Considering purchasing an EVO II Pro, need some info.

[gschulzuio]

Thanks to all, lots of good information and advice. This has been very helpful.


Yes. 2k is a lot to throw away and I think it would make more sense for me to go in with something less costly to first see if it fills my goals, and to gain experience flying with one.
For half the price I think the Air 2S might be a wiser initial investment.

If you can find a Air 2S combo kit 1/2 the price of a EVO II or EVO II Pro, that would be a good deal. Most of the deals that have seen are not that far apart. Something to keep in perspective, if you spent $2K on a good camera, how well would you treat that and what would you subject it to? Same goes with a drone...

 

[herein2021]

Thanks to all, lots of good information and advice. This has been very helpful.


Yes. 2k is a lot to throw away and I think it would make more sense for me to go in with something less costly to first see if it fills my goals, and to gain experience flying with one.
For half the price I think the Air 2S might be a wiser initial investment.

That could be a good idea, normally my first recommendation would have been to start with something less costly to gain flight experience but with your background flying RC planes I am quite certain controlling a drone will not be a problem. The big question of course is will current drones meet your planned use cases. I started out with RC helicopters so the transition to drones was very easy.

As far as DJI goes, their ecosystem is more mature in every way but if I were you, I would definitely do an equal amount of research on DJI's offerings prior to your first purchase. Their geofencing, invasive data collection practices, and increasingly invasive popups were what made me discover Autel. IMO they are still a few yrs ahead of Autel in many areas and you should get whatever works for you, but personally I will never go back as long as Autel's drones keep meeting my needs. If you really aren't in a hurry, the Nano+ looks very promising but no clue on the ship date.

Another option that could save you money is to rent a drone from each vendor prior to deciding. This vendor seems to have Autel EVO II's for rent.

 

[VdoMemories]

Greetings Herein 2021, after reading and seeing your night footage I really miss not having at least 4 Pre-set buttons behind my remote a bit higher up so as not to accidentally activate it !
Thanks for sharing your set up " Here is one of my most recent videos, in this video all aerial night footage was shot with the EVO II 6K. This video really showcases the lowlight video capabilities of the EVO II 6K's camera. All night footage was shot at 1/30s Shutter, F2.8, ISO800, daylight WB, ALOG. Even this video is not using the full sensor resolution since it goes up to 6K. I personally rarely shoot in 6K because the color bit depth drops to 8 bit. I'd rather 10bit color for maximum color grading flexibility vs 8bit; of course for night footage 8 bit will look the same as 10bit due to the minimal color grading needed. "
Best regards,
Ajay

 

[herein2021]

Greetings Herein 2021, after reading and seeing your night footage I really miss not having at least 4 Pre-set buttons behind my remote a bit higher up so as not to accidentally activate it !
Thanks for sharing your set up " Here is one of my most recent videos, in this video all aerial night footage was shot with the EVO II 6K. This video really showcases the lowlight video capabilities of the EVO II 6K's camera. All night footage was shot at 1/30s Shutter, F2.8, ISO800, daylight WB, ALOG. Even this video is not using the full sensor resolution since it goes up to 6K. I personally rarely shoot in 6K because the color bit depth drops to 8 bit. I'd rather 10bit color for maximum color grading flexibility vs 8bit; of course for night footage 8 bit will look the same as 10bit due to the minimal color grading needed. "
Best regards,
Ajay

Unfortunately the EVO II remote's two preset buttons are in the worst possible place so I have never assigned anything to them. I really don't change much these days though, mainly just the shutter speed and Aperture. F5.6 for photography, F11 for video, ISO100 for daylight, ISO800 and F2.8 for night and I rarely shoot at night. All of the other settings are pretty much fixed for me.

 

[Silver Wolf]

So I think I will wait until Autel release their new models. The Nano+ looks like a great mini drone with good camera and some obstacle avoidance sensors. I do find myself fretting about a fixed aperture. (As I am with the 2s)
However, the Lite+ looks like has the same camera as the EVO II Pro only it has less sensors for obstacle avoidance and no route planning capabilities. I’m fine with the lack of route planning and at least there will be some sensors for obstacle avoidance. If this drone comes in at under 1k it will be cool.
For a starter drone to get me introduced and see if it fits my goals perhaps the nano+ will be the right move and I can upgrade to one with better camera once I feel it’s going to work out for me. It looks like they did away with the controller with a screen so this may keep prices lower. In fact, the controller they show looks more like an XBox or PlayStation gaming controller which I think is a good move.

 

[gschulzuio]

That could be a good idea, normally my first recommendation would have been to start with something less costly to gain flight experience but with your background flying RC planes I am quite certain controlling a drone will not be a problem. The big question of course is will current drones meet your planned use cases. I started out with RC helicopters so the transition to drones was very easy.

As far as DJI goes, their ecosystem is more mature in every way but if I were you, I would definitely do an equal amount of research on DJI's offerings prior to your first purchase. Their geofencing, invasive data collection practices, and increasingly invasive popups were what made me discover Autel. IMO they are still a few yrs ahead of Autel in many areas and you should get whatever works for you, but personally I will never go back as long as Autel's drones keep meeting my needs. If you really aren't in a hurry, the Nano+ looks very promising but no clue on the ship date.

Another option that could save you money is to rent a drone from each vendor prior to deciding. This vendor seems to have Autel EVO II's for rent.

So I think I will wait until Autel release their new models. The Nano+ looks like a great mini drone with good camera and some obstacle avoidance sensors. I do find myself fretting about a fixed aperture. (As I am with the 2s)
However, the Lite+ looks like has the same camera as the EVO II Pro only it has less sensors for obstacle avoidance and no route planning capabilities. I’m fine with the lack of route planning and at least there will be some sensors for obstacle avoidance. If this drone comes in at under 1k it will be cool.
For a starter drone to get me introduced and see if it fits my goals perhaps the nano+ will be the right move and I can upgrade to one with better camera once I feel it’s going to work out for me. It looks like they did away with the controller with a screen so this may keep prices lower. In fact, the controller they show looks more like an XBox or PlayStation gaming controller which I think is a good move.

Sounds like a good strategy.

 

[herein2021]

So I think I will wait until Autel release their new models. The Nano+ looks like a great mini drone with good camera and some obstacle avoidance sensors. I do find myself fretting about a fixed aperture. (As I am with the 2s)
However, the Lite+ looks like has the same camera as the EVO II Pro only it has less sensors for obstacle avoidance and no route planning capabilities. I’m fine with the lack of route planning and at least there will be some sensors for obstacle avoidance. If this drone comes in at under 1k it will be cool.
For a starter drone to get me introduced and see if it fits my goals perhaps the nano+ will be the right move and I can upgrade to one with better camera once I feel it’s going to work out for me. It looks like they did away with the controller with a screen so this may keep prices lower. In fact, the controller they show looks more like an XBox or PlayStation gaming controller which I think is a good move.

That could work for you, I think the biggest downside is not knowing when they will be generally available. It could be 3-6 months for all we know. I am not a fan at all of the current remote for the EVO II, every DJI remote that I have used was better than the EVO II's remote, my main pet peeve is the folding handles are difficult to hold especially if your hands are sweating but it looks like the new remotes will fix that; also, here's to hoping they use USB-C for the charging port.

 

[Brock Inspector]

Christmas Week last year B&H dropped the Evo II Pro price by $400-- basic kit was $1395.

 

[Richard Hunt]

Hello all,
I’m a semi pro photographer (mostly hobby) and also have experience flying RC fixed wing nitro planes for years. Never owned a drone before. My favorite photography subjects are old barns and abandoned buildings and things.
Many of the subjects I find that I would like to shoot are out of reach for me to get to on foot or in my Jeep. (Either too treacherous to walk to or on private property) My thinking is having a drone may help me reach and photograph some of the gems I can’t get to.
My concern with a drone like the EVO II Pro is that the image quality would not be up to my expectations. (I use full frame camera gear with high end lenses). I know the camera on the drone won’t be up to that quality, but if it’s good enough for me to work with in LightRoom and photoshop I’d be happy to have it rather than not at all.
I’ve been looking for sample still photos of close up subjects such as barns or old houses but all I can find are wide ranging aerial images. Can anyone point me to some samples of hi res images of closeup shots of subjects so that I can check the quality and detail/sharpness? Once I can feel assured that the camera will suffice for me, I will look into other aspects of this endeavor.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Hello SW. here are 2 images of a house and you can judge. I find that even with 100 ISO/f11 I have to edit out some noise. For what I do I am happy with the quality. I use a Canon 5D4 alot and the Evo 2Pro 6k image quality is very poor...but ok for what I need it for. I cannot compare to other drones as the Autel is my 1st drone. Be blessed!

 

[Brock Inspector]

Richard Hunt, try an ND16/Pola to get your f-stop into the f/1:4-5.6 sweet spot. You're certain to degrade the quality of still photos at f/11 due to diffraction. Stacking exposures also can eliminate noise. You might also try an exposure that doesn't blow out the highlights and contrast. Image quality is rather subjective. If you're pixel-peeping at 400%, it's not going to look good. If you're printing 11x14s and you can't get a good shot-- you simply don't know what you're doing

 

[Silver Wolf]

Also in addition to what was already said about shooting at f11 it seems your posted images are HDR combined automatically in camera with jpegs? If so, that will never produce best results. Post processing Jpegs in camera will usually degrade the files quite a bit, and then the f11 already makes for poor images to begin with. As GS posted his barn images early in the post for me, they are Jpegs shot at F5.6 and they look excellent. (He posted JPEG because the DNG files were too large and not right format for this forum). I would guess that DNG would produce quite excellent images, and for hdr just shoot multiple exposures (same aperture) as DNG and blend them in photoshop or as I do photomatix Pro later. I think you’ll be happier with the camera results.

 

[herein2021]

Hello SW. here are 2 images of a house and you can judge. I find that even with 100 ISO/f11 I have to edit out some noise. For what I do I am happy with the quality. I use a Canon 5D4 alot and the Evo 2Pro 6k image quality is very poor...but ok for what I need it for. I cannot compare to other drones as the Autel is my 1st drone. Be blessed!View attachment 12665View attachment 12666

This is not meant to be critical at all so I definitely do not intend for you to take it that way...this is simply constructive feedback. I can tell you those two images are not at all representative of what the EVO II 6K's camera can do with real estate projects. Below are the problems that I see and how to improve your results:

• HDR - As @Silver Wolf pointed out, automatic HDR is never going to yield the best results, HDR in general is typically going to be sub par at best; colors tend to wash out and the image is softer due to micro vibrations within the drone and slight movements which then have to be deghosted in post or in the camera which leads to softness. This shot isn't even really a high DR scenario (unlike if a sun was setting behind the property) and you could verify that with your histogram; so I wouldn't even use manual HDR or exposure blending here. So HDR is the first problem with these images.
• Shutter Speed - F11 is not the sharpest aperture for the camera, I would recommend F5.6. However, you do not need ND filters to achieve it, in fact that's the last thing you want here because if anything you want a higher shutter speed not a lower one. So, I would switch the aperture to F5.6 and increase the shutter speed until it is properly exposed. You can read more here on why I never use ND filters with drone cameras.
• Post Processing - I cannot tell if this is a JPG straight out of camera or if you shot raw and processed them in a raw processor. For the best results I always shoot raw and process them in Lightroom. Speaking of raw processors not all of them are created equally and so far I have found Lightroom to be the best to date. With that said, I keep getting the strange feeling that even Lightroom is not properly interpretating the raw data but that's just a personal pet peeve of mine (different topic for a different day).
• Noise - I have no idea where you are seeing noise at ISO100, denoising software will further soften the image. The noise could be due to the HDR process or something else. I would rather some slight noise in shadows than use denoising software which softens the image. Personally, I see the EVO II 6K's camera as very clean up to ISO800.

To achieve the best results in your exact scenario below is what I would do:

1. Camera Settings: F5.6, ISO100, Daylight WB, Shutter speed around 1/400 or 1/800 (as high as possible for the sharpest image), compression type RAW. I would also slightly under expose the image to push the shutter even higher if needed. I try to keep the shutter speed over 1/400 for real estate images and around 1/800 if it is windy to get the absolute maximum sharpness. If I have to, I'll let the shutter drop to 1/200 but not if I can help it.
2. Post Processing: I would use Lightroom for post processing the images, I would add sharpness, contrast, texture, etc. as per my LR real estate preset which I created for the EVO II 6K.

Below are two images shot and processed like this from a commercial real estate shoot, I believe the shutter was 1/1000s or even higher:

 

[Silver Wolf]

Excellent images, herein. I’m only assuming the images Richard posted are in camera HDR being that the file names say HDR in them.
Great advice, I use LightRoom as my main workflow both for editing and library sorting. I’m not sure if LightRoom processes DNG HDR files (it’s been a while since I used it) but I always exported DNG to Photomatix Pro which then import the result into my LightRoom.

 

[herein2021]

Excellent images, herein. I’m only assuming the images Richard posted are in camera HDR being that the file names say HDR in them.
Great advice, I use LightRoom as my main workflow both for editing and library sorting. I’m not sure if LightRoom processes DNG HDR files (it’s been a while since I used it) but I always exported DNG to Photomatix Pro which then import the result into my LightRoom.

I tried Photomatix briefly years ago when it was the go to software for HDR, at the time I did not like how fake it made the images look; I tried a newer version a few yrs ago and it had more realistic profile options and a real estate profile which looked better but I still felt like it was not very clear on what it was doing or very organized. I rarely use HDR these days, sensors have gotten so good that most scenes are within the DR or the shadows can be comfortably recovered from up to 3 stops under without losing too much color fidelity also I mainly used HDR for real estate and I don't shoot as much of it these days.

When I do opt for HDR, I typically either exposure blend in PS, or I use LR's built in HDR option which IMO produces a more realistic result than Photomatix and is less work than PS. The key to getting good HDR results is to separate each exposure by no more than 1/3rd or 2/3rds of a stop. 1+ stops of separation result in muddy colors. LR's HDR does work for all raws that it supports including the EVO II's raw files.

Below is an example where I would have tried to use HDR back in the day. Instead of HDR, I just trusted the histogram, exposed for the sky, and recovered the shadows in post.