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The EV is still varied, even when I shoot in Manual mode when I do 360 Pano

chong67

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I notice something on the M3 when shooting in 360 Pano mode. I have everything in PRO mode and I have turn off the AUTO on the 3 settings. Yet when I look at each of the 25 DNG file properties, the "Exposure Bias", which is also the "EV", should remain at "ZERO", which is what I set it to, but it is NOT. Is this a bug or I didnt do it right?
 
Gonna sit in on this thread. Have the same thing with my M2P. I can watch the EV change as I'm flying while in full manual control.
 
I see. This is definitely a bug. Can anyone else please confirm?

I might want to let DJI knows.
 
I notice something on the M3 when shooting in 360 Pano mode. I have everything in PRO mode and I have turn off the AUTO on the 3 settings. Yet when I look at each of the 25 DNG file properties, the "Exposure Bias", which is also the "EV", should remain at "ZERO", which is what I set it to, but it is NOT. Is this a bug or I didnt do it right?
You’ve got it backwards. In pro mode your photos will have different EV values and in auto mode the EV should stay the same.

EV is a measure in stops that compares the current exposure to what your in camera light meter thinks the exposure should be. EV 0 is the exposure level your light meter thinks the exposure to be. When you have the camera set to auto mode you can tell the camera if you want it to under expose or over expose using the light meter reading, EV 0, as a base level. When in pro mode, EV is telling you how far your exposure is with your manually entered parameters from what the light meter is reading (EV 0).

When you turn the camera, more or less light could be measured by the light meter which will affect your EV, but if you are in pro mode the camera will not adjust exposure parameters to adjust for this. So if looking into the sun the EV for your manually selected exposure parameters might be EV +2 because the light meter is measuring more light but when you turn away from the sun your EV value might be -1 with the same exact exposure because the amount of light measured by the light meter is different.

Use Pro mode to get the same exposure for all your photos but different EV values. Use auto mode to maintain the same EV but differing exposures.

For 360 panos auto mode will better expose different elements in pano but will have differing exposures that may cause some photos to appear brighter or darker when put all together. Use pro mode to get a more consistent looking pano but certain areas may be too dark or too bright.
 
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You’ve got it backwards. In pro mode your photos will have different EV values and in auto mode the EV should stay the same.

EV is a measure in stops that compares the current exposure to what your in camera light meter thinks the exposure should be. EV 0 is the exposure level your light meter thinks the exposure to be. When you have the camera set to auto mode you can tell the camera if you want it to under expose or over expose using the light meter reading, EV 0, as a base level. When in pro mode, EV is telling you how far your exposure is with your manually entered parameters from what the light meter is reading (EV 0).

When you turn the camera, more or less light could be measured by the light meter which will affect your EV, but if you are in pro mode the camera will not adjust exposure parameters to adjust for this. So if looking into the sun the EV for your manually selected exposure parameters might be EV +2 because the light meter is measuring more light but when you turn away from the sun your EV value might be -1 with the same exact exposure because the amount of light measured by the light meter is different.

Use Pro mode to get the same exposure for all your photos but different EV values. Use auto mode to maintain the same EV but differing exposures.

For 360 panos auto mode will better expose different elements in pano but will have differing exposures that may cause areas to appear brighter or darker when put all together. Use auto mode to get a more consistent looking pano but certain areas may be too dark or too bright.
Lol, leave it to DJI to whine about your manual settings. It does make sense however. Twisted sense, but sense.
 
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You’ve got it backwards. In pro mode your photos will have different EV values and in auto mode the EV should stay the same.

EV is a measure in stops that compares the current exposure to what your in camera light meter thinks the exposure should be. EV 0 is the exposure level your light meter thinks the exposure to be. When you have the camera set to auto mode you can tell the camera if you want it to under expose or over expose using the light meter reading, EV 0, as a base level. When in pro mode, EV is telling you how far your exposure is with your manually entered parameters from what the light meter is reading (EV 0).

When you turn the camera, more or less light could be measured by the light meter which will affect your EV, but if you are in pro mode the camera will not adjust exposure parameters to adjust for this. So if looking into the sun the EV for your manually selected exposure parameters might be EV +2 because the light meter is measuring more light but when you turn away from the sun your EV value might be -1 with the same exact exposure because the amount of light measured by the light meter is different.

Use Pro mode to get the same exposure for all your photos but different EV values. Use auto mode to maintain the same EV but differing exposures.

For 360 panos auto mode will better expose different elements in pano but will have differing exposures that may cause areas to appear brighter or darker when put all together. Use auto mode to get a more consistent looking pano but certain areas may be too dark or too bright.
You can have the best of all worlds by shooting the automated pano several times at different Pro settings (reflecting an exposure value of say 0, -2, and +2), as well as in Auto mode, and then select the best exposed image for each of the 26 views, for a manual stitch, if none of the 4 panos are to your liking. I find the Auto setting to be best, if you shoot after sunset, or on an overcast, cloudy day, or with the sun overhead, or with the sun deliberately hidden behind an obstruction during the day. Start with the camera facing the a neutral, evenly lit side of the pano.
 
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You’ve got it backwards. In pro mode your photos will have different EV values and in auto mode the EV should stay the same.

EV is a measure in stops that compares the current exposure to what your in camera light meter thinks the exposure should be. EV 0 is the exposure level your light meter thinks the exposure to be. When you have the camera set to auto mode you can tell the camera if you want it to under expose or over expose using the light meter reading, EV 0, as a base level. When in pro mode, EV is telling you how far your exposure is with your manually entered parameters from what the light meter is reading (EV 0).

When you turn the camera, more or less light could be measured by the light meter which will affect your EV, but if you are in pro mode the camera will not adjust exposure parameters to adjust for this. So if looking into the sun the EV for your manually selected exposure parameters might be EV +2 because the light meter is measuring more light but when you turn away from the sun your EV value might be -1 with the same exact exposure because the amount of light measured by the light meter is different.

Use Pro mode to get the same exposure for all your photos but different EV values. Use auto mode to maintain the same EV but differing exposures.

For 360 panos auto mode will better expose different elements in pano but will have differing exposures that may cause areas to appear brighter or darker when put all together. Use auto mode to get a more consistent looking pano but certain areas may be too dark or too bright.

Thank you! Thank you again!

I did not know this. Not it make more sense than ever.

I learn something everyday.

Yes, in 360 Pano mode, I want all the EV to be the same, otherwise I get varied pitch of Exposure with a bad outcome.
 
You can have the best of all worlds by shooting the automated pano several times at different Pro settings (reflecting an exposure value of say 0, -2, and +2), as well as in Auto mode, and then select the best exposed image for each of the 26 views, for a manual stitch, if none of the 4 panos are to your liking. I find the Auto setting to be best, if you shoot after sunset, or on an overcast, cloudy day, or with the sun overhead, or with the sun deliberately hidden behind an obstruction during the day. Start with the camera facing the a neutral, evenly lit side of of the pano.

So you have a 360 Pano of -2, 0, +2? Thats 25x3 photos for 75 photos. How do you put it all together and the drone is moving. Even a slight movement is a nightmare.
 
So you have a 360 Pano of -2, 0, +2? Thats 25x3 photos for 75 photos. How do you put it all together and the drone is moving. Even a slight movement is a nightmare.
The drone isn't moving. It's a tripod in the sky. You don't change position, just orientation and gimbal elevation. Each automated pano creates its own 60MB stitch in the main directory on the card, and saves the original 26 images in a separate folder. The respective -2, 0, and +2 exposures of each of the 26 images can then be blended in LR or PS, and then stitched in a stitching program like PTGui or PanoramaStudio 3 Pro. Alternatively, you can shoot the pano manually using AEB or various manual settings, at each of the 26 camera positions and angles, and then blend and stitch.

Personally, I let DJI shoot everything automatically and also create the 60MB HiRes stitch, complete with a cloned in ceiling. If I don't like the exposure in the result, I reshoot it, or come back in different lighting. If the stitching didn't work well, I restitch it myself in one of the two stitching programs above. Not every pano is as good as imagined. Some "work" and some don't.

The advantage of shooting them as a 360 pano with 26 images (in 75 seconds total!) is that the possibilities after are endless. You have multiple 180 panos and multiple 3x3 pano stitches within the sphere from which to make individual stitches of a portion of the sphere, leaving out the parts that didn't work, while concentrating on those that did work.

They are addictive! Best way to share a drone view from above!
They can also be combined into an interactive map, jumping from one pano location to another.

Shoot the same pano at different heights, too!
25’, 50', 100', 150', 200', 300', 400'.
Eventually, you'll develop a feel for what height works best for each pano.
 
Thank you! Thank you again!

I did not know this. Not it make more sense than ever.

I learn something everyday.

Yes, in 360 Pano mode, I want all the EV to be the same, otherwise I get varied pitch of Exposure with a bad outcome.
Remember that the in camera light meter is evaluative which tries to take the subject matter in the frame into account so EV 0 isn’t going to always produce the same lightness in the sky for example. Looking at two photos that are shot EV 0 can have every different brightness and look. If in camera light sensors were able to actually calculate perfect exposures every time there’d be no reason to set EV to above or below EV 0, the reason you do that is because the light meter is not perfect and doesn’t always know what to expose for.

Auto mode is trying to properly expose one photo without without regard for how the previous or next photos are exposed which tends to give you more variation in lightness from shot to shot that is more random and can cause splotches is random places one the photos are stitched.

In pro mode, looking into the sun might be over exposed and away from the sun might be under exposed but that difference will be gradual across the pano which tends to be easier to fix once the pano is all put together.

Exposure for 360 panos is tricky business.
 
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Lol, leave it to DJI to whine about your manual settings. It does make sense however. Twisted sense, but sense.
That's a funny way of seeing it. The drones camera interface isn't whining, it's informing. All cameras that have manual settings do this, in one way or another, but they don't necessarily give you the exposure value.

Try this. If you put shutter, ISO and Aperture all in manual mode, you will see the exposure meter change as the camera gathers more or less light. Now toggle aperture mode into auto. You can now adjust EV and watch aperture compensate for it. Instead, you should leave EV alone, and dial shutter speed up or down. Aperture will adjust to compensate for your changes. Every click faster (less light) will cause the aperture to open slightly to compensate leaving EV the SAME VALUE.

This is Shutter Priority mode. Now do the inverse: Put shutter into auto, leave aperture in manual. This is aperture priority.
It's not a DJI thing. It's how all cameras work.

I appreciate that DJI gives you full auto, full manual, and everything in between, including Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and even ISO priority. Extremely granular control over the exposure, and the look your output. It can be more challenging to get the perfect look, but the ability to finely control exposure is there.

DJI now must add controls for:
  • Saturation
  • Contrast
  • Sharpness
DJI switched all products from the GO App to Fly App for a simpler interface, then spent the last 3 years adding back all the stuff that they removed to the Fly App, since it has to serve everyone from a Mini 1 owner to someone with the Mavic 3 Cine - "DJI's Flagship Camera Drone" as the site says. A bit ridiculous, I say.

A truism of software design is that you can have powerful software, with complexity that goes along with it or Simple Sofware with missing or hidden power user tools. It's very rare to have it both ways in a single GUI. One solution I suggested to DJI is to build in an Advanced Mode. Enabling it would not just switch to manual camera settings but would enable an additional tab along with the current:
"Safety, Control, Camera, Transmission & About. An "Advanced" tab

Alternately they could just enable advanced item sections on the existing tabs.

I spend way too much time thinking about this stuff. It kills time while I wait patiently (not) for updates.
 
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