As a film maker that uses waypoint missions heavily in my work, DJI drones have always been the idea choice for me.  The image quality being really good, and the ability to use 3rd party applications like Litchi, meant I could maintain the same waypoint missions, while still upgrading my drone.  With DJI no longer releasing SDKs for their filmmaking drones, only their enterprise drones which lack basics like 24p basied framerates and ProRes recording, I've been much slower to upgrade my drone fleet.

But, the addition of waypoint missions in DJI Fly was compelling enough for me to pick up a Mavic 3 Pro Cine.  And while the interface is frustratingly cramped at the bottom of the screen, I've been able to make it work.  With one HUGE exception.  You cannot program a series of straight lines.  When you have more than unaligned 3 points, Fly creates a bezier curve.  And it does this without notating the path (Unlike the Inspire 3, which does show the predicted curved path).  In Litchi you can select between curves and lines, Fly has no such option.  How this became to be is mind-boggling.  At times it becomes a real safety consideration as the bezier curves also extend upward and downward, sometimes past the programmed waypoint.  So if you are trying to stay above an obstacle like the ground, or below a regulated ceiling, you will have no idea if it is going to exceed those limitations until flying.  I have already had near misses of power lines despite intentionally setting my waypoint well above them.

The choice to not release the SDK, isn't because of a hardware limitation of the Mavic 3 Pro Cine, or any other Mavic, it was a programming choice made in the name of potentially driving up sales of enterprise models.  But, it's going to start costing sales, as I have to look for another solution to my filmmaking work.

Release the SDK, or fix Fly's waypoint issues!

Hello there, Twelvizm. Thank you for reaching out. I acknowledge that we already received suggestions from our fellow customers about the SDK feature however, we haven't received relevant information regarding the said request. Rest assured that we will continue to record this and forward it to our designated team. We will also consider writing down this suggestion of yours about the Waypoints feature. You may subscribe to our official website for the latest news and updates. We hope for your understanding and support. Have a nice day.