Spark auto exposure sucks

[Wanderer]

I am flying camera drones since a couple of years now and I am very disappointed with the auto exposure feature of the Spark. It does a poor job compared to a GoPro or even a Mobius or a 30 EUR FPV Runcam. All of these cams handle auto exposure quite well and in many cases almost unnoticeable. The Spark cam, however, does not.

On cloudy days, you can't pan the camera from ground to the sky (or vice versa), it results in either too bright or too dark exposure. Auto exposure is just unusable (unless you are living in sunny California).

So I think the best would be to forget that auto exposure thing and go manually by adjusting the ISO and shutter settings according to the light conditions.

But how to do so in a single pan shot, if you are moving from a darker to a brighter environment?

It's just too akward to fiddle around with the ISO / shutter settings in the app while you try to control the gimbal and the Spark, all at the same time!

I tried to put the auto exposure lock on a function button, so I can point the cam to an object with medium brightness and lock the exposure then to avoid exposure changes. But the results are still poor.

Am I missing something here? Any advices on how to keep a good exposure / how to do it manually? What's your preferred method here?

 

[DesertWindAero]

I am flying camera drones since a couple of years now and I am very disappointed with the auto exposure feature of the Spark. It does a poor job compared to a GoPro or even a Mobius or a 30 EUR FPV Runcam. All of these cams handle auto exposure quite well and in many cases almost unnoticeable. The Spark cam, however, does not.

On cloudy days, you can't pan the camera from ground to the sky (or vice versa), it results in either too bright or too dark exposure. Auto exposure is just unusable (unless you are living in sunny California).

So I think the best would be to forget that auto exposure thing and go manually by adjusting the ISO and shutter settings according to the light conditions.

But how to do so in a single pan shot, if you are moving from a darker to a brighter environment?

It's just too akward to fiddle around with the ISO / shutter settings in the app while you try to control the gimbal and the Spark, all at the same time!

I tried to put the auto exposure lock on a function button, so I can point the cam to an object with medium brightness and lock the exposure then to avoid exposure changes. But the results are still poor.

Am I missing something here? Any advices on how to keep a good exposure / how to do it manually? What's your preferred method here?

The Spark was never intended to be a platform for anything other than a quick selfie camera system that can be operated by anyone with minimal training and skill.

 

[RENOV8R]

Decent polorized/nd lens filters can improve your results quite a bit, but as previously said the Spark was never intended to put out cinema quality footage. I certainly had no expectations going in that it was going to be my new go-to AP platform

 

[The Editor]

The Spark was never intended to be a platform for anything other than a quick selfie camera system that can be operated by anyone with minimal training and skill.

Wait.....what?
You mean it can’t compete with a Movi M15 swinging a Red Weapon Monstro 8k with a Cooke Prime on the front?
Dammit, I want money back then.

 

[DesertWindAero]

Wait.....what?
You mean it can’t compete with a Movi M15 swinging a Red Weapon Monstro 8k with a Cooke Prime on the front?
Dammit, I want money back then.

 

[Wanderer]

I do not expect "cinematic" footage (as I wouldn't from a Mobius, Runcam or GoPro either) - all I want is a single camera pan with an acceptable exposure handling. As I wrote before, most cheap 30-100 EUR cams do quite well meanwhile. Spark does not. I don't care what name the DJI marketing team came up with, "selfie", "crappy" or whatever - it's just standard nowadays.

Spark comes with a video recording function - so it's obviously NOT built to shoot stills only. So it's no magic to expect a usable exposure handling as well.

 

[DesertWindAero]

You might be happier with a Mavic, then.