Aperture sweetspot?

[MichaeMuni]

Does anyone know of any place that has posted test shots of all the different fStops in the evo II pro 6K camera and what apertures are the sharpest?

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

Feel free to use this lens sharpness target... I'm going to say probably f/5.0 to f/5.6.

 

[herein2021]

Does anyone know of any place that has posted test shots of all the different fStops in the evo II pro 6K camera and what apertures are the sharpest?

I have settled on F5.6 when I want maximum sharpness...no I did not use a chart but based on the typical 1" sensor combined with a 35mm FF equiv lens F5.6 sounds about right.

 

[parkgt]

On my 6K several real world tests showed plus or minus one stop from f4.0 seemed to be the best.

 

[MichaeMuni]

Feel free to use this lens sharpness target... I'm going to say probably f/5.0 to f/5.6.

Thanks, i printed this out and will run some tests out doors when ever it stops raining.

 

[Tiger64]

I have found f5.6 to be about right on mine

 

[RichL]

I tend to find the best image quality at f/5.6.

 

[parkgt]

I have found f5.6 to be about right on mine

What method did you use to determine that?

 

[parkgt]

I tend to find the best image quality at f/5.6.

What method did you use to determine that?

 

[RichL]

What method did you use to determine that?

The same, evenly lit scene was photographed at the different aperture settings. ISO was set to 100 and the camera was in aperture priority mode. The raw .DNG files were brought into Lightroom and inspected at 100% magnification on a color calibrated 27" monitor. f/5.6 seemed a bit sharper and had a little less edge distortion. That being said, the lens did pretty good at all settings. As a rule of thumb, most lenses preform the best in their middle aperture range. There is a caveat here because if you are shooting in different conditions such as low light then f/2.8 may look better because there will be less of a chance for movement from a slower shutter speed or having to shoot at a high ISO that will produce noise. Last thing is that f/5.6 seems to have an adequate depth of field for most aerial photography. Hope this helps.

 

[parkgt]

The same, evenly lit scene was photographed at the different aperture settings. ISO was set to 100 and the camera was in aperture priority mode. The raw .DNG files were brought into Lightroom and inspected at 100% magnification on a color calibrated 27" monitor. f/5.6 seemed a bit sharper and had a little less edge distortion. That being said, the lens did pretty good at all settings. As a rule of thumb, most lenses preform the best in their middle aperture range. There is a caveat here because if you are shooting in different conditions such as low light then f/2.8 may look better because there will be less of a chance for movement from a slower shutter speed or having to shoot at a high ISO that will produce noise. Last thing is that f/5.6 seems to have an adequate depth of field for most aerial photography. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I did much the same although I went to 300% on 4k monitors when looking for the differences. I did it a number of times on subjects at different distances with the drone sitting still. While the differences were not extreme and may not be even noticeable for casual work, I did find my 6k was best at 4.0; at one stop either side it was hard to notice much change.

Beyond 8.0 things got much worse. 2.8 was only slightly off but it could be easily seen. As far depth of field I have yet to find any practical difference with these small cameras at drone photography distances and do not even consider that as I would with my ground systems.

 

[RichL]

Thanks, I did much the same although I went to 300% on 4k monitors when looking for the differences. I did it a number of times on subjects at different distances with the drone sitting still. While the differences were not extreme and may not be even noticeable for casual work, I did find my 6k was best at 4.0; at one stop either side it was hard to notice much change.

Beyond 8.0 things got much worse. 2.8 was only slightly off but it could be easily seen. As far depth of field I have yet to find any practical difference with these small cameras at drone photography distances and do not even consider that as I would with my ground systems.

We have to be forgiving with a camera that has a 1" sensor, especially when comparing it to a full frame camera using professional glass. Still this little camera preforms surprisingly well for still photography. I have intended to repeat the testing with the drone on the ground (I've only had it for a month). In my original test I wanted to see how it preformed in the air since that is how we use them. Still, you've have inspired me to do it the right way and see what differences come up between f/4 and f/8. I agree about the depth of field. The few times I shot at f/2.8 everything was in focus.

 

[MichaeMuni]

I took the photo's the other day. All I did was quickly changed aperture from f2.8 to 11 and snapped a photo of each one. It looks to me like f3.2 is the sharpest.
Here are the images.




f2.8
f3.2
f3.5
f4
f4.5
f5
f5.6
f6.3
f7.1
f8

 

[MichaeMuni]

f9
f10
f11

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

So, @MichaeMuni I have a couple of questions/suggestions...

The print you made... on a home inkjet, standard letter size? You then hovered in front of the print, shot in Aperture Priority, so the shutter speed was adjusted by the camera, correct?

Assuming the above conditions, the slowest shutter speed would be the f/11 setting. Wind or other drift corrections could further degrade the final image.

I suggest for the most accurate answer to the original question of aperture "sweet spot" will require a static test, rather than inflight. Print out that file at the native size of 24" x 48" ($8.00 at a local print shop, printed grayscale), and tape to a wall. Place the Evo II on a table about 4 to 5 feet from the target to fill the image area. It is designed to be able to test edge to edge sharpness, as well as center sharpness.

Then you will be able to get accurate results on the f/stop change alone. And yes, your testing has merit, being shot under actual flight conditions. But all those other factors in flight, will be equal at any aperture anyways. In this case, they just contribute to the overall backround noise.

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

From original DNGs... ISO 200, shutter speed ranging from 1/8 to 1/2 sec. In camera sharpness at -1... imported into Photoshop, only changes were to change color space from RGB to Grayscale and crop to a consistant image area.

f/4.0

f/5.6

f/8.0

 

[MichaeMuni]

So, @MichaeMuni I have a couple of questions/suggestions...

The print you made... on a home inkjet, standard letter size? You then hovered in front of the print, shot in Aperture Priority, so the shutter speed was adjusted by the camera, correct?

Assuming the above conditions, the slowest shutter speed would be the f/11 setting. Wind or other drift corrections could further degrade the final image.

I suggest for the most accurate answer to the original question of aperture "sweet spot" will require a static test, rather than inflight. Print out that file at the native size of 24" x 48" ($8.00 at a local print shop, printed grayscale), and tape to a wall. Place the Evo II on a table about 4 to 5 feet from the target to fill the image area. It is designed to be able to test edge to edge sharpness, as well as center sharpness.

Then you will be able to get accurate results on the f/stop change alone. And yes, your testing has merit, being shot under actual flight conditions. But all those other factors in flight, will be equal at any aperture anyways. In this case, they just contribute to the overall backround noise.

printed on inkjet 8.5x11 paper. stuck the paper on my car so it would not move. drone was in flight, hovering 4 feet away. Camera was in full manual and only adjustments made were aperture, f2.8 through f11.

 

[Autelpilotsnumpty]

A flat wall with texture at a reasonable distance is enough to test the aperture. Do everything in manual and work your way up from f2.8 onwards do it all from a flat surface and the bird not flying so the only variable is the gimbal movement. You can then work out your best Depth of Field (DOF) / sharpness with your lens.
Then if you have room do it all again, while the bird is flying. Then test how low your shutter goes without blurring too much.

My range is f2.8 to f8 after f10 diffraction kicks in and is useless. F5.6 is the sweet spot between DOF and shutter speed on bright day.

 

[parkgt]

A flat wall with texture at a reasonable distance is enough to test the aperture. Do everything in manual and work your way up from f2.8 onwards do it all from a flat surface and the bird not flying so the only variable is the gimbal movement. You can then work out your best Depth of Field (DOF) / sharpness with your lens.
Then if you have room do it all again, while the bird is flying. Then test how low your shutter goes without blurring too much.

My range is f2.8 to f8 after f10 diffraction kicks in and is useless. F5.6 is the sweet spot between DOF and shutter speed on bright day.

How does shooting a flat wall tell you anything about DOF. And in what situations does the depth of field capabilities of these small cameras make any difference in drone footage? Please show any examples of meaningful DOF difference at typical drone distances between f2.8 and f8.

 

[Autelpilotsnumpty]

Flat wall shooting is for sharpness. If you angle your gimbal down and play with the aperture it will give you DOF.

Also shooting at a flat wall and changing the aperture will also show you sharpness and diffraction.

If you are close to a subject, for example. A boat, person, car or tree at f2.8 and focus on that, the background will have softness or as people call it Bokeh. Make the aperture smaller for eg. F5.6, the larger or wider the DOF more of the background will be in focus.