Question about low light/nighttime video settings

charlie.h1998 · Jan 2, 2022

Hey guys,

I've heard a lot of things about filming at night, one is we should film in 24fps with 1/50 shutter speed. I usually film things at night with ISO 1600. Color profile is Dlog instead of normal. But here comes a problem: Dlog seems to be more noisy than normal, after I apply the LUT. Also ISO 1600 in Dlog still looks a little dark to me.

Am I missing anything in the setup? Or should I just stick to normal color profile at night? My drone is DJI Air 2S, it has a 1-inch sensor.

Thanks for any advice, and happy new year!

Lear55pilot · Jan 2, 2022

That is a GREAT question that I too am anxious to see replies as I too have been testing for best night settings! Blessings for Happy Flying 2022 to All!

FlyingFilmmaker · Jan 2, 2022

Just got the Air 2S a few weeks ago and recently did some night filming tests. In D-LOG the ISO is capped at 1600 whereas in the normal profile you can go on up to 6400. I found that DLOG 1600 and Normal 6400 were actually about the same brightness and looked very similar after I color corrected the d-log and dropped the blacks to black. You are getting a more dynamic range in the shadows with d-log, but unless there is actual detail there (not just blackness) you aren't getting much of a benefit. As far as the noise in DLOG, LOG has more noise because it keeps shadow detail that normal throws away, and noise likes to hide in the shadows.

For filming at night I tend to drop the shutter speed down to 1/30 of a second to give me brighter shots. You'll have to be careful that there isn't any fast movement in the shots as it will look a little blurry but for drone footage it's usually fine.

Unless there are a lot of bright lights, it usually works better to shoot hyperlapses rather than video at night because you can use longer exposures to gather a lot more light than the shutter speed constraints of real-time video allow. Shooting hyperlapses also lets you shoot JPG or RAW photos which gives you more data to work with in post. If you want to try out the hyperlapse route I did a tutorial recently on shooting and editing night hyperlapses with the Air 2; it should be basically the same on the Air2S, only better.