My street has a rare covering of snow, crunchy snow, it looks very nice under the street lights but the Mini 2's video is.....crap -- way too dark, photos might be ok.

Am I expecting too much of it, if not what settings?


Should I break ot the Mavic 2 Pro or zoom? If so what settings? Battery needs charged :-(((
Thanks for any replies.

Can you share an example with the settings used?

Montfrooij Posted at 1-19 00:47
Can you share an example with the settings used?

Cheers, I will have a look to see what's in the exif. I gave a Zoom a whizz and it was better but not great.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 1-19 02:05
Cheers, I will have a look to see what's in the exif. I gave a Zoom a whizz and it was better but not great.

Unfortunately, the EXIF for exposure settings are not used for video (since they 'can' change during recording)

Are you not asking too much from the Mini 2 Sean? You could try your M2P and see what that can do. Lots of users swear by the better Mini 3 Pro for low light video.

Montfrooij Posted at 1-19 02:23
Unfortunately, the EXIF for exposure settings are not used for video (since they 'can' change during recording)

Good point and from memory I did shove the EV to +3 but couldn't see any effect, I also tried a different Mini 2 and it seemed a little bit better.
If the snow cover lasts I think I will give the M2P a go tonight. Plus I will have a play in daylight with camera settings on the mini 2 and check amongst other things is adjusting the EV actually does anything in daylight.

yogi053 Posted at 1-19 03:01
Are you not asking too much from the Mini 2 Sean? You could try your M2P and see what that can do. Lots of users swear by the better Mini 3 Pro for low light video.

That might be on the cards tonight, if the snow cover lasts.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 1-19 03:30
Good point and form memory did shove the EV to +3 but couldn't see any effect, I also tried a different Mini 2 and it seemed a little bit better.
If the snow cover lasts I think I will give the M2P a go tonight. Plus have a play in daylight with camera settings on the mini 2 and check amongst other things is adjusting the EV actually does anything in daylight.

Manual mode is key here.

Ahhh I see one mistake I did make, once recording you can not change between manual mode and auto mode. Ho hum. Waiting to see if there is any snow or whiteness tonight.

If you're saying video is bad and the photos are good, then it's down to exposure.

The longest exposure you can make is 1/24th of a second in video. As long as your shutter is also 1/24. With a photo, you can expose for several seconds if you like and the drone can stay stable enough to capture it sometimes.

Video will always suffer from this because you can't adjust the shutter to be any slower or the video won't look right. You're left with the ISO to adjust, which will just turn very noisy once you start venturing above ISO100

I’d break out the M2P, it will obviously be so much better in low light. For photo you will need a longer exposure great if it’s not too windy but you have up to 8 seconds exposure. Best time is probably just at the end of blue hour if lights come on then you can get some nice exposures . For video you will need to increase ISO which will result in some noise so keep as low as you can but some noise can be reduced in post.One piece of advice when shooting snow is because camera can get confused by all the white, over exposing by 1 stop will give you much cleaner white snow as opposed to under exposing or bang on exposing can often result in grey looking snow.



It was taken just at the end of blue hour 3 second exposure ISO 200. Even though ISO was low the slow shutter speed will always give you some noise.

Unfortunately the road and path are now largely clear of snow so even darker, yet the M2P shot useable video though it's a bit daunting try to judge tree heights in the dark. Lol.

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, the DJI Mini 2 is not capable of capturing night scenes. You may try to use your DJI Mavic 2 and check the HyperLight feature and see if this helps your footage. In addition, hope that you could get the best recommendation about the best settings from our fellow DJI Pilots. Thank you for your valued support, Sean. Have a nice day ahead!  

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 1-19 11:27
Ahhh I see one mistake I did make, once recording you can not change between manual mode and auto mode. Ho hum. Waiting to see if there is any snow or whiteness tonight.

Yeah, stop recording, switch to manual, try again Happens to me too!

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-19 13:12
I’d break out the M2P, it will obviously be so much better in low light. For photo you will need a longer exposure great if it’s not too windy but you have up to 8 seconds exposure. Best time is probably just at the end of blue hour if lights come on then you can get some nice exposures . For video you will need to increase ISO which will result in some noise so keep as low as you can but some noise can be reduced in post.One piece of advice when shooting snow is because camera can get confused by all the white, over exposing by 1 stop will give you much cleaner white snow as opposed to under exposing or bang on exposing can often result in grey looking snow.

[view_image]

Not sure why slow shutterspeed will give you noise, that is usually from either the sensor being too noisy or the internal processing being not optimal.
Nice shot though!

Montfrooij Posted at 1-20 00:18
Not sure why slow shutterspeed will give you noise, that is usually from either the sensor being too noisy or the internal processing being not optimal.
Nice shot though!

I agree sensor size low light ISO but also slower shutter Speeds will cause sometimes more problems with noise than anything.

I have never really had photos destroyed by ISO but using the wrong shutter speeds will really affect badly on some photos.
I would almost always choose the right SS for the shot followed by correct Aperture and ISO will be whatever it has to be.

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-20 03:25
I agree sensor size low light ISO but also slower shutter Speeds will cause sometimes more problems with noise than anything.

I have never really had photos destroyed by ISO but using the wrong shutter speeds will really affect badly on some photos.

Interesting. I will do my own testing because I think he is missing something that is (from what I have seen) an important factor.
He increases the brightness in post.
This will reveal noise that is present in the 'low ISO' shot.
But it would too on his 'other' image (with a brighter exposure).
He just does not test it.

I know that noise is more complicated than 'just' a ISO thing.
Good exposed images will show less noise. (its there, but its just less visible).
In camera jpeg conversions can cause noise.
Extreme long exposures will show more noise because the sensor has more time to do a wrong interpretation.
But for shorter shutterspeeds like he is testing, it is not going to make any noticeable difference if you don't boost the brightness in post
The boosting of the brightness is what reveals the noise. Not the shutterspeed.
Low iso + properly exposed images is the best way to prevent visible noise.

And there is another problem with his claim. Especially for drones. Longer exposures will increase the risk of blurry images.

Now what he SHOULD have tested, is changing the lighting in the room AND the ISO / shutterspeed.
So he keeps a well exposed image and does not have to boost anything in post.

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-19 13:12
I’d break out the M2P, it will obviously be so much better in low light. For photo you will need a longer exposure great if it’s not too windy but you have up to 8 seconds exposure. Best time is probably just at the end of blue hour if lights come on then you can get some nice exposures . For video you will need to increase ISO which will result in some noise so keep as low as you can but some noise can be reduced in post.One piece of advice when shooting snow is because camera can get confused by all the white, over exposing by 1 stop will give you much cleaner white snow as opposed to under exposing or bang on exposing can often result in grey looking snow.

[view_image]

Nice shot!

Montfrooij Posted at 1-20 03:47
Interesting. I will do my own testing because I think he is missing something that is (from what I have seen) an important factor.
He increases the brightness in post.
This will reveal noise that is present in the 'low ISO' shot.

There is plenty of articles and videos that back this up. Heres another slightly different explanation of the same thing.

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-20 05:34
There is plenty of articles and videos that back this up. Heres another slightly different explanation of the same thing.
https://youtu.be/5f9rTVqF46I

Yeah, this is a good video for sure.
Especially the part where he says that it is a complex matter .
But this video claims something else than the previous video about 'slow shutterspeed = more noise'.
That was (IMHO) wrong.  

What I have always understood is that there are several reasons for noise. Mainly being :
Sensor noise (often high ISO related) and
Shot noise (related to low light)
Now they happen to have a correlation, since you usually bump the ISO when you are in a low light situation, but that does not make ISO the only factor for noise.
There is also digital noise (DJI footage usually shows a lot of that unfortunately) that has to do with the image processing / compression they do in camera.  

So I feel the previous video had a big flaw (increasing the brightness in post, which will reveal any noise and claiming that was because of the shutterspeed).
This one is (IMHO) much better in what it claims and explains.

But I will do my test someday. Not sure how I can, but I will.
It is an interesting matter.

Thanks for the information folks..

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-19 13:12
I’d break out the M2P, it will obviously be so much better in low light. For photo you will need a longer exposure great if it’s not too windy but you have up to 8 seconds exposure. Best time is probably just at the end of blue hour if lights come on then you can get some nice exposures . For video you will need to increase ISO which will result in some noise so keep as low as you can but some noise can be reduced in post.One piece of advice when shooting snow is because camera can get confused by all the white, over exposing by 1 stop will give you much cleaner white snow as opposed to under exposing or bang on exposing can often result in grey looking snow.

[view_image]

Nice photo!

Montfrooij Posted at 1-20 06:04
Yeah, this is a good video for sure.
Especially the part where he says that it is a complex matter .
But this video claims something else than the previous video about 'slow shutterspeed = more noise'.

I think its more important to shoot at correct shutter speed than to sacrifice for a lower ISO and if you shoot at the correct shutter speed you should always get a better photo.

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-20 09:08
I think its more important to shoot at correct shutter speed than to sacrifice for a lower ISO and if you shoot at the correct shutter speed you should always get a better photo.

What would you consider 'correct'?
(for shutter speed).
Not in exact numbers, but in general.

Montfrooij Posted at 1-20 11:32
What would you consider 'correct'?
(for shutter speed).
Not in exact numbers, but in general.

Shutter speeds constantly change depending on the conditions. For something like portraits as a general rule I would always use minimum 125th second to insure no motion blur and use the fastest aperture. But that’s the only one I would keep in mind.
We also shouldn’t forget the creative side of choosing shutter speed. Many people (photographers) use aperture priority or shutter priority most of the time, I have found landscape photographer uses aperture priority a lot because they tend to use tripods a lot, while hand shooters action etc use SS priority. While they will use full manual some of the time I’ve found action shooters nearly always just use shutter priority .

Hallmark007 Posted at 1-21 11:44
Shutter speeds constantly change depending on the conditions. For something like portraits as a general rule I would always use minimum 125th second to insure no motion blur and use the fastest aperture. But that’s the only one I would keep in mind.
We also shouldn’t forget the creative side of choosing shutter speed. Many people (photographers) use aperture priority or shutter priority most of the time, I have found landscape photographer uses aperture priority a lot because they tend to use tripods a lot, while hand shooters action etc use SS priority. While they will use full manual some of the time I’ve found action shooters nearly always just use shutter priority .

Yeah, I mostly apply this too.