NikonGear'23
Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: simato73 on September 24, 2018, 19:34:41
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Having a normal camera and an underwater one, the next obvious step was getting an airborne one.
I have been waiting for something that would be portable enough for a long hike, with sufficient image quality, at the reasonable price.
The Mavic 2 Pro is the first model that meets all my requirements so I took the dive.
These are from the first real flight, but I was more focused on learning how to operate it safely than taking photos.
I have nothing that processes the RAW files, it's a very new camera, so these are OOC jpg's.
I feel I have just scratched the surface, these images are only quick shots and there is so much improvement possible, nonetheless I am excited by the different views I got.
This thing feels like a complete game changer for me.
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Great i like it.
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Great i like it.
Thank you Fons
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looks very good for a first attempt
the 3 D is well underlined by the small valleys
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Congratulations! I does seem like Mavic 2 is a mature Drone series, and the Pro really looks attractive at the price-point also ;)
And what is healthy for the nerves to fly around with :D
Fist shot really has this aerial vantage point where you really did amazing with the tree trunk shadow, very special,,, I like it a lot.
You and JA flying the same setup now 8) these just want me even more to jump at it,,,
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looks very good for a first attempt
the 3 D is well underlined by the small valleys
Thanks Thomas.
A few more from today's after work practice.
Taken from a little hill overlooking my village.
I have found the command for bracketing the shots :)
But I still get overblown highlights on the white monument ("White Nancy"), at least in jpg.
We'lll see when I can edit the DNG files, for the moment they are unused.
I have to practice more, and learn how to make use of the smart flight modes.
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Congratulations! I does seem like Mavic 2 is a mature Drone series, and the Pro really looks attractive at the price-point also ;)
And what is healthy for the nerves to fly around with :D
Fist shot really has this aerial vantage point where you really did amazing with the tree trunk shadow, very special,,, I like it a lot.
You and JA flying the same setup now 8) these just want me even more to jump at it,,,
Cheers Erik! (cross-posted)
PS By all means Erik, do get one.
It is not expensive, at least compared to most of your other photography equipment, and it is fun and different.
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basic drohne training ( in German, but it should go easily through translators https://www.kopter-profi.de/media/praktisches_flugtraining_drohnen.pdf (https://www.kopter-profi.de/media/praktisches_flugtraining_drohnen.pdf)
it is from a site where you can make your drohne license which is necessary having more than 0.25kg mass or using it professional in D
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basic drohne training ( in German, but it should go easily through translators https://www.kopter-profi.de/media/praktisches_flugtraining_drohnen.pdf (https://www.kopter-profi.de/media/praktisches_flugtraining_drohnen.pdf)
it is from a site where you can make your drohne license which is necessary having more than 0.25kg mass or using it professional in D
Thanks, before buying I have read carefully the UK law, which appears to be much more amateur friendly.
Non-commercial users can use aircraft that are up to 8 kg in weight without needing any license.
There is absolutely no distinction between photographt drones and other model aircraft (of course all privacy regulations regarding photography also apply) and technically no third party liability insurance is mandated, although I have purchased one joining the BMFA (British Model Flying Association), in addition to the one covering accidental damage to the drone (most of the time this is self-inflicted).
The law in my country (Italy) is very similar to the UK and I have already made sure the BMFA insurance covers me there too, as in the rest of Europe.
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Looks promising, Simone!
The camera seems to meter pretty well, so it would be safe to look forward to processing the DNG files.
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Looks promising, Simone!
The camera seems to meter pretty well, so it would be safe to look forward to processing the DNG files.
I expect a lot more exposure latitude from the DNG.
The JPGs seem a bit too hot (see images from the first day) and I have started bracketing (3 shots, 0.7 EV steps), but I think next time I'll also lower the exposure by 0.3 EV across the board. As it stands, the top of the exposure range is always blown out massively.
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The images are very interesting and sounds like a lot of fun too. Congratulations on your new toy. I´ll keep an eye on your posts and those from JA.
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Enjoying your images Simone and good luck with the DNG processing when the tools become available to you.
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A word of friendly warning from a fellow sufferer: model aircraftism is a highly addictive condition that is almost worse than photography and cannot be gotten rid of - it takes on the proportions of a life long disease. Your BMFA membership indicates to me that you are now irretrieveably afflicted! ;D ;D ;D
Thanks, before buying I have read carefully the UK law, which appears to be much more amateur friendly.
Non-commercial users can use aircraft that are up to 8 kg in weight without needing any license.
There is absolutely no distinction between photographt drones and other model aircraft (of course all privacy regulations regarding photography also apply) and technically no third party liability insurance is mandated, although I have purchased one joining the BMFA (British Model Flying Association), in addition to the one covering accidental damage to the drone (most of the time this is self-inflicted).
The law in my country (Italy) is very similar to the UK and I have already made sure the BMFA insurance covers me there too, as in the rest of Europe.
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Enjoying your images Simone and good luck with the DNG processing when the tools become available to you.
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A word of friendly warning from a fellow sufferer: model aircraftism is a highly addictive condition that is almost worse than photography and cannot be gotten rid of - it takes on the proportions of a life long disease. Your BMFA membership indicates to me that you are now irretrieveably afflicted! ;D ;D ;D
I have to admit that flying the drone gives me an unexpected adrenaline kick ;D
Maybe because I am still so afraid of crashing it.
Regarding the DNG processing, I discovered that Capture One Pro doesn't like the DNG files because the Make exif information says it is a Hasselblad camera - they are in competition with Hasselblad and refuse to process raw files generated by a competing system.
It does not matter that this is not a medium format sensor, how silly of Capture One.
But not all is lost because:
1) there is an ongoing feature request campaign to enable RAW files from the Mavic 2, and I have contributed to that
2) more importantly, if one changes the Make tag from Hasselblad to DJI the files can be processed in CO11. Off the ExifTool script goes... now all my files are editable :)
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I expect a lot more exposure latitude from the DNG.
The JPGs seem a bit too hot (see images from the first day) and I have started bracketing (3 shots, 0.7 EV steps), but I think next time I'll also lower the exposure by 0.3 EV across the board. As it stands, the top of the exposure range is always blown out massively.
I agree, looks like it could also do with a lot of added clearity and or contrast also - Still the first image is a showcase of how these Drones are game changers, wonderful image!
I would fly a bit to the left to have the bright tree top against the shadow of the hill side, it would bring out the tree a little better ;) anyway I like it and it inspires to do more!
These drones offer an almost completely free vantagepoint and the ability to change that vantagepoint almost instantly, amazing new technology!
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I agree, looks like it could also do with a lot of added clearity and or contrast also - Still the first image is a showcase of how these Drones are game changers, wonderful image!
I would fly a bit to the left to have the bright tree top against the shadow of the hill side, it would bring out the tree a little better ;) anyway I like it and it inspires to do more!
These drones offer an almost completely free vantagepoint and the ability to change that vantagepoint almost instantly, amazing new technology!
I agree on all you say.
Now that the problem od editing the DNG seems solved, I will have much more control on the look of the images.
This just reminded how reductuve it is to work with JPG's :)
Regarding the framing, agree it was not perfect, but the operator was (is) still inexperienced and fine positioning the drone was not easy that day, the remote control was constantly flashing red angry HIGH WINDS warnings at me.
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The images are interesting because of the unusual viewpoint, and the technology itself is interesting but let's be frank about your (admittedly early) results. They are interesting, but I have seen you produce vastly better images when standing on your own two feet. My feeling about drones is that they will turn out to be a short-lived phenomenon where photography is concerned. I think most owner/operators will quickly tire of the constant elevated viewpoint, and the viewers/consumers of the images will tire even more quickly.
I can see great possibilities for science - geology, archaeology, agriculture - all the land sciences - and of course for crime, but for photography? The best I can say is that I'm not sure.
Do you have a live video feed? If not, how do you decide when to shoot?
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I was thinking for architecture mostly ;)
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The images are interesting because of the unusual viewpoint, and the technology itself is interesting but let's be frank about your (admittedly early) results. They are interesting, but I have seen you produce vastly better images when standing on your own two feet. My feeling about drones is that they will turn out to be a short-lived phenomenon where photography is concerned. I think most owner/operators will quickly tire of the constant elevated viewpoint, and the viewers/consumers of the images will tire even more quickly.
I can see great possibilities for science - geology, archaeology, agriculture - all the land sciences - and of course for crime, but for photography? The best I can say is that I'm not sure.
Do you have a live video feed? If not, how do you decide when to shoot?
I do have a live video feed and I can choose when to take a picture and where to point the camera.
The images so far are certainly not phenomenal, I am the first to agree, but it's very early days and for the moment I am more concerned with keeping control of the drone and figuring out the overall operation.
When this will be more ingrained I will have more time and brainpower to dedicate to the photographic process.
I have come to realize that the seemingly effortless act of taking pictures is actually a complex series of technical and creative decisions and at the moment I feel like I am not firing on all cylinders, so to speak.
As for aerial photography being a short lived fad, I disagree.
As with all types of photography there will be soon the cliched stereotypes, yes, but the fact remains that being able to move the camera in 3D instead of essentially 2D opens up massively the opportunities.
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I revisited a few images after being able to edit to the DNG files, as previously described.
I am so glad that I am not stuck with JPG's only!
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There is quite a stir online about the Mavic 2 Pro, the image is down-sampled in firmware, should be high enough quality for video DJI claim, the only way they say or the on board computer will suffer/overheat,,,
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There is quite a stir online about the Mavic 2 Pro, the image is down-sampled in firmware, should be high enough quality for video DJI claim, the only way they say or the on board computer will suffer/overheat,,,
I don't go much online, so I know nothing of that, I am not sure I even understand what this means...
For what it's worth, I have made a few 4K videos, and even though I found them cool (even with my obvious lack of piloting and cinematographic skills), this is not what I am interested in.
I am interested mainly in stills, and the camera does a good enough job for me.
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Her is the text
“Mavic 2 Pro uses a different processor than P4P and has two 4K modes, as stated on the product page, which are FOV mode and HQ mode. FOV mode has a wider view but less details than HQ mode. FOV mode’s image processing requires raw subsampling, which scales 5.5K raw into 4K raw before feeding it to the image processing pipeline.Raw subsampling is different from line skipping; it uses the full area (of the 16:9 portion) of the image sensor so the signal-noise-ratio is much better than line skipping. Raw subsampling is also different from pixel binning. It is an optimized filtering & sampling process which is much more advanced than the simple average mechanism of pixel binning. Raw subsampling causes some loss in the finest details. However, this is not as visible in real scenes (like aerial filming) as it is on charts.
DJI looked into many solutions for implementing FOV and found that the current FOV mode is the best compromise for the Mavic 2 hardware. Please remember the Mavic 2 is an extremely complex and compact piece of hardware. The current solution represents the best possible way to enable filming using the full 1” sensor wide angle area FOV on the Mavic 2 hardware.”
and link
https://dronedj.com/2018/09/25/mavic-2-pro-pixel-binning-line-skipping-dji-official-response/
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Her is the text
“Mavic 2 Pro uses a different processor than P4P and has two 4K modes, as stated on the product page, which are FOV mode and HQ mode. FOV mode has a wider view but less details than HQ mode. FOV mode’s image processing requires raw subsampling, which scales 5.5K raw into 4K raw before feeding it to the image processing pipeline.Raw subsampling is different from line skipping; it uses the full area (of the 16:9 portion) of the image sensor so the signal-noise-ratio is much better than line skipping. Raw subsampling is also different from pixel binning. It is an optimized filtering & sampling process which is much more advanced than the simple average mechanism of pixel binning. Raw subsampling causes some loss in the finest details. However, this is not as visible in real scenes (like aerial filming) as it is on charts.
DJI looked into many solutions for implementing FOV and found that the current FOV mode is the best compromise for the Mavic 2 hardware. Please remember the Mavic 2 is an extremely complex and compact piece of hardware. The current solution represents the best possible way to enable filming using the full 1” sensor wide angle area FOV on the Mavic 2 hardware.”
and link
https://dronedj.com/2018/09/25/mavic-2-pro-pixel-binning-line-skipping-dji-official-response/
I confess that when it comes to video image quality I am nowhere near as discerning as I am for stills image quality.
Still, I am sticking to FOV mode because of the wider field of view.
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Stunning images, Simone.
I am slowly but surely getting hooked to buying a drone :)
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Stunning images, Simone.
I am slowly but surely getting hooked to buying a drone :)
Thanks :)
I do recommend it, it's lots of fun!
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Impressive IQ, IMO. Like you, stills are my interest, which is not to throw shade on those that shoot video, just not my thing.
I am looking forward to seeing more from your drone, Simone! 8)
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The DNG images look noticeably better, which makes them more enjoyable. Thank you for sharing!
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The DNG images look noticeably better, which makes them more enjoyable. Thank you for sharing!
I seem to have missed to thank you for your comment, Akira.
Much appreciated.
Impressive IQ, IMO. Like you, stills are my interest, which is not to throw shade on those that shoot video, just not my thing.
I am looking forward to seeing more from your drone, Simone! 8)
I am happy to do your bidding :)
There are other shots also in this thread, if you haven't seen it already:
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,8015.0.html (http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,8015.0.html)
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Some good stuff there, Simone (even I have to admit) - especially when the only alternative is hiring a helicopter at £1000 per hour.
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Spectacular images, you seem to have a great ability to vision the view.
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Thank you David and Erik.
There is still lots of room for improvement, but now that I am spending less of my mental faculties flying the drone (starting to develop some muscle memory) I am finding that finding good images from above is not that different or more difficult than the usual way.
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The last outing, yesterday, was to South Stack lighthouse near Holyhead, Wales.
I went to shoot the setting moon behind the lighthouse, but clouds spoiled everything.
I still got some decent shots with the drone to save the day.
Will go there for another moonset before Christmas.
Jpeg SOOC, haven't had yet the time to edit them.
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The last outing, yesterday, was to South Stack lighthouse near Holyhead, Wales.
I went to shoot the setting moon behind the lighthouse, but clouds spoiled everything.
I still got some decent shots with the drone to save the day.
Will go there for another moonset before Christmas.
Jpeg SOOC, haven't had yet the time to edit them.
Amazing shots, both right from above and utilizing the exaggerated perspective. The subject itself is attractive as well. Surely your technique is improving!
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Amazing shots, both right from above and utilizing the exaggerated perspective. The subject itself is attractive as well. Surely your technique is improving!
Thanks Akira, very kind.
Conditions were not optimal, strong wind and flat light, but the location has huge potential and I will go back, even if it is a fairly long drive from home.
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Truly spectacular, Simone!
Have you stopped making ground photos :)
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Spectacular point of suits the subject. Really cool images. The long tortuose road has some spiritual Initiation flavor to it.
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A few from near home, on the winter solstice.
1. Former quarry at Tegg's Nose.
2. Looking south from Tegg's Nose toward Shutingsloe
3. I work in the bright white industrial estate near the top of the image.
4. Sunset at Tegg's Nose
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Definitely a new dimension for landscape photography.
I mean from the ground of course.
I was said that despite their technical features a drone can easily be lost.
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Definitely a new dimension for landscape photography.
I mean from the ground of course.
I was said that despite their technical features a drone can easily be lost.
Thank you Francis.
With the newer models it is far more difficult to lose them, they have added new valuable features.
In mine, if radio contact with the remote is lost for more than 2 seconds, an automated "return to home" procedure begins, whereby the drone returns to where it started (as recorded by the GPS). The only problem is if you have moved in the meantime, especially grave if you are in a boat (it means it will land in water!)
I only lost radio contact once and the procedure performed flawlessly.
The previous model did not have this feature and there were numerous cases of "flyaways" that I heard of in video blogs.