180 and horizontal panos using Mavic 3 Pro's 3x camera

[Ed Hurst]

Hi there,

I have been trying to get my Mavic 3 Pro to shoot 180 degree and horizontal panoramas using the 3x lens. I specifically want to do this using RAW files. I'm also not interested in having the drone compile the panoramas, as I always do this later anyway using other software (though of course it doesn't hurt if it does compile them as well, provided I still have access to the individual RAW files too - so that's not a dealbreaker).

However, whenever I set the drone to shoot a 180 degree or horizontal pano, it automatically shifts to the Hasselblad lens. Am I missing something? How can I get it to shoot this with the 3x lens?

I have no interest at this stage in doing this with the 7x lens (though it would be good to know if this is possible); and also not asking about shooting the 360 degree spherical panos.

Does anyone know if this is possible please?

Many thanks...

 

[BobaFut]

IIRC, you can only get the 3x option if you select 360 mode because that's the only kind of pano it will take in 3x mode (could be that I'm misremembering or missed a new feature in a firmware update). If you want to compile into a 180 or just wide-angle pano, you're on your own to do that with a selection of the 106 photos it takes in 360 mode. In any case, the drone doesn't do any internal stitching with the 3x camera and just gives you a choice between JPG and RAW output for the photos. When you switch into 360 pano mode, it defaults to the 1x lens, but then you'll see the option on the right for 1x and 3x modes.

In short, 3x camera's only has one pano mode, which just takes 106 RAW or JPG photos covering 360(ish) degrees. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[akdrone]

Since you are not worried about DJI Ing, the panorama itself, you can simply shoot them manually. I have the tic-tac-toe crosshairs enabled, and I move one point horizontally to where the other point was overlapping by 1/3 for each shot. You can shoot as many as you wish, and if you take some care to overlap horizontal positions carefully, you can drop down a row and shoot another series and drop down another row and shoot another series and continue as much as you want, even Lightroom will put them all together when you shoot auto expose brackets

 

[Ed Hurst]

IIRC, you can only get the 3x option if you select 360 mode because that's the only kind of pano it will take in 3x mode (could be that I'm misremembering or missed a new feature in a firmware update). If you want to compile into a 180 or just wide-angle pano, you're on your own to do that with a selection of the 106 photos it takes in 360 mode. In any case, the drone doesn't do any internal stitching with the 3x camera and just gives you a choice between JPG and RAW output for the photos. When you switch into 360 pano mode, it defaults to the 1x lens, but then you'll see the option on the right for 1x and 3x modes.

In short, 3x camera's only has one pano mode, which just takes 106 RAW or JPG photos covering 360(ish) degrees. Nothing more, nothing less.

Interesting - thanks! So you're saying that in 3x mode, I can shoot a 360 pano using RAW files, and then simply select only the RAW files I want to do my 180 or wide angle pano and ignore the rest? Sounds like a good idea, if a little wasteful both in shooting time, battery usage and storage capacity. Still, if it works...

Appreciate it!

 

[Ed Hurst]

Since you are not worried about DJI Ing, the panorama itself, you can simply shoot them manually. I have the tic-tac-toe crosshairs enabled, and I move one point horizontally to where the other point was overlapping by 1/3 for each shot. You can shoot as many as you wish, and if you take some care to overlap horizontal positions carefully, you can drop down a row and shoot another series and drop down another row and shoot another series and continue as much as you want, even Lightroom will put them all together when you shoot auto expose brackets

Appreciated . I may do that, but I feel (in rapidly changing conditions), this method will take a lot longer - which is why I was keen to get an automated solution. I'll still experiment with it though to see how it works out for me.

Many thanks!

 

[Ed Hurst]

However, if there is a way to do automated 180 or wide angle panos with the 3x camera (without doing the whole 360), I'd be keen to know - or if this functionality is ever developed in the future

 

[BobaFut]

Interesting - thanks! So you're saying that in 3x mode, I can shoot a 360 pano using RAW files, and then simply select only the RAW files I want to do my 180 or wide angle pano and ignore the rest? Sounds like a good idea, if a little wasteful both in shooting time, battery usage and storage capacity. Still, if it works...

Appreciate it!

Yep! I'm not sure why they don't offer the other pano modes for 3x, since it's just shooting fewer photos over a narrower field of view, but that's what we're stuck with (for now).

Really what I want, as AKDrone alluded to, is an HDR pano option where the drone will AEB all the pano images to save me some effort on the front end. If the M3Pro could do like 25 shot linear HDR panos that would instantly be the feature I used 90% of the time.

 

[akdrone]

Appreciated . I may do that, but I feel (in rapidly changing conditions), this method will take a lot longer - which is why I was keen to get an automated solution. I'll still experiment with it though to see how it works out for me.

Many thanks!

For sure it is much faster to just hit a button and have the drone take all the images and rapid succession but I do a lot of panos with my seven X lens and I can choose exactly the sections that I want so I do most of my panos manually

 

[Ed Hurst]

For sure it is much faster to just hit a button and have the drone take all the images and rapid succession but I do a lot of panos with my seven X lens and I can choose exactly the sections that I want so I do most of my panos manually

I think I'll find it easy to do that when I'm in a situation without rapidly-changing light or other conditions. If things are stable, then the sort of meticulous, manual precision you describe is right in my wheel house. However, operating like that in a dynamic situation is veeeery stressful.

 

[Ed Hurst]

Yep! I'm not sure why they don't offer the other pano modes for 3x, since it's just shooting fewer photos over a narrower field of view, but that's what we're stuck with (for now).

Really what I want, as AKDrone alluded to, is an HDR pano option where the drone will AEB all the pano images to save me some effort on the front end. If the M3Pro could do like 25 shot linear HDR panos that would instantly be the feature I used 90% of the time.

Yes, I'd love to have something similar. Allowing 180 degree or wide angle panos with the 3x lens, with RAW files and AEB, would be a very sweet combination. Oh, and wouldn't it be good to have AEB available over a wider range of exposures? The current three-shot range is a bit narrow for scenes with lots of dynamic range.

 

[jephoto]

Oh, and wouldn't it be good to have AEB available over a wider range of exposures? The current three-shot range is a bit narrow for scenes with lots of dynamic range.

Yes! I’ve been wanting that since the P3p. Three shots at .7 stop is woefully inadequate.
Let US choose the exposure range…!