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Weird exposure issue

John235

Well-Known Member
Premium Pilot
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
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Location
Sullivan County PA (Endless Mountains)
The other day, just after connecting but before takeoff, I got a message "forward sensors not working. Ambient light is too weak." The sun was very bright and I was confused by that. After takeoff, the message disappeared, but the video was dark and striped with vertical lines as if severely underexposed. I rolled the wheel from +7 to -7, but the washed out lined image only went from bright washout to dark.
I had flown a previous time on that battery charge, so the battery was at perhaps 85 or 90 percent. Could that be it? The camera has been fine in the several subsequent flights, all with 100% battery.
 
The other day, just after connecting but before takeoff, I got a message "forward sensors not working. Ambient light is too weak."
That relates to obstacle avoidance sensors - not the camera.
The sun was very bright and I was confused by that. After takeoff, the message disappeared, but the video was dark and striped with vertical lines as if severely underexposed. I rolled the wheel from +7 to -7, but the washed out lined image only went from bright washout to dark.
You don't want to have your exposure compensation set to either extreme.
Try moving it back to 0 where it should be for normal exposure.
I had flown a previous time on that battery charge, so the battery was at perhaps 85 or 90 percent. Could that be it? The camera has been fine in the several subsequent flights, all with 100% battery.
None of that would have had any effect on exposure settings.
 
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That relates to obstacle avoidance sensors - not the camera.

You don't want to have your exposure compensation set to either extreme.
Try moving it back to 0 where it should be for normal exposure.

None of that would have had any effect on exposure settings.
Agree with all that. That is why I was confused. I clicked through all settings from +7 to -7. Even at zero, the image was dim and lined. I did not think battery would do that, but have read some weird and unexpected effects such as an SD card causing a gimble freakout, so thought I would ask. The camera is not involved in obstacle sensing, but I wondered if a slightly less than fully charged battery could affect both systems. Was hoping that symptoms in two systems could point to a common cause.
 
Onward and Upward

Practice Practice Practice...

Watch plenty of YouTube Vids on settings.
 
Sounds like exposure settings were way off for some reason. Setting Aperture Priority vs. Shutter Priority vs. Manual mode, together with a fixed ISO vs auto ISO can all change the way the video appears, depending on what the actual combination of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed is. If it happens again, check all three exposure values to see if something is out of whack, then you'll be able to change it.
 
Sounds like exposure settings were way off for some reason. Setting Aperture Priority vs. Shutter Priority vs. Manual mode, together with a fixed ISO vs auto ISO can all change the way the video appears, depending on what the actual combination of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed is. If it happens again, check all three exposure values to see if something is out of whack, then you'll be able to change it.
Thanks. I will do that. Weird thing is that I was on auto everything when this happened, and as mentioned, it seems both OA and the camera were wacky
 

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