Hey, guys!

Given the recent discussion about what color profile on the MA is better, I decided to take some time and design a test which can give us some idea of what might be best for your own workflow. Different configurations may fit better for different needs.

Here is how the test was designed:

Test design

There are different areas to check different aspects of the image. Scopes from each image will follow respectively.

Everything was shot at 4K MP4, 24fps, ISO: 100, Shutter 1/30, White Balance: 5200k.

Here we go:
Profile: None
Sharpness: 0, Contrast: 0, Saturation: 0



Profile: D-Cinelike
Sharpness: 0, Contrast: 0, Saturation: 0





Profile: None
Sharpness: +3, Contrast: +3, Saturation: +3





Profile: D-Cinelike
Sharpness: +3, Contrast: +3, Saturation: +3




Profile: None
Sharpness: -3, Contrast: -3, Saturation: -3




Profile: D-Cinelike
Sharpness: -3, Contrast: -3, Saturation: -3




Of course, you can dial between these extremes to ger where you think is best for you. Let me know what you think.
Thanks!

My observations:
- I didnt notice any difference regarding noise between the profiles.
- D-Cinelike seems to have more shadow info by lifting blacks and midtones while trying to maintain highlights
- D-Cinelike shifts colors a bit. More towars cyan and red. "None" has colors closer to true.
- Although it looks like D-Cinelike lifts shadows it didnt seem to make noise more obvious, in fact, I couldnt notice noise differences between profiles.
- Everything at -3, both profiles looks to be the same both in image and scope information.
- All -3 seems to be the closest thing you can get to a Log profile, regardless which one you choose.- The more sharpness you apply, more the noise gets pronounced. Less sharpness helps hide noise.
- I tend to think D-Cinelike is better for my workflow as I do colour grading in post.
- "None" with all set to "0" seems to be the best setting if you want a quick and good image and dont plan to mess with it in post.

Hi, Ulysses! Thank you so much for sharing your informative feedback with our feature to our Mavic Air. If you have any question, please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

Ulysses Paiva Posted at 2018-9-1 14:49
My observations:
- I didnt notice any difference regarding noise between the profiles.
- D-Cinelike seems to have more shadow info by lifting blacks and midtones while trying to maintain highlights

What are your thoughts about D-Log shooting vs D-cinelike?

Great comparison

AntDX316 Posted at 6-20 15:31
What are your thoughts about D-Log shooting vs D-cinelike?

Hi! I dont have D-Log on my Mavic Air.

very interesting.  I shoot sharpness 0, contrast -2 and saturation -2.  I don't understand why you would reduce the sharpness.  You can always blur a picture but you can't bring back sharpness.  what is gone is gone or am I missing something.  Thanks again for this comparison.

Nice comparison!!

Thanks for sharing it!!

ririlan Posted at 6-21 11:46
very interesting.  I shoot sharpness 0, contrast -2 and saturation -2.  I don't understand why you would reduce the sharpness.  You can always blur a picture but you can't bring back sharpness.  what is gone is gone or am I missing something.  Thanks again for this comparison.

Sharpness at its minimum is not introducing "blur", its just at the sensor default. Increasing sharpness is in fact done by software, not hardware, in camera/drone. So, I prefer to add sharpness to my taste and much more control in post and not let the camera/drone software handle it for me.

thx for work and comparsion

profile none 0-0-0 is clearly the winner... no surprise here.

Thanks for the analysis!

Does your Air have the True Color profile? Apparently, and at least for the original Mavic Pro, the None profile actually has some processing applied to it -- if you want the native color from the sensor, you have to use True Color. IIRC None boosts greens on the Mavic Pro. Fwiw, and thanks for sharing your testing!

Nicely done - thanks again for sharing!

Thanks for sharing

Ex Machina Posted at 7-9 12:25
Does your Air have the True Color profile? Apparently, and at least for the original Mavic Pro, the None profile actually has some processing applied to it -- if you want the native color from the sensor, you have to use True Color. IIRC None boosts greens on the Mavic Pro. Fwiw, and thanks for sharing your testing!

No. Only "None" and "Cinelike". Im currently thinking about using the None profile with some negative values. Did some tests last weekend and image straight out of drone were great. Didnt have time to test color grading response.
Cinelike always led me to think its better if I plan to adjust color in post, which I always do as I shoot on Blackmagic cameras. But Im starting to think its only some kind of curve added to the profile which doesnt really give me a flat profile, rather it just lift shadows to make it look like it has reduced contrast but the same could be achieved with the None profile, so not a really better starting point. But so far still a guess. I need to test more.

Keep it up, would love to know how this turns out!!!

Ulysses Paiva Posted at 2018-9-1 14:49
My observations:
- I didnt notice any difference regarding noise between the profiles.
- D-Cinelike seems to have more shadow info by lifting blacks and midtones while trying to maintain highlights

You mentioned D-Cinelike looks red/cyan.

I've just sent a Mavic Air back and are trying to get them to replace another because they had a red cast, especially yellows/skin tones, or if the white balance was set too warm.

Can you send me any original video files for me to compare on my system?

First drone (all pink):



Second drone (red shadows):