Drone Camera Settings for Beginners: Exposure, ND Filters and RAW

Automatic mode will get you usable shots, but a few manual settings are what separate snapshots from images you’ll want to print. This guide covers the settings that matter most on a camera drone, in the order you should learn them.

1. The exposure triangle on a drone

Most consumer drones have a fixed aperture, so you control exposure with two settings: ISO and shutter speed.

• ISO: keep it as low as possible (usually the base ISO) for clean, noise-free images. Small drone sensors get noisy fast at high ISO.
• Shutter speed: controls brightness and motion blur. Faster for sharp photos, slower for smooth, cinematic video.

2. Photo settings

Why RAW? RAW files keep far more information in highlights and shadows, so you can recover a bright sky or a dark forest in editing. JPEGs are processed in the drone and throw that information away.

3. Video settings and the 180-degree rule

For natural-looking motion in video, set your shutter speed to about double your frame rate:

• 24 or 25 fps → about 1/50 s
• 30 fps → about 1/60 s
• 60 fps → about 1/120 s

This adds a small amount of motion blur that our eyes perceive as smooth. Very fast shutter speeds give choppy, stuttering footage, especially when panning.

4. ND filters: why you need them for video

On a bright day, a slow shutter like 1/50 s lets in far too much light. Neutral density (ND) filters act like sunglasses for your camera, reducing light so you can keep the right shutter speed without overexposing.

Find ND filters and other useful extras in our essential accessories guide.

5. White balance

Auto white balance can shift during a shot, changing the colour mid-clip. For video, set a fixed white balance — for example, a daylight value in sunshine — so colour stays consistent from clip to clip.

6. Colour profiles

• Normal / standard: ready to use, punchy colours, less room to edit.
• Flat or log profiles: look washed out straight from the camera but preserve more dynamic range for colour grading. Only use them if you plan to edit.

7. Focus and composition basics

• Use tap-to-focus or check that the scene is sharp before recording.
• Turn on grid lines and use the rule of thirds.
• Keep the horizon level — check it on every shot.
• Look for leading lines: roads, rivers, shorelines and field patterns look great from above.

8. Light is everything

The best aerial images are usually made in the hour after sunrise and before sunset, when shadows are long and the light is warm. Midday light from above flattens landscapes. In winter, snow changes everything about exposure — see our winter flying guide.

Ready to put these settings to work? Try the moves in our cinematic drone shots guide.