Hello,

we use an Inspire 1 with the aim of making 3D models from aerial photography. For this, we are looking for the best way to automatically record still images at best quality during flight. I noticed that the timer/interval recoding mode in the DJI Go app is limited to a minimum of 5 seconds for JPGs and 20 seconds for RAW images. With those numbers, we can only get up to 180 JPG/45 RAW images per battery, which isn't a lot for 3D reconstruction.

Now I am wondering whether there is a better/quicker way of capturing images with no/miniimal compression from the Inspire 1?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

PaulKerry Posted at 2015-9-9 18:45
It's probably not what you were thinking, but a workaround might be to record video then transcode t ...

Paul, thanks for the suggestion. Using single frames from a video (using Adobe MediaEncoder for extracting the frames) was what I tried first. But the compression is fairly strong with that, and also I loose the GPS EXIF metadata which is useful for the 3D reconstruction.

Ideally, I would like to capture RAW images with an interval of 1-2 seconds...

Any other ideas how to get uncompressed pictures out of the Inspire 1 in shorter intervals?

The key metric for me is: how many picture can I get out of a battery charge.
I am just puzzled at how slow the image processing/saving/compression... is and wonder whether I am missing something?

As a small update to this: I just did a test with manual triggering of the pictures and a stopwatch, and I get a new picture (JPEG + RAW) every two seconds.
Now why won't the app let me do that? I cannot possibly fly and press the release button every two seconds... :-\

The app let's you chose between JPG, RAW and JPG+RAW, and if you chose JPG only, the shortest interval is down to 5 sec, but still this is much slower than what the system can actually do.
FWIW, I also timed the 'multiple' image mode, which shoots 7 RAW pictures in rapid succession, and each image is only ~30 ms apart!

Can I use a 3rd party app just for releasing the picture while I still control the Inspire through the DJI app? Having limited flying experience, I would not like to fly without the 'official' software backing me up...

Agbu,

You will need a 3rd party app. DJI will not support the functionality you require within DJI GO.
The Pix4D mapper people are beta testing a flight/capture app and the 'Maps made easy' and 'drone deploy' apps look to be pretty good as well.

For my photogrammetric needs, I fly manually and capture JPG images manually with the controller's shutter button - however I am not capturing very large areas (just a few hectares at a time) so that may not be suitable to your use case.

Best of luck

Agni
As Farnk666 has said above, using a third party app would  likely be your best choice. You have to build in to your flight sufficient overlap which is probably best achieved through an app which controls the flight path. Download the Maps Made Easy app and see if it suits your needs. The app works out overlap, frequency of photos (depends on the height you are at above the subject) and also the number of batteries required for the job.

Thanks everybody!

Some answers: I do have a second controller, but no second ipad (yet). I have 'Maps Made Easy' on the radar, but I believe these applications are designed for aerial photography, so basically shooting straight down vertically with a good amount of overlap. While this is useful, I want to map out tall buildings, so I need to fly in circles at different heights with the camera pointing towards the buildings at different angles, while snapping as many pictures as possible.

Is there a way to briefly test the app before purchasing? It's less the 10 bucks for the app but the hassle with credit cards etc. that is keeping me from buying it right away.

I guess I need to train my flying skills so I am less reliant on the app in emergency cases. ;-)

agbu Posted at 2015-10-27 20:15
Thanks everybody!

Some answers: I do have a second controller, but no second ipad (yet). I have 'M ...

The plain orthophotography apps work like this, but there are some that support multiple camera orientations. Do some research on apps like Pix4d, that works very well for creating complex 3d models.

Please refrain from replying to my posts Paul and I'll extend the same courtesy to you.