Filming after dark?

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I want to film the Xmas display in our local park after sunset. I have preflown the route and saved it to my waypoints so I just need to operate the gimbal during flight time. Any ideas for camera settings on my P3A for night time shooting?
 
No, but to get an idea of what it might look like, here's one I did spur of the moment (gross amateur job, no previous planning, old fashioned gimbal) and I didn't change anything on my FC200:

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I tried to film once after dark but the ISO was so high it turned out really grainy when I watched it. If. I turned the ISO down, the image would get so dark I couldn't tell what I was filming. I dont have the answer but I hope someone can post here with some tips

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Video is very difficult at night. The X5 camera with micro 4/3 sensor has a really nice night time video capability with super high ISO support. The P4P will have great ISO support also with the 1" sensor. With a P3 you'd be better off taking a 1 second exposure photo, maybe 2 seconds. Those can look incredible from the air.

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I think it's best in auto mode. You can always adjust some in editing after the fact. I did this last year- auto mode. No problems.

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The best advice I could give, based on my photography experience, would be to try it during the blue hour, Much like the golden hour, the blue hour is a small window of opportunity – perhaps even shorter. In order to plan properly, you can visit bluehoursite.com where they have a handy calculator, allowing you to figure out exactly when the blue hour will occur – this works for both morning and evening twilight.
That's the best time to accent the Christmas display, and still be light enough to capture it on video. It will keep your ISO low and the lights will pop. That's what I intend to do myself. Like you did, I will be recording a waypoint mission, so I won't have any worries while filming the display. Our local display is along a lake and since I can't fly over the park it's in without a permit, I plan to fly along the edge of the lake.
Looking forward to your results.
 
Be careful with low light. Theses cameras do not do well with it. It's either full light or no light- no light assuming you're shooting lighted scenes in the dark. Low light is too poor to overcome. I have found that tweaking manual settings to film lighted scenes at night yields nothing better then simply leaving it on auto. I always adjust the brightnes/contrast in post edit and even saturation a bit. If you have sharpness adjusted for a softer picture during the day, remember to adjust it to default settings for night shots. Even with that, I usually add a notch of sharpness in post as well. Frame your shots close enough to fill out the screen a good deal with the display itself. Wide shots of a far away display at night will not be ideal. You want the lights of the display to rule the scene mostly, not wide dark shots. Hope all goes well for you!
 
The Blue hour will also give some background objects in the frame, depending on how you frame the shot. It should add detail vs lights with a black background. JMO.
 
I want to film the Xmas display in our local park after sunset. I have preflown the route and saved it to my waypoints so I just need to operate the gimbal during flight time. Any ideas for camera settings on my P3A for night time shooting?
Just remember the FAA rules. 1 Hour before sunrise to 1 Hour after sunset ONLY. You cannot fly at night unless you are a commercial pilot and have a waiver for night flying from the FAA.
 
Just remember the FAA rules. 1 Hour before sunrise to 1 Hour after sunset ONLY. You cannot fly at night unless you are a commercial pilot and have a waiver for night flying from the FAA.

If you are talking about recreational rules I don't see anywhere that the FAA restricts night flights
If you are talking about commercial part 107 rules you can fly during civil twilight which is 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise however you need anti collision lights that are visible for a minimum of 3 statute miles.
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I tried lighted hot air balloons, similar to Christmas lights. Its dark, they are blinking, but they are just BIGGER bulbs. :D I tried a few settings folks suggested, and tried to tinker with my own. This is straight up auto mode. Turned out the best of all.

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I think it's best in auto mode. You can always adjust some in editing after the fact. I did this last year- auto mode. No problems.

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Loved the video you have made shockwave, Greetings from UK
 

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