photos which turned out a little weird. They seem to be grainy, almost like a sketch filter has been applied to them. I used the automatic capture setting and tuned the EV to what I felt looked good on the DJI Fly app. If anyone has any insight as to why they look like they do, please tell me off!

Image 1: Cloud cluster to the left, Green field central and the foreground field all look weirdly grainy.


Image 2: The basketball court looks particularly bad as well as the features on the horizon.

 

[lannes]

In low light to create enough exposure the camera increases the ISO to compensate.

Higher ISO introduces more grain/ artifacts/ noise to the image and reduces the dynamic range (range of tones) that can be captured.
Hence the picture looks less sharp and blocky

 

[BGloss18]

In low light to create enough exposure the camera increases the ISO to compensate.

Higher ISO introduces more grain/ artifacts to the image and reduces the dynamic range (range of tones) that can be captured.
Hence the picture looks less sharp and blocky

That makes perfect sense, can this be fixed in a photo editor? I use GIMP which works well for colour correction, I've not explored much futher than that.

 

[lannes]

That makes perfect sense, can this be fixed in a photo editor? I use GIMP which works well for colour correction, I've not explored much futher than that.

No, not completely fixable in post production but it can be reduced but this usually only works on RAW images and the Mavic Mini only captures jpegs which are already processed in camera.

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[BGloss18]

Thank you. Luckily the noise isn't too bad. I'll know for next time what causes it

 

[Meta4]

In low light to create enough exposure the camera increases the ISO to compensate.

But those images were shot at ISO 100.
The grain is just the kind of output you get from the small sensor when it has to deal with low light levels.

I'll know for next time what causes it

It's just a limitation of the camera.
Stick to well lit subjects if you want to avoid this.

 

[lannes]

But those images were shot at ISO 100.
The grain is just the kind of output you get from the small sensor when it has to deal with low light levels.

It's just a limitation of the camera.
Stick to well lit subjects if you want to avoid this.

Your right, at ISO 100 it just must be the small poor quality sensor

 

[BGloss18]

I think it would be due to the small sensor as on a photo I had taken before in broad daylight, I got the same effect.

 

[lannes]

I think it would be due to the small sensor as on a photo I had taken before in broad daylight, I got the same effect.

The image is also softer as your shooting wide open at f2.8, lenses are usually sharper when stopped down to F5.6-F8.0
But then the smaller apeture may require the ISO to be increased offsetting any sharpness gains with more noise, it a balancing act.

 

[BGloss18]

The image is also softer as your shooting wide open at f2.8, lenses are usually sharper when stopped down to F5.6-F8.0

Would I be right in saying the mini has a fixed aperture?

 

[lannes]

Would I be right in saying the mini has a fixed aperture?

Your right, it's even more limited and it has a fixed focus lens as well