Where the is HDR mode?

[Tommygun45]

Well this is annoying. I finally found the HDR mode on my Mavic and it works wonderfully. No more blown highlights. The files are manageable in lightroom and I can make some great images. Now I bought a P4 Pro and there is no HDR mode. Instead I get a bracketing mode. But for the love of me I can't really tell what the **** this mode is doing. When I shoot 5 brackets I get three brackets that are slightly underexposed and two brackets that are slightly over exposed. The trick is all of them have the same exposure settings. Same F Stop, shutter speed and ISO. I cant tell what the camera is doing. Merging images with the same exposure values is pointless. Essentially sometimes I get 5 pictures that are exposed to two different levels. Other times it just takes the same exact picture 5 times in a row.

I see people here saying they simply do this manually, so then I have to ask, what the **** is wrong with DJI? Why is the auto exposure bracketing mode so inept? This isn't rocket science. Every camera I have used the past 5 years can easily take multiple exposures with different values. I am fine editing them and merging them myself but what is going on here?

 

[ravedog]

I have resorted to manually dropping and raising the exposure +/- 2 stops and taking them manually. You're right it's ludicrous that we cannot change the stops more than 0.7.

 

[ryantrax]

No need to do it manually, I've run into the same issue with my DSLR when bracketing, just drop the ISO as low as you can. Just ran into this today when doing a job because it was so sunny out the shutter couldn't go fast enough to get the over exposed photo so it was essentially the same photo twice then the under exposed photo. Easiest way to fix it is to close down your aperture (larger number) so you can get that under exposed shot. I do bracketing shots even with the Mavic and my Inspire 1 Pro because I like being able to fine tune everything on the computer.

 

[ravedog]

If you bracket by changing the aperture then you are changing the depth of field. The only way to bracket is to have a fixed aperture and change the shutter speed. I strongly disagree with your logic. From someone who has taken thousands of images with his DSLR.

 

[ravedog]

The dynamic range of the P4P or any DJI is really not great. Bracketing with larger stops is the only way to get a better range especially when dealing with a subject that's got a lot of highlights and deep shadows.

 

[sar104]

An alternative is just to shoot in RAW or RAW + JPEG format. The sensor has at least 12 bit resolution, as opposed to 8 bit JPEG, and you can recover a significant amount of extra information from a RAW file. The in camera JPEG may saturate highlights that the sensor actually resolved.

 

[Meta4]

Instead I get a bracketing mode. But for the love of me I can't really tell what the **** this mode is doing.
When I shoot 5 brackets I get three brackets that are slightly underexposed and two brackets that are slightly over exposed.
The trick is all of them have the same exposure settings. Same F Stop, shutter speed and ISO. I cant tell what the camera is doing.
Merging images with the same exposure values is pointless. Essentially sometimes I get 5 pictures that are exposed to two different levels. Other times it just takes the same exact picture 5 times in a row.

I see people here saying they simply do this manually, so then I have to ask, what the **** is wrong with DJI? Why is the auto exposure bracketing mode so inept? This isn't rocket science. Every camera I have used the past 5 years can easily take multiple exposures with different values. I am fine editing them and merging them myself but what is going on here?

If your images had exactly the same exposure settings, you wouldn't have some under or over exposed.

When there was a built-in HDR feature in the earlier Phantoms, it wasn't worth using.
But AEB bracketing is easy to use.
This bracket of 3 shows what it does:

The exposure details are different for each frame.
If you shoot AEB 5 you would get two more shots that are + or - 1.4 stops.

 

[ravedog]

Agreed about raw. That's all I shoot. However coming from using a Sony A7R II, it's definitely a much more limited sensor. For those who wish to expand that range a bit, we bracket and post process. DJI has added the ability to bracket but unlike any other digital camera, has limited the stop range in a fixed way. That's the gist of the OP and mines argument. There's no reason why they couldn't allow the user to choose the range and or number of shots. It's extremely crippled in its current implementation.

This is not an argument for how someone needs or does HDR or increasing the dynamic range of their photography or whether they should, it's more simple than that. Just implement bracketing like a DSLR and give the user that ability to do what they chose with it. It's merely programming.

For me I want at least 2 stop range when bracketing (or adjustable number of stops) and I have to achieve this my shooting one shot a time with manual exposure adjustments.

 

[ryantrax]

If you bracket by changing the aperture then you are changing the depth of field. The only way to bracket is to have a fixed aperture and change the shutter speed. I strongly disagree with your logic. From someone who has taken thousands of images with his DSLR.

That's why I said you have to close the aperture you have to be in a aperture priority mode in order to do an HDR photo properly.

 

[ravedog]

Then I misunderstood. I thought you were suggesting bracketing by adjusting aperture. My bad.

 

[ryantrax]

Then I misunderstood. I thought you were suggesting bracketing by adjusting aperture. My bad.

No the aperture needs to be fixed. Changing the aperture in order to do an HDR photo would cause blurry photos.