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Mavic 3 (9-Frame / Wide Angle) Pano Stitching Issues - Anyone else?

While I appreciate all of the comments on different software choices and alternative solutions to the 9-shot pano, they are not the solution I am looking for. (Unless of course someone can take my 9 images using a software program and show me how it extracts a perfectly straight horizon like the M2. I have tried Lightroom, Photoshop, and PTGUI -- none of which are successful.)
Just shoot the pano manually and stitch it yourself.
Doing it with jpg files should work just fine.
 
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Thanks for the question. I know many don't like the price of PTGui Pro, but I get some very nice results with it. I took your nine RAW Photos from your. Mavic 3 and input them into PTGui Pro v12.9. I set up an equirectangular (360x180) panorama and let the software align the images, taking lens parameters from the EXIF data. I then set Yaw to -120 degrees, Roll to -25 degrees, and Pitch to -10 degrees, one at a time in this order. Here is the final image. I let PTGui Pro do its thing as far as default adjustments for tone/HDR etc. This picture is greatly reduced in size to show here but illustrates the flat horizon and excellent dynamic range. The full image is breathtaking.
VeryLowQuality Panorama.jpg
 
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Thanks for the question. I know many don't like the price of PTGui Pro, but I get some very nice results with it. I took your nine RAW Photos from your. Mavic 3 and input them into PTGui Pro v12.9. I set up an equirectangular (360x180) panorama and let the software align the images, taking lens parameters from the EXIF data. I then set Yaw to -120 degrees, Roll to -25 degrees, and Pitch to -10 degrees, one at a time in this order. Here is the final image. I let PTGui Pro do its thing as far as default adjustments for tone/HDR etc. This picture is greatly reduced in size to show here but illustrates the flat horizon and excellent dynamic range. The full image is breathtaking.
View attachment 144414
Yup, PTGui gets my approval too. I've had wildly complex, handheld, 500MP+ panos that it has successfully stitched. PS or Lightroom wouldn't even come close to it.
 
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Yup, PTGui gets my approval too. I've had wildly complex, handheld, 500MP+ panos that it has successfully stitched. PS or Lightroom wouldn't even come close to it.
I use both PTGui and PanoramaStudio Pro, which is somewhat cheaper, offers built-in mapping features, and loads faster on the web output on mobile devices than the PTGui web output. The latter has to load all 12 large output files before the image is displayed, while the former creates some 1,500 tiles that only load upon demand, as you scroll around and zoom within the image. Both are great for stitching just about anything! The PTGui Viewer is my go to Spherical Pano viewer on a desktop for the DJI stitched output JPG, like a test print, before detailed stitching of the 26 originals.
 
I captured a simple 9-frame pano with my Mavic 3 just to test this feature and imported the 9 frames as layers into Photoshop. Then Photoshop merged these into a panorama and created a smart object which I saved and converted to a lower res version to share. As you can see it is useless. I use the same technique for 9-frame pano images from my DJI Pocket 2 with no problems. It seems to me to be a bug.
I had something similar with only 4 images. I used the Parrot 24mm lens correction in Lightroom, and this sort of fixed the road, but not the horizon. This is a bit disappointing as I do this all the time with the M2P without issue
The location is 250km away, and I will have to go back there tomorrow to redo these. Grrrrrrr
 

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I figured out the issue with the help of @goldenorfephoto on the DJI forums.

If the gimbal is at 0 degrees in the 9-shot mode, everything works just fine. The gimbal aligns itself properly on each of the 9 frames. Panos stitch perfectly.

However, if you set the gimbal at say -15 degrees, the corner photos shoot on an angle because the gimbal does not align properly. It literally shoots diagonally.

I can confirm that this is NOT the case for the M2P. The M2P works just fine. It is definitely a bug in the firmware of the M3.
 
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Just wanted to add my vote for PTGui too. As I have mentioned in another thread there is a reason why there is a big price difference between a low-end panorama stitching software and a high-end one as others have mentioned as well. What I can't understand is that often people are willing to spend thousands on a high end drone but when it comes to spending money on specialized software, they are not willing to do the same. (Not saying this is the case with the OP).

I also want to mention that although you have more control over the capture of your pano if you do it manually, there are many practical reasons for using the automated pano captures like the 9 frame capture the OP used. For example today, I was out in -12ºC weather and I was using the automated Horizontal pano (9 frames) on my Spark to shoot panos. After just one pano my fingers were numb and I had to put my mittens back on with hand warmers in them while the drone hovered and I warmed up before I was ready to shoot a couple more panos. I could not have done this manually in these temperatures.

Chris
 
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Just wanted to add my vote for PTGui too. As I have mentioned in another thread there is a reason why there is a big price difference between a low-end panorama stitching software and a high-end one as others have mentioned as well. What I can't understand is that often people are willing to spend thousands on a high end drone but when it comes to spending money on specialized software, they are not willing to do the same. (Not saying this is the case with the OP).

I also want to mention that although you have more control over the capture of your pano if you do it manually, there are many practical reasons for using the automated pano captures like the 9 frame capture the OP used. For example today, I was out in -12ºC weather and I was using the automated Horizontal pano (9 frames) on my Spark to shoot panos. After just one pano my fingers were numb and I had to put my mittens back on with hand warmers in them while the drone hovered and I warmed up before I was ready to shoot a couple more panos. I could not have done this manually in these temperatures.

Chris
Thanks, Chris.

PTGUI is fine; as is Panotour Pro; as is Lightroom; as is Photoshop. I’ve used them all. For example:


My issue here is purely big-related. If the 9-shot has a gimbal tilt is 10 degrees or less, the corner images shoot diagonally (on the M3). It has been reported as a bug; hopefully fixed in next firmware.

Thanks again, all.

Ray
 
Thanks, Chris.

PTGUI is fine; as is Panotour Pro; as is Lightroom; as is Photoshop. I’ve used them all. For example:


My issue here is purely big-related. If the 9-shot has a gimbal tilt is 10 degrees or less, the corner images shoot diagonally (on the M3). It has been reported as a bug; hopefully fixed in next firmware.

Thanks again, all.

Ray
Yes, I read your post above about the bug and I did take your DNG images and run them through Lightroom with the same results you got, then through PTGui Pro and that’s when your pano got ‘fixed’. I guess the point I was trying to make is that if you are going to shoot lots of panos high end software does make a difference whether it’s PTGui or some other developer.

Glad you got it figured out.

Chris
 
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Yes, I read your post above about the bug and I did take your DNG images and run them through Lightroom with the same results you got, then through PTGui Pro and that’s when your pano got ‘fixed’. I guess the point I was trying to make is that if you are going to shoot lots of panos high end software does make a difference whether it’s PTGui or some other developer.

Glad you got it figured out.

Chris
Thanks, Chris.

That’s interesting. I ran them through PTGui as well, and got similar results as Lightroom (where the horizon was not completely straight). That said, I am far more familiar with Photoshop, so there wasn’t anything that a little perspective warp couldn’t resolve.

Appreciate your response. Have a great night.
 
Are you guys finding that panos which fail to merge in LRC will stitch correctly in PTGUI?

Usually it's the 26-shot 360 panos which fail to stitch in LRC.
 
Are you guys finding that panos which fail to merge in LRC will stitch correctly in PTGUI?

Usually it's the 26-shot 360 panos which fail to stitch in LRC.
Personally speaking, if I have a 26-frame that won’t stitch, it’s usually because of moving clouds or water, and requires manual intervention in either PanoTour (krPano) or Photoshop. So yes, sometimes. :)
 
Are you guys finding that panos which fail to merge in LRC will stitch correctly in PTGUI?

Usually it's the 26-shot 360 panos which fail to stitch in LRC.
I usually use LRC or PS to stitch simple panos and if they do not stitch properly I will run them through PTGui Pro and often it will be able to stitch without much intervention from me. Sometimes I may have to do some manual alignment. I do not do any 360º panos in either LRC or in PS, all are done in PTGui Pro. The Pro version of PTGui is an upgraded version that will look for the best seam between images to get the best stitch. I have found it to have made a huge difference in getting a panorama that has all the seems matched up especially on complex 360º panos.

Chris
 
@zeusfl Are you saying that the image you uploaded is specifically a 9-shot stitched pano from the M3? Or is that cut from a 360? I would appreciate if you could specifically take a 9-shot pano and stitch the DNG files in whatever program you like. The 9-shot panos are supposed to stitch flat. For example, here are other 9-frames that I've shot on the M2P (using stitching in Lightroom):


@JoelP I just had a conversation with someone at DJI and reported the issue. Hopefully they address it.
Great!
 
But when the M3 shot the images (using the 9-shot pano mode), it doesn't look like it the gimbal aligned itself properly.
...
If you downloaded the files, was anyone able to figure out how to properly stitch it? I've tried Cylindrical, Spherical and Perspective; no luck with any of them.
It turns out that the issue only happens when the camera is tilted downwards for the initial shot of the panorama.
Try with the camera level for the initial shot.
 
ICE is good.
180 pano from sunny isles beach this sunday morning, m3, stitched in dji app however.
tiny planet perspective further down was stitched in ice.

SIhDMnM.jpg



LpbQpaS.jpg
 
It turns out that the issue only happens when the camera is tilted downwards for the initial shot of the panorama.
Try with the camera level for the initial shot.
This was the perfect fix, however, with the new firmware it doesn’t work when the camera is level either. That is too bad. Hopefully they resolve this issue, because it is really annoying.
 

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