Underexposed pictures on my Mavic 2 Pro

[AroundTheWorld]

Hello,

Im in holidays in Greece flying with my Mavic 2 Pro and it's been 3 weeks that I'm traveling pretty much everywhere, shooting pictures and videos. I was confident with the results since I thought I did a pretty good job but how horrified I was when I discovered that most of my pictures were severely underexposed! I'm still trying to figure out how did this happen but it looks like things went wrong after the last firmware update. I noticed, unfortunately too late that my settings changed and that the EV moved from 0 to a value located between - 0.3 and - 2.0 whereas it was always set to 0 before. I'm wondering if I accidentally decreased it but I'm never using the right wheel of the controller so its unlikely that i did it.

Some questions now:

1) Is it possible that the EV has been automatically modified regarding to the different scenes I was shooting?

2) It looks like the underexposure problem only affects pictures since my videos look bright whereas all my pictures are dark. Is that normal? Is it something related to pictures only? Or should I assume that my videos are also affected by this issue (perhaps in a less important way) and that the rendering would have been obviously different with an EV set to 0?

3) I was intentionally shooting pictures at different times of the day to have the best lighting conditions and I wanted them to be as close to the reality. That's why I would like to know if it is possible to move the EV from the previous value to exactly 0 in post production? Or should I use the rulers of my editing software and try to make my pictures look as close to the reality as possible ?

4) Does a change of EV affect other settings like Iso? Aperture? Contrast?

5) Is it normal that modifications of the exposure are saved in the app for further purpose? Should they not be reset to 0 since we are always shooting in different conditions?

Thanks for your help

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

You should never go out and shoot a lot without periodically checking your camera (regardless of the type). Keep your histogram displayed and look at it frequently. Not only can the settings change (for whatever reason), but the lighting can change (in ways that auto settings cannot always follow, such as into the sun, black cat on white snow, and million other scenarios that can fool a camera).

You are smarter than the camera's "intelligence", but only if you keep an eye on it. Going on holiday and assuming that all shots are going to be great until you check it after getting home almost guarentees failure (or at least, your success rate will be much lower than it could be with simple and frequent attention to your settings).

Yes, the EC can easily be mistakenly changed, depending on what controls you have set for it (like the default wheel adjustment).

Also, depending on the auto or semi-auto mode you use, the Mavic will adjust EC automatically, sometimes even when you don't want it to. So keep an eye on it and make OTHER adjustments to compensave.

The histogram is really a very simply thing: as you can look at it and not have to read any numbers or any settings, just see that it's okay, or grossly over/under exposing. At a glance.

Chris

 

[AroundTheWorld]

Thanks for the advices. Actually I'm a noob when it comes to check all the settings and understand what are their purposes. I have never used the histogram yet. It seems like a useful feature! I will try it

 

[Paul2660]

I would seriously shoot bracketed anyway. 5 shots. I always bracket with the MP2 as the dynamic range of the files is limited even at base ISO. Files are not large and you can easily work a couple together to get the best image.
Just a thought.
Paul C

 

[Johnmcl7]

1) Is it possible that the EV has been automatically modified regarding to the different scenes I was shooting?

I've bumped the wheel a few times and exposure compensation, I've not seen it happen itself.

3) I was intentionally shooting pictures at different times of the day to have the best lighting conditions and I wanted them to be as close to the reality. That's why I would like to know if it is possible to move the EV from the previous value to exactly 0 in post production? Or should I use the rulers of my editing software and try to make my pictures look as close to the reality as possible ?

If you have taken the photos as raw you'll have some latitude to fix the exposure in your post processing software, Lightroom for example does have a straight EV slider which technically you could set to +2 and it has a shadow slider to try and bring back some of the shadow areas. The problem is though that's quite a big shift in exposure and in photos with badly underexposed areas you're going to have a lot of noise if you push it with +2 EV if there's even any detail to recover there in the first place so you'll need to go photo by photo. It should hopefully be possible to certainly improve them significantly.

4) Does a change of EV affect other settings like Iso? Aperture? Contrast?

It can effect the iso, shutter and aperture settings since what's effectively happened is you've told the Mavic to shoot two stops faster than it thinks it should so if the Mavic is in control of all the settings it will adjust the iso, shutter and aperture to gain those two stops.

 

[TampaTC]

Shoot RAW use ND filters, use an editor on a computer and do corrections, learn about LUTs too. Best of luck.. Remember if your not learning then your doing somthing wrong.

 

[lannes]

To correct the underexposure in photoshop

How to correct exposure in photos

Learn how to correct exposure problems with shadows and highlights in Adobe Photoshop.

helpx.adobe.com

I actually prefer to use Lightroom is simpler to use for beginners in post processing.

Download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom | Photo editing and organising

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom lets professional photographers and photo enthusiasts make amazing photos from anywhere through photo editing and organising.

www.adobe.com

 

[AroundTheWorld]

I would seriously shoot bracketed anyway. 5 shots. I always bracket with the MP2 as the dynamic range of the files is limited even at base ISO. Files are not large and you can easily work a couple together to get the best image.
Just a thought.
Paul C

What do you mean exactly by shoot bracketed?

 

[AroundTheWorld]

I've bumped the wheel a few times and exposure compensation, I've not seen it happen itself.



If you have taken the photos as raw you'll have some latitude to fix the exposure in your post processing software, Lightroom for example does have a straight EV slider which technically you could set to +2 and it has a shadow slider to try and bring back some of the shadow areas. The problem is though that's quite a big shift in exposure and in photos with badly underexposed areas you're going to have a lot of noise if you push it with +2 EV if there's even any detail to recover there in the first place so you'll need to go photo by photo. It should hopefully be possible to certainly improve them significantly.



It can effect the iso, shutter and aperture settings since what's effectively happened is you've told the Mavic to shoot two stops faster than it thinks it should so if the Mavic is in control of all the settings it will adjust the iso, shutter and aperture to gain those two stops.

I have never tried to shoot in raw yet since it requires some time to edit the pictures and I was always satisfied with the Mavic 2 Pro auto mode. But I will consider it for sure. I just need to improve my color grading skills. I have tried to enhance my pictures with an application since I dont have any computer now and I can already get a significant result but not as good as if it was directly shot with the correct settings I guess. I will try with Photoshop or Lightroom once at home

 

[AroundTheWorld]

To correct the underexposure in photoshop

How to correct exposure in photos

Learn how to correct exposure problems with shadows and highlights in Adobe Photoshop.

helpx.adobe.com

I actually prefer to use Lightroom is simpler to use for beginners in post processing.

Download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom | Photo editing and organising

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom lets professional photographers and photo enthusiasts make amazing photos from anywhere through photo editing and organising.

www.adobe.com

Thanks for the links! I will use them and see if I can do something.

 

[Dave Maine]

The histogram is useful in post as well. It will tell you if you can recover images with poor exposure. Dark pictures will have the histogram shifted left. If there is a big spike all the way to the left, you have clipped the blacks, and you will not be able to fix it.

Conversely, an over exposure will have a spike all the way to the right. If it is up against the right edge, you have clipped the whites, and will not be able to recover them.

 

[Paul2660]

What do you mean exactly by shoot bracketed?

Use the AEB option in the camera settings, it will allow for shots each 0.7 EV so if you start centered or close to the correct exposure, you will get 5 images between -1.34 and +1.34 EV. Sadly DJI still won't allow full 1.0 EV per shot, only 0.7. This usually gives you plenty of range in good light. If shooting in sunrise, sunset situation most often the scene will require a 2nd set of bracketed exposures to get the full shadow range. There is not very much push at all in the files (raw) and shadow noise is very common if you don't bracket.

I also always shoot in M mode, what you see on the screen of the iPhone or SC should be a pretty good representation of the exposure being captured. It's not perfect due to the outdoor light shinning on the screen which can cause you not to see the image correctly. The histogram display as previous mentioned also helps.

As a drone is limited to time in flight, I prefer to just bracket which is fast on the MP2, and move on to the next scene knowing that in the series of images I have captured I can create the final image I looking for.

Remember that in a sunrise or sunset situation, the amount of exposure required to get a shot that has non blown highlights (sun) and nice deep shadows will take a lot more than just the standard -1.34 to +1.34 range of one 5 shot bracket. You will need several bracketed series.

Paul C

 

[Meta4]

Shoot RAW use ND filters

Why use ND Filters?
ND filters have no place in drone still photography (unless there is a particular reason to want to force a lower shotter speed than otherwise possible).
ND filters don't do anything that would improve the look of stills.

 

[Meta4]

I have never tried to shoot in raw yet since it requires some time to edit the pictures and I was always satisfied with the Mavic 2 Pro auto mode. But I will consider it for sure.

Don't feel that you must shoot raw images just because there are always forum members that will tell you that you should.
Despite what they say, it's not necessary and you can get good results shooting jpg.

If you go into any decent image editor, you can adjust the exposure levels in your underexposed images and should be able to salvage some of them (maybe even most of them).

 

[Johnmcl7]

Don't feel that you must shoot raw images just because there are always forum members that will tell you that you should.
Despite what they say, it's not necessary and you can get good results shooting jpg.

If you go into any decent image editor, you can adjust the exposure levels in your underexposed images and should be able to salvage some of them (maybe even most of them).

This is exactly the sort of topic that demonstrates why people recommend shooting raw, with raw files the OP would be able to take advantage of M2P's larger sensor to salvage the shots but with a jpeg, there's no way you're going to be able to recover the two stops (expect in exceptionally flat photos) because the data simply isn't there to do so no matter how good the editor is. You don't even choose raw vs jpeg as you can shoot both and choose whatever suits the situation but if you only shoot jpeg and need the extra data like here, it's gone.

Yes the M2P can get ok results with jpeg but then there's little point in paying the premium for the M2P's larger sensor since the drone's poor auto performance means its jpeg results are no better than the smaller drones. Some post processing is always going to be to taste but the Sony RX series using the same sensors have noticeably better jpeg results and I find much less need to use their raw files as I do with the Mavic 2 Pro. I'm far from my own here with plenty posts of M2P users disappointed with the output and a while back a thread about how M2Z owners rarely changed to the M2P camera but there were quite a few changed the other way. Which doesn't surprise me because the jpegs from the M2P are little different from the original Mavic, a bit more details but completely hiding the potential of the sensor.

I resisted shooting raw for a long time as I didn't see why I should bother with the hassle and regret that, in an ideal world raw wouldn't be necessary as the camera would extract as much as possible from the sensor but the M2P is long, long way from there and it's one of the worst cameras in auto mode I've used in a long time. So I'll continue to recommend M2P users to work with raw files since that's how they gain the benefit of the M2P, otherwise they don't.

 

[Citizen Flier]

I have noticed that when shooting in low light -dusk/dawn- the image you see on the Smart Controller appears much brighter than what is being recorded -this in comparison to what you would get from a mid day shot. The SC has a setting that Brightens the screen so you can see better in most conditions. That is all or partly responsible IMO.
Ii don't care what anyone says, I ALWAYS shoot raw. And I always BRACKET my exposures. But the bracketing range in Go4 is limited. SO I use the 4 way button to widen the range -manually bracketing. I process my still with Adobe Camera RAW -and often use the HDR function. But sometimes this has to be done manually. I also use ALL the controls in Camera Raw -esp the local adjustments with Gradient or Brush. This allows you to optimize your image locally -just as a darkroom master might have years ago. It takes time, but worth it when you have quality images captured in challenging lighting scenarios.

 

[MaxE1955!]

“You are smarter than the camera's "intelligence",

Wellllllllllllllllllll................

 

[CJG]

I would seriously shoot bracketed anyway. 5 shots. I always bracket with the MP2 as the dynamic range of the files is limited even at base ISO. Files are not large and you can easily work a couple together to get the best image.
Just a thought.
Paul C

I agree: I almost always use the 5 shot AEB and then merge to HDR in Lightroom.

It’s a bit trickier with Panoramas: if you have under- normal- and over- exposed Panoramas, Lightroom won’t recognise them as photos that can be merged to HDR. So in this case I use the HDR module of the NIK collection (just watch the alignment: there can be glitches requiring a couple of attempts to get right)

 

[lannes]

Some useful tips, even though they are from DJI

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