Hello,
I can't take low light images without blown highlights.
I always take bracket images and I sistematically get blown hightlights (not on all pictures, but on all occasions and all series).
This happens in both jpeg and dng files.
It also depends on the ISO setting. At ISO 100 the problematic exposures are not the same as at ISO 400. It can be 1.3" or 1.6" or 4/5" but also 1/5...

As of now the mini 3 is useless for low light photography and unfortunately the latest firmware did not fix the issue.
Is there a workaround?

As of now the mini 3 is useless for low light photography and unfortunately the latest firmware did not fix the issue.
that's because the drone camera isn't "useless for low light photography" and there's no issue that needs fixing.

Is there a workaround?
Yes .. a basic understanding of photography and exposure is what you need.
The examples you posted are part dark and part bright.
Your camera meter is giving you an exposure setting for the average of the whole frame.

Most cameras don't have sufficient dynamic range to capture good exposure over such a range from dark to bright.
You need to think more about your composition to have subjects with more uniform lighting rather than 50/50 bright and dark.

Try using AEB and merging the photos in a tool like Lightroom.

DAFlys Posted at 9-22 23:01
Try using AEB and merging the photos in a tool like Lightroom.

I take all night images with AEB of 3 or 5 pictures.
When it is dark I get 1 out of 3 or 2 out of 5 that have blown highlights so the bracket is not usable.
The problem is that the _low_ exposure has blown highlights and such the HDR image is destroyed.

It would be helpful if someone here tried to take braked images at night ne post here.

Labroides Posted at 9-22 19:53
As of now the mini 3 is useless for low light photography and unfortunately the latest firmware did not fix the issue.
that's because the drone camera isn't "useless for low light photography" and there's no issue that needs fixing.

Yes the camera has limited dynamic range. Hence I take braked images.
In the example image I gave above, the _low_ exposure has blown highlights while the high exposure is fine. Therefore I can’t merge those images. The blown out effect is artificial.

The blown highlights on the low exposure are not due to a limited dynamic range. Everything should be under exposed on the left image.
This is a problem of the mini 3.

I suggest you to try a longer exposure (ideally with brackets). And report if you have the same problem.

oneev Posted at 9-23 02:02
Yes the camera has limited dynamic range. Hence I take braked images.
In the example image I gave above, the _low_ exposure has blown highlights while the high exposure is fine. Therefore I can’t merge those images. The blown out effect is artificial.

I suggest you to try a longer exposure (ideally with brackets). And report if you have the same problem.
I suggest you try a scene with more uniform brightness and see how that works out before deciding that the problem is the camera.

oneev Posted at 9-23 01:57
I take all night images with AEB of 3 or 5 pictures.
When it is dark I get 1 out of 3 or 2 out of 5 that have blown highlights so the bracket is not usable.
The problem is that the _low_ exposure has blown highlights and such the HDR image is destroyed.

Try exposing lower before taking your bracketed shots,    a little blown highlight shouldn't be a problem for HDR merging,  thats the point of merging.

I have the same problem. I just excluded the problematic photo before merging the photos. It's likely a bug. Looking at the right picture it has a longer exposure time than the left one and doesn't have any extreme overexposed part. The left photo with shorter exposure time has a big part of the sky with unnatural blown out highlights.

DAFlys Posted at 9-23 02:36
Try exposing lower before taking your bracketed shots,    a little blown highlight shouldn't be a problem for HDR merging,  thats the point of merging.

Yes you are correct, blown highlights are not a problem for HDR _unless_ the blown images are on the low exposures. Then the merged image has also blown highlights.

This looks like some sort of bug with dual iso.

Does the overexposed part show as flashing if the overexposure warning is on when flying? If it doesn't that is an issue.

DAFlys Posted at 9-23 02:36
Try exposing lower before taking your bracketed shots,    a little blown highlight shouldn't be a problem for HDR merging,  thats the point of merging.

On the example above the low exposure has blown highlights while the longer exposure is fine. It’s clearly a camera defect.
I bet you’ll also encounter the same problem if you try a similar exposure.
I’m hoping for a work around somehow. And I hope DJI will be aware of the problem and fix it.

DAFlys Posted at 9-23 02:36
Try exposing lower before taking your bracketed shots,    a little blown highlight shouldn't be a problem for HDR merging,  thats the point of merging.

On the example above the low exposure has blown highlights while the longer exposure is fine. It’s clearly a camera defect.
I bet you’ll also encounter the same problem if you try a similar exposure.
I’m hoping for a work around somehow. And I hope DJI will be aware of the problem and fix it.

Bussty Posted at 9-23 15:02
Does the overexposed part show as flashing if the overexposure warning is on when flying? If it doesn't that is an issue.

No there is no warning. Even underexposed images have this problem. It seems to be related to the combination of exposure time and iso. And it is always there.
It would be interesting to know if the effects appears with all drones. Or if only some are affected.

heja Posted at 9-23 07:13
I have the same problem. I just excluded the problematic photo before merging the photos. It's likely a bug. Looking at the right picture it has a longer exposure time than the left one and doesn't have any extreme overexposed part. The left photo with shorter exposure time has a big part of the sky with unnatural blown out highlights.

Exactly.
Unfortunately in some situations I get 3 out of 5 images that are bad. And then I can’t merge them….
Could you telle is at which expiai you encountttje problem,

Interesting please keep us updated but I think the suggestion about dual ISO could be part of the issue. Is this happening on manual and auto exposure? I always use Manual and have never seen this.

oneev Posted at 9-23 16:00
No there is no warning. Even underexposed images have this problem. It seems to be related to the combination of exposure time and iso. And it is always there.
It would be interesting to know if the effects appears with all drones. Or if only some are affected.

In the example above the low exposure has blown highlights while the longer exposure is fine. It’s clearly a camera defect.
We can't tell much from the examples you posted.
If you upload the 5 original images to Dropbox or similar and post a link, we'd be able to look into the exposure settings in the metadata.

It would be interesting to know if the effects appears with all drones. Or if only some are affected.
I've been bracketing shots with several different DJI drones for years without any issues.

Labroides Posted at 9-23 17:17
In the example above the low exposure has blown highlights while the longer exposure is fine. It’s clearly a camera defect.
We can't tell much from the examples you posted.
If you upload the 5 original images to Dropbox or similar and post a link, we'd be able to look into the exposure settings in the metadata.

I’ll post the images Monday when I’m back

I always shoot in bracket to increase the dynamic and I never had any issue with all drones. With the mini 3 I have thousands of images that are fine.
However, the longer exposure one all have this problem and because the low exposure has blown highlights I can’t merge them in HDR and sometimes 3 out of 5 have the problem. I’ll make a table to know which exposures to avoid. But for example I know that 1.3 s and 1.7 s at ISO 100 are problematic. And they are often on the bracket serie.

I’ll post the original images.

I've read before about some problematic shutter speeds that produce this overexposed effect, but I haven't done any testing. I'm sure somebody has, it might come up in a search. DJI should tell us what to do about it or just fix it themselves!

I have the same issue. This is not an issue depending by a reduced limit of sensor latitude capacity, or that the sensor quality of Dji Mini3 Pro drone is not suitable to get images in night scene. The sensor limits are other. This is an abnormal conversion output digital signal. See also to my pictures. I sent them also to DJI Assistance to show this bug and try to fix. These bug is present in the High Light Areas, also in AEB shooting mode, it's a Great Problem that doesn't permit to work with in my production of professional images. Never occurred with all other of my drones.

During the AEB procession mode, using the 5 shoots, the drone as digital cameras usually produce same images with different exposition.
The first shoot starts with regular exposition at 0 Ev ( file DJI_0629 ), other 2 increasing + EV to produce better results/digital details for the shadows ( overexposition – files DJI_0631 and DJI_0633 ),
and other 2 decreasing – EV to produce better results/digital details for the highlights ( underexposition – files DJI_0632 and DJI_0634 ).

So, now, check the Mini 3 AEB shoots, the UNDEREXPOSED shoots ( files DJI_0632 and DJI_0634 ), you can see that the High Light Areas, instead have recovered-achieved more digital
information/readable details for the highlights, because EVERY UNDER EXPOSITION works to recover this part of lights rendering it darker as for the rest of part of the entire image,
these High Light Areas are burned, solarized, completely clarified. Exactly opposed.

Famu thanks for posting.

Is this is in auto mode 12MP?

Does it happen in Manual mode 12MP?  

Do you know if it happens in 48MP mode if you manually AEB? I know 48MP is not the best for low light but would be interesting to know.

Cheers

Bussty

It's in full Manual mode, manual ISO, manual Exposition, manual Color Balance, at 12MP.

I don't use 48MP because I found it has less quality final output.

Labroides Posted at 9-23 02:22
I suggest you to try a longer exposure (ideally with brackets). And report if you have the same problem.
I suggest you try a scene with more uniform brightness and see how that works out before deciding that the problem is the camera.

This issue is into the camera, sensor, processing, or other. Not in the outdoor world.

Labroides Posted at 9-23 17:17
In the example above the low exposure has blown highlights while the longer exposure is fine. It’s clearly a camera defect.
We can't tell much from the examples you posted.
If you upload the 5 original images to Dropbox or similar and post a link, we'd be able to look into the exposure settings in the metadata.

Yes, it's correct. Other DJI models of drones, are not afflicted by this AEB bracketing blowing issue into the High Light Areas. May be, some had afflicted by a reduced latitude of exposition. But never this specific issue.

oneev Posted at 9-23 21:59
I’ll post the images Monday when I’m back

I always shoot in bracket to increase the dynamic and I never had any issue with all drones. With the mini 3 I have thousands of images that are fine.

here a bracket serie of 5
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1f4uqbr5o76e7ga/AADEjYjSLPjpU_1LmFk5Dk8Aa?dl=0

Of the 5 images, 3 have blown highlights.
Interestingly, two pictures were taken with a shutter speed of 2 s and one is ok while the other is not...
The problem has something to do with the AEB function. But brackets are essential for those difficult light conditions.
I'm really looking for a solution...  

oneev Posted at 9-25 12:48
here a bracket serie of 5
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1f4uqbr5o76e7ga/AADEjYjSLPjpU_1LmFk5Dk8Aa?dl=0
[view_image]

Thanks for posting Oneev. That does look very odd. The 2x two secs will be because your mid exposure is 1.3s and the exposure can't go beyond 2s but still weird it didn't over expose still on that second shot.

So you can confirm this only happens in AEB mode and if you did this manually adjusting the exposure each capture you would be fine?

If this only happens in AEB mode maybe the lack of delay between images is causing some weird issue with cacheing and writing to the card?

I am facing the same issues. Always thought it was my fault (even if I couldn't immagine a scenario that causes this weired behaviour).
I think it's an issue with the camera..

What does the metadata say for the actual exposure settings on the AEB shots?

Does it happen manually shooting using the same 2/3 stop brackets?

Thinking this could be a dual iso processing issue

oneev Posted at 9-25 12:48
here a bracket serie of 5
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1f4uqbr5o76e7ga/AADEjYjSLPjpU_1LmFk5Dk8Aa?dl=0
[view_image]

Exposure details for those shots was :
EC 0  ISO 200 1.3 sec EC 0
EC -0.7  ISO 200 0.8 sec
EC +0.7  ISO 200 2 sec
EC -1.3  ISO 200 0.5 sec
EC +1.3  ISO 200 2 sec

ISO was 200 (not 100)

Does the problem show up when you shoot brackets of 3 as well?
Do you see the same problem when there is more light and shutter speeds are faster?

I'll test the same exposures in full manual without AEB.
The problem appears at AEB 3 too. I'll try the same exposures without AEB.
I don't see this problem with shutter speed faster than 1/6s (however, I think it depends on the ISO too. More tests needed).
I shoot AEB 3 per default, also in daylight and I never have any issue. In low light, say up to 1/10s it's fine too, but 1/6s is a problem.
With more tests it will be useful to know what are the usable exposures. For example 1/5, 1/3, 1/2 s at ISO 400 are fine.

When the exposure approaches 1/6s I use AEB 5 to save the shot in case the problem appears. It does appear at 1/6s ISO 100. (but unfortunately AEB 5 is not a guaranty)

famu Posted at 9-25 09:04
It's in full Manual mode, manual ISO, manual Exposition, manual Color Balance, at 12MP.

I don't use 48MP because I found it has less quality final output.

Hi Famu

This post might be of interest to you. The results are probably even better now DXO has released support for the Mini 3 Pro.  But definitely in low light and high iso 12MP is superior.. in low iso and brighter conditions the 48MP seems to out perform. I must update this using DXO.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=273430&extra=page%3D3%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D776%26typeid%3D776

Cheers


Bussty

DxO won't help burnt out and uneven exposures.

gnirtS Posted at 9-26 13:42
DxO won't help burnt out and uneven exposures.

Yep wasn't suggesting it would just directing to difference between 12MP and 48MP with the DXO  recent compatibility.

Cheers

Bussty