DJI Neo 2 at Night: How Far Can You Push the ISO

As many readers already know, I have been a loyal budget drone fan since forever, flying everything from the Spark and the Tello to every Mini that has ever existed, plus a few twenty five dollar contraptions that looked like they were assembled in the dark by someone who had never actually seen a drone before.

Eventually I made my way to the original DJI Neo, which I still call the beta version, not out of disrespect but because the camera behaved like it was still learning how to be a camera.

When I first picked up the original Neo I truly admired the build quality, and after the first flights I felt pretty happy with how it moved through the air, although that excitement evaporated the moment I opened the first photos. The images had low contrast, mushy details and a noticeable softness that reminded me of the time I accidentally took a whole set of photos with fingerprints all over my phone lens, except this time I had actually cleaned the thing.

At first I thought I could fix everything in editing, because that is the classic lie we tell ourselves, but even after switching to the RC-N3 to unlock the DJI Fly app and all the delicious manual settings, the files still refused to behave. I lowered ISO, underexposed carefully, tried every secret trick I thought I had learned over the years, yet the results continued to disappoint. Sure, it was better than the Tello, but that is like saying a bicycle is faster than a shopping cart, which is true, but not exactly encouraging.

Night Performance on the DJI Neo 2

Three weeks ago the DJI Neo 2 arrived at my door, and everything changed so quickly that I began wondering if DJI had secretly put a tiny wizard inside the drone, because despite using the same sensor size the images look dramatically better, especially during night flights over Quito, where the city lights paint the landscape in a beautiful but challenging way.

I took a series of tests while flying above Quito, and the results genuinely surprised me. These images have only been resized for this site, with no sharpening, color correction or exposure adjustments applied, which is impressive because small drones usually panic when they see darkness.

Using the fixed f2.2 aperture, the slowest shutter speed of one tenth of a second and ISO values ranging from 100 to 12800, I expected at least a few frames to look like they were shot through a potato, yet several high ISO shots looked cleaner than anything I ever got from the original Neo.

Since the drone outputs JPG files, exposure becomes a delicate dance. Underexposing slightly can protect highlights and preserve detail, although underexposing too much can give you an image that collapses the moment you try lifting the shadows.

The ISO 100 example makes this very clear, since pushing it too far produces a washed out look that is beyond saving, which is why I always recommend creating a small bracket of three to five shots at different ISO values so you can choose the one that gives you the best balance once you review them later.

Tips for Sharper Low Light Shots

Technique plays a big role in night photography, especially at slow shutter speeds, so switching the drone to Cine mode is one of the easiest ways to get sharper images. Cine mode slows down the drone’s micro movements, stabilizes everything more smoothly and reduces the tiny jitters that can ruin a long exposure shot even at one tenth of a second.

When shooting night photos above Quito, I quickly learned that even the smallest drift can turn your image into modern abstract art, which is great if that is what you want, but probably not ideal if you are actually trying to capture a skyline.

By combining Cine mode with a thoughtful ISO bracket, the Neo 2 suddenly behaves like a far more polished tool than its price would suggest, giving you images that the first Neo could never produce, and doing so with an attitude that almost feels confident, as if the drone knows it finally grew up.

DroneXL’s Take

The Neo 2 brings a surprising leap in night performance for budget flyers, delivering cleaner high ISO shots and far more stable output than the original Neo ever managed, and the fact that these results come from JPGs shows just how much DJI refined its image processing, making this tiny drone feel like a serious tool rather than an experimental gadget.

Have any comment or doubt about the DJI Neo 2? Just let me know in the comments and I will help you with it.

Photo credit: Rafael Suarez