If you've recently picked up a DJI Lito 1 or DJI Lito X1, you've probably been surprised by just how much image quality DJI has managed to pack into such a compact drone. Whether you're filming travel videos, cinematic landscapes, social media content or professional client work, both drones are capable of producing incredibly impressive footage.
However, simply pressing record won't always give you that polished, cinematic look that you see on YouTube or in professional drone films.
The secret lies in choosing the right camera settings before you take off, then making a few subtle adjustments during editing.
In this guide, we'll show you the best settings to use on both the DJI Lito X1 and DJI Lito 1, explain why each setting matters, and demonstrate how a little colour grading can dramatically improve your footage.
Why Settings Matter More Than the Camera
Many new drone owners assume that expensive equipment automatically creates cinematic footage. In reality, the opposite is often true.
Professional-looking drone footage comes from a combination of:
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Correct camera settings
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Good composition
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Smooth flying
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Careful colour grading
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Subtle editing
The DJI Lito series already provides an excellent starting point, so by spending just a few minutes changing the default settings, you'll immediately improve the quality of everything you shoot.
Before You Fly: Update Your Drone
Before changing any camera settings, make sure both your drone and controller are running the latest firmware. DJI regularly releases updates that improve:
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Camera performance
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Flight stability
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Image processing
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Battery optimisation
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Safety features
Open the DJI Fly app and install any available updates before recording important footage.
Recommended Flight Safety Settings
Although these don't directly affect image quality, they can make capturing smooth, cinematic shots much easier.
Inside the DJI Fly app:
Go to: Settings → Safety
Recommended settings include:
Obstacle Avoidance: Bypass
Rather than stopping suddenly whenever an obstacle appears, Bypass allows the drone to intelligently fly around objects.
This creates much smoother camera movement, especially when filming trees, buildings or cliffs.
Radar Map: On
Keeping the radar visible gives you greater awareness of nearby obstacles, making complex cinematic moves much easier to perform confidently.
If you ever notice unusual flight behaviour, this menu is also where you can recalibrate the drone.
Camera Settings for the DJI Lito X1
This is where the biggest improvements come from.
Open:
Settings → Camera
Now work through the following settings.
Shoot in D-Log M
If you own the DJI Lito X1, this is the single biggest upgrade you can make.
Change:
Colour Mode → D-Log M
Rather than recording footage that's already heavily processed, D-Log M captures a much flatter image.
At first glance it may look dull, grey or washed out.
That's completely normal.
The benefit is that this flat image retains significantly more detail in:
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Highlights
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Shadows
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Colours
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Dynamic range
This gives you much greater flexibility when colour grading later. Instead of the camera deciding how your footage should look, you're able to create your own cinematic style during editing.
Turn On Colour Display Assist
If you've never used Log footage before, recording can feel strange because everything appears grey.
Enable:
Colour Display Assist
This setting only affects what you see while flying.
The recorded file remains genuine D-Log M footage, but your screen displays a colour-corrected preview, making it much easier to judge exposure and composition.
Anti-Flicker Settings
Choose the correct anti-flicker setting for your region.
For the UK and Europe:
50Hz
For North America:
60Hz
Alternatively, Auto generally performs very well if you're travelling between different countries.
Turn On Rule of Thirds Grid
Composition often separates amateur drone footage from professional work.
Enable:
Grid Lines → Rule of Thirds
This overlays a simple grid across the screen.
Using the grid makes it much easier to:
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Keep horizons level
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Position subjects naturally
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Create balanced compositions
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Produce more cinematic framing
White Balance
For most situations, Auto White Balance performs surprisingly well on the Lito X1.
However, if you're filming a longer sequence where lighting won't change, manually setting your white balance can prevent subtle colour shifts between shots.
This is particularly useful during:
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Golden hour
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Sunrise
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Sunset
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Client work
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Commercial filming
Reduce In-Camera Sharpening
One of the easiest ways to improve image quality is reducing the amount of digital sharpening the camera applies.
Under:
Style
Set:
Sharpness: -2
Many modern cameras add aggressive sharpening by default.
Although this may appear crisp on a phone screen, it often creates an artificial, digital look once viewed on a larger monitor. Reducing sharpness produces a much more natural image that's easier to sharpen later if needed.
Reduce Noise Reduction
Similarly, set:
Noise Reduction: -2
Heavy noise reduction often smears fine details such as:
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Grass
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Trees
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Buildings
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Water textures
Reducing the processing preserves more natural detail throughout the image.
Camera Settings for the DJI Lito 1
The DJI Lito 1 doesn't offer D-Log M recording, but you can still achieve excellent-looking footage with a few simple adjustments.
Open:
Settings → Camera → Style
Then set:
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Sharpness: -2
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Noise Reduction: -2
These two changes immediately remove much of the overly processed appearance found in the default image. The result is cleaner, smoother footage that's easier to enhance during editing.
Editing DJI Lito X1 D-Log M Footage
Once you've finished filming, the real magic begins.
Because D-Log M retains so much information, colour grading allows you to completely transform the look of your footage.
Step 1: Apply a Conversion LUT
Before making any adjustments, apply a D-Log M conversion LUT.
Think of this as converting your flat footage back into a normal-looking image.
Immediately you'll notice:
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Better contrast
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More vibrant colours
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Improved skin tones
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Increased depth
This creates the perfect foundation for further grading.
Fine Tune Exposure
After converting the footage, make small adjustments to:
Shadows
Lower the shadows until they approach black without crushing important detail.
Highlights
Raise or lower highlights depending on your scene while preserving bright clouds and skies.
Midtones
Fine tune the midtones carefully.
Small changes here can dramatically affect:
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Skin tones
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Buildings
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Landscapes
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Overall image balance
Using video scopes rather than relying solely on your monitor helps ensure you're making accurate adjustments.
Every Clip is Different
Although adjustment layers are useful when applying LUTs to multiple clips, exposure often varies throughout a flight.
Cloud cover, sun position and camera angle constantly change.
For the best results, spend a little time fine tuning individual clips rather than applying identical settings across your entire timeline.
Editing DJI Lito 1 Footage
Since the standard Lito 1 doesn't shoot D-Log M, editing should remain much more subtle.
Inside Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DJI Studio, begin with small adjustments.
Exposure
Increase only until the image looks naturally bright.
Avoid clipping highlights.
Contrast
A slight increase usually adds more depth without making the image look harsh.
Highlights
Lower highlights slightly to recover sky detail.
Shadows
Lift shadows gently to reveal detail without making the image appear flat.
Whites
Increase whites carefully to brighten the image.
Blacks
Reduce blacks only slightly to introduce richer contrast.
Be careful not to crush shadow detail.
Vibrance
A small vibrance boost often works better than increasing saturation.
Vibrance mainly enhances muted colours while protecting skin tones and already saturated areas.
Saturation
If required, add only a modest amount. Drone footage can quickly begin to look unrealistic if colours become too intense.
With the standard Lito 1, subtle adjustments nearly always produce the most professional-looking results.
Editing with DJI Studio
One of the best things about DJI Studio is that it's completely free.
If you don't yet own professional editing software like Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere Pro, DJI Studio still offers impressive editing tools.
Within DJI Studio you can:
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Trim clips
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Adjust exposure
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Modify contrast
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Recover highlights
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Lift shadows
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Increase vibrance
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Import custom LUTs
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Apply cinematic colour grades
For many hobbyists, it's an excellent place to begin learning colour grading before investing in more advanced editing software.
Make Your Drone Footage Look More Cinematic with Editors Keys D-Log LUT Packs
If you're recording in D-Log M on the DJI Lito X1, one of the quickest ways to achieve a professional cinematic finish is by using the Editors Keys D-Log LUT Packs.
Rather than spending hours building a colour grade from scratch, these LUTs are specifically designed to work with DJI's D-Log M footage, instantly restoring contrast and colour while giving your footage a polished, cinematic appearance.
Whether you're creating travel films, YouTube videos, promotional content or short films, a carefully designed LUT can provide a consistent visual style across your entire project.
Some popular cinematic looks include:
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Warm vintage-inspired colour grades
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Rich, contrasty cinematic tones
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Soft pastel travel looks
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Vibrant summer colours
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Moody urban styles
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Natural documentary-style grading
One of the biggest advantages is flexibility. If a particular LUT feels too strong, simply reduce its intensity within your editing software until it perfectly suits your footage. This gives you the creative control to achieve anything from a subtle enhancement to a bold cinematic grade.
Even if you're new to colour grading, using professionally designed LUTs provides an excellent starting point while helping you learn how different colour treatments affect the mood and storytelling of your videos.
Extra Tips for More Cinematic Drone Footage
Settings alone won't make your footage look cinematic.
Keep these filming techniques in mind every time you fly:
Fly Slowly
Smooth, deliberate movements almost always look more professional than fast, aggressive flying.
Shoot During Golden Hour
The hour after sunrise and before sunset provides softer light, longer shadows and richer colours.
Keep Movements Simple
Long, steady reveals often look more cinematic than constantly changing direction.
Think About Storytelling
Rather than capturing random clips, imagine you're building a sequence.
Film:
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Wide establishing shots
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Medium tracking shots
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Close fly-bys
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Reveal shots
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Vertical movement
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Orbit shots
Having a variety of angles makes editing much easier later.
Record at Higher Frame Rates
If available, filming at 50fps or 60fps gives you the option of creating smooth slow-motion footage during editing without sacrificing quality.
Final Thoughts
Both the DJI Lito 1 and DJI Lito X1 are capable of producing remarkably cinematic footage when configured correctly.
For Lito X1 owners, recording in D-Log M, reducing in-camera sharpening and applying thoughtful colour grading unlocks an impressive amount of image quality. Meanwhile, Lito 1 users can achieve a clean, professional look simply by reducing sharpening and noise reduction, then making subtle adjustments during editing.
Combined with careful composition, smooth flying and well-designed LUTs such as the Editors Keys D-Log LUT Packs, these techniques can dramatically elevate the quality of your drone videos. With just a few small changes to your workflow, you'll be able to produce footage that looks more polished, more cinematic and far more professional than the default camera settings alone.
Be sure to watch our FULL Youtube video on the best cinematic DJI Lito drone settings below!
