Hello everyone,

Just picked up my first "real" drone, the P3A, and have a question.  When I shoot video near my home in Nashville, TN, the contrast keeps changing drastically when the focus of the camera is on the sky or ground.  I hope I'm explaining this correct, but when I'm shooting a horizon line shot, if the camera focuses on the sky, then the ground is very dark, and when it refocuses on the ground, the sky is very washed out.  Does this make sense?  And how can I fix or balance this in the settings.  I've watched a few videos on YouTube, but none I've seen have addressed this directly.  And searching the forum here I couldn't find anything directly answering this either.

I've ordered some ND filters (4 and 8), thinking/hoping this may help alleviate the problem.  Yes? No?  ;)

Thank you for the help and advice.

What have you got White Balance on ?

malvern Posted at 2016-6-24 06:27
What have you got White Balance on ?

This has zero  to do with  white balance.
Nothing at all.
White balance is to deal with different colour light sources like fluorescent vs sunlight vs incandescent.
Just leave white balance on auto unless you know what you are doing with it.

That's a problem any photographers have when photographing a high contrast subject.
Your camera does not have enough dynamic range to properly expose dark shadows and bright areas woyj the same setting.
As a photographer you  have to be aware of this and work around it.
Don't shoot photos that  are half bright  sky and half dark foreground.
Your camera can deal with one or the other but give it 50/50 and what's it going to do?

You could try tilting the camera to make most of the scene have the same brightness.
Shoot from a different  angle.
Or you could try the  AEB function and combine 5 images in an HDR program to make an HDR photo.

Have you tried setting Exposure manually?  If it's in auto mode and you tilt the gimbal it will change brightness. I find it better to shoot in manual exposure and use an ND filter.

It's common and happens to almost all the cameras,  reasons are explained on #4

Does the ND filter help or a polarizer filter?

chiefgeek Posted at 2016-6-24 14:55
Does the ND filter help or a polarizer filter?

Only in very bright sunny conditions, and only in terms of video, it does nothing at all for shooting still shots. A polarizer is not much use as you cannot adjust it for optimum effect when it is in the air, and adjusting it on the ground does not always work.

chiefgeek Posted at 2016-6-24 12:55
Does the ND filter help or a polarizer filter?

No ... read my explanation earlier.
If you have a scene half very bright and half quite dark, further darkening the whole scene won't do anything to improve things.
Try to compose your shots so they aren't half bright and half dark because that will always be a problem.

As mentioned earlier, in a scene with high difference in light levels, you're not going to get details in both in a single shot. So the best you can do is select the one area in which you want detail and let the other fall where is does.

Touch an area of the image in which you want proper exposure and the auto exposure should meter on that area.

The histogram feature of DJI GO app can also help you adjust the EV for proper exposure of either the light or the dark region.

You can practice using these features with the motors off.

To support Malvern's question, take a look beginning at 0:53 of this video. Frederick Hagan explains about White Balance Settings that cause the changes you are seeing:

Are you filming in manual or automatic mode?

terrylewis Posted at 2016-6-25 03:28
To support Malvern's question, take a look beginning at 0:53 of this video. Frederick Hagan explains ...

The OP is asking about what he called "a horizon line shot, if the camera focuses on the sky, then the ground is very dark, and when it refocuses on the ground, the sky is very washed out"
No white balance setting will solve the problem he is asking about.
When you have half the scene bright and half dark, the camera cannot show both properly exposed.
This is not a white balance issue and changing white balance is not a solution at all.

Thank you all, I'll work on these tips and suggestions.