DJI Mavic Pro is capable of capturing professional-looking footage for the user without easily using any complex high-tech tools. Also, the user is capable of changing camera settings according to their needs and capturing footage as they wish.
Even though DJI Auto camera settings are impressive, the user needs to set them manually to capture professional-looking footage as they prefer and ease post-production. So in this article, we desire to talk about what are the best DJI Mavic Pro camera settings for photography and videography.
Best DJI Mavic Pro Camera Settings
In this section, we would first have an overview of what are the best DJI Mavic Pro camera settings, then we would talk detailed about important camera settings for photography and videography.
Aperture Settings
Enter camera settings and tap on the aperture icon and enter the aperture settings. Then change the Aperture settings from Auto to Manual.
| Aperture Settings | Value |
| ISO | 100 (Night-time Max- 400) |
| Shutter Speed | 24fps-50 / 30fps- 60 |
| EV | 0 |
ISO
ISO is the tool that can digitally brighten the shot. The higher the ISO value the more disturbing noises would be visible.
- The ideal value for ISO is 100. If you are filming at night time, choose value 100-400.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed decides how long the sensor should expose to the light. Higher the shutter speed more clear and crisp the images are. Low shutter speed causes blurry and unclear images. Follow the below formula to choose the correct shutter speed according to your frame rate.
Shutter speed = 2 X Frame rate.
- Choose the closest value to that as the shutter speed. (Ex: If you chose 24fps, choose 50 as the shutter speed.)
EV
- If the EV value is negative the image would look dark and if the EV value is positive the image would look bright. So the optimum value for EV would be 0.
Advanced Camera Settings
Tap on the video icon on the camera settings menu and enter the advanced settings.
| Advanced Settings | Value |
| Video Size | 3840 X 2160 | 30fps |
| Video Format | PC users choose MP4/ Mac users should choose MOV |
| NTSC/PAL | if you are in North America choose NTSC. Choose PAL if you shoot the drone shot in Europe or any other part of the world. |
| White Balance | Auto/ Choose according to the weather of the day. |
| Style | Custom (Sharpness: -1 , Contrast: -1 , Saturation: 0) |
| Color | None |
Video Size
You can choose different video sizes. Choose the video quality as high resolution as possible.
- Cinema 4k (4096 X 2016): This setting creates black bars because its screen ratio doesn’t fit with a 16:9 screen. You can only have a 24fps frame rate option if you choose this option. So you have to move the drone smoothly to take the drone shot.
- Ulta HD (3840 X 2160): Fits with a 16:9 ratio screen. So no black bars. Also, This offers 24fps and 30fps frame rates.
- 2.7K (2720 X 1530): If you can’t handle the 4K file size but you still need to have a quality drone shot, choose this quality.
Video Format
Both video formats are just video data containers and must be chosen according to the OS you are using.
- If you are using windows supported post-production software, choose “MP4”.
- If you are using Mac or IOS application for post-production choose “MOV”. Which was designed by Apple.
NTSC/PAL
Both are regional encoding systems. The NTSC is the North American Standard and PAL is used in Europe and many other parts as well. So choose the option according to your location.
- if you choose PAL, you won’t be able to choose the 30fps option in Ultra HD video size. Instead, you can choose 24fps or 25fps.
- If you planning on filming indoors with lights turned on or streets with street lights, you definitely should choose the right regional encoding system. Else bad and heavily visible flicker would ruin the shot.
White Balance
It’s so much important to choose a white balance to reduce the amount of work that needs to be on post-production. This setting can differ from day to day, so it’s better to set this setting before the shot (if it is not Auto). Use Auto white balance or pre-set profiles.
- Sunny/ Cloudy/ Incandescent/ Fluorescent: These options are set with the perfect white balance for those weather and situations. Choose one of them according to the weather and environment you are in.
- Custom: By choosing custom, you can customize the white balance according to the value. Higher the value, the warmer the footage gonna be. Lower the value, the cooler the footage going to be.
Style
Customizing this would help you to reduce some workload from post-production. If you are fine with pre-set style profiles which are Standard, Landscape, and Soft, you can use them.
- If you choose “Custom”, you can change the sharpness, contrast, and saturation as you expect.
- Sharpness: Recommended value is -1. Changes the digital sharpness.
- Contrast: Recommended value -1. A higher contrast value would lose details of the shot and look black. This could vary according to the location.
- Saturation: Recommended value 0. Changes the temperature of the footage.
Color
There are several color profiles on this menu. Which are D-Cinelike, D-Log, TrueColor, and Film-A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I. D-Cinelike and D-Log are professional color profiles compared to other profiles. Both of them flatten the look of the footage preserving many details.
- I think you should stick with the None color profile if you don’t do any post-production process. If you do, choose D-Cinelike.
Extended Settings
Click on the gear icon on the menu and enter extended settings.
| Extended Settings | Value |
| Histogram | Enable |
| Front LEDs Auto Turn off | Enable |
| Over Exposure Warning | Enable |
| Grid | Grid Lines |
| Anti Flicker | Europe- 50Hz/ North American Standards- 60Hz |
| File index mode | Continuous |
Histogram
The histogram should be always enabled. This luminosity histogram shows the overall brightness of the shot. Usually, our goal is to set up settings to bring histogram graphs peaks to the mid of the histogram.
- If there are many peaks on the left side of the histogram, the shot is underexposed and too dark. If there are many peaks on the right side of the histogram, the shot is overexposed and too bright.
Anti-Flicker
This setting is important to ensure flicker-free drone shots when filming indoor lights, electrical lights, and street lights. Please don’t leave this in Auto, this could cause flickery night drone shots.
- Choose 50Hz if you are filming night drone shots in Europe.
- Choose 60Hz if you are filming night drone shots in North America.
Important: Use the ND filter for your Mavic Pro.
Once you set these camera settings to your DJI Mavic Pro and you get a bright view, that means too much light is coming to the sensor. So you need to use an ND filter for your Mavic Pro. If you are serious about videography or photography, ND filters are a compulsory thing you should have.
