# FPV Camera Settings Guide: Exposure, White Balance, WDR, and Image Tuning
Tired of washed-out skies or murky shadows in your FPV DVR and HD footage? Your camera settings are the difference between crisp, flyable video and a muddy blur. Whether you run analog or digital, dialing in exposure, white balance, and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) transforms your video quality.
## Core Camera Settings Explained
### Exposure
Exposure controls how bright or dark your image appears. Too bright and the sky becomes a white blob; too dark and you cannot see obstacles in shadow.
– **Manual exposure** is preferred for FPV — it locks brightness so transitioning from sun to shade does not flash-blind you
– **Auto exposure** reacts to lighting changes but causes jarring brightness shifts mid-flight
### White Balance
White balance corrects color temperature so whites appear white, not yellow or blue.
| Setting | Color Temp (K) | Best For |
|—|—|—|
| Auto | Variable | Mixed lighting (not recommended for FPV) |
| Sunny / 5600K | 5600K | Bright daylight flying |
| Cloudy / 6500K | 6500K | Overcast conditions |
| Custom (Manual) | 4000-7000K | Locking color for consistent footage |
### Wide Dynamic Range (WDR)
WDR is arguably the most important setting for FPV. It digitally compresses the bright and dark ends of the exposure range so you can see detail in shadows while the sky remains visible.
| WDR Setting | Effect |
|—|—|
| Off | High contrast — deep blacks, blown highlights |
| Low | Balanced — good for consistent lighting |
| Medium | Recommended — handles sun/shade transitions well |
| Super / High | Maximum dynamic range — slight image softening tradeoff |
## Analog Camera Tuning
For analog FPV cameras (Caddx Ratel, Foxeer T-Rex, RunCam Phoenix):
1. **Set WDR to Medium or High** — this is the single biggest improvement
2. **Lock white balance** to Sunny (5600K) for daytime
3. **Adjust brightness/gain** until tree trunks and branches are clearly visible
4. **Set sharpness to 2-4** (out of 10) — excessive digital sharpening creates artifacts
## HD Digital Camera Setup
DJI O3, Walksnail, and HDZero systems have more granular control:
1. **Manual camera settings ON** in goggles menu
2. **EV compensation**: 0 to -0.7 (slight underexposure preserves sky detail)
3. **Shutter**: Auto for most flying; manual 1/120s for cinematic ND-filtered footage
4. **ISO**: 100-400 for daylight; higher introduces noise
## Recommended Gear
A quality FPV camera with excellent out-of-box WDR handling eliminates hours of tuning. The Caddx Ratel 2 and Foxeer Cat 3 available at [uavmodel.com](https://uavmodel.com) deliver exceptional dynamic range with minimal configuration.