Night Flight

[pbxcomm]

Hi all,
I missed being here, but I bought a new Drone (replacement) and am ready to try night video recordings. I have attempted night video in the past, but couldn't seem to get the correct settings.
I have seen some amazing night footage and would like to get to that level of recording but could use some help getting there.

I have a Phantom 4 Pro Plus and have tried a few initial recommended settings for night flight recording but always came out too dark or under exposed.
Can someone here get me started on some doable night settings?
Also it seems that "pano" is missing, perhaps I am the one who is missing something?

Thanks to all once again!

Regards

 

[LarBear360]

Hi all,
I missed being here, but I bought a new Drone (replacement) and am ready to try night video recordings. I have attempted night video in the past, but couldn't seem to get the correct settings.
I have seen some amazing night footage and would like to get to that level of recording but could use some help getting there.

I have a Phantom 4 Pro Plus and have tried a few initial recommended settings for night flight recording but always came out too dark or under exposed.
Can someone here get me started on some doable night settings?
Also it seems that "pano" is missing, perhaps I am the one who is missing something?

Thanks to all once again!

Regards

I don't have a P4 but I think the camera has an adjustable aperture, no? Go for the widest setting possible, probably 2.8. Shutter speed is going to have to be slow. You could try starting around 60 FPS or less. See how it looks and slow it down from there if it's still underexposed.

What happens when you try auto?

 

[pbxcomm]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply..
I'll try these settings..
When I leave it on auto, the video is too dark to make out any shapes or figures. Bright lights show such as street lights etc...

 

[LarBear360]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply..
I'll try these settings..
When I leave it on auto, the video is too dark to make out any shapes or figures. Bright lights show such as street lights etc...

Could be the exposure is honing in on the bright lights. Experiment with the manual settings.

 

[Andy9]

There are not universal setting for night shots. Each situation is diferent.
As pbxcomm said, manual setting and try until the best result.
At autoexposing for the bright parts the picture will be dark. There is no automatic mode for good night shots.

 

[Bill Pender]

Set you aperture to wide open at 2.8. Keep your shutter speed at 1/60 of second if you are shooting video at 30 FPS (rule of thumb always keep you shutter speed at twice your video FPS). Increase your ISO as necessary to get the right light.

 

[CharlieU]

Set you aperture to wide open at 2.8. Keep your shutter speed at 1/60 of second if you are shooting video at 30 FPS (rule of thumb always keep you shutter speed at twice your video FPS). Increase your ISO as necessary to get the right light.

Thank you for the information. I have been flying Phantom 4's, P4P and P4A for a couple of years. Never knew anything about camera settings, still don't. I watched a couple of instruction videos the last few days but night flying did not occur to me. I flew a Litchi mission at night a couple of years ago with auto everything. I will change the settings as you suggested and fly this same mission again. Here is the old video.

I will post a video with the new settings. This is fun, I like this forum.

 

[bsartist]

Set you aperture to wide open at 2.8. Keep your shutter speed at 1/60 of second if you are shooting video at 30 FPS (rule of thumb always keep you shutter speed at twice your video FPS). Increase your ISO as necessary to get the right light.

I think he might get away with a slower shutter speed in this case. ESP if his issue is low light.

 

[bsartist]

Thank you for the information. I have been flying Phantom 4's, P4P and P4A for a couple of years. Never knew anything about camera settings, still don't. I watched a couple of instruction videos the last few days but night flying did not occur to me. I flew a Litchi mission at night a couple of years ago with auto everything. I will change the settings as you suggested and fly this same mission again. Here is the old video.

I will post a video with the new settings. This is fun, I like this forum.

I have zero problem with the exposure in this video. In fact I like it A LOT. And I do a lot of video and photography, editing, color grading etc.

There is detail in the shadows as well as the highlights. If you raise the exposure you’ll lose the nice sky and detail in the artificially lit portions.

Most importantly this exposure you have coveys a great mood! Captures the twilight perfectly. Kudos! Gonna watch this on my TV.

 

[SimonH78]

P4Pro just leave on auto does a great job.... after 8pm its very dark in the UK during November...