Expert Opinion on Picture Quality

[StevenMDavis]

I found initially i would set the camera for best video, and then I would want to snap a pic and just hit the button. Later, I would notice the shot was taken at the slow shutter i had set for video, way too slow. Now, I'll shoot video, stop recording and before taking pics, i'll up shutter to 1/250 or better for a sharper image. I also try to stop flying, or any movement. Remember if the wind is blowing, and it usually is, the drone is flying into the wind to maintain position, so try ATTI mode and compare, I just thought of this....i'll have to try it

 

[GtoJon]

I found initially i would set the camera for best video, and then I would want to snap a pic and just hit the button. Later, I would notice the shot was taken at the slow shutter i had set for video, way too slow. Now, I'll shoot video, stop recording and before taking pics, i'll up shutter to 1/250 or better for a sharper image. I also try to stop flying, or any movement. Remember if the wind is blowing, and it usually is, the drone is flying into the wind to maintain position, so try ATTI mode and compare, I just thought of this....i'll have to try it

It's because you are only taking a still from video ... look at the size! When you are in video .... do video ..... when you want stills get out of video!

Cheers, Jon

 

[StevenMDavis]

Jon, agreed, but at first who thinks of these things till you start editing and notice size. Adobe products like bridge tells you all the settings u used, love it. steve

 

[r62ewa]

Excellent comments and suggestions from everyone here. Thank you all for taking the time to offer input on the photo I captured. I will take notes from all and do some more experimenting to see if I can get better images.

Keep the great posts coming.

 

[r62ewa]

I know everyone's experience is different, as well as preferences. But are most using full Manual, Aperture, Shutter or Auto for capturing photos? I have been trying to learn and practice using Manual and Aperture as most say you will get much better results than Auto. But I guess the photo I uploaded demonstrates I have a lot to learn.

 

[mmarian]

I know everyone's experience is different, as well as preferences. But are most using full Manual, Aperture, Shutter or Auto for capturing photos? I have been trying to learn and practice using Manual and Aperture as most say you will get much better results than Auto. But I guess the photo I uploaded demonstrates I have a lot to learn.

For photos I always use A mode and ISO 100. I set the f-stop to sweet spot for each lens. Then compensate the exposure according to histogram to get it as much to the right as possible without clipping highlight ( if that' important for that shot ). Always shoot DNG and have the camera color profile D-Cinelike and dial the contrast all the way down to -3. Histogram follows JPEG not DNG, so it is important to get the settings as flat as possible to have better idea of correct exposure and how much highlights and shadows are going to be preserved in DNG. If shooting darker scenes at dusk or dawn I first start to open the lens before increasing the ISO to keep the exposure to about 1/60 or 1/30. I have seen so called "sharp" photos taken at 1 sec exposure but have not been able to replicate it myself. To me ( and yes a do pixelpeep a lot) tack sharp needs much shorter than 1 sec exposure from a moving platform. But that is just me.

 

[r62ewa]

Here is another attempt trying some of the suggestions made here. I edited the DNG in DaVinci Resolve 12.5.

 

[Scoobywrx05]

One thing you will notice is everyone here has their own way of doing things, on how to get the shot. One will say you have to be at f9,another at f16,another at 5.6. No one is right and no one is wrong. Not all settings work exactly the same way on every bird and camera, lens set up. If you listen to what everyone in here says you’ll drive yourself crazy. Learn the basic fundamentals of photography then learn your equipment and how it reacts to various inputs and remember that a setting you use on a sunny winter day with 2mph wind will not be the same settings to use on the same day when the wind is 10mph with thermals. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect,so don’t give up.

 

[r62ewa]

Excellent advice. I am just starting to fly after the I2 was in hibernation over the cold winter months here, so trying to figure things out again. Funny how you read and learn and then forget and have to learn again so quick.

Thanks for the advice all.

 

[mmarian]

One thing you will notice is everyone here has their own way of doing things, on how to get the shot. One will say you have to be at f9,another at f16,another at 5.6. No one is right and no one is wrong. Not all settings work exactly the same way on every bird and camera, lens set up. If you listen to what everyone in here says you’ll drive yourself crazy. Learn the basic fundamentals of photography then learn your equipment and how it reacts to various inputs and remember that a setting you use on a sunny winter day with 2mph wind will not be the same settings to use on the same day when the wind is 10mph with thermals. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect,so don’t give up.

We are all trying to help.here but we should only give sound advice. With M43 lenses he is not going to get the sharpest possible results at f16 because difraction will blurr the image. He needs to stay between f4 and f5.6 for best IQ.

 

[Scoobywrx05]

Excellent advice. I am just starting to fly after the I2 was in hibernation over the cold winter months here, so trying to figure things out again. Funny how you read and learn and then forget and have to learn again so quick.

Thanks for the advice all.

I can relate, my i1 gets put away for most of the winter here also and I go back to doing ground and astrophotography during that time. When I get the i1 back out I’m disappointed in the quality of photos from it for awhile. So much so that this year I think I’m gonna sell the i1 and upgrade to something else. Something that will carry my ground camera around.

 

[Michael91]

to be honest, your best bet is to go and do some learning about cameras and their manual settings.

theres loads of different combinations of settings that work in loads of different cases (capturing a picture of landscape vs something moving, dusk vs midday, near to the subject vs far away etc)

for general landscape like what ive seen you put up so far (that second photo is very nice btw)

1) Watch the framing/composition - if you dont have something interesting to look at, lighting it right wont really make much of a difference
2) Manual settings are *probably* the best to use as long as you have an idea what each of the different settings do (if your starting out, just worry about ISO, aperture and shutter speed for the moment, theres plenty more on a deeper level but 9 times out of 10, just those 3 are enough)
3) From my experience, if you have a choice between making the photo too dark in the shadows and making the photo too bright in the highlights, make it too bright in the highlights - make it too bright in the highlights. For whatever reason, the files retain highlight information much better than shadow information, so youll be able to bring them back more without loosing quality in post processing.
4) Try get out in the morning or evening when the sun is lower in the sky, you can get better photos more easily as the lighting makes everything look nicer (generally)
5) Following up on that last point, dont be afraid to play with shadows, they can hide parts of the photo which would otherwise look ugly or indeed they can give otherwise flat looking subjects depth.

and otherwise just keep playing around with it. once you get comfortable with some of that stuff you can mess around with picture profiles etc, but generally i dont think you need them too much to get a good photo from the inspire 2's camera!

 

[r62ewa]

Thanks for all of the advice and pointers. I have been out flying more since the weather is warming up and watching videos regarding correct exposure. Time, practice and advice from fellow flyers with better skills is all I need.

 

[Alsy]

Can I get some expert eyes on this photo. It was captured with DJI 15mm at 4:3, 1/50 sec. f/9 at ISO 100 with D-Cinelike and white balance on Cloudy. No editing was done to this picture.

In others opinion, is this photo acceptable with regards to focus, exposure, etc? I know it is dark and I did edit the DNG and lighten things up but I was curious as to what others thought of just the image from the camera.

The image can be downloaded from my Google Drive link here DJI_0364.JPG

I tried to upload it here but kept failing as my internet is too slow and I think it times out.

Any help is appreciated by anyone who downloads the image and offers opinions.

You have a great canvas to work with especially if you have Lightroom, good luck.

 

[Plafonta]

The photo is fine. It's just boring. The sky is flat and there is no point of interest. I bet that where you are is a beuatiful place . I think people get to hung up on settings. The fact is the camera is so far away from everything is infinty focus anyway so your f stop won't change anything.

A lot of this is luck and timing. Off course knowing settings is important but timing is everything