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AEB Testing
8018 16 2017-2-8
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Hefro

United States
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I'm a new pilot and still just learning about the Mavic and aerial photography, but I am an experienced landscape photographer. I have been trying to get a feel for the true capabilities of the Mavic's camera for shooting high dynamic range scenes such as sunset and sunrise. Last night I put the Mavic up to grab a couple of sunset shots to test out the AEB settings. I set the camera to shoot AEB 5 shots in RAW with white balance set to Cloudy. I left the exposure adjustment set to 0 (EV 0). Here's the series of shots captured by the Mavic:

Shot  Shutter  ISO  deltaEV
1        1/30    164     0.00
2        1/30    104    -0.66
3        1/30    259     0.66
4        1/60    132    -1.31
5        1/15    204     1.31

I had previously noticed that the Mavic changed the ISO rather than adjusting shutter speed only. While most photographers would likely prefer the camera to not adjust ISO, I suppose it makes sense to limit the longest shutter speed for shot stability. It's also interesting that while the setting shows 0.7 EV increments between shots, the increment is really only 2/3 EV.

I attached the base exposure (1/30s, ISO 164) and an HDR composite of all 5 images. Surprisingly, the HDR cleans up really wells with some liberal application of noise reduction in Lightroom (I saw far less noise in the composite than in the individual images), and the HDR image definitely has more shadow and highlight detail. (I had the gimbal cover on, so there are some reflections. Also, I was not in a very pretty location for this shoot!)

Bottom line is to get the best detail from bracketed shots in windless conditions, manual bracketing is the way to go. In windier conditions, AEB may work better because the shutter speed will be faster, but probably at the expense of ultimate image quality by raising the ISO.

Base Exposure

Base Exposure

5-shot HDR

5-shot HDR
2017-2-8
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OhOhDrone
lvl.4
Flight distance : 526076 ft
United States
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How do you figure out which five picture are part of the group? I tried taking some pictures but lost track of which ones are groups of 3 and 5. I was testing the AEB feature along with HDR so that is why I am asking if you found a way to figure out which pictures should be grouped together?
2017-2-8
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Logger
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2883714 ft
Australia
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That's interesting.   I use AEB 3 shots quite a bit. Just looking at mine, JPG & Raw and without exception they all report constant ISO with exposure and EV varying.  Be interesting to try a 5 vs 3 AEB to see it it behaves differently.  Also perhaps the behaviour you have reported is because of the relatively low light in your scene?  I am shooting with DJIGo4 Android too. Are you IOS or Android?
2017-2-8
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RearViewMirror
lvl.4
United States
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OhOhDrone Posted at 2017-2-8 15:10
How do you figure out which five picture are part of the group? I tried taking some pictures but lost track of which ones are groups of 3 and 5. I was testing the AEB feature along with HDR so that is why I am asking if you found a way to figure out which pictures should be grouped together?

Depends on the software you use. Adobe Lightroom it's pretty easy to see which shots are your bracketed shots. Not sure of the other software out there since I only use Lightroom to develop my photos. When I start a project I create a master folder (workflow you might say). I then title each sub folder with either the date, where the photo (photos) were taken, RAW photos, HDR RAW photos, and then an export folder. Takes a little time to set up but makes your workflow much easier to navigate.
2017-2-8
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RearViewMirror
lvl.4
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I should also add that I save everything on two separate external LaCie 1TB SSD drives and not on my MacBook for redundant backup. The connected SSD drives are just as fast as the SSD drive in my Mac so processing isn't slowed even though I'm running off an external drive. I've got a 1TB drive in my MacBook but I'm OCD about keeping storage clean, easily accessible,  and multiple copies.
2017-2-8
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RearViewMirror
lvl.4
United States
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HDR is fun to play around with though not very realistic. These pictures were taken on a completely cloudy day and with HDR the detail that you can pull out of a 3 (5 or 7) bracket is pretty astonishing. Of course our eyes could never distinguish the details but the camera and software can. There are some people that love HDR (I'm one of them) and some that hate HDR and I understand their rationale.

HDR Cloud 4 by T Productions, on Flickr

HDR Cloud 5 by T Productions, on Flickr
2017-2-8
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Ex Machina
Captain
Flight distance : 1806362 ft
United States
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OhOhDrone Posted at 2017-2-8 15:10
How do you figure out which five picture are part of the group? I tried taking some pictures but lost track of which ones are groups of 3 and 5. I was testing the AEB feature along with HDR so that is why I am asking if you found a way to figure out which pictures should be grouped together?

FWIW when I'm doing this sort of thing with my regular camera I'll take a bookend shot, typically my feet, to delimit the sets of shots. I guess you could do something similar in the air by shooting straight down to make it easier to see your sets.
2017-2-8
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Hefro

United States
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That's what I did, 1 shot straight down in between bracketed sets.
2017-2-8
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Logger
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2883714 ft
Australia
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Alternatively DJIGo4 identifies the bracketed shots a group, allowing you to download hi res copies to your mobile device. Simply hit the [>]  button on the bottom Right Hand corner of the screen while the Mavic is still connected to the RC.  The set will be displayed in the still album area in DJiGo as a single AEB group which you can downloaded with a single click to the device. You can then do as you please with them.  As I am on on Android the download feeds them on to Google Photos where the system recognises them as bracketed shots automatically and creates the HDR shot with no input from me.  



by blueskyted, on Flickr


by blueskyted, on Flickr


by blueskyted, on Flickr

by blueskyted, on Flickr
2017-2-9
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OhOhDrone
lvl.4
Flight distance : 526076 ft
United States
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RearViewMirror Posted at 2017-2-8 20:51
HDR is fun to play around with though not very realistic. These pictures were taken on a completely cloudy day and with HDR the detail that you can pull out of a 3 (5 or 7) bracket is pretty astonishing. Of course our eyes could never distinguish the details but the camera and software can. There are some people that love HDR (I'm one of them) and some that hate HDR and I understand their rationale.

[view_image]HDR Cloud 4 by T Productions, on Flickr

I personally like HDR myself. Don't really care what others think about it because I am using it for my own pleasure. So it is more important to make myself happy

Your cloud shots are amazing. I particularly like the Cloud 4 shot. Lots of detail.
2017-2-9
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OhOhDrone
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United States
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Ex Machina Posted at 2017-2-8 21:02
FWIW when I'm doing this sort of thing with my regular camera I'll take a bookend shot, typically my feet, to delimit the sets of shots. I guess you could do something similar in the air by shooting straight down to make it easier to see your sets.

Thanks man that is very good tip. I can use the 5D button to just pan all the way down and bookend it. I have not found a way in the software I use (Cyberlink Photo Director) to differentiate the different shots.
2017-2-9
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OhOhDrone
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Flight distance : 526076 ft
United States
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Logger Posted at 2017-2-9 01:54
Alternatively DJIGo4 identifies the bracketed shots a group, allowing you to download hi res copies to your mobile device. Simply hit the [>]  button on the bottom Right Hand corner of the screen while the Mavic is still connected to the RC.  The set will be displayed in the still album area in DJiGo as a single AEB group which you can downloaded with a single click to the device. You can then do as you please with them.  As I am on on Android the download feeds them on to Google Photos where the system recognises them as bracketed shots automatically and creates the HDR shot with no input from me.  

I will try that the next time I do it. Thanks for the tip.
2017-2-9
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RearViewMirror
lvl.4
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OhOhDrone Posted at 2017-2-9 08:07
I personally like HDR myself. Don't really care what others think about it because I am using it for my own pleasure. So it is more important to make myself happy

Your cloud shots are amazing. I particularly like the Cloud 4 shot. Lots of detail.

I agree. It's just another tool in the toolbox and it's there for you to use. Photos (along with any kind of art) are subjective and left for the individual to like or not. As long as "you" are happy with the finished product then that's all that matters. Unless of course you are working for someone else lol.

I like the Cloud 4 shot also. Seems funny you can take a shot of unremarkable white clouds and make them look otherworldly and ominous.
2017-2-9
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fans07daaa8d
lvl.1

United Kingdom
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In lightroom use Photo>Stacking>Auto Stack by capture time and set the limit to 5 seconds. Sorted.
2017-3-18
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DBOMfFQwoAKu
New
United States
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Logger Posted at 2017-2-8 20:32
That's interesting.   I use AEB 3 shots quite a bit. Just looking at mine, JPG & Raw and without exception they all report constant ISO with exposure and EV varying.  Be interesting to try a 5 vs 3 AEB to see it it behaves differently.  Also perhaps the behaviour you have reported is because of the relatively low light in your scene?  I am shooting with DJIGo4 Android too. Are you IOS or Android?

Hi,
How do you access the bracketing mode on the dji magic pro with the di go4 app? I tried long pressing the shutter button but i don;t get any options. I don't understand how to enter any of the photo modes. Please help. thanks!
2017-5-10
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Panoraw
lvl.1
Slovakia
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Hi all, how to set up AEB to -2 / 0 / +2 on P4P? I tried it with Litchi app but it looks same as -0.7 / 0 / +0.7
2017-9-22
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gnirtS
Captain
Flight distance : 5712575 ft
United Kingdom
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OhOhDrone Posted at 2017-2-8 15:10
How do you figure out which five picture are part of the group? I tried taking some pictures but lost track of which ones are groups of 3 and 5. I was testing the AEB feature along with HDR so that is why I am asking if you found a way to figure out which pictures should be grouped together?

Before a AEB or manual braket batch i move the gimbal to point directly down and snap a shot.  I do the same after it.

So i have (90 degree shot), 3 or 5 brackets (90 degree shot).  I do the same for a panorama sequence.  Its also what i do on land for those but i use the palm of my hand instead of pointing the camera 90 degrees down.

I find the fixed 0.66EV range for AEB too limiting.  Some times its not enough (especially if 3 image bracketing) so its fairly common i'll do a manual bracket of 1EV or more depending on conditions.  If its not too windy it works quite well.  Id love an option to maually set the EV spread for AEB.
Bracketing is fairly essential on the mavic as its dynamic range is terrible.



2017-9-22
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