Jump to content

need help from some of those camera experts on the forum

so my phantom 3 photos and videos look a little washed out and bright. so i am looking at filters on dji website they have uv nd4 nd8 nd16 filters. first off what the difference between uv and nd. second whats the difference in the numbers on the nd filters. third what would you guys suggest getting.

Edited by Godlygamer23

Project Iridium:   CPU: Intel 4820K   CPU Cooler: Custom Loop  Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Black Edition   RAM: Avexir Blitz  Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD and Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD   GPU: Asus 780 6GB Strix   Case: IN WIN 909   PSU: Corsair RM1000      Project Iridium build log http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/451088-project-iridium-build-log/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

just to give you an example this is a photo i took over the summer the grass does not look as vibrant as it does irl and the baseball diamond was darker irl

post-116840-0-28954500-1450228004_thumb.

Project Iridium:   CPU: Intel 4820K   CPU Cooler: Custom Loop  Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Black Edition   RAM: Avexir Blitz  Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD and Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD   GPU: Asus 780 6GB Strix   Case: IN WIN 909   PSU: Corsair RM1000      Project Iridium build log http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/451088-project-iridium-build-log/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would consult @ALwin, but my knowledge of this is that a ND filter's purpose is to reduce the intensity of light that goes through it. This may fix your problem, but you may simply want to increase the saturation of your images in post...

I doubt the camera on the drone is having problems with metering, or the exposure of your images...

 

Just playing around with it for 5 min in Photoshop, I managed to get this:

 

I ended up increasing the contrast, and saturation, and maybe fiddling with the lightness and brightness.

post-235858-0-21081800-1450229950.jpg

So thanks for reading guys, if this post sucked, I'm not sure what you can do, but if you liked it, go 'head and hit that like button, or maybe add me as a friend. Otherwise, go subscribe to LinusTechTips on YouTube, follow them on Twitch, follow @LinusTech on Twitter, and support them by using their affiliate code on Amazon, buying a cool T-shirt, or supporting them directly on this community forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would consult @ALwin, but my knowledge of this is that a ND filter's purpose is to reduce the intensity of light that goes through it. This may fix your problem, but you may simply want to increase the saturation of your images in post...

I doubt the camera on the drone is having problems with metering, or the exposure of your images...

 

Just playing around with it for 5 min in Photoshop, I managed to get this:

problem is i dont have photoshop (i dont want to pirate it) also this maybe a stupid question but what about video can i edit to make it look a little less washed out 

Project Iridium:   CPU: Intel 4820K   CPU Cooler: Custom Loop  Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Black Edition   RAM: Avexir Blitz  Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD and Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD   GPU: Asus 780 6GB Strix   Case: IN WIN 909   PSU: Corsair RM1000      Project Iridium build log http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/451088-project-iridium-build-log/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

There are free programs such as gimp that offer nearly all the features of photoshop and are free.

UV and ND filters wouldn't help that current photo issue. The biggest issue there is that the dynamic range of cameras is much lower than the human eye so everything can't be properly exposed all at once. Cheaper cameras and smaller cheaper optics make these problems worse.

Edit: You can edit videos to fix a lot of exposure issues as well. I'm not sure of any free or low cost programs that will let you work with color grading though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

There are free programs such as gimp that offer nearly all the features of photoshop and are free.

UV and ND filters wouldn't help that current photo issue. The biggest issue there is that the dynamic range of cameras is much lower than the human eye so everything can't be properly exposed all at once. Cheaper cameras and smaller cheaper optics make these problems worse.

Edit: You can edit videos to fix a lot of exposure issues as well. I'm not sure of any free or low cost programs that will let you work with color grading though.

There are lots of free image editors. I often use Pixlr, an online editor for quick stuff... Either way, for video, I am currently using DaVinci Resolve 12 Beta, which is totally free, and is a very popular and powerful program for video editing and color correction. 

So thanks for reading guys, if this post sucked, I'm not sure what you can do, but if you liked it, go 'head and hit that like button, or maybe add me as a friend. Otherwise, go subscribe to LinusTechTips on YouTube, follow them on Twitch, follow @LinusTech on Twitter, and support them by using their affiliate code on Amazon, buying a cool T-shirt, or supporting them directly on this community forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

From the looks of the example you gave, a filter will not change it. It simply looks like the files produce are made to be processed. the lower contrast helps allot when it come to dynamic range, but the un edited pictures will always look a bit washed out. This is what it looks like when processed in lightroom. I also highly recommend adobe lightroom as a photo editor. At $9 a month its well worth the price. The photography package also includes photoshop.

 

WT38Zdp.jpg

Case: Phanteks Evolve X with ITX mount  cpu: Ryzen 3900X 4.35ghz all cores Motherboard: MSI X570 Unify gpu: EVGA 1070 SC  psu: Phanteks revolt x 1200W Memory: 64GB Kingston Hyper X oc'd to 3600mhz ssd: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1TB ITX System CPU: 4670k  Motherboard: some cheap asus h87 Ram: 16gb corsair vengeance 1600mhz

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'll reply when I get to my office.

Guide: DSLR or Video camera?, Guide: Film/Photo makers' useful resources, Guide: Lenses, a quick primer

Nikon D4, Nikon D800E, Fuji X-E2, Canon G16, Gopro Hero 3+, iPhone 5s. Hasselblad 500C/M, Sony PXW-FS7

ICT Consultant, Photographer, Video producer, Scuba diver and underwater explorer, Nature & humanitarian documentary producer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

It is totally fine. The image is just flat, which makes it easier to edit the image.

After a bit tweaking in Camera Raw it looks like this

1GbvDYH.jpg 

 

If you dont want to spend money for software you could use gimp for photos and Resolve for videos. Just increase the contrast a bit and add some saturation. 

 

UV and ND filters won't help. The only filter which could help under certain conditions is a polarizing filter, but you can not use it on a drone because you have to rotate it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizing_filter_(photography)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

so my phantom 3 photos and videos look a little washed out and bright. so i am looking at filters on dji website they have uv nd4 nd8 nd16 filters. first off what the difference between uv and nd. second whats the difference in the numbers on the nd filters. third what would you guys suggest getting.

 

UV filters: their purpose is to reduce the amount of UV light reaching the camera sensor.  But modern cameras tend to already have a filter just above the sensor that blocks UV light and the lenses tend to have nano coatings that also have the same effect.  UV filters on modern cameras these days serve only as a protection filter, and even then many do not use it for that purpose.

 

ND (Neutral Density) filters: are to reduce light coming into the camera.  The numbers next to the filter indicate how many stops of light they reduce.  ND filters are used when the camera doesn't have a fast enough shutter speed, to help in taking long exposure photos and there is another type of ND filter called Graduated ND which is mostly used by landscape photographers.  Film makers also use ND filters because when recording video you might not be using fast shutter speeds like 1/500th of a second.  So a ND filter helps.  The general rule of thumb is, the higher a number a ND filter has the more stops of light it reduces.  However different manufacturers use a different numbering system.  Some use like the ones you found, N4 ND8 ND16, others use decimals 0.3 0.6 0.9 while others use fractions 1/4 1/16 1/64.  I have just listed the numbers in order of increased reduction in light.

 

Polarising filters: In your case it's not needed.  And you can't use it anyway.  Polarising filters can be used for two primary purposes.  The first is to assist in making the blue sky appear more saturated, if used correctly.  The second is to reduce reflections that may appear when taking photos of (for example) buildings with a lot of glass panel windows.

 

To me it looks like your photo was taken on a overcast day. Judging by the photo you posted, it appears that it is slightly under exposed.  

 

I can't say with 100% certainty why the camera might be underexposing.  It can be for a variety of reasons, such as the metering system in the camera is slightly off, or it is the scene that is causing the camera to miscalculate whatever shutter speed ISO and aperture (if aperture can be adjusted) combination it thinks is correct.

 

To get a better photo, you should either set your camera to compensate the exposure by a third or two thirds of a stop, up to a maximum of 1 stop above.  Or in post processing just slide the exposure slider a bit to the right.  And then you adjust other sliders from there to get the photo you want.

 

The camera, any digital camera's exposure metering system is accurate to within a very tiny margin of error for roughly 95% of the time.  However there are some instances when you have to manually dial in an exposure compensation into the camera. One such example is when taking photos of a landscape full of snow.  Snow is white and it can reflect back a lot of light which can throw the camera's exposure meter off.  My general rule for taking photos of snow is to over expose by maximum 1 stop.

Guide: DSLR or Video camera?, Guide: Film/Photo makers' useful resources, Guide: Lenses, a quick primer

Nikon D4, Nikon D800E, Fuji X-E2, Canon G16, Gopro Hero 3+, iPhone 5s. Hasselblad 500C/M, Sony PXW-FS7

ICT Consultant, Photographer, Video producer, Scuba diver and underwater explorer, Nature & humanitarian documentary producer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

By the way, if this is the drone and camera you are using, the sample photos they show on the website are not very flattering.  They'd have a hard time convincing me to buy one.

http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-3-pro

 

This photo looks over processed.

 

img4-2.jpg

 

But the video looks nice, though I want to see the metadata.

 

 

There's been some cases where a camera manufacturer hires an advertising/marketing agency to create sample videos and images for their products, and the agency instead of using the product to capture the photos and videos, uses the cameras that their staff have.

Guide: DSLR or Video camera?, Guide: Film/Photo makers' useful resources, Guide: Lenses, a quick primer

Nikon D4, Nikon D800E, Fuji X-E2, Canon G16, Gopro Hero 3+, iPhone 5s. Hasselblad 500C/M, Sony PXW-FS7

ICT Consultant, Photographer, Video producer, Scuba diver and underwater explorer, Nature & humanitarian documentary producer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Polarising filters: In your case it's not needed.  And you can't use it anyway.  Polarising filters can be used for two primary purposes.  The first is to assist in making the blue sky appear more saturated, if used correctly.  The second is to reduce reflections that may appear when taking photos of (for example) buildings with a lot of glass panel windows.

 

Plants will also appear greener and the streets will be darker if the angle between camera and sun is right

 

Snow is white and it can reflect back a lot of light which can throw the camera's exposure meter off.  My general rule for taking photos of snow is to over expose by maximum 1 stop.

 

 

Wut? It is not the amount! Exposure meters are aiming for an average exposure of 18% neutral grey. 

A shot of a white sheet of paper looks pretty much like 18% gray without exposure correction.

ZMO3yCh.jpg

 

It is a bit darker than 18% because there are brightener in the paper and exposure meters are not always accurate. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Either way, for video, I am currently using DaVinci Resolve 12 Beta, which is totally free, and is a very popular and powerful program for video editing and color correction.

Hahahaha yes, Resolve is awesome! I deliberately didn't mention it because I have the pro version at the media group I work with and I know it's $1000 and OP said he didn't want to spend money. I totally forgot the base software (which does everything you could want) is free!

Get it here: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/compare

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×