ST16S monitor screen glare, video composition, FPV goggles...

[Barton]

OK, next newbie question/discussion topic: overcoming sun glare on ST16S monitor.

Now that I'm starting to use the H+ for its intended purpose - flying camera platform - I'm forced into the need to spend some time staring at the ST16S monitor rather than just dong VLOS flying. I find that even with the sun shield and the brightness of the ST16S screen that I still have some difficulty seeing the image on the ST screen. Part of this may be due to what I am hopeful is a short-term vision issue, but I don't think that the issue is totally my personal one.

My fundamental question for experienced drone videographers is what method is most typically used to obtain decent composition while filming? Is the screen sufficient for most? I purchased the Yuneec SkyView FPV goggles for $100 and used them today. The goggles were a huge improvement in seeing what the camera was seeing and made composing the scenes much easier. Of course, the down-side was that I would typically fly VLOS to where I wanted to film, hover and maintain position while using the FPV goggles for composition and doing fine tuning. Then removing the goggles before doing much flying. Of course, flying with the FPV goggles was easy but I wanted to try the scenario of not having a second observer (S.O.) and changing locations using VLOS - this was somewhat of a pain, but I can see where FPV flying without a S.O. could be very dangerous.

TIA for your insights!

 

[AeroJ]

For me it comes down to experience and familiarity with the setup. I have learned over time how what I see on my screen relates to what footage I get in the edit. Yep, sometimes the screen is a little dim in bright sunlight, even with the sunshield. But there will be an angle range of directions you can face where the sun on your screen is minimized, so first bit of advice is to find a direction to point where the sun is causing you least problems, then setup to launch from and fly mainly in that direction, perhaps just long enough to set your exposure in the air. Separately but related to this is something else I do, which is try to fly a path that avoids you ever having to look at the sun !

Second tip seems obvious, but it's caught me out on bright days before - don't wear sunglasses, or at least not when you are setting manual exposure !

Tip 3 would be 'get in the shadows'. In some fields there will be areas of shade where you can pilot from while your craft ventures out into the full brightness sun. Often that move alone is enough to adequately see the screen to set exposure levels etc...

Tip 4 - in extremis: If you know you are going to be in a relentlessly bright area with no shade, or in the midday sun, from which no pilot angle to it is great, then my last tip is 'take a black umbrella with you' and either ask a friend to hold it over you as you fly, or somehow tuck it in about your person so that it remains in place as you wander about and control the craft. You'll look ridiculous, but it will completely eliminate the problem !

Tip 5 - when setting exposure hover over one of the brighter parts of the landscape, which will be easier to see on your screen. Additionally, you will also know that this is one of the brighter bits, so can more accurately judge how bright it should be on your screen, in relation to the sky particularly - again experience is your friend here, and it only takes a few flights of practice to get that instinct set and locked in your brain

Last tip relates to what I said initially - know your typical settings - if you do that, you can get film setup right without even looking at the screen - experience alone can guide you to the right settings.
For example, I know what typical ranges my ISO and Shutter speed settings should be for most light conditions, so can set them right even if the screen is not much help.

 

[AeroJ]

Oh, and here's a video that tells you roughly what the ideal shutter speeds are. There is one more thing I forgot to mention, and so does he in the video ! Set and lock your white balance before you launch, but before you do so BUMP ONE OF THE D-PADS ! (One click in any direction, then another click in the opposite direction to put it back) That allows you to dismiss the annoying help screen from in-flight d-pad action, but more importantly it inexplicably resets white balance to unlocked auto (even the directional ones that have nothing to do with WB!), so you will ruin your shots if you touch the d-pads in flight and haven't done this before adjusting and locking your WB. Conversely, exposure is best set in the air when you are pointed at what you are exposing for, and my best tip there is to do it facing away from the sun, except when you are exposing specifically for that in order to capture a sunset etc, in which case point straight at it...

 

[rdonson]

As mentioned before... no sunglasses and for me a ventilated wide brimmed hat.

 

[PatR]

Funny you mention hats. I keep three different hats in the car with progressively wider brims to shade the screen at different times of day. One is a sombrero with a very wide brim.

 

[AeroJ]

As mentioned before... no sunglasses and for me a wide brimmed hat.

You're lucky you can pull off a hat like that ! I'd look marginally more ridiculous in that than I would with the umbrella But a smart black baseball cap would work just as well you'd have thought, or maybe even a white one so you could see yourself when planning the right angle back home...

 

[Ty Pilot]

All good tips. One good thing about the Plus is you can turn on the grid lines to sorta help with composition (Rule of thirds) if you need that, and you may already know but; a double tap of the screen will display only the camera image which is helpful when you want to see the full picture you're getting. Unfortunately when you do double tap the one thing that would be nice to leave on screen is the grid lines but they go away too.

 

[Barton]

Good news/bad news from my 'screen glare' evaluation done today. Most of the suggestions I have tried in the past (hat, hiding in shadows, no sun glasses, holding the transmitter to minimize glare, ...). My hat was marginal because even though the brim is wide, the underside color is light brown - so I swiped my wife's gardening hat which has a wide brim and a grey underside color. Her hat was marginally better, too bad for her . So, the good news is that I'm still mentally competent enough to think through some of the issues. The bad news is that I may just have to accept the fact that my personal vision issues are a large part of my specific problem and will likely remain so until the vision issue has been eliminated.

All that said, in a pinch, the SkyView FPV goggles do help me tremendously so they are a good fall-back solution if I really want a specific shot. They have a little delay lag so I wouldn't rely on them for close quarters maneuvering (without OBS Avoidance ON) and even then I would be in turtle speed mode. I'm thinking here mostly of hovering and panning types of shots or possible CCC shots where the goggles are used when I'm the camera man.

A big Thank You to everyone that posted!

 

[Barton]

All good tips. One good thing about the Plus is you can turn on the grid lines to sorta help with composition (Rule of thirds) if you need that, and you may already know but; a double tap of the screen will display only the camera image which is helpful when you want to see the full picture you're getting. Unfortunately when you do double tap the one thing that would be nice to leave on screen is the grid lines but they go away too.

Patrick, no I wasn't aware of the double tap on the screen trick. I had always just assumed that the image I see on the screen was the image being recorded on the MicroSD card in the camera. You are saying that the image on the ST and the one recorded can be different aspect ratios? I would test this for myself right now but I'm being lazy as everything is packed up and ready to go for tomorrows practice...

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Good news/bad news from my 'screen glare' evaluation done today. Most of the suggestions I have tried in the past (hat, hiding in shadows, no sun glasses, holding the transmitter to minimize glare, ...). My hat was marginal because even though the brim is wide, the underside color is light brown - so I swiped my wife's gardening hat which has a wide brim and a grey underside color. Her hat was marginally better, too bad for her . So, the good news is that I'm still mentally competent enough to think through some of the issues. The bad news is that I may just have to accept the fact that my personal vision issues are a large part of my specific problem and will likely remain so until the vision issue has been eliminated.
A big Thank You to everyone that posted!

Reflections can be minimized by having the maximum area of black in the reflective view of the ST-16... so in addition to using a sunshade, doing things like wearing a black t-shirt and painting the underside of that wide brim hat with a fabric safe black paint. If you are in a group, you could even have a by-stander hold a Black light reflector.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Barton, tapping on the screen just removes all of the telemetry and so fourth showing only the video feed. The image doesn't change as it is the video as it is being recorded it just gives you a clear view of some things that may be hidden under the battery voltage or what not.

 

[rdonson]

You're lucky you can pull off a hat like that ! I'd look marginally more ridiculous in that than I would with the umbrella But a smart black baseball cap would work just as well you'd have thought, or maybe even a white one so you could see yourself when planning the right angle back home...

I’m 6’4” and 250 lbs. Not many people come around to poke fun at me even though I’m a gentle soul.

 

[Barton]

Reflections can be minimized by having the maximum area of black in the reflective view of the ST-16... so in addition to using a sunshade, doing things like wearing a black t-shirt and painting the underside of that wide brim hat with a fabric safe black paint. If you are in a group, you could even have a by-stander hold a Black light reflector.

I understand the reflections situation. I've even thought about one of those 'hat umbrellas' for sale on Amazon. I did a bunch of experimenting today and came to the conclusion that the issue is not just reflections but my inability to focus on the image. For some reason, I can focus better using the FPV goggles than on the ST screen. I'm having double vision issues cause by a recently diagnosed tumor behind my right eye. I'm hoping radiation treatments will nail this and I'll be good to go in a couple of months.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Godspeed on your treatment and recovery... spent ten years in ophthalmic photography and one of my best friends in nuclear medicine, so I understand some of what you're dealing with.

 

[Barton]

Godspeed on your treatment and recovery... spent ten years in ophthalmic photography and one of my best friends in nuclear medicine, so I understand some of what you're dealing with.

THANK YOU! Biopsy results came back last Wednesday as positive for lymphoma, see the oncologist on Aug 13. Hopefully I'm stage 1 and this will all be easy...

 

[rdonson]

THANK YOU! Biopsy results came back last Wednesday as positive for lymphoma, see the oncologist on Aug 13. Hopefully I'm stage 1 and this will all be easy...

All the best wishes for a great outcome!!! I’m sure you’ll be in the thoughts of many in this community.

 

[Barton]

All the best wishes for a great outcome!!! I’m sure you’ll be in the thoughts of many in this community.

Thank you, Ron!

 

[PatR]

May your burden be light and resolved quickly. I also wish you Godspeed.

 

[Barton]

Thank you, Pat.

 

[oliver]

i use this: