Hello all, I need your advice with my P3S

I've got experince when it comes to flying RC planes/helicopters and now have the hang of drones.

However when it comes to photography i'm not that great, I rely heavily on auto settings when it comes to my camera.

Today all my shots were very dark even when it's been nice and sunny this morning, I know its a problem with my exposure setting, I've watched a couple of youtube videos but thought if you had any tips of the trade and easy fixes when it comes to the Standard settings would be great.  

Thanks

As a starter have a look at Tim's thread  Using histogram
Have fun!

johnsr Posted at 2016-1-6 15:58
As a starter have a look at Tim's thread  Using histogram
Have fun!

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, very good read. I shall get out tomorrow to give it a practise.

Look at the camera data line in the app and find the blue EV.
If it's showing a negative number like EV-2, you need to find the adjustment in the app to correct this back to EV0.

Just a simple comment: you don't need to fly to try these things out. Just set up the Phantom somewhere near a window or well lit room, connect to it and take photos/video.

Yer I did see that blue EV number and it was floating around loads of different numbers. Does it change it's self automatically or is something you have to watch and change maunally always.

And thats a fair point Johnsr, I can have a play depending on the weather/lighting conditons of the day

When you are on auto metering it will try to calculate everything the camera sees so it can create a perfectly balanced scene. This is why you have an AEB function which takes bracketed photos which allow you to capture the highlights, midtones and shadows to create a balanced photo. Your overall EV is your exposure and when you are in manual mode you need to either adjust the EV up or down so you dont clip your highlights (which you can see when you have the highlight warning on). If you see all lines across your sky the scene is too bright and you can dial down your ev which will make the entire scene darker. If you want to test getting great shots on manual do your flight in the morning or afternoon when the light is not so extreme

sifu128 Posted at 2016-1-6 22:57
When you are on auto metering it will try to calculate everything the camera sees so it can create a ...

I tried today when it was the morning and the camera was very dark, made the grass look black, while in Auto mode, but i might of clicked the wrong buttons to be fair when trying to correct this. It's a shame because Iw as doing some great flying on a cliff and when I uploaded the footage on the computer it was like I was flaying at night

But I think i'll take the advice of playing around with it while on the ground and then once I've got the hang of it I can get up there again and if I come acrop with the same problem, hopefully i'll be able to sort it out.

Right, when you are in manual you are in total control to find that balance between light and dark. Only changing the Ev will fix that (make it brighter or make it darker per each click). Any time you have an evenly lit scene (brights and darks) it will be so much easier. There is a great post on here how to use Photomatrix to combine several exposures if you have photoshop and if you are on (A)uto, just select AEB in the camera settings, change it to 5 and let the drone hover and snap away I have been doing HDR's for some time but this process is very simple to try and the image I attached is what I was able to produce with the drone.

Here is the link: http://forum.dji.com/thread-36401-1-1.html

sifu128 Posted at 2016-1-6 23:39
Right, when you are in manual you are in total control to find that balance between light and dark.  ...

Great shot and Just had a look at thread, looks great. I look forward to homing my skills as an aerial photographer as it's a great platform.

I just need practise I'm just about to have a play now with all the different exposure levels and seems that the EV is the key to this. Then once i've got that handled I can start playing around with manual modes

Just turned everything thing on and my EV was set to -3.0, which reading on here that was probably the cause of my problems haha but I have learned a lot about exposure. I look forward attempting great shots like yours sifu128

The Bat Drone Posted at 2016-1-7 08:45
Just turned everything thing on and my EV was set to -3.0, which reading on here that was probably t ...

Just let me know if you need anything and I am more than glad to help!

sifu128 Posted at 2016-1-7 00:46
Just let me know if you need anything and I am more than glad to help!

Thanks for that I'm sure i'll come back to you soon when I've done a few more photography flights. I need to get full potential out of these cameras. Even on the standard the picture quality is great. But once i've got to a decent level I can look to invest in a pro