Yes, another camera settings thread :-)

[RobG]

Hi everyone. Believe me I know that there has been thread after thread about camera settings. And I know that determining the 'best' settings means doing some testing and understanding how you plan to use your video work.

About 10 days ago I had the pleasure of finally retiring from a 36 year career as a computer engineer. I have owned a Mavic Pro for some time. However, in addition to that job, I also own and operate a professional entertainment company on weekends. So I haven't really had much time until now to learn and practice with the drone.

I have been a member of this forum for some time, occasionally posting questions. Over that time, I have seen the Mavic undergo many firmware revisions and each time I have seen people talking about changes to the camera settings. I have always kept my Mavic updated to the latest levels because I have figured sooner or later I would have to upgrade the firmware anyway at some point in time.

I figure that are two basic groups of camera settings of interest: one would be the settings if you are trying to just use the footage out of the drone with little or no editing, color grading, etc. The other would be settings you want when you specifically plan to edit and grade your footage using NLE software.

I have just installed the very latest firmware on my Mavic, controller, and batteries. So once again I am asking:

Given the current firmware, what settings do you like for the two scenarios I described above (no editing and with editing). Are people using dlog more now or are most people using dcinelike? Is the sharpness setting of +1 still the people's choice? Help me out here. I finally have lots of time to use and learn my drone and I want to start out with settings that seem to make sense in the current software realm.

Thanks,
Rob
"Super happy retired guy" LOL

 

[lantiocho]

Hei there!

I got my Mavic end of May and still......... testing and testing, in order to get the best out of it... Watched numerous youtube videos and read almost all threads concerning camera settings etc. My finding so far, from personal testings, are the following...
- I either use D-Log (more time spent on color grading) or Cinelike
- I get more detail on the +1 sharpness, but the video, even after I apply Neat Video for noise reduction, is over-sharpened for my taste, so I'm sacrificing a bit of detail and setting for 0. Eventually, you'll have to sacrifice something...
- Never on Auto White Balance, and finally
- Slow and smooth piloting of the drone... makes a huge difference...

Hope I helped a bit...

 

[RobG]

Only one person willing to give current advice?

 

[Brojon]

Well I just had an interesting conversation with a professional color grader who pronounced the DJI color spaces crapola.
His advice was to pick the colorspace that looked most natural and don't look back.
He said that the "flatness" of D-Log did not increase dynamic range as claimed and the limiting factors are the white clipping point and the shadow noise of the camera.
In any case you want to keep sharpness set at +1 - there is strong evidence that if you set it at zero or below that triggers a really crappy compression algorithm that over compresses giving the dreaded watercolor effect. Fly over some woods and you can see the leaves turn to mush.