I know this is gonna sound crazy. I spent two years fumbling around trying to find work arounds for the "water color" issue on my Mavic Pro 1. On a whim, I decided to try the "Auto" camera function for ISO and shutter speed. The results greatly suprised me. Here's my story.

Hello and good day Scott. Thank you for sharing this informative video and your experience. Great work and thank you for your support.

Thank you "Scott" for the info.  I too have been less than satisfied with maual settings and have reverted back to Auto.

MBrown Posted at 1-27 08:25
Thank you "Scott" for the info.  I too have been less than satisfied with maual settings and have reverted back to Auto.

It certainly seems like the auto setting almost completely eliminates the “watercolor” noise reduction. I just thought I’d spread the word.

I usually fly on 'auto' mode
Only when there is a lot of changing in lighting conditions I set it to manual.

Very interesting stuff by the way.
I will sure check it out on my Mavic Pro (1) as soon as I have the time.

Montfrooij Posted at 1-27 14:07
Very interesting stuff by the way.
I will sure check it out on my Mavic Pro (1) as soon as I have the time.

Definitely check it out. It’s worth trying!

scottinATL Posted at 1-27 14:50
Definitely check it out. It’s worth trying!

I will   

Great information, nice video!

Good info to share

Awesome info. I will be trying it as well.

Actually, if you go one step further, it will get better.  To me, after focus, there's nothing more aggravating than the changing of the exposure when in auto mode.  I get the best results by turning on auto, taking it up to get an overall view, and then turning off auto-exposure.  I hate what auto-exposure does when you shoot video and rotate azimuth-up sun/down sun, etc.  I'd rather have manual control over it.  You also need to look at your other settings (for instance running +1 sharpness).  I'm nowhere near my Mav to be able to go look at menu settings and give species or double check how things are set, but I'm very please with my videos.  All that said, if you are a photographer in real life and have the time to shoot raw and manually process your work afterward, you'll get even better results. Light room and PS or other programs will do wonders for your product.  If, like me, you got tired of all that work when you retired and have better things to do with your time, then give what I said a try.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 1-28 10:03
Actually, if you go one step further, it will get better.  To me, after focus, there's nothing more aggravating than the changing of the exposure when in auto mode.  I get the best results by turning on auto, taking it up to get an overall view, and then turning off auto-exposure.  I hate what auto-exposure does when you shoot video and rotate azimuth-up sun/down sun, etc.  I'd rather have manual control over it.  You also need to look at your other settings (for instance running +1 sharpness).  I'm nowhere near my Mav to be able to go look at menu settings and give species or double check how things are set, but I'm very please with my videos.  All that said, if you are a photographer in real life and have the time to shoot raw and manually process your work afterward, you'll get even better results. Light room and PS or other programs will do wonders for your product.  If, like me, you got tired of all that work when you retired and have better things to do with your time, then give what I said a try.

Definitely true about locking the exposure once the drone has auto set it. I do that too!  Good point.

i fly auto every time.....results are goood....

scottinATL Posted at 1-28 10:15
Definitely true about locking the exposure once the drone has auto set it. I do that too!  Good point.

Hi Scott,

My previous comments were made well before I had a chance to look at the actual video.  You were already aware of the auto-exposure thing and said so in the video.  Sorry to repeat.  There's one thing I did notice that, at least for my taste, would improve your video.  Having worked in video via the broadcast television field for over 35 years, we preferred a little more contrast (lower black level).  I suspect that is why I routinely fly with a setting of -.3 on the exposure wheel with "normal daylight coming in.  Like everything else, there are obviously exceptions as we tweak for darker or lighter subject material, but normally I start with -.3 and go from there per conditions.

Nice discussion!

Gary - AG0N

AG0N-Gary Posted at 1-28 10:03
Actually, if you go one step further, it will get better.  To me, after focus, there's nothing more aggravating than the changing of the exposure when in auto mode.  I get the best results by turning on auto, taking it up to get an overall view, and then turning off auto-exposure.  I hate what auto-exposure does when you shoot video and rotate azimuth-up sun/down sun, etc.  I'd rather have manual control over it.  You also need to look at your other settings (for instance running +1 sharpness).  I'm nowhere near my Mav to be able to go look at menu settings and give species or double check how things are set, but I'm very please with my videos.  All that said, if you are a photographer in real life and have the time to shoot raw and manually process your work afterward, you'll get even better results. Light room and PS or other programs will do wonders for your product.  If, like me, you got tired of all that work when you retired and have better things to do with your time, then give what I said a try.

As a photographer, I agree. Shoot in manual mode, and shoot RAW. It's much easier to edit in post processing.

It may be worth pointing out that this post and my video is specifically about shooting video on the Mavic 1, not photos. For photos, RAW is definitely a great way to go.

One thing I’ve realized and can’t figure out with the Mavic Pro if I have it in 4K 30FPS let’s say, and in auto exposure the camera will put the camera in 200 ISO and 1/120 at 0 exposure comp.

Which I don’t get because if I manually expose then I can put in 100 ISO 1/60 and the light meter reads 0! Why wouldn’t it do that automatically???

Also I’ve noticed if the auto settings DO put it in 100 ISO and 1/60 at 0 comp and then I switch to manual and put in the same iso and shutter the light meter will read something like -1.5 AND look a bit darker but not -1.5.

Am I missing something here?

djiuser_8xdxbZ47y4AG Posted at 2-25 13:42
One thing I’ve realized and can’t figure out with the Mavic Pro if I have it in 4K 30FPS let’s say, and in auto exposure the camera will put the camera in 200 ISO and 1/120 at 0 exposure comp.

Which I don’t get because if I manually expose then I can put in 100 ISO 1/60 and the light meter reads 0! Why wouldn’t it do that automatically???

I figured this out at least the difference between the metering in auto and manual.

I had been metering auto with “center weighted metering” and I assume manual metering uses “average” metering. Mystery solved.