M3P - sphere with 3x (70 mm) in DNG?

[AndersGB]

I'm planning to "upgrade" from Phantom 4 Pro to Mavic 3 Pro. I've done some flying with the M3P (a friend has one) and I am quite impressed. I will use it for photography, I will not shoot video. I shoot a lot of panorama, I like 360 panorama and little planets. For those of you that have upgraded to the latest software I have some questions that I haven't found any answers to yet:
- When shooting a sphere with the 3x lens (70 mm), can you shoot DNG's? (When I tried my friends M3P I only got jpg's for the sphere but dng's for simple stills.)
- Can you allow for more tilt of the camera upwards so that you get some more of the sky? (I can do that on my P4P, the propellers will be seen on some photos but some of it can be masked out in PTGuiPro)
As I understand, sphere is the only panorama you can shoot automatically with the 3x lens, but I can pick photos for other panorama types. Of course I can shoot panoramas manually but I like the automated feature.

 

[GadgetGuy]

1. Yes. The selection of the DNG instead of JPG must be done when already in the Spherical Pano mode. It is a separate setting from all other still photos.
2. No control over the maximum gimbal elevation/tilt. I recommend eliminating the top row of 18 useless sky photos without any detail to improve the stitch of the remaining 88 that all have detail, unless there is lots of detail above the horizon, say from buildings above the drone.
3. There no other pano options that I am aware of other than the full 360° sphere . You'll need to select whatever subset you want to use for any other stitch.
4. Bonus answer: Takes 3.5 minutes to shoot all 106 images, and people get very nervous when a drone hovers in place for that long. You'll draw out every Karen within a 3 city blocks, and every one of them will swear you are flying over their house, even though you aren’t hovering over any of them! The 1x panos only need 26 images and stitch a full 360x180 with a ceiling in a total of 65 seconds, so choose wisely, as the difference from using the 3x better be worth the extra attention you will gather over the 1x! The 3x is sharper, but not unless you really pixel peep!

 

[AndersGB]

1. Yes. The selection of the DNG instead of JPG must be done when already in the Spherical Pano mode. It is a separate setting from all other still photos.
2. No control over the maximum gimbal elevation/tilt. I recommend eliminating the top row of 18 useless sky photos without any detail to improve the stitch of the remaining 88 that all have detail, unless there is lots of detail above the horizon, say from buildings above the drone.
3. There no other pano options that I am aware of other than the full 360° sphere . You'll need to select whatever subset you want to use for any other stitch.
4. Bonus answer: Takes 3.5 minutes to shoot all 106 images, and people get very nervous when a drone hovers in place for that long. You'll draw out every Karen within a 3 city blocks, and every one of them will swear you are flying over their house, even though you aren’t hovering over any of them! The 1x panos only need 26 images and stitch a full 360x180 with a ceiling in a total of 65 seconds, so choose wisely, as the difference from using the 3x better be worth the extra attention you will gather over the 1x! The 3x is sharper, but not unless you really pixel peep!

Thank you very much!
1. Ok, that was well hidden!
2. Ok, we usually have a lot of clouds here so there's a lot of detail in the sky. However, with the 3.5 minutes shooting time a lot will happen in the sky and probably it will be difficult to stitch the sky nicely.
3. Yes, that's my plan.
4. I only shot nature panoramas so I don't think any Karen nor any Kim will be a problem.
Thank you once again.

 

[alexliu]

Can anyone share their 70mm stitching files for reference? I want to see the quality before making my purchasing decision...Thanks for your help...

 

[GadgetGuy]

Can anyone share their 70mm stitching files for reference? I want to see the quality before making my purchasing decision...Thanks for your help...

They are simply high quality 12MB stills from the 3x telephoto camera. If your interested in creating panos with 106 of them, the resolution of your final stitch and the stitching software is more relevant to quality than the originals. You will be necessarily dumbing down the original quality of the 106 stills, which would otherwise be over 500MB when stitched together.

See my Post #32 in this other thread for a comparison of the 3x pano to the 1x pano.

Post in thread 'Finally an upgrade worth talking about!'
Finally an upgrade worth talking about!

 

[alexliu]

They are simply high quality 12MB stills from the 3x telephoto camera. If your interested in creating panos with 106 of them, the resolution of your final stitch and the stitching software is more relevant to quality than the originals. You will be necessarily dumbing down the original quality of the 106 stills, which would otherwise be over 500MB when stitched together.

Thanks for the information...I know about it, but I just want to see the 106 pieces of 12MB stills photos and do my stitching to see how it looks and feels the quality of the file... If someone is willing to share any of these sample files, I will be very appreciated...I have to try to contact DJI support for the sample files but there is no feedback...

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

1. Yes. The selection of the DNG instead of JPG must be done when already in the Spherical Pano mode. It is a separate setting from all other still photos.
2. No control over the maximum gimbal elevation/tilt. I recommend eliminating the top row of 18 useless sky photos without any detail to improve the stitch of the remaining 88 that all have detail, unless there is lots of detail above the horizon, say from buildings above the drone.
3. There no other pano options that I am aware of other than the full 360° sphere . You'll need to select whatever subset you want to use for any other stitch.
4. Bonus answer: Takes 3.5 minutes to shoot all 106 images, and people get very nervous when a drone hovers in place for that long. You'll draw out every Karen within a 3 city blocks, and every one of them will swear you are flying over their house, even though you aren’t hovering over any of them! The 1x panos only need 26 images and stitch a full 360x180 with a ceiling in a total of 65 seconds, so choose wisely, as the difference from using the 3x better be worth the extra attention you will gather over the 1x! The 3x is sharper, but not unless you really pixel peep!

After I finish taking 360 panos with 1x as soon as the last image is captured I’m up and away to minimize “dwell” time. The processing continues while I relocate for the next shot. (Mavic 3 pro).

 

[GadgetGuy]

After I finish taking 360 panos with 1x as soon as the last image is captured I’m up and away to minimize “dwell” time. The processing continues while I relocate for the next shot. (Mavic 3 pro).

That's the way it should have been all along. However, are you able to use the same 1x camera while you are off "up and away," or must you still wait until the 360° stitch fully completes, to be able to shoot something else after flying away?

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

All camera related settings are locked until the pano process is complete. Lots of us recall the frustration of not being able to even touch the sticks during processing or the stitch would abort.

So yep, this is a benefit to us.

 

[GadgetGuy]

All camera related settings are locked until the pano process is complete. Lots of us recall the frustration of not being able to even touch the sticks during processing or the stitch would abort.

So yep, this is a benefit to us.

So, to be clear, during the stitching, you now have full control over the gimbal and drone flight, while beginning flight to your next pano destination, but no video or photography is possible until the stitch completes?

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

Just came in from shooting a dozen panos. And yes, you are correct.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Just came in from shooting a dozen panos. And yes, you are correct.

Great! That almost doubles the number of 1x panos possible per flight, when you can immediately start flying to the next pano location, as soon as the first 1x pano shooting is complete, and also cuts the hovering time roughly in half at each pano location, making it less likely that someone will become aware of, and then want to track the hovering drone, to confront and harass the pilot!

 

[Hao Tai]

what sofeware is good for stick those 106 files ?

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

Ptgui. Less than a minute to stitch a 107 image (depending on subject of course).

 

[GadgetGuy]

what sofeware is good for stick those 106 files ?

PanoramaStudio 3 Pro 2, which costs only $80.

PanoramaStudio 4 Pro | PanoramaStudio Panorama Software

www.tshsoft.de

 

[Hao Tai]

Ptgui. Less than a minute to stitch a 107 image (depending on subject of course).

I did try it ,but it's not work for me,not sure why? is any video i can refer?

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

Many many on line tutorials like this one…

 

[Hao Tai]

Many many on line tutorials like this one…

Thanks,
PanoGLview doessn't work anymore.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I did try it ,but it's not work for me,not sure why? is any video i can refer?

I'm sure there are newer PTGui tutorial videos from either PTGui or users. The one above is 12 years old!