So, blurry photo, am i expecting too much?

[Donnie]

So, still getting used to the Mavic 2 Pro and mainly use if for photos. Tonight I tried to get a photo or two in town and seem to get more blurry than sharp photos? Anyone got any tips on optimum settings?

 

[Mossiback]

It would help to post the camera settings but looking at the car light trails the shutter was open for 2 or 3 seconds. Even with no wind the Mavic has to deal with it's own turbulence so a pin-sharp long exposure can be difficult. Try taking multiple photos and you may get one that is sharper.

In low light it may be more difficult to focus. Are you using manual focus?

 

[brett8883]

It would help to post the camera settings but looking at the car light trails the shutter was open for 2 or 3 seconds. Even with no wind the Mavic has to deal with it's own turbulence so a pin-sharp long exposure can be difficult. Try taking multiple photos and you may get one that is sharper.

In low light it may be more difficult to focus. Are you using manual focus?

Exactly what so was gonna say

 

[brett8883]

 

[sar104]

So, still getting used to the Mavic 2 Pro and mainly use if for photos. Tonight I tried to get a photo or two in town and seem to get more blurry than sharp photos? Anyone got any tips on optimum settings?

View attachment 72313

Yes - that's mostly motion blur. You can fix some degree of motion blur in post-processing, but that image just has too much. Was it windy?

 

[brett8883]

Yes - that's mostly motion blur. You can fix some degree of motion blur in post-processing, but that image just has too much. Was it windy?

View attachment 72327

Does that one already have shake reduction applied? It occurred to me after already doing this that you may have done it already. Its honestly not bad at all @Donnie just don't let anybody take a microscope to it and nobody will ever notice

 

[gnirtS]

Motion blur. You're going to get it from a bouncy aerial platform in low light.

You need to shorten your shutter speed.

You're shooting at f/4, ISO100 and an 8 SECOND exposure. There is absolutely no way anything is going to be sharp there. And cars are ALWAYS going to blur on any equipment set up like that.

Open the aperture wide (f/2.8), increase the iso to 400 - 800 or maybe more and pick a shorter shutter speed then shoot burtsts to pick the sharpest one.

Nothing wrong with the camera, everything wrong with your choice of settings there.

Your aperture is too small, ISO too low, Shutter speed too high (and for some reason you have a 2/3 stop over exposure either set or dialled in).

 

[gnirtS]

It would help to post the camera settings but looking at the car light trails the shutter was open for 2 or 3 seconds.

The settings are in the exif - its an 8 second exposure. So has no chance at all of being sharp.

 

[Macabre]

8 seconds exposure is impossible to have sharp without a sturdy tripod. Even a 2 second exposure is very, very hard. This is impossible handheld on a pro camera with both lens and in body stabilization. And especially hard on a drone that is while quite stable, still shaking due to wind. At 8 seconds exposure, even micro shaking will create blur.

Drone is a tool. You should know your drone. But if you have photography/videography interest, you should put some effort into learning at least some basics of manual shooting and what different option is. It will help you get better photos/videos.

 

[Donnie]

Sorry for the delay all, had a few drinks late last night.
Yep, I was experimenting with long exposures etc so yep 8 seconds was dialled in. It wasn't too windy (at ground level) and id checked uavforecast but am aware that can never be 100% but didnt get any wind warnings.

I will try some more settings / variations as I go along, I already know do photography so thats not a major issue, it's my trying to do up there what I can do down here

 

[sar104]

Does that one already have shake reduction applied? It occurred to me after already doing this that you may have done it already. Its honestly not bad at all @Donnie just don't let anybody take a microscope to it and nobody will ever notice
View attachment 72332

Yes - the original one posted was very blurry. I cleaned it up a bit.

 

[gnirtS]

Theres no way even a high end DSLR with built in stabilisation will produce a clean shot at 8 seconds handheld.
Even on a tripod if theres wind sometimes it wont work out.
So a tiny bit of plastic trying to maintain its position in the sky has absolutely no chance no matter how good the gyros and gimbal is.

You might get an acceptable shot of around 1 second, possibly, if very lucky 2 seconds (depending on your definition of acceptable).

Its nothing to do with the camera - you're asking it to do the impossible.

 

[sar104]

Theres no way even a high end DSLR with built in stabilisation will produce a clean shot at 8 seconds handheld.
Even on a tripod if theres wind sometimes it wont work out.
So a tiny bit of plastic trying to maintain its position in the sky has absolutely no chance no matter how good the gyros and gimbal is.

You might get an acceptable shot of around 1 second, possibly, if very lucky 2 seconds (depending on your definition of acceptable).

Its nothing to do with the camera - you're asking it to do the impossible.

A stabilized gimbal is much better than handheld and I've seen some impressive multi-second images from Phantoms and Mavics in calm conditions, but I agree - i general that's asking too much.

 

[Donnie]

Yes - the original one posted was very blurry. I cleaned it up a bit.

what software are you using?

 

[sar104]

what software are you using?

That was done with Topaz Sharpen AI.

 

[Drbobk]

That was done with Topaz Sharpen AI.

The bridge came out surprisingly crisp in your version.

 

[sar104]

The bridge came out surprisingly crisp in your version.

It's very effective on some subjects, less so on others. When it works well - generally on far less challenging images than this one - it can produce very useable images.