I’m using a P4 multispectral with DJI GS pro and I have a few questions about the mission settings. First questions deals with capture mode, which one between capture at equal time and capture at equal distance is better? I know hover&capture is probably the best but I don’t need that, I need quick and equal times gives you more photos than equal distance does and it doesn’t affect the speed of the UAV or shutter intervals of the camera because they are both the same. The second one is about front and side overlap, what is the minimum for these? I’m willing to give a little more but I’m not willing to pay for more processing than I need to, so for those of you using 80% with the minimum is 50% there is 30% you are paying for that isn’t really doing any good remember these are crops how much detail do you really need plus it helps on flight time with less overlap. For the flight course mode I usually set this to inside mode because every part of the flight course will be inside the specified area and an accurate course will be provided for the convex polygon but I could be wrong on this still a little fuzzy. So I invite you to share what your setting and thoughts are.

Hi,

Equal distance is for me the best parameter. Because in case of strong wind, you can get different spaces between each photo (sometimes very large). I use Metashape and he doesn't like it too much.

There are speeds to respect depending on your altitude and light exposure. If you go too fast you risk having blurry photos, which will make your vegetation index totally wrong.

For the overlap it's the same thing, it all depends on what you are taking a picture of. If they are plants of a few centimeters you can tend towards 50% yes. But if they are trees it is not recommended, unless you are flying very high.

It all depends on the quality standard you want to work with. I rarely go below 90% Frontal 80% Side but this is for a good reason, I also use 3D models. If you only do 2D maps then I would say that 70% Frontal and 60% Side is perfectly acceptable and will guarantee you quality data.

For the "course mode" it's the same, it all depends on your desired trajectories. This will not have much impact on the quality of the data, as long as you fly over the entire plot to explore. In my opinion, and i use it in this way, This scan / inside function is more there to have control over your trajectory. For example if there is a private property surrounded by a field, it will have to be avoided by using inside mode. But if you can fly above then no problem use the scan mode, the trajectories will be more direct and uniform.

This is not an exact science nobody can tell you in a general way "it is necessary to do like that". It all depends on the demand (2D / 3D, level of resolution ...), the environment (weather, obstacles ...), the laws in force in your country (max altitude, max speed ...).
The settings are different from one field to another, and I will even go further, for the same field the settings are different in winter and in summer.

Hope this helps you.

Jordane