New EVO 2 Pro 6K Owner Here - Professional Videographer / Photographer

[AndyUrtu]

Welcome. The EVO2 camera is great. Here is a chart that will help you get the 10bit depth....If you want 60p and 10bit, then you have to shoot 1080p.

 

[AndyUrtu]

Welcome. The EVO2 camera is great. Here is a chart that will help you get the 10bit depth....if you want 60p, then you need to shoot in 1080p

 

[herein2021]

Welcome. The EVO2 camera is great. Here is a chart that will help you get the 10bit depth....if you want 60p, then you need to shoot in 1080pView attachment 9685

Thanks Andy, I'm guessing that's a PAL chart since it does not show 4K60FPS but it pretty much confirms what @tvwxman said and what I've observed so far. I'm shooting a lot more 4K30FPS now to get the 10bit color depth and reserving 4K60FPS for when I think I might need to slow down the footage later. The camera is definitely great, the terrible lens flare is my only complaint about the camera and that's not the sensor's fault.

 

[UasDriver]

the terrible lens flare is my only complaint

agree, my workaround is use the flares for "dramatic effect", like an opening shot fade to main shot (I'm new, i don't speak the language yet

 

[herein2021]

agree, my workaround is use the flares for "dramatic effect", like an opening shot fade to main shot (I'm new, i don't speak the language yet

Unfortunately the way it flares is unusable for me. Lens flares typically are not bad, can be an artistic choice, and can even be desirable in some situations; so much so that I have added lens flares in post to increase the interest in the composition. The problem I have with the way the EVO II handles it is at certain angles its a really ugly grey circle at the lower right or left of the frame that covers up to 40% of the lens and completely washes out the image. No other lens/camera combination that I own does this. I'll post a picture of it one day, maybe my lens is defective.

At a slightly different angle it does have a normal lens flare starting from the top and radiating to the sides...this is far more pleasing and is what is expected. The secondary flare is almost like a reflection off of the lens housing more so than it is a lens flare. It won't be a big deal to most people, but for me, I never know when it will appear and it could completely ruin an otherwise good take.

 

[TN Drone Services]

Unfortunately the way it flares is unusable for me. Lens flares typically are not bad, can be an artistic choice, and can even be desirable in some situations; so much so that I have added lens flares in post to increase the interest in the composition. The problem I have with the way the EVO II handles it is at certain angles its a really ugly grey circle at the lower right or left of the frame that covers up to 40% of the lens and completely washes out the image. No other lens/camera combination that I own does this. I'll post a picture of it one day, maybe my lens is defective.

At a slightly different angle it does have a normal lens flare starting from the top and radiating to the sides...this is far more pleasing and is what is expected. The secondary flare is almost like a reflection off of the lens housing more so than it is a lens flare. It won't be a big deal to most people, but for me, I never know when it will appear and it could completely ruin an otherwise good take.

Please do post a picture of it. I've not encountered what you've described.

 

[tvwxman]

Here are a couple sample clips I have shooting into the sun so you can compare:

 

[herein2021]

Here are a couple sample clips I have shooting into the sun so you can compare:

Thanks, but it takes a very specific angle of the sun in relation to the lens to do it. For me the sun has to be to camera right and pretty high in the sky so between around 1pm and 3pm this time of year. I don't know yet what angle the camera has to be in relation to the ground. I haven't seen the problem since that day, but I also haven't been trying to reproduce it.

If there is another sunny day anytime soon I'll try to reproduce it.

 

[UasDriver]

this is a frame pulled from a clip I did

 

[tvwxman]

this is a frame pulled from a clip I didView attachment 9723

Hmmm... I will have to see if I can duplicate that. Recently I have been using the ND filters from freewell so now I'm wondering if those have been helping minimize this kind of aberration.

AUTEL EVO II 6K FILTERS - ALL DAY - 8PACK

* Unmatched Optics: Each of Freewell 4K Series optics is handcrafted and precisely compatible with Autel Evo II 6K / Lite+ Drone. * GimbalSafe: Freewell GimbalSafe technology ensures each filter frame goes through a rigorous lightweight test putting no negative effect on your drone gimbal. *...

www.freewellgear.com

 

[UasDriver]

I bought Skyreat with my bundle, use ND16 80% ND32 for bright Sun.
The flares show "best"? anywhere from 30 degrees off to straight on Sun. Colors vary from lime green to the deep violet in the posted image. I spend to much time in post bringing out the color and shot! typically put them at beginning and end overlaid with Title stuff

 

[herein2021]

@TN Drone Services @tvwxman @UasDriver I happened to catch the lens flare problem today, attached is a picture of it. I would not be able to use that for a commercial shoot and if that was the exact angle the client needed we would need to do a retake.

@tvwxman ND filters might help, but usually not. An ND filter simply allows you to lower your shutter speed or aperture, the only thing that typically helps lens flare is the construction of the lens or a lens hood. Of course a lens hood is not an option and there is no way to change the lens since it is fixed. A circular polarizer would help some but they are useless on a drone since you can't change their polarization direction middair.

 

[UasDriver]

Yup, If you are shooting anything inside a ~(+ - 30 degree arc) you're probably gonna flare on a sunny day

 

[herein2021]

Yup, If you are shooting anything inside a ~(+ - 30 degree arc) you're probably gonna flare on a sunny day

Lens flares are expected....that type of flare is not typical. Lens makers usually spend a lot of time ensuring their lenses have good lens flare performance, no DJI drone has had a flare like that. Good lens flare performance is characterized as circular flares with as small of a diameter and as pleasing of a rolloff as possible. A big ugly triangle shaped flare is not normal at all.


@UasDriver If that image is straight out of camera with just the ND filter on the camera I would send back the ND filter set. There is pretty bad vignetting in the corners, edge softness all around, a serious color shift to magenta, and other issues going on. Of course all of this could be a stylistic choice, but if its not then your ND filters are seriously degrading the footage quality that is possible with the EVO II's camera.

 

[herein2021]

this is a frame pulled from a clip I didView attachment 9723

Hmmm... I will have to see if I can duplicate that. Recently I have been using the ND filters from freewell so now I'm wondering if those have been helping minimize this kind of aberration.

AUTEL EVO II 6K FILTERS - ALL DAY - 8PACK

* Unmatched Optics: Each of Freewell 4K Series optics is handcrafted and precisely compatible with Autel Evo II 6K / Lite+ Drone. * GimbalSafe: Freewell GimbalSafe technology ensures each filter frame goes through a rigorous lightweight test putting no negative effect on your drone gimbal. *...

www.freewellgear.com

Personally I have never used ND filters with any of my drone footage even commercial footage for paying clients. I know a lot of people use them but in my opinion I think a lot of people use them just because they have read somewhere that they are supposed to use them based on the 180 degree shutter angle rule (i.e. shutter speed "should" be 2x the frame rate). But if you study the reasons why that rule came about you may reach the same conclusion that I did; which is that it doesn't make sense for drone footage.

The shutter angle/shutter speed rule is meant to reduce or eliminate flicker in certain scenarios such as at night under street lights. Well when you think about it how often is a drone in that situation? The rule is also meant to ensure that there is the "proper" amount of motion blur during fast camera movements; once again, how often is a drone close enough to an object for it to matter? So what about fast moving objects other than the drone.....once again, how often is the drone close enough to that object for the motion blur difference to really be noticeable?

So if there's not much benefit to using ND filters on drones are there any downsides? Sure there are:

• Another Lens - ND filters are another lens between the camera and the scene which means its another thing that can get smudged, dirty or dusty, and can affect the incoming quality of light
• Image Degradation - Cheap ND filters can add a color cast, corner softness, chromatic aberration, and other problems to the image the camera records. Even the most expensive ND filters out there tend to add a slightly green cast.
• Gimbal Motor Burnout - This was the main reason I chose not to use ND filters years ago. Back then they were heavy and not designed for drones. People were reporting their gimbal motors burning out trying to support the additional weight of the ND filter on the front of the camera. What may feel nearly weightless to humans is still an additional load on the gimbal motor that was not accounted for in the original design of the drone's gimbal motors.
• Cost - ND filter sets for drones are not cheap, they are easy to break and to lose and offer marginal if any benefit to the actual footage.
• Setup Time - They add to the drone setup time. You have to figure out the proper ND filter based on the current ambient lighting situation and there's always the chance it could change drastically while you are in the air (i.e. the sun goes behind heavy cloud cover or you fly beneath tree cover).

So after looking at all of the pros and cons I personally just ignore the shutter angle / shutter speed rules and increase my shutter speed as needed to properly expose the scene. With a drone like the EVO II 6K at F11 ISO 100 I can practically point it at the sun and still not be much over 1/200s

 

[UasDriver]

retty bad vignetting in the corners, edge softness all around, a serious color shift to magenta,

Those were all post mods, I snagged the image from video, then tweaked for "effect". cropped it later for a MEME backdrop
great eye though, you nailed all the tweaks!,

 

[mdelrossi]

Gimbal Motor Burnout - This was the main reason I chose not to use ND filters years ago. Back then they were heavy and not designed for drones. People were reporting their gimbal motors burning out trying to support the additional weight of the ND filter on the front of the camera. What may feel nearly weightless to humans is still an additional load on the gimbal motor that was not accounted for in the original design of the drone's gimbal motors.

With the evo2 pro 6k the ND filters take the place of the existing UV filter so there shouldn’t be any more stress on the gimbal, as for the PL/ND filters, I haven’t weighed or measured them yet, but I would think that the differences should be minimal.

 

[herein2021]

With the evo2 pro 6k the ND filters take the place of the existing UV filter so there shouldn’t be any more stress on the gimbal, as for the PL/ND filters, I haven’t weighed or measured them yet, but I would think that the differences should be minimal.

This is true, but it is just one reason on a much longer list of reasons why I do not use ND filters with drone cameras. I made a dedicated post about it that goes into more detail here. That particular reason was to add some historical context to the topic. Also, apparently even some of the latest ND filters are still causing gimbal issues as evidenced by this user's experience in this thread.

 

[timd14]

Hello everyone, I just ordered my EVO II Pro 6K drone after using DJI's products since 2014. Two weeks ago my DJI Mavic Pro in the middle of a flight suddenly decided it was in a no fly zone and forced auto landing right in the middle of the ocean. Previous to this I had flown over a thousand hours without incident on various DJI drones over the years; but after an incident like that its impossible for me to ever trust DJI again. I am a professional videographer and photographer who uses drones to supplement my ground video and photography work on a nearly daily basis and I was very fortunate that it did this over the ocean and not over people, cars, or an expensive property.

I am a part 107 licensed pilot, I obtain LAANC permission whenever needed for the airspace I will fly in, and have created aerial drone video and photography content for everything from promo videos to weddings to music videos, large events, and more. So I signed up here to see what I have gotten myself into with this new drone ecosystem and am already concerned about the battery issues, stability issues, and other problems that I see reported on this forum not to mention the common theme which seems to be a complete lack of support from Autel. It looks like I will need to do a lot of testing before I use the EVO on a professional job, in the meantime my DJI P4 Pro is still the best drone I have owned to date just not as portable as the Mavic Pro was.

If I ever trust the EVO 2 enough to use it on professional shoots I am definitely looking forward to working with the 10bit footage, LOG profile and 4K60FPS which are all things the Mavic Pro did not have. I will admit, the completely hideous orange shell really made me think twice about getting one, but DJI and Autel are the only options available for now.

As a new member here as well as a new E2P owner, I am in the same boat as you were back in January. How have your experiences panned out for you in these past few months?

 

[mdelrossi]

FYI 10bit is only for 4K 30fps
I fly the EVO 2 pro and more than happy with it.