Mavic 3 Cine w/ RC Pro - Panorama mode woes (sluggish, timeouts)

[ninjafingers]

I am what @vicvideopic refers to as a “panorama hero.” (HUGE fan of Vic, btw) So you can imagine my excitement when the January firmware update arrived for the M3. What I’ve experienced has been suboptimal however, and I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this and/or found any worthy workarounds.

When I’m shooting in any of the panorama modes, the photo sequences frequently begin lagging, and eventually just stop shooting mid-sequence for long enough that the camera stops trying to shoot the panorama, and reverts back to regular photo mode. I have tried reformatting the drive on the M3C, but this does not help. Sometimes the panorama completes successfully (if clumsily slow at parts), other times it times out like I describe. I cannot find a pattern in the behavior. My M2A is and always has been rock solid with panorama sequences of any kind. Of course, it is a much more mature platform and I’m optimistic the M3 will get there too.

My next troubleshooting steps are going to be trying to write to an SD card instead of the on-board SSD, as well as trying my M2A controller instead of the RC Pro. I would love any other suggestions, but I am thinking this may just be one of those “wait until DJI refines the firmware further“ situations.

Thank you in advance!!!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have the non-Cine version of the M3 with the RC-Pro and am having no problems shooting Spherical Panos written to the microSD card. However, make sure you leave the sticks alone until the pano is completely finished, including stitching (75 secs total—40 to shoot, 35 to stitch), or it will tell you it is cancelled. Poor signal strength around tall buildings can also create a challenge. Otherwise, no issues.

 

[adcimagery]

I haven't run into that with the stock controller, but I don't like the need to wait for the drone to stitch the pano itself - I'd love to see a mode where it just grabs the shots. I end up stitching in post anyway.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I haven't run into that with the stock controller, but I don't like the need to wait for the drone to stitch the pano itself - I'd love to see a mode where it just grabs the shots. I end up stitching in post anyway.

It only adds 35 seconds to the process, and you get a proof of concept stitch to decide if you want to stitch it manually, or just use the new Hi Res 50MB version it created, complete with a cloned-in ceiling.

 

[VenomXts]

I have run into it as well and associated it with very windy days to be honest.

 

[DarthSLR]

I have the same issue.
Mavic 3 Cine, writing to SSD.
Something is off with M3 panos
My current theory it's a bug in DJI Fly when sun is present in an otherwise dark frame.
Can also be wind though. Hard to tell, very random.
But never ever happened for M2P and DJI Go.


Also, I have requested a feature to avoid stitching the final pano when individual frames are taken. It's just a huge waste of flight time, and I don't use them like ever.

 

[ninjafingers]

So I was able to get my M3C out yesterday and tested writing to SSD vs. writing to the SD card slot. The problem seems to happen MOST of the time when writing to SSD, and I did not encounter the problem at all when writing to the SD card slot. I probably shot 25 panoramas total, a mix of spherical and 180, writing both to the SSD and the SD card. Problem appears to be related to the SSD, notwithstanding my quick and unscientific test.

Given that the SSD is able to write 5k50 in 422 without issue, I have to imagine this is some kind of panorama-->SSD bug that will get resolved by future firmware. I'll do continue testing this weekend when I have a little more time to fly.

 

[adcimagery]

It only adds 35 seconds to the process, and you get a proof of concept stitch to decide if you want to stitch it manually, or just use the new Hi Res 50MB version it created, complete with a cloned-in ceiling.

Eh, it’s 35 unnecessary seconds, as I have no use for the drone-prepared pano. Just like how DNGs are an option, at this level of aircraft you should be able to customize the shooting process to some extent.

I think someone mentioned that it saves the files if you move the drone during stitching, even though the app claims that it cancels shooting. I’ll have to test that out.

 

[DarthSLR]

Eh, it’s 35 unnecessary seconds, as I have no use for the drone-prepared pano. Just like how DNGs are an option, at this level of aircraft you should be able to customize the shooting process to some extent.

I think someone mentioned that it saves the files if you move the drone during stitching, even though the app claims that it cancels shooting. I’ll have to test that out.

Yes, very unnecessary. Should be made optional.

I can confirm you can move the drone during stitching. It tells you pano aborted, but the process continues. You will not be able to switch to a different shooting mode or take another pano until it's done. So, if you want to move in between the takes, that would be a proper time.

 

[DarthSLR]

So I was able to get my M3C out yesterday and tested writing to SSD vs. writing to the SD card slot. The problem seems to happen MOST of the time when writing to SSD, and I did not encounter the problem at all when writing to the SD card slot. I probably shot 25 panoramas total, a mix of spherical and 180, writing both to the SSD and the SD card. Problem appears to be related to the SSD, notwithstanding my quick and unscientific test.

Given that the SSD is able to write 5k50 in 422 without issue, I have to imagine this is some kind of panorama-->SSD bug that will get resolved by future firmware. I'll do continue testing this weekend when I have a little more time to fly.

Interesting. I actually removed the card from the craft since SSD should be faster and less hassle anyway. I might put it back and check. I cannot fathom why it would make any difference, but with DJI you never know...

 

[Tornado12]

Eh, it’s 35 unnecessary seconds, as I have no use for the drone-prepared pano. Just like how DNGs are an option, at this level of aircraft you should be able to customize the shooting process to some extent.

I think someone mentioned that it saves the files if you move the drone during stitching, even though the app claims that it cancels shooting. I’ll have to test that out.

I can confirm that the drone does save files if you cancel during stitching. It actually writes the photos to storage as they are taken. Once it is done actually taking the pictures you can fly away. All the DNG's are stored neatly in a folder. One folder for each panorama you shoot. So, if you go up on a fresh SD card and shoot 10 pano's, You will go into the Panorama folder in the DCIM Folder, and you will see 10 folders, each folder containing all the DNG raw photo's for each of the 10 pano's you shot. Works well.

 

[ninjafingers]

Interesting. I actually removed the card from the craft since SSD should be faster and less hassle anyway. I might put it back and check. I cannot fathom why it would make any difference, but with DJI you know know...

Would love to know what you find if you have time to do some testing.

 

[DarthSLR]

Speaking of pano woes:

here's the reason why it takes so freakingly long:

Consider these two links
Mavic 2 Pro: File Size 8.51 MB, Size 8192 x 2718
Mavic 3 Cine: File Size 42.94 MB, Size 14400 x 6006

If you check the info section ( (i) icon ), you will see the difference yourself.

No wonder it takes so long to stitch since it operates on full-size images...

 

[GadgetGuy]

So I was able to get my M3C out yesterday and tested writing to SSD vs. writing to the SD card slot. The problem seems to happen MOST of the time when writing to SSD, and I did not encounter the problem at all when writing to the SD card slot. I probably shot 25 panoramas total, a mix of spherical and 180, writing both to the SSD and the SD card. Problem appears to be related to the SSD, notwithstanding my quick and unscientific test.

Given that the SSD is able to write 5k50 in 422 without issue, I have to imagine this is some kind of panorama-->SSD bug that will get resolved by future firmware. I'll do continue testing this weekend when I have a little more time to fly.

That is consistent with my having no Pano problems on the non-Cine version that can only write to the microSD card and has no SSD.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Speaking of pano woes:

here's the reason why it takes so freakingly long:

Consider these two links
Mavic 2 Pro: File Size 8.51 MB, Size 8192 x 2718
Mavic 3 Cine: File Size 42.94 MB, Size 14400 x 6006

If you check the info section ( (i) icon ), you will see the difference yourself.

No wonder it takes so long to stitch since it operates on full-size images...

It only takes 5 seconds longer than the M2P to create the HiRes stitch on the M3.
35 seconds instead of 30 seconds, after the photos are taken. Creating a HiRes stitch is why I needed the originals on the M2P. The M3 creates an excellent HiRes stitch complete with a cloned in ceiling in 35 seconds. You can abort the stitch by simply moving the sticks.

Good thing you don't own an Autel EVO 2 Pro 6K that takes 4.5 minutes just to shoot the pano photos! That is 7x longer than it takes the M3 to shoot them! Now that is freakingly long!

 

[ninjafingers]

Okay quick update - I just got the M3C up to run some pano tests, and this time it could was consistently unable to finish any 180 degree panoramas, beginning to lag anywhere between the first photo, a photo in the middle, and one time the last photo. And when I say lag, I mean basically stop at that position and time out, abandoning the panorama.

I verified this occurred while writing to the SD card. I then switched to the SSD during the same flight, and encountered similar lagging panoramas and timeouts. This also happened consistently with the 360 panos.

Also during the same flight, I tried reformatting both the SSD and the SD card, and both of them continued to be problematic. I didn’t have time to land it to try a power cycle, but next time I get it into the air, I’ll record a screen capture video of the RC Pro screen so you can see what I’m referring to.

Kind of a bummer. I get that the photos are large, but it shouldn’t time out completely.

 

[DarthSLR]

Okay quick update - I just got the M3C up to run some pano tests, and this time it could was consistently unable to finish any 180 degree panoramas, beginning to lag anywhere between the first photo, a photo in the middle, and one time the last photo. And when I say lag, I mean basically stop at that position and time out, abandoning the panorama.

I verified this occurred while writing to the SD card. I then switched to the SSD during the same flight, and encountered similar lagging panoramas and timeouts. This also happened consistently with the 360 panos.

Also during the same flight, I tried reformatting both the SSD and the SD card, and both of them continued to be problematic. I didn’t have time to land it to try a power cycle, but next time I get it into the air, I’ll record a screen capture video of the RC Pro screen so you can see what I’m referring to.

Kind of a bummer. I get that the photos are large, but it shouldn’t time out completely.

Thank you for doing this!
Questions:
Was it dark/problematic (high contrast) light?
Was it windy?

 

[sarimento1]

just for fun, try same test but with Obstacle Avoidance disabled, to see if that's giving the bird some sort of nervous jitters.

 

[sarimento1]

ran a couple dozen M3c panos this morning, all ran smoothly, no unusual lag. only a mild breeze coming off the ocean. this 180 pano from the dji app. bird performed flawlessly. so great to have 30+ minutes of 'real' flying time! (and, no, i did not attempt to 'bend the poles' between the towers! not yet at that level of skill, or daring!)

 

[felixHE]

Someone having the issue with stitching 3x3 dng panos manually within lightroom or ptgui or autopano giga where the horizon ist terribly bent and the overall stitching results far behind m2pro ones