Are you planning pictures or video for New Years fireworks?

[Jagerbomb52]

With New Years coming on fast do you plan on using your Anafi to take some video or photos of fireworks? We all know these cameras are not that great in low light so what settings do you plan on using to help it out? Looking forward to seeing some great video or photos of fireworks from you people.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

I plan to do it.
But my question to the experts:
What are good settings for fireworks shots?

 

[Landbo]

With New Years coming on fast do you plan on using your Anafi to take some video or photos of fireworks? We all know these cameras are not that great in low light so what settings do you plan on using to help it out? Looking forward to seeing some great video or photos of fireworks from you people.

Yes I have planned to both film and make pictures. But it will probably be my DJI Phantom 4 Advance that is used most because the camera is considerably more bright than Anafi's camera. Anafi will of course be tested on fireworks also.

Happy New Year, greeting Leif.

 

[Chasbro]

I made a flight next to a firework display with my Phantom 3 Pro once. Just the standard settings worked well. See if you can record some audio and match it up in post. Light some incense and enjoy.

 

[Landbo]

I plan to do it.
But my question to the experts:
What are good settings for fireworks shots?

Oh, that question cannot be answered unequivocally but it is important not to overexpose the most powerful lamps to much in the picture and keep the ISO as low as possible. Then you should get a pretty good picture. You have to experiment with the white balance as it should match the street light.

And with video you should use the lowest FPS you have available as well as the longest shutter speed possible. You can then use ISO to set the noise level / how bright the image will be. Set the white balance as with still images.

It is recommended that you practice on the fireworks that are fired before the date changes into the new year. Just remember to have all the batteries, controller and your display device fully charged at midnight.

Happy New Year, greeting Leif.

 

[Drabbs]

Not here in Australia as it's illegal to fly at night

 

[Landbo]

Not here in Australia as it's illegal to fly at night

I'm sorry to hear when I live in a country where it is allowed to fly at night when the landing site is sufficiently illuminated. In fact, I often use to fly in the dark with my P4A and make still images.

Happy New Year, greeting Leif.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Oh, that question cannot be answered unequivocally but it is important not to overexpose the most powerful lamps to much in the picture and keep the ISO as low as possible. Then you should get a pretty good picture. You have to experiment with the white balance as it should match the street light.

And with video you should use the lowest FPS you have available as well as the longest shutter speed possible. You can then use ISO to set the noise level / how bright the image will be. Set the white balance as with still images.

It is recommended that you practice on the fireworks that are fired before the date changes into the new year. Just remember to have all the batteries, controller and your display device fully charged at midnight.

Happy New Year, greeting Leif.

Leif, my conditions are:
Anafi starting in my garden, nearly complete dark, no street lights.
I'm planning to liftoff, hoover and make a 360° turn or spot on the best fireworks around me, beeing about 100..1500m away from me.
What would you recommend in my situation?

 

[Landbo]

Leif, my conditions are:
Anafi starting in my garden, nearly complete dark, no street lights.
I'm planning to liftoff, hoover and make a 360° turn or spot on the best fireworks around me, beeing about 100..1500m away from me.
What would you recommend in my situation?

If you have "only" the camera pointing in the air to film the rockets from below, I guess you can use 1/50 to 1/250, ISO 100 and WB as cloudi as a starting point. If the colorfuld fireballs in the fireworks are overexposed (without colors but pure white), set the shutter speed up. It will always be a choice between which of the details of the fireworks you want to be most faithful to.

Happy New Year, greeting Leif.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Where I live the cheap community will not pay for fireworks and if there are any around here its just a small display from a neighbors back yard. Usually by the time I get a UAV up in the air it is over LOL
Hope you guys have good luck getting some great videos or pictures.

I was wondering if using the Slow Motion 120 fps (4x slower) in 720p would produce some nice video?

 

[Malc]

Hi Agustine,

I'm sure not everything will be the same but the basics are applicable I'd say.

In photography terms the longer you can have the shutter open for without overexposing the rest of the scene(remember it is night afterall and we're not trying to turn night into day) the better!
We can't control the aperture so a low iso is the start point and then the slowest shutter speed possible (up to a second I think with the Anafi for photos)

In video terms this will be my first experience capturing fireworks on video.
In photography terms remember it's an incredibly bright burst within the context of the ambient light, see attachment (albeit nature's fireworks )so don't be afraid to under expose either manually (preferred) or with some dialed in minus ev.
Good luck.
Regards
Malcolm

 

[Landbo]

My Anafi did not come in the air New Year's Eve due to a strong wind of 20 m/s (72 km) in the gusts, ie just before its called storm.

However, I flew two batteries with my P4A and filmed in 2k7 from a height of 20 meters but it was difficult as it couldn't stay on the spot using the GPS but constantly drifting with the wind so I had to manually compensate on the right stick in sports mode. In sports mode, it is impossible to control YAW quietly on a P4A.

Regards, Leif.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Being in my 60's and staying up to see the New Year ring in is not on the top of my list any more LOL so I have no video or picture of fireworks I am afraid.
I only heard a very short display go off anyways early in the night so not much to get video from.

 

[Skydreamer]

I was out by 10pm

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Though also too old to go outside at night, I decided to do it once at New Year 2019, because I was curious how my half year old Anafi would do.
Preparing: Anafi without lense cap since 11PM situated in a cold room with open window, 3 batteries in my warm living room.

Conditions outside: Light rain, windy, dark, a bit foggy, cold [at least for me!]: 7° Celsius.
Anafi normally took off in the dark and had to struggle against the wind and rain.
After the flight: Drying Anafi, charging batteries, sleeping ...

One of my neighbor's 1000 rockets (about 500m away) looked like this with ISO100 and 1/3s, JEPG RECT, zoom 3x.
Ok, it's not Sydney …

 

[Malc]

Well, the Anafi performed flawlessly, which is far more than I can say about its pilot .
Amazing how by midnight I'd lost the ability to know left from right, up from down and my ar@* from my elbow! ?
Mind you I wasn't exactly starting from a very high skill level and I was well and truly on my way to a monumental hangover!
A quick 4k frame grab processed on my phone with Snapseed. Back at work now but I'll post the video when I've processed it,which I might have recovered enough to do later on this week.
A great party and some fabulous fireworks, cheers Ian and Beats.
Happy new year to you all.
Malcolm

 

[Ton]

I got nice video shot's of the fireworks! The only thing is that it was raining a bit, kind of drizzling, so I didn't want to ruin my Anafi, so I took my Spark instead

 

[Skydreamer]

I didn't want to ruin my Anafi, so I took my Spark instead

Thats what i call good thinking ??

 

[Ton]

Thats what i call good thinking ??

BTW nice quote : " It is only when a mosquito lands on your testicle that you realize that violence is never the answer"

 

[ROBANAFI]

Well, the Anafi performed flawlessly, which is far more than I can say about its pilot .
Amazing how by midnight I'd lost the ability to know left from right, up from down and my ar@* from my elbow! ?
Mind you I wasn't exactly starting from a very high skill level and I was well and truly on my way to a monumental hangover!
A quick 4k frame grab processed on my phone with Snapseed. Back at work now but I'll post the video when I've processed it,which I might have recovered enough to do later on this week.
A great party and some fabulous fireworks, cheers Ian and Beats.
Happy new year to you all.
Malcolm

I congratulate you on flying/landing your Anafi when drunk