Tutorial : DJI Phantom 4 - Best Video Settings

Looking for the best video settings when filming with the DJI Phantom 4? In this blog post, our guest writer Will Lindsley guides you in getting the best results from DJI's drone. I’ve put together a video tutorial for achieving the best video settings on the DJI Phantom 4. Watch the above tutorial if you haven’t already, it features a nice cinematic intro. (All Phantom 4 Footage) Editors Note : Will, the man behind ‘ManAndDrone‘ has created some great guides for flying and filming with drones. We feel they have some invaluable lessons on how to get the most out of your kit. He has kindly let us reproduce versions of them on our blog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCzmLMzTXU

Phantom 3 vs Phantom 4

So having used the Phantom 4 on my last two trips abroad I was able to familiarise myself several of the video settings. My aim is always to try and get the best out of these drones where possible. I noticed quickly that the Phantom 4’s colour profiles are different to that of the Phantom 3’s. I actually prefer the D-LOG footage from my Phantom 3 than compared with the Phantom 4, it seems sharper and less muddy. Both my Iceland and Norway videos were shot on the P4 in D-LOG, you can see there are some nice scenes and some scenes where the software has failed to pick-out the detail. Whereas on my Phantom 3 D-Log footage I’d say it’s more consistent but can also depending on the natural light suffer in areas.

White Balance

One reason Auto White Balance is a ‘No No’, the colour temperature can jump around in the same clip. This can look very unprofessional, use a Custom white balance of around 5600K which is quite neutral. It is easy to adjust again in Premiere using the Lumetri Colour System.

Recommended Phantom 4 Video Settings

I recommend shooting in any of the following Colour profiles :

• DJIColor (None) with a custom Style of either -1, 0, -1 or 0, -1, -1
• D-CineLike with a custom Style of either -1, 0, 0 or 0,0,0
• Art -1, 0, 0 or 0,0,0

Try to keep the variables to either plus or minus ‘1’ or ‘0’. That way we know our image should be more balanced.

Extra Tips for Editing Workflow

I can suggest if you have the time and hard drive space to convert your drone clips to ProRes HQ 422. This will give you more latitude for colour correction in Premiere, Final Cut and Davinci Resolve. If you have the Adobe Creative Cloud, use Adobe Media Encoder to transcode the h.264 drone footage to ProRes 422 HQ.

RC Geeks & ManAndDrone

For more from ManAndDrone checkout the YouTube channel. If you do not currently own a Phantom and need some advice on which model would suit your needs, please get in touch with RC Geeks at info@rcgeeks.co.uk or by phone at 01737 457404.