Hello All,

I have a M210 with XT and X5S camera, cendence RC, Crystal Sky and Ipad.
I am wanting to fly automated missions with the XT camera but I can not get anything to work. I have tried using Map Pilot, Pix4D, GS Pro and DJI Pilot apps. The Pilot app, which supports dual gimbals is still in the beta stage and does not support automated missions yet (Any word on when this will be available DJI?). Map pilot takes the photos but does not support the XT camera, so the images don't have enough overlap to render an orthomosaic. Within Pix4D, the app supports the XT camera but only on the Inspire, Matrice 100 and 600, not the 200 series. You can make a custom camera within the app but this causes the app to not trigger the camera to take images. The last app I have tried is GS Pro. While this app supports the XT camera and Matrice 210, it is still not taking images when I fly an automated mission. I have tried putting the XT camera in gimbal slots I and II (when paired with the X5S camera). The X5S camera takes images but the XT will not in either slots.

Everything is the latest firmware and I am using the Ipad.

Any advice of how I can set the XT on a timer when flying an automated mission, how to manually take photos when it's flying in GSP or if anyone has been able to have the M210 take automated images with the XT camera?

Thanks

Following. I'm looking at buying the same gear as what you're working with, for the same purpose, so would love to know how this goes.

Currently, is the XT2 supported to do this, since it has visible and thermal in one? Probably not helpful to you, but would be good to know.

Did you try DroneDeploy? They may support M200 series with XT for mapping missions using their pre-defined patterns that you can adjust. Does not support waypoint flight.

@rfAndy From what I've read, Drone Deploy does not support dual gimbal operation, hence my question about the XT2.

One option I'm trying to get answers for (but am so far coming up empty) is running dual controllers: the flight controller running Drone Deploy (or similar) to manage the flight path and speed, and the other controller running DJI Go (or similar) to control capture.

Can anyone verify whether or not running dual controllers with different software is possible?

From what I can figure out, only DJI Pilot can support dual gimbals. Since that is not out yet for mapping I will settle for using a single camera. I have just briefly looked at Drone Deploy but have not tested it out in the field yet. I'll do that this week and report back here. I am not sure about the XT2. I am assuming that because it is a newer camera and most likely designed for the matrice in mind, it shouldn't have these problems that I am having with the XT. I have heard that using dual controllers could work but again I haven't tried it. That might be the only way to manually capture images while the drone is flying a specified route.

@CPendzi would love to hear your results with Drone Deploy, we've had really great results using it with the Phantom 4 Pro (also Pix4D capture). Upgrading to the M210 would primarily be to capture through 2 cameras in the one flight (visible + thermal, or visible + visible at different focal lengths). If you can find a way to use Drone Deploy with dual camera capture (dual controllers was my best idea, but can't test it myself), I'd be VERY interested!

Keep us posted
NB: I've changed my username, but my old posts seem to appear with my old one still. That's me (fanse28ac458) above

So I just got back from some more testing. I tried connecting a Phantom 4 controller with the Matrice but unfortunately they are incompatible. I have a friend who has an Inspire and will try with one of those hopefully Friday.
I tested Drone Deploy and again the app does not trigger the images automatically. I was, however able to use the camera capture button on the RC to capture images. Basically I went trigger happy with it to hopefully get enough overlap. The problem with this though is that the images that is takes are basically a screenshot of what the app would see. It captures the images in jpeg files not the R jpeg. These images therefore have no actual temperatures embedded within the photo. The XT camera was in the I port to do this. I have tried taking images free flying with the X5S and XT connected to the drone and using the image capture button on the RC but it only captured on the X5S.

I am really hoping that using dual remotes will work to capture RJpeg and X5S images at the same time, even if they are not taken automatically.

It seems like you're going the right way about experimenting thoroughly, great job.

I'm curious how the Matrice is handling writing two image streams to the card simultaneously; you say you "went trigger happy", did the aircraft write to the card easily enough, keeping up with your capture rate continuously?

I did get some responses from Pix4D on the dual controller question, and they say no-go because Pix4D capture requires that no other software communicate with the aircraft during the mission.
https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en- ... lution-Matrice-210-
https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en- ... mments/360000562423

On flying manually, I noticed that the version history for GS Pro lists "New: Dual Cameras control for M210 (Only for Manual Flight)" for version 1.8.1 (Jan 18, 2018). So it should manage to do what you want during manual flight at least.

Looking forward to seeing how your further experimentation goes.  GS Pro seems to me like the most likely flight planner to be able to handle the second controller, since it would be DJI software + DJI software. Just a thought, no evidence to back that up

When I went trigger happy, you definitely have to space the capture intervals. If i pressed too soon, it would not take an image so I would have to press again. I think it was averaging around 2.5 seconds per image. Didn't time it but that is what I am guessing.
The XT camera reads to an SD card within the actual camera itself, where as the X5S reads to the SD card on the drone. I would assume that it would have no trouble keeping up with manual photos.

Yes GS Pro seems to recognize the dual gimbals, however if I was just to fly manually, I would use DJI Pilot on the Chrystal Sky that came with the Drone. It has better features for using the XT camera and X5S. Basically Pilot is DJI Go4 and XT Pro combined. Once automated missions are released in Pilot that will basically include GSP as well.

GSP will most likely be the best app to use for using dual remotes and manual image capture during an automated flight. It also seems to get better images when using the single XT camera than Drone Deploy as the drone doesn't spin for every flight line. Using Drone Deploy I took images of the landing gears and blurry images at the end of the flight lines. This could be avoided by just not taking pictures when the drone is turning I suppose. Drone Deploy does have better base maps and uses the gimbal better. I found that GSP often had the camera slightly skewed in the YAW.

Well I'm heading out tomorrow to test the dual controllers and will report back.

Hi Cpendzi

I'm facing the same problem. I want to buy the matrice 210 but as I see currently there is no app for planning and recording the image data from the two cameras.

Gil

Hey gilrito, its a problem that DJI really needs to fix.

I went out to try using a second remote but it was an inspire 1 RC and was unable to connect as either a master or slave. I don't have access to a second cendence or Inspire2 remote which should connect.

I did have my friend fly the XT camera on the Inspire 1 with Map Pilot at 90% overlap and it seems to have taking decent overlap. So that could be an option on the Matrice to fly at least a single XT camera. I am going to process the images this afternoon to see how they stitch together.

I tried manually taking photos in free flight mode using the capture button on the RC and CS with dual cameras. From what I can tell the capture button on the cendence RC actual took photos on both cameras. Last time I tried this it didn't but that was a few months ago and one of the new updates may have fixed that problem. If that is the case, you could totally run something like Pix4D with a custom camera setting for the XT to lay out the flight lines and then manually trigger both cameras. That is the next thing I will test.

So if i understand correct it's currently not possible to create an orthomosaic with the zenmuse XT2?

Cpendzi any news if this problem has been resolved? or is it still occuring?

I have not used an XT2 so I can't comment on that but I have been able to create an orthomosaic and DEM from manually triggering the XT camera from the cendence controller while the drone is flying the automated flight lines in GSP.

I'm having the same issue- XT needing to be manually triggered truly defeats the purpose of dual gimbals for missions. Hopefully DJI will get this sorted!

Yep. Definitely a problem.

So I just did a full update on everything yesterday morning before going out to fly in the afternoon. To my surprise, the XT camera is now being triggered automatically with GSP. It did stop taking photos part way through the mission (and wouldn't take any manually too) but a power cycle of the M210 seemed to fix it. This is great news and hopefully we will be able to fly with dual gimbals soon!!

Thanks for the help,

We managed to find another workaround. Before flying the mission, go into the DJI Pilot app and let both cameras take pictures at a 3 second interval. Close the app after that, and fly your mission. The camera will still be taking pictures at the 3 second interval, so you don't have to spam the camera button. Tested it extensively and seems to work very well, doesn't stop taking pictures midway through the mission.

Hope it helps

Did this let you take photos with both cameras at the same time then? If you're flying automated missions with dual gimbals, that's amazing. What app are you using for flying your mission?  What sort of overlap are you getting with 3 seconds and have you tried using a 2 second interval?

I've flown just the single XT camera a bunch of times since my last post and it hasn't failed me again.

Yes it took photos with both cameras at the same time! Very convenient. We flew the mission with Pix4d capture, and we're getting like a 90% overlap, so three seconds was definitely enough for us.

That's awesome! Are you using the CS and Cendence? or have you switched to a different android tablet?

cesar007 Posted at 2018-6-19 08:54
So if i understand correct it's currently not possible to create an orthomosaic with the zenmuse XT2?

Any answer to that yet?

Curious, with the DJI pilot app is it possible to have the camera automatically takes photos in the mission flight mode? Or would you need to get a different app like drone deploy or Pix4d?