Phantom 4 Pro "Color, Style, LUTs and general setting" tips? (Help)

[NetYaroze_PAL]

Hi to everyone, I am NEW in the drone stuff and may need some help (I am from Italy then sorry if my english sucks hehe).
I purchased the Phantom 4 PRO, some filter like ND4/PL, ND8, ND8/PL, ND16, ND16/PL and ND32 but my video (image quality) really need a setting! (I do not set anything until today) and was filming in D-Cinema in 4096x2160 at 60fps/.mp4 NTSC encoded with H.264 but not sure about the "Color" "Style" and "White Balace".

I know is needed Adobe Premiere Pro and LUTs for the perfect color image, I already have ImpulZ Ultimate, OSIRIS and all VSCO LUTs but still need to get Premiere, I also seen some original video made looks cool also without LUTs just using the right color/style setting and ND filter... then, is that possible?

I am not doing any professional work, can said is something very amateur and funny (the day after purchase my drone already crashed from maybe 1 meter altitude lol).
I live in the center of a city, so, have a LOT of interference, my drone after some 350m get already error message "aircraft disconnected", black screen or have 5 sec. of video lag, so, here are my question/info. request, if someone can reply to these 10 question that would be great.

My question are... these, sorry if some may sound stupid but I am totally NOOB in the drone area, just know how to drive it.

01) To have a very high quality color image/video what COLOR, STYLE, WHITE BALANCE or ND filer have to use (without) Adobe Premiere LUTs?

02) To have a very high quality color image/video what COLOR, STYLE, WHITE BALANCE or ND filer have to use to next edit (WITH) Adobe Premiere LUTs?

03) Is true most of video need to be recorder with D-LOG and after made a good edit with LUTs? (if yes, what's the correct color setting?)

04) I seen some kind of magic here "color graduation" with D-LOG -3 contract, -2 sharpness, -2 saturation -

but color grading in Premiere "mean" he used a LUT right? sorry if may sound stupid question.

05) What is the best LUTs for you to use? some people use M31 Rec.709, is that a good choice or are there something better?

06) I have a lot of interference in my city, lose signal, aircraft disconnected, etc, then I use 5.8G as work frequency, is this correct?

07) A good camera setting for Picture? (aperture, shutter, iso and more) or put all on AUTO?.

08) Why the remote controller of drone still charge my smartphone/tablet? can not use the screen without wasting the controller battery? (because not seen any setting about that and I have 7300mAh battery so is not needed)

09) What is it "Time to Discharge" in the battery avanced setting? what are these selectable days for?

10) For better signal, I seen some "custom made" antenna like fpvlrfor or 4HAWKS for the controller, does these really work? and have any suggestion of the better one aslo not mentioned brand? (because my signal in this city sucks).

Thanks for reading and eventually a reply, and if have any suggestion you are welcome!

 

[JarrodF]

Welcome! There are lots of good threads on this forum about optimal video settings so definitely check those out. To get you started...
- Don't feel like you have to shoot in D-Log and then color correct in post. You can but it's not necessarily better.
- Don't shoot auto. A good starting point is to set your ISO to 100, your shutter speed to approximately twice your frame rate and use whatever ND is necessary to get your stop close to 4.5 (the sweet spot for this lens). ND16 seems to be the winner for me on most sunny days. Pick a specific white balance (sunny, etc) because auto can shift during your shot.
- If you shoot 4K then you should keep your frame rate to a max of 30fps. Any higher than that and it's not true 4K sampling anymore with this camera.
- I use a parabolic antenna reflector ($12) and it works great for me. Make sure your frequency settings are 5.8 auto.
I can't answer all of your questions but definitely search this forum. There are some very smart & experienced people here who have discussed these exact things.

 

[John Locke]

What is it "Time to Discharge" in the battery advanced setting? what are these selectable days for?

This is the number of days that will go by after you charge that batteries, before the battery will start to discharge itself to maximize battery life. Pushing the battery level button on the battery will start the clock ticking again. It harms Li-Po batteries to leave them at full charge for weeks, hence these smart batteries have built in optimizing, with auto discharge. It's even worse to deplete the battery to 10% and let it set for weeks. Long term storage should be at 50 to 60%. I highly recommend the DJI multi-charger that includes a STORAGE mode. If the batteries are discharged, this mode will charge to 60% and stop there. If the batteries are fully charged, this mode will discharge to 60% and stop there. CHARGE mode will fully charge up to 3 batteries, in series, one after the other. They do not charge in parallel, so no time is saved, it's only more convenient, not having to monitor the batteries during charge, or discharge. Just set it up and leave it. However never leave them alone unmonitored, such as leaving the house with nobody there. Although it's rare, batteries can fail, and you'll want someone nearby to act if needed (equipped with fire extinguisher).

 

[John Locke]

08) Why the remote controller of drone still charge my smartphone/tablet? can not use the screen without wasting the controller battery? (because not seen any setting about that and I have 7300mAh battery so is not needed)

Don't worry about this. Although it shows charging, it's really not. Hardly any current is being wasted on that from the RC battery. You'll be able to make 7 to 10 flights on a charged RC battery, which is more batteries than you likely have to fly with.

 

[cbphoto]

Noob here as well, using a P4P and dragging the footage through Premiere CC to see what washes out.

Setting the video color mode to D-Log provides the highest dynamic range from the camera sensor. It will require color grading in the appropriate program (e.g., Premiere, Speedgrade, DaVinci, etc.) using a good LUT. This process takes time to learn but can yield good results with effort. Setting the white balance to cloudy or sunny is a start to getting correct color, but you will need to tune the white balance for best results by clicking the eye-dropper on a white-balance card or neutral white/gray subject in the scene. I found color grading to by much easier when the scene is properly exposed.

Typically, a LUT is made for a specific camera & sensor because the sensor and associated electronics have specifie spectral responses. This means using a LUT for a different camera/sensor on the P4P camera can lead to unusual results. A non-matching LUT may work for the P4P footage, but in general you won't get accurate results (e.g., skin tones may be off, the green of trees may look weirdly saturated or flat, etc.).

I've also tried the other camera settings and you can get good results out of the camera if your white balance is accurate and your exposure is accurate. It's like shooting a still image in JPEG mode. The color grading is baked into the file. It can be graded further, but too much manipulation may ruin the integrity of the image (e.g., excessive noise in the shadows, banding in the sky, etc.).

Here's my second attempt at using D-Log with a LUT. While it's not terrible, certain scenes look flat. I watched a lot of videos and tried a lot of LUTs. I wish DJI would publish an "official" LUT for the camera.