so ive been flying for about 8 months now and my videos look okay but my photos always come out kind of washed out or weirdly flat. im shooting on a mini 3 pro if that matters. i usually just leave it on auto and let the drone do its thing but someone in another thread mentioned shooting in manual and now im second guessing everything i thought i knew lol

like what ISO should i even be using for midday shots? i tried bumping it down to 100 and things looked better but then i was losing detail in the shadows and i dont really know how to balance all of it. do people actually shoot in d-log on these smaller drones or is that more of a pro thing? feels like every time i read about it i get more confused not less

any tips appreciated, even basic ones, im not too proud to start from scratch on this

the washed out thing is almost definitely your histogram blowing out the highlights ? midday sun is brutal for aerial stuff and auto mode just doesnt handle it well. i shoot manual pretty much exclusively now, ISO 100, and then i let the shutter speed do the heavy lifting. on the mini 3 pro i usually try to keep shutter at around double my frame rate if im doing any video but for stills i just go whatever gets me a decent exposure without blowing the sky out.

d-log on those smaller sensors is kind of a mixed bag honestly. it gives you more to work with in post but if you dont grade it properly it just looks even more flat and lifeless than what youre already getting. id say get comfortable with regular color profile first and then experiment with d-log once you understand what youre looking for. also shoot RAW if youre not already, thats probably the single biggest thing you can do ? the jpeg processing on these drones is pretty aggressive and you lose a lot of recovery latitude.

yeah i had the exact same problem when i started out. for me the biggest thing was just learning to fly earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon ? golden hour sounds cliche but its honestly just easier to get good shots because the light is softer and you dont have those crazy highlights competing with everything else. i know that doesnt totally answer your settings question but sometimes the best camera tip is a timing tip lol