Hello guys and Happy New Year,

I have a particular question: I should inspect several solar fields with my drone, I have a DJI Mavic 3T RTK and the problem is:
- I need to inspect the panels not for thermal images, but to photograph (or video) the (very) small serial numbers on the panels.

The problem:

1. - serial numbers are VERY tiny but.... flying manually at an altitude of 10m and with tele-lens (after 7x and above) the videos are very impressive and the serials are very well defined and usable but the manual flight at a very low speed is very very inefficient and basically walking along with a videocamera is faster.
2. - I would need a system or software where I would just create an "automated line mapping" for each line of the solar panel, at a very low altitude 8-10m with terrain following with RTK on BUT...
3. - the camera used would be the "tele" camera and not the "wide" camera as this one doesn't have the resolution to recognize the tiny numbers.
4. - or... having manual control of the camera WHILE the drone is automatically flying alone the "line" of solar panel.

Now, I use the DJI Pilot 2 and of course there it's impossible to have this result (min. alt. is 25m, no manual control of tele-camera).

Which solution or software do you think it's the best for this very different work?

Does some PIX4d software allow this? To fly so low and to have manual control of the camera?

Thank you so much for this!

Best

If you're flying a simple waypoint mission you can still have control of the gimbal, drone's yaw and camera. As long as you choose this option while planning the mission. You won't be able to terrain follow at an altitude that low and I'm not sure what the minimum altitude is for a waypoint mission, so that might be an issue too. Your FOV will be very limited if using only the 7x lens so flying sideways will leave you blind in the direction you're going. This would be another scenario where vision assist would be very handy. DJI, are you listening??

They want the drone to get the serial numbers?  lol - bad planning!!!

Johnnokomis Posted at 1-1 13:33
If you're flying a simple waypoint mission you can still have control of the gimbal, drone's yaw and camera. As long as you choose this option while planning the mission. You won't be able to terrain follow at an altitude that low and I'm not sure what the minimum altitude is for a waypoint mission, so that might be an issue too. Your FOV will be very limited if using only the 7x lens so flying sideways will leave you blind in the direction you're going. This would be another scenario where vision assist would be very handy. DJI, are you listening??

Hi John, thanks for this answer: as I'm pretty new to the Mavic 3T, is it then possible to plan a single "waypoint mission" and have manual camera control?
I tried setting one up but couldn't control the camera... that's the main issue.

I would fly without terrain follow as the fields are absolutely flat and the distances of each "line" are quite small and I have control of the drone all the time luckily.

Testing it in manual, even at 10m, the tele-lens is astonishing.... I can see all the little details of every serial... I just need an "automated line flight + manual camera control"
Then video the serials - OCR in the office - pretty smooth flow

ioshic82 Posted at 1-1 23:20
Hi John, thanks for this answer: as I'm pretty new to the Mavic 3T, is it then possible to plan a single "waypoint mission" and have manual camera control?
I tried setting one up but couldn't control the camera... that's the main issue.

Yes just make sure these two settings are changed to manual and you should have control of what you need during the automated flight.

Johnnokomis Posted at 1-2 10:40
Yes just make sure these two settings are changed to manual and you should have control of what you need during the automated flight.

Thank you John! Will test this one - really thanful for the help