DJI Mavic Air 2 bracketing – 48MP DNG (RAW), JPG and HDR files to download
Some of our readers have asked me about bracketing with the DJI Mavic Air 2. So, earlier today, I went out to shoot a few 48MP stills in DNG (RAW) and JPG format for you to play around with in Photoshop, Aurora HDR, or Affinity Photo. Here are the files that were shot around noon today of the Hudson River. Over the next few days, I will add more files of different subjects and lighting conditions to that same folder.
DJI Mavic Air 2 bracketing
Bracketing photos with different EV settings allows you to get the most out of your highlights and shadows. You purposely underexpose and overexpose a number of photos of the same scenery so that you can later combine these in the photo editor of your choice to get the most out of the image. This technique can be very useful in photos where you have very dark and very bright areas. It also allows you to create HDR photos, although if you're not careful, your stills can easily end up looking very extreme. You can also use bracketing to improve details, sharpness, and reduce noise.
After carefully aligning each photo in Photoshop, you create an HDR photo that allows you much more control over the final image.
The photos, I took today, have EV settings from -1.3, -0.7, 0, +0.7, +1.3. Both DNG and JPS are included. Here are set 1 and set 2, Set 3.
Since only very few people currently have access to the DJI Mavic Air 2, I have uploaded a number of these photos to my Google Drive. Feel free to download them for your own personal use so that you can get a feel for what the DJI Mavic Air 2 can do. Bracketing shots with a drone can be tricky as a little wind can make the drone move, which could result in unsharp photos. Eventhough there was little wind over the river today, I suspect that I can create sharper photos is more ideal situations.
Update: the first two sets of photos show movement from shot to shot as it takes a good two seconds for the drone to capture 48MP photos. The third shot was AB at 12MP DNG. In that set, you will notice less movement, but of course no the resolution is limited to ‘only' 12MP. So, theoretically, you could do 48MP HDR photos with manual bracketing BUT it would have to be under perfect (no wind) flying conditions as each photo will take about 2 seconds.
HDR example in Affinity Photo.
HDR example in Aurora HDR 2018.
I'm curious to hear what you think about the photo quality of the DJI Mavic Air 2 and how much leeway you have when manipulating these RAW files. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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Haye Kesteloo
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So you’re manually bracketing? Just received my MA2 today and there appears to me no AEB for the 48MP images.
Yes – to use the 48MP images you have to manually bracket them. Each photo takes about two seconds, hence the movements.
Yes, manually. It is a slow process and not easy as the drone moves around. Each capture takes about 2 seconds
I have the MA2 coming in the mail. I was really happy to see your post, as I was under the impression that 48MP photos could only be taken in JPG and not in DNG. I’ve seen many other YouTube videos and they all mentioned that DNG photos were only in 12MP. Is there any special trick or is the option right in the menu?
No special trick. Select jpg and dng in settings and fire away. Let me know what you think of the MA2 once you’ve flown it a bunch
thx for sharing dng files. Played around with them and they seem to be better than from the Mavic Air 1 but not quiet on the level of the Mavic 2 Pro. Even the 48MP files I think do not look that clean I mean a bit more noisy. What do you think?
Just stumbled across your post… late but maybe it is useful for someone else..
Thanks for the pictures to play with. My main concern was to test the raw capabilities of the MA2 Here is my short impression:
The in camera dngs and jpgs are oversharpened. The sharpening creates a very weird oil painting touch.. nothing I want in my images to be honest. In order to judge image quality I had to get rid of it in my RAW converter. Maybe you can change the sharpening in a picture profile of the Mavic as well?
Without sharpening there is a good amount of noise visible. It is not a deal breaker, but it is interesting that you already get this amount of noise with daylight at iso 110. That said, the noise is at least not colored, so it is not that distracting. However, it is not a pleasure to zoom into these pictures.
I do miss the color depth in post processing. These dngs are only 8 bit. You don´t have a lot to play with. I constantly think that it does not look as clean as it should. I miss color detail and I don`t get it back while grading. Bracketing does not help with this issue either. I would rather have nice 20MP than these 48MP…
I am really picky with my cameras though. However, these dngs helped me to decide that the MA2 is not the right drone for me. Thanks for that!