Hello,

first of all, I wish all the best to all of you on the forum.

So, I have a problem with my DJI Mavic AIR footage. It's so grainy that is almost unusable. I put ND PolarPro Filter (4) on the Mavic, and try to shoot with manual or auto settings. Footage is so bad. I tried also with 8, 16, even 32, with manual settings, but the result is same.

What's wrong?

Thanks in advance.

BR

Hello and good day  SkipperRI. I am sorry to know that you are having this issues with the videos you have taken.  May I know if those photos are from the Mavic Pro's SD card or from your mobile device directly? If the photos are uploaded from your device, I suggest you try to reset your camera settings and try to capture again so we can check. Please keep us posted for further help.

Give us your settings for the clips you think are too grainy:

Dear Stephen.

This footage is directly from SD card.

Best regards

Give us your settings for the clips you think are too grainy: Shutter Speed, ISO, Aperture

FlySD Posted at 1-3 08:50
Give us your settings for the clips you think are too grainy: Shutter Speed, ISO, Aperture

Unfortunately, there is no RAW data in any file...

Then I suggest if you really want to see what the issue is, go back and capture some new footage and record the settings.  Without that, no one is going to be able to help you; however, maybe someone knows if you can pull the settings from your flight logs.

Shutter Speed
FPS
Picture Style
ISO
Aperture
Filter Being Used

FlySD Posted at 1-3 09:07
Then I suggest if you really want to see what the issue is, go back and capture some new footage and record the settings.  Without that, no one is going to be able to help you; however, maybe someone knows if you can pull the settings from your flight logs.

Shutter Speed

Thank you FlySD. How is possible that RAW data is not in the file directly from SD card?

Can you upload the file to dropbox or Google Drive and send us a link?

FlySD Posted at 1-3 09:19
Can you upload the file to dropbox or Google Drive and send us a link?

I will, tomorrow, because my internet speed at home is not so good. And, all my files are grainy, especially in shadows.

I will check tomorrow then, it could be a lot of things, but most likely it is the ISO.

Dear FlySD, here is a link to one of the files.

MOV file

SkipperRI Posted at 1-3 09:11
Thank you FlySD. How is possible that RAW data is not in the file directly from SD card?

This is usually not stored on video files. At least not with the videocamera's I know.

But we really need those settings.
Mainly ISO and picture profile settings.

Profile is Cinelike-D. ISO I don’t remember, but at that sunny day I suppose it’s not to high, and there is so much noise....

SkipperRI Posted at 1-3 11:29
Profile is Cinelike-D. ISO I don’t remember, but at that sunny day I suppose it’s not to high, and there is so much noise....

I figured it was sunny, but you also said that you were using ND filters, so your ISO could have been set higher than what a regular sunny day would dictate.

Unfortunately, I do not see the values we need in the metadata other than it's 4k 24fps h264

Yes, I used ND Filter (PolarPro 4), but I think that even with filter it can't be so noisy, grainy and bad footage. I don't understand what's the problem.

Why are you bothering with ND filters? All they are doing is making life difficult for you.
On my screen, the video does not look grainy. It does lack colour and has a haze, but that could be because the exposure is wrong plus natural moisture in the air.
See this explanation for grain.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_grain There is a piece on digital there as well. I don't see the effect in your sample.

AlansDronePics Posted at 1-4 02:07
Why are you bothering with ND filters? All they are doing is making life difficult for you.
On my screen, the video does not look grainy. It does lack colour and has a haze, but that could be because the exposure is wrong plus natural moisture in the air.
See this explanation for grain.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_grain There is a piece on digital there as well. I don't see the effect in your sample.

Thank you for your answer.

Frankly, I'm using ND filter like a protection for lens. About potential exposure problem, how is that even possible when is set to auto?

SkipperRI Posted at 1-4 02:14
Thank you for your answer.

Frankly, I'm using ND filter like a protection for lens. About potential exposure problem, how is that even possible when is set to auto?

I am not familiar with the air, but perhaps the EV adjustment is biasing towards over exposure.
For example, on my MP, the right hand wheel increases or decreases the exposure beyond what the auto settings decides on.
Let's say the auto shows ISO 100, shutter 1/200 for a given scene, this adjuster is used to bias the exposure brighter or darker, but not altering the auto figures. You might decide to use this adjuster, for example, when flying over land (a dark scene) but the majority of the screen is showing bright sky (bright scene). Normally auto will expose for the sky (the majority of the scene) and the ground (important to your composition) is to dark to see detail. By biasing the adjuster, the ground can be better exposed so the detail shows clearly. As I said, this is just an example.
Regarding the ND filter as a screen protector, fair point, but it will slow the gimble, the motor is not powerful and the reaction time needs to be very fast for best shot stability.  If you knock the camera hard enough to scratch the lens, I would expect the assembly would be damaged as well. A better solution is the very cheap plastic guard that looks like the normal clear lens cover, but an opening in it for full vision. They usually act as a block to sunlight striking the blades which cause flickering on video. Hope this has helped.

AlansDronePics Posted at 1-4 02:49
I am not familiar with the air, but perhaps the EV adjustment is biasing towards over exposure.
For example, on my MP, the right hand wheel increases or decreases the exposure beyond what the auto settings decides on.
Let's say the auto shows ISO 100, shutter 1/200 for a given scene, this adjuster is used to bias the exposure brighter or darker, but not altering the auto figures. You might decide to use this adjuster, for example, when flying over land (a dark scene) but the majority of the screen is showing bright sky (bright scene). Normally auto will expose for the sky (the majority of the scene) and the ground (important to your composition) is to dark to see detail. By biasing the adjuster, the ground can be better exposed so the detail shows clearly. As I said, this is just an example.

Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. I'll try different settings and without ND filter on lens. But, unfortunately, I'm pretty disappointed with footage from Mavic AIR.

Hello,
Here's update. This afternoon I tried without any ND filter, with full auto settings. Here's result. Absolutely horrible, especially first 20 seconds. Footage is unusable. Brighter part of footage is relativly OK, but darker part, shadows... Completely ruined, absolutely dissaster.

Do you guys have any idea what's wrong here. Should I shot allways manually? Because this kind of footage is garbage.
I shot in 4K 24p, downgraded to HD.

Thanks in advance for any kind of help.

1. Stop shooting Auto
2. You still need to let us know what the settings are or we cannot help.

ISO
Shutter
Aperture

FlySD Posted at 1-5 13:31
1. Stop shooting Auto
2. You still need to let us know what the settings are or we cannot help.

Dear FlySD,

Thanks one more time for your effort and help.
I didn't record settings, but it's obvious that auto settings will not be my choice.

This afternoon I'll go to another test, and I'll let you know what is the problem.

Do you own Mavic AIR? Dou you have similar problems?

Best regards

SkipperRI Posted at 1-6 01:08
Dear FlySD,

Thanks one more time for your effort and help.

I don't I have a Mavic Pro 2 - Just trying to help =-)

It's definitely ISO related problem. Yesterday I was filming sunset with manual settings, ISO 100 and manual adjusted shutter. And everything was how it should be, with no grain or noise that will ruined footage.

Thank you so much for your help!

SkipperRI Posted at 1-7 07:17
It's definitely ISO related problem. Yesterday I was filming sunset with manual settings, ISO 100 and manual adjusted shutter. And everything was how it should be, with no grain or noise that will ruined footage.

Thank you so much for your help!

Have fun out there!  The size of the sensors on these drones definitely do not lend well to high ISO capturing.  

FlySD Posted at 1-8 09:01
Have fun out there!  The size of the sensors on these drones definitely do not lend well to high ISO capturing.

You are absolutely right. Definitely auto settings are big mistake with this kind of camera and sensor.

Also, check this out, I just uploaded video from yesterday short fly with manual settings and capturing sunset.



Thanks for your help.

Looks good!  Happy flying.