Skydio 2 CINEMATIC Mastery: Best Optimal Settings for Aerial Excellence

Today we’re diving into cinematic settings for your Skydio Series Skydio 2 drone. As amazing as this drone is for capturing action shots, I wanted to explore how it could excel in capturing cinematic footage. So, I’ll be sharing the settings that I’ve found to be most effective. But before we jump into that, let me tell you that by theses settings you can short clip of what I achieved with these settings. So, what do you guys think about that? To achieve this kind of footage, there were two main things I had to take care of: the camera settings on the drone itself and the controller settings. Let’s start with the camera settings.

Camera Settings For Skydio 2

Let’s dive into the camera settings. Once you’re inside the Skydio app, you’ll notice a 4K icon on the top right corner of your screen. Click on that, and you’ll see the first option.

The first option is to switch between photo or video mode, and for our purposes today, we’re focusing on video settings.

Recording Settings

The first option underneath is to choose between 4K and HD recording. For me, I always recommend shoot in 4K.

FPS Settings

The second option offers four frame rate choices: 24, 30, 48, and 60 frames per second. I always recommend shoot in 60 frames per second because I want to have the ability to slow down my footage during post-processing if needed.

HDR Settings

Following that, you have the option between HDR or non-HDR. I don’t shoot in HDR, so it’s always non-HDR for me.

Record Starting Settings

You have your automatic or manual record option. I have mine set at automatic just because a lot of times I would forget to press record, only to end up, you know, after my flight with no footage at all.

Video Codec Settings

Then you have your video codec, and you have two options: h.265 and h.264. In my case, I always recommend shoot in H.264 just because it is easier for my computer to handle when editing my videos. 

White Balance

Then, going down to your white balance, by default, I believe this is set at around 6500 Kelvin; however, I set mine at 5000. Now, these, of course, are personal preferences, but one thing you don’t want to do is to be shooting in Auto because what happens is that it would keep changing, and when it comes to editing, you will have a hard time trying to match all your footage.

Shutter Speed

Now, as far as shutter speed, there is one thing that we have to remember, and that is the 180-degree shutter rule. Now, what that means is that whatever frame rate you are shooting with, you have to double that for your shutter speed. So, in my case, I shoot at 60 frames per second; now, my shutter speed would have to be at 1/120th of a second. If you’re shooting at 24 frames per second, you have to set it up at 1/48th of a second.

ISO Settings

Now, going down to your ISO, unfortunately, this Skydio 2 drone doesn’t give us the option to shoot in a flat profile. So, what I do is I always try to protect my highlights. However, with that, it also tends to crush the shadows. What I found to be the optimum ISO setting, where I would not be introducing too much noise when I’m trying to recover those dark areas, is ISO 100 to 200. Or, if possible, I would stay at the lowest setting, which is ISO 100.

Controller Settings

Now, let’s move on to the controller settings. Okay, so let’s go ahead and take a look at the controller settings. Once again, you have to be inside the Skydio app to be able to do this. When you’re in there, you would see the gear icon on the top left of your screen. So, tap on that.

There, you would see where it says “Drone, Controller, and Phone.” Of course, you want to click on the controller.

Gimbal Sensitivity

The first one you will see is the gimbal sensitivity. This controls your gimbal pitch, which is the gimbal moving downward or upward. For me, I have this one set to 45% just because I want it to be slow and smooth.

Flight Sensitivity

Below that, you have the flight sensitivity, and that, of course, is the big part of this Blog. Under that, you have “default” or “custom,” and of course, we want to set our own custom settings. What I’m showing you right now are the settings that I have set for my Skydio 2 drone currently.

Roll

So, the first one is the Roll. Roll is the movement of the Skydio 2 drone from right to left or left to right, and I have mine set at 65%

Pitch

Coming down, you have your Pitch. The pitch is how fast your Skydio 2 drone will travel forward or backward. This is also known as your positive or negative pitch, and for me, that’s at 50%. I don’t want my Skydio 2 drone to be going too fast.

If you want your drone to go really fast, all you have to do is click on the top button on the left side of your controller. It’s almost like activating the sports mode for the Skydio 2 drone

Yaw

Going down to your Yaw, this one controls the Skydio 2 drone rotating to the right or rotating to the left. Again, I want that movement to be smooth and easy, so I have it set to 30%.

Throttle

Finally, you have the Throttle. This controls the Skydio 2 drone going up and down, representing your positive or negative throttle. Again, I want this movement to be slow, so I have it set to 30%.

Great! That’s all there is for the controller settings For Skydio 2. Remember, the cinematic quality of your videos depends a lot on your piloting skills, so keep practicing and experimenting with different settings to find what works best for you. Here’s a summary of the settings we discussed today. Hope this helps, and I’ll see you in the next one!

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