E.V at 0.0 seems too bright

[KTP3]

Perhaps I just prefer darker more underexposed video but whenever I adjust the camera to a 0.0 exposure value it seems overexposed and too bright.

Just me or anyone else feel this way? What is better for post. slightly under, or over exposed?

 

[sswingle]

Under is always better than over in post.

 

[With The Birds]

How does it look if you enable the histogram in the go app. Exposing to the right will make the raw footage look washed out but the highlights will be preserved. This gives you more latitude for grading in post.

Underexposing may make the raw footage look better but you are throwing away dynamic range. Shadows and blacks will suffer as a consequence, you will loose shadow detail and will end up with noise when trying to bring it back in post.

 

[KTP3]

How does it look if you enable the histogram in the go app. Exposing to the right will make the raw footage look washed out but the highlights will be preserved. This gives you more latitude for grading in post.

Underexposing may make the raw footage look better but you are throwing away dynamic range. Shadows and blacks will suffer as a consequence, you will loose shadow detail and will end up with noise when trying to bring it back in post.

It is on the left hand side on the histogram but not all the way. And usually if I go to 0.0 EV the histogram is spiked on the right showing over exposure. I have also been mainly shooting during evening golden hour so its really tough to get a consistent exposure.

 

[With The Birds]

It is on the left hand side on the histogram but not all the way. And usually if I go to 0.0 EV the histogram is spiked on the right showing over exposure. I have also been mainly shooting during evening golden hour so its really tough to get a consistent exposure.

The closest you will get to consistent is metering before your take for the brightest part of the shot.... it will look more natural than flying with auto settings also, as long as you don’t have blown highlights some darker components add to the mood.

 

[Meta4]

Perhaps I just prefer darker more underexposed video but whenever I adjust the camera to a 0.0 exposure value it seems overexposed and too bright.
Just me or anyone else feel this way? What is better for post. slightly under, or over exposed?

It's always better to lift detail from shadows than to have no detail in bright overexposed areas.
I usually set EV -0.3 when I'm concerned about bright areas burning out and in very bright light I sometimes shoot EV-0.7.

 

[African wildlife]

Slightly underexposed, usually. In conjunction with almost always filming during golden hour.

 

[With The Birds]

An important consideration often overlooked with digital photography, and I struggled with when moving from film, is that roughly 50% of the available tonal range is represented in the highest 20% of brightness in the image. The same applies to digital audio, you need to drive the A/D converters close to clipping to get anywhere near the dynamic range you could capture with analogue tape.

If you have tricky lighting use AEB.

 

[matti]

Even when I'm going to do a Litchi mission, I always start with DJI GO. Then put the AC to the preferred altitude and direction(s) and adjust DJI GO's "Overexposure warning" zebra stripes so they just vanish in important objects (whitest buildings, sky, clouds etc). Then switch to Litchi.

I have tried to only use the histogram but IMHO the zebra stripes are easier, faster and more reliable to use. I'm not sure which click in the histogram really hits the "right wall" of overexposure. With the zebra stripes it is easy -- no stripes: no overexposure. I have suggested this to the Litchi developer but it is low priority. Please educate me if I'm missing something.

p.s. just a few days ago I tested AEB and set it in the prefs. But yesterday when I flew didn't seem to stick -- do I have to set it before every flight?

 

[Meta4]

I tested AEB and set it in the prefs. But yesterday when I flew didn't seem to stick -- do I have to set it before every flight?

A long way back, if you set AEB, it would stick but nowdays you have to reset it each new flight.
I use AEB a lot to give me a few options on exposure.
Here's a tricky subject - black and white on a dark sea.

With a tricky subject and lighting, I've used AEB3.
With the tendency for the bow wave to be burnt out in hard sun, I also offset the exposure to EV-0.3 so the actual EV values are -0.3, -1.0, +0.3.
That gives me a good chance of getting something acceptable.

 

[With The Birds]

A long way back, if you set AEB, it would stick but nowdays you have to reset it each new flight.
I use AEB a lot to give me a few options on exposure.
Here's a tricky subject - black and white on a dark sea.

With a tricky subject and lighting, I've used AEB3.
With the tendency for the bow wave to be burnt out in hard sun, I also offset the exposure to EV-0.3 so the actual EV values are -0.3, -1.0, +0.3.
That gives me a good chance of getting something acceptable.

If shooting in jpg (something I often do) I find I need to be extra careful that highlights are not blown out. RAW, as might be expected, gives more latitude. I find that the point where the overexposure warning is triggered is almost a full stop below loss of detail in the highlights. My raw files look like they are overexposed but they are fine when processed.

Beautiful shots Meta....

 

[matti]

A long way back, if you set AEB, it would stick but nowdays you have to reset it each new flight. [...] With a tricky subject and lighting, I've used AEB3.

Oh, I must then remember to always set it while the AC is warming up and looking for GPS. Why hasn't DJI fixed this?

The manual says "Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB): 3/5 Bracketed frames at 0.7EV Bias"

So, in order, I would get (if set to EV 0)...

AEB3 EV 0, -0.7, +0.7
AEB5 EV 0, -0.7, +0.7, -1.4, +1.4

...right? Is there any reason (besides more images to choose from) not to choose AEB5?

 

[matti]

If shooting in jpg (something I often do) I find I need to be extra careful that highlights are not blown out. RAW, as might be expected, gives more latitude. I find that the point where the overexposure warning is triggered is almost a full stop below loss of detail in the highlights. My raw files look like they are overexposed but they are fine when processed.

Do you also prefer DJI GO's "Overexposure warning" zebra stripes instead of just using the histogram? If yes, and if you use Litchi, please suggest Litchi developers this feature so I'm not alone asking this ;-)

I haven't really tested this, but in my experience with .mp4 (and maybe even with .dng) white buildings with "one-click" zebra stripes (i.e. the 1st click where the zebras appear) are washed out white with no detail no matter what I try to do in post. So I set the zebras to just vanish or even go one click lower so I get something to work in post.

In my experience P3P .dng doesn't have as much dynamic range than larger DSLR cameras like Canon 6D's .cr2.

(My settings are D-Log color profile, Manual white balance 5000K, Style: Custom -2 -3 -2. I shoot only .dng and output .jpg via Lightroom and edit .mp4 via Final Cut.)

 

[With The Birds]

Do you also prefer DJI GO's "Overexposure warning" zebra stripes instead of just using the histogram? If yes, and if you use Litchi, please suggest Litchi developers this feature so I'm not alone asking this ;-)

I haven't really tested this, but in my experience with .mp4 (and maybe even with .dng) white buildings with "one-click" zebra stripes (i.e. the 1st click where the zebras appear) are washed out white with no detail no matter what I try to do in post. So I set the zebras to just vanish or even go one click lower so I get something to work in post.

In my experience P3P .dng doesn't have as much dynamic range than larger DSLR cameras like Canon 6D's .cr2.

(My settings are D-Log color profile, Manual white balance 5000K, Style: Custom -2 -3 -2. I shoot only .dng and output .jpg via Lightroom and edit .mp4 via Final Cut.)

You might find litchi devs are limited by what the SDK makes available to them.

 

[matti]

I suggested this to Litchi a year ago but they said it was "low priority" so I guess it could be done if there was enough demand.

(Litchi prefs now have "Over Exposure Warning" but that seems to only reflect DJI GO prefs with no functionality in Litchi.)

 

[Mimoid]

I always fly with a slight underexposure dialed in, like -0.3 or -0.7. Otherwise I always end up with blown out areas.

 

[matti]

Oh, I must then remember to always set it while the AC is warming up and looking for GPS. Why hasn't DJI fixed this?

The manual says "Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB): 3/5 Bracketed frames at 0.7EV Bias"

So, in order, I would get (if set to EV 0)...

AEB3 EV 0, -0.7, +0.7
AEB5 EV 0, -0.7, +0.7, -1.4, +1.4

...right? Is there any reason (besides more images to choose from) not to choose AEB5?

I just ran a quick test (grounded through a window to an almost white snowy landscape which might not be the best test object).

AEB3 and AEB5 take images in the order mentioned above. With my P3P setup, .dng images are taken in 2-3 second intervals so AEB5 takes about 10 seconds.

I fed the images through Lightroom reversing the AEB (EV -1.4 was treated with +1.4 exposure in Lightroom etc) and exported as .jpg. At least with this landscape, I was surprised to find so little difference between the underexposed vs correctly exposed vs overexposed shots after Lightroom.

I manually did a very badly exposed .dng shot and the exported .jpg wasn't very bad after doing some more adjustments in Lightroom.

I shoot only raw (.dng, cr2 etc). Although handling and processing them needs extra work, I think it is worth it.