Mavic 4 Pro D-Log M vs D-Log vs HLG vs Normal: Which Colour Profile to Shoot

The Mavic 4 Pro has four colour profiles, and three of them are more alike than the menu suggests. Normal, HLG and D-Log M share the same sensor gain pairing, the same ISO 100 floor and the same Dynamic Range Expansion processing. D-Log is the odd one out: it starts at ISO 400, runs a different pair of native ISOs, and is the only profile DJI's FAQ excludes from Dynamic Range Expansion. That one fact decides most of the "which profile" argument, so this post starts there and works outward: what each profile is, what DJI's spec sheet says about bit depth and ISO, and how to expose each one so you are not fighting the footage later.

What the four profiles are

Normal is the finished-looking image. Contrast and saturation are baked in, the file plays back correctly on any screen, and nothing needs doing to it. On the Hasselblad main camera it carries DJI's Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution. The 70 mm and 168 mm cameras get Normal too, without the HNCS label.

HLG is Hybrid Log-Gamma, the broadcast HDR standard. It keeps more highlight range than Normal and displays correctly on an HDR television or phone without grading, which is why it is the usual answer for people who want more latitude than Normal but do not want to open a colour page. On a standard-dynamic-range display it looks slightly flat and desaturated until it is converted.

D-Log M is DJI's consumer log curve, the one it introduced with the Mavic 3 and has put on most of its camera drones since. The image is flat, grey and low-contrast on the controller screen by design: the tone curve is spreading the sensor's range across the file so that you decide the contrast in the edit. It needs a conversion LUT or a manual grade before anyone sees it.

D-Log is the older, flatter curve DJI kept for the Mavic 4 Pro alongside D-Log M. It is the profile DJI uses to measure its dynamic range claims, it has the widest latitude of the four, and it is the most work in post. DJI's own product page footnote on the 15.5-stop figure reads: "Measured in a controlled test environment and based on the SNR scene ≥ 1 standard, using D-Log mode, excluding slow-motion and cropped vertical video."

All four are available on all three cameras. The DJI spec sheet lists the ISO range for every camera in every profile, and the colour-sampling line (10-bit or 8-bit) by codec, which is where the real differences show up.

The numbers DJI publishes

	Normal	HLG	D-Log M	D-Log
Video ISO, main camera	100 to 12800	100 to 6400	100 to 6400	400 to 6400
Video ISO, 70 mm and 168 mm	100 to 12800	100 to 3200	100 to 3200	400 to 3200
Slow motion ISO, all cameras	100 to 6400	100 to 3200	100 to 3200	400 to 3200
Dual native ISO pair	100 / 400	100 / 400	100 / 400	400 / 1600
Dynamic Range Expansion (Auto ISO)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
H.265 Standard	10-bit 4:2:0	10-bit 4:2:0	10-bit 4:2:0	10-bit 4:2:0
H.264 Standard (FHD and 2.7K vertical only)	8-bit 4:2:0	Not offered	Not offered	Not offered
H.264 ALL-I (512 GB Creator Combo only)	10-bit 4:2:2	10-bit 4:2:2	10-bit 4:2:2	10-bit 4:2:2
Grading required	No	No on HDR displays; conversion on SDR	Yes	Yes

Sources: the ISO and colour-sampling rows are from DJI's Mavic 4 Pro specifications page. The dual native ISO pairs and the Dynamic Range Expansion behaviour are from DJI's Mavic 4 Pro FAQ, quoted below. Bitrates, also from the spec sheet: H.264 Standard 90 Mbps, H.265 Standard 180 Mbps, H.264 ALL-I 1,200 Mbps. Everything records as MP4.

Dual native ISO: why D-Log starts at 400

The Mavic 4 Pro's sensors have two analogue gain circuits, and in most modes the aircraft blends them with what DJI calls Dual Native ISO Fusion. In the modes where fusion is not available (100 MP, 48 MP and 50 MP stills, slow motion, and 2.7K vertical at 48 to 60 fps on the tele cameras), the camera switches between the two circuits at a fixed ISO instead, and the FAQ spells out where the switch is:

"In these modes, when filming in Normal, D-Log M, or HLG color profiles, the dual native ISO values are 100 and 400. When the ISO is below 400, the low-gain analog circuit is used. When the ISO is above 400, the high-gain analog circuit is used. When filming in the D-Log color profile, the dual native ISO values are 400 and 1600."

So D-Log's ISO 400 floor is not a limitation someone forgot to remove. The profile is mapped onto the sensor differently: its "clean" base sits at 400 and its second native point at 1600, which is why it is the profile DJI measures dynamic range in and why it holds up better than the others at ISO 1600 in low light. The price is daylight. At ISO 400 on a bright day you will be at 1/4000 s or stacking ND to get back to a 180-degree shutter; the ND filter guide covers which strengths that needs.

Normal, HLG and D-Log M all sit at 100 / 400. Practically, that means the three of them behave the same way as light drops: ISO 100 to 400 on the low-gain circuit, 400 and up on the high-gain one, with a visible noise step across the boundary in the non-fusion modes. If you are shooting slow motion at dusk in D-Log M, ISO 320 and ISO 500 are not neighbours.

Dynamic Range Expansion: the setting that only D-Log loses

DJI's FAQ describes Dynamic Range Expansion as "a built-in image processing algorithm on Mavic 4 Pro that preserves highlight details without sacrificing shadow brightness," and then gives the two conditions that matter:

"This feature is automatically enabled in all photo and video modes (except D-Log) on all three cameras when ISO is set to Auto. Setting ISO to Manual will disable the feature."

Read that twice, because it cuts against the usual advice. The usual advice for log footage is full manual exposure: lock ISO, lock shutter, control brightness with ND. On the Mavic 4 Pro in D-Log M or HLG, locking ISO switches off the highlight-protection processing. In D-Log you never had it, so manual costs nothing. In the other three profiles, manual ISO is a real trade: consistent exposure across a shot, against highlight recovery you cannot get back in post.

The workable compromise for D-Log M and HLG is Auto ISO with a locked shutter and ND doing the heavy lifting, so the aircraft only ever moves ISO within a narrow band, usually between 100 and 200 in daylight. You keep Dynamic Range Expansion and the exposure drift is small enough that a grade absorbs it. The FAQ also notes the feature "performs especially well in bright outdoor conditions" with Auto shutter, which is the setting a beginner in Normal will be on anyway.

10-bit is a codec decision, not just a profile decision

The profile menu does not control bit depth. The codec does, and the spec sheet is explicit. H.264 Standard is the only 8-bit option, and it is only offered in Normal colour, only at FHD or 2.7K vertical. Pick HLG, D-Log M or D-Log and the aircraft records 10-bit in H.265 Standard; the Creator Combo adds H.264 ALL-I at 10-bit 4:2:2 and 1,200 Mbps. Above FHD, everything on every profile is H.265 10-bit.

Two things follow. First, "Normal is 8-bit" is only true at 1080p in H.264; set 4K and H.265 and Normal is 10-bit 4:2:0 like the rest, which makes it far more forgiving of a mild grade than the Normal profile on older DJI aircraft. Second, there is no bit-depth reason to choose a log profile. The reasons to choose one are latitude and the dual-native-ISO mapping above. The internal storage explainer covers what 180 Mbps and 1,200 Mbps do to card space.

Exposing each profile

Normal. Expose for the look you want to see. Auto ISO, Auto or locked shutter, exposure compensation as needed. Turn the histogram and overexposure warning on in DJI Fly regardless, because the RC 2 screen is 700 nits and the RC Pro 2 2,000 nits and neither tells you the truth in direct sun. The settings to change before first flight post lists where those switches live.

HLG. Expose as you would Normal, slightly protective of highlights. HLG keeps highlight information that Normal clips, so a frame that looks a third of a stop dark on the controller is usually right. Deliver to an HDR timeline and the file is finished; deliver to a Rec.709 timeline and you need a conversion, which every current editor does with a colour-space transform.

D-Log M. Expose to the right, meaning as bright as you can get the histogram without the overexposure warning's diagonal lines appearing on anything you care about. Log curves put the noise in the shadows, so a frame that looks washed out and a little bright on the screen grades cleaner than one that looks "correct". Leave Colour Display Assist off while you set exposure: it applies a preview conversion to the screen, and exposing by the converted image rather than the log image lands you underexposed. Auto ISO within a narrow band, as above, keeps Dynamic Range Expansion on.

D-Log. Everything said about D-Log M, with ISO 400 as the floor and no Dynamic Range Expansion to protect, so full manual exposure is the right call here. It is the most demanding of the four to expose and the most rewarding when you get it right. If you are not already comfortable grading D-Log M, this is not where to start.

Which one to shoot

The honest answer is that it depends on where the footage ends up, and the table at the top resolves most cases.

• Straight to a phone or social, no editing. Normal, 4K, H.265. You get 10-bit, you get Dynamic Range Expansion, and nothing needs converting.
• You edit but do not grade, and the audience may be on HDR screens. HLG. The best balance of latitude and finished-ness, and the profile our settings guide puts in the middle.
• You grade, and you want DJI's current look with the least fighting. D-Log M. ISO 100 floor, Dynamic Range Expansion available, a conversion LUT from DJI's download centre for the aircraft, and a curve every current editor and LUT vendor supports.
• You grade seriously, shoot a lot in low light, and want the maximum range DJI measured. D-Log. ISO 400 floor, 400 / 1600 native pair, no Dynamic Range Expansion to lose, and the 15.5-stop claim is yours to chase.

One opinion from outside DJI, labelled as such: the author of the Leeming LUT Pro system, who publishes a setup guide for the Mavic 4 Pro, recommends D-Log over D-Log M on the grounds that the M curve shows colour shifts in the magenta-to-blue range that D-Log does not, and recommends sharpness and noise reduction at -2 on every profile. That is one tester's finding, not a DJI statement, but it is a reasonable reason to test both curves on your own aircraft before committing a shoot to either.

Three mistakes to avoid

Choosing D-Log M and leaving the codec on H.264. The aircraft will not let you combine them above FHD, but it will happily record 1080p H.264 in Normal at 8-bit if that is where the menu was left. Check Coding Format every time you change profile.

Mixing profiles inside one shoot. Normal and D-Log M of the same scene do not cut together without work, and HLG and D-Log M need different conversions. Pick one for the day.

Judging exposure by the Colour Display Assist preview. It is there to show the client what the grade will roughly look like. It is not there to set exposure by. Histogram, overexposure warning, and the log image itself.

The short version

Normal, HLG and D-Log M are siblings: ISO 100 floor, 100 / 400 native pair, Dynamic Range Expansion when ISO is Auto, 10-bit in H.265. D-Log is the outlier: ISO 400 floor, 400 / 1600 native pair, no Dynamic Range Expansion, the widest range and the most work. Shoot Normal if you do not edit, HLG if you edit but do not grade, D-Log M if you grade, D-Log if you grade and want every stop. Whatever you choose, set it alongside the rest of the camera settings before the first battery goes in, and run the pre-flight checklist with the overexposure warning on.