Hi All,

I'm enjoying the Mini 3 Pro and so far haven't had any issues. In particular I find the 360 panorama mode great fun and by far my favorite feature. I've discovered the ability to collect the raw images that make up the panorama and have manually processed these to create improved final images over the in-drone stitched images:



Currently I'm letting the drone auto-expose the images, my question being is it possible and/or desirable to manual expose the images so they are all take with the same exposure settings? Also are there any other tips that you could share about shooting at night?

If you upload your 360's to your free sky pixel account you can make these interactive as well.

I shoot lot of panorama in evening / night time & best is to use auto exposure with fixed white balance 5200°k this will boost the iso in range which will increase shadow noise.
ON manual mode if needed stick to ISO 800 shutter speed 1/15 WB Locked

Splendid sunset with city lights glowing
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=294184

is it possible and/or desirable to manual expose the images so they are all take with the same exposure settings?
Why would you want to take them all at the same exposure settings?
That would only work if the entire scene is uniformly bright, otherwise parts of your panorama could be underexposed or overexposed.
Do you want that?

I have only done daylight for now to learn (and my location to a military base). I haven't tried any night time flights yet because I was waiting for my strobe to arrive. Do either of you use one (we must here in the USA)? If so, is it extremely noticeable in the pano-shots like I would think it would be?

DAFlys Posted at 9-1 02:26
If you upload your 360's to your free sky pixel account you can make these interactive as well.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that out

Ranjan Posted at 9-1 07:52
I shoot lot of panorama in evening / night time & best is to use auto exposure with fixed white balance 5200°k this will boost the iso in range which will increase shadow noise.
ON manual mode if needed stick to ISO 800 shutter speed 1/15 WB Locked

I've seen that post, it's great!

Thanks for the tip, I think that fixing the WB as a minimum sounds like a great idea. I've noticed that this definitely wanders around a bit from image to image. Do you know if you can fix the WB and ISO and then leave the rest to auto?

Labroides Posted at 9-2 00:50
is it possible and/or desirable to manual expose the images so they are all take with the same exposure settings?
Why would you want to take them all at the same exposure settings?
That would only work if the entire scene is uniformly bright, otherwise parts of your panorama could be underexposed or overexposed.

When you are making panoramas it's not ideal if the exposure is changing from one image to another. This tends to lead to noticeable bands between adjacent images due to the exposure differences. On the other hand, if you are blowing the highlights or crushing the shadows, then this causes it's own issues. The software will attempt to correct the exposure, but there is only so much that it can do. Having images with different ISO values in the same set also causes inconsistencies that would be best to avoid. I'm working with the raw files and developing these before stitching them together.

SirRonmit Posted at 9-2 05:31
I have only done daylight for now to learn (and my location to a military base). I haven't tried any night time flights yet because I was waiting for my strobe to arrive. Do either of you use one (we must here in the USA)? If so, is it extremely noticeable in the pano-shots like I would think it would be?

I'm in the UK and I haven't read any special requirements for flying at night, but am happy to be corrected. I've only done 1 panorama at night and that was pretty much straight up and straight down so it's very easy to keep a visual track of the drone.

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-2 10:53
When you are making panoramas it's not ideal if the exposure is changing from one image to another. This tends to lead to noticeable bands between adjacent images due to the exposure differences. On the other hand, if you are blowing the highlights or crushing the shadows, then this causes it's own issues. The software will attempt to correct the exposure, but there is only so much that it can do. Having images with different ISO values in the same set also causes inconsistencies that would be best to avoid. I'm working with the raw files and developing these before stitching them together.

You are imagining that you'll have equal brightness across your whole scene.
That's fine if you do, but also very unlikely.
What you are suggesting could result in some images being correctly exposed withouthers that are under or overexposed.

What's needed is correct exposure for each image and that will usually require different exposure settings.
And you shouldn't have any stitching issues or banding.

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-2 10:57
I'm in the UK and I haven't read any special requirements for flying at night, but am happy to be corrected. I've only done 1 panorama at night and that was pretty much straight up and straight down so it's very easy to keep a visual track of the drone.

Correct, we dont have to use them but bare this in mind.

VLOS is severely restricted at night time, far more than daytime, remember, VLOS isn't good enough that you can see the LEDs flashing, as per the latest rule, you have to know the orientation of the drone so as to know the direction youre going and no, you cannot use your screen to know this either, it has to be with the naked eye.

Something that is not widely known is that we in the UK can use navigation lights (strobes) to help with VLOS but that inherently has its own issues, being that it may put the drone over 250g. If you have your A2 CofC then other than no intentional flying over persons, you can fly the Mini drone in the sub 500g class, i have 2 strobes, red and green, placed on the drone so that i can see it when flying away from me the best. I know just by looking at the drone, which way it is facing, this is viewable up to about 600m in bright daytime, 1000m on a dull day, and much further at night ;) I have my A2 CofC so using the Plus battery and 2x Strobon cree strobes is quite legal, for now!

Labroides Posted at 9-2 15:30
You are imagining that you'll have equal brightness across your whole scene.
That's fine if you do, but also very unlikely.
What you are suggesting could result in some images being correctly exposed withouthers that are under or overexposed.

I'm not imagining anything, I'm fully aware that the brightness is changing across the scene. It's no different than if you take a single image of a difficult scene with very bright areas and very dark areas, dynamic range of the sensor is the issue.

Taking multiple photos and stitching them together is exactly the same as taking a single image covering the same area. Imagine that you shoot a panorama with a 28mm FL and stitch together and then take the same shot with a fisheye, same composite scene, same average exposure, same bright and dark areas.

Taking multiple photos at different exposures and then stitching them together would require that the exposure of each image be increased or decreased to prevent brightness changes across the scene. I've been taking panoramic photos with traditional cameras for decades and normally you would lock the exposure and take all images with the same exposure settings. If you take each image with it's own ideal exposure settings (assuming that these are different) and then put them side-by-side then one will be brighter or darker than the other. Whether you expose for the individual image (and adjust in post) or expose for the scene, the end result should be similar.

This is a very useful discussion and leads to an ideal solution of taking the 360 panorama with fixed exposure settings and then bracketing each exposure. I think that PTGUI has an option for this, but it's in the very expensive pro version.

Bashy Posted at 9-2 17:05
Correct, we dont have to use them but bare this in mind.

VLOS is severely restricted at night time, far more than daytime, remember, VLOS isn't good enough that you can see the LEDs flashing, as per the latest rule, you have to know the orientation of the drone so as to know the direction youre going and no, you cannot use your screen to know this either, it has to be with the naked eye.

Understood about the VLOS requirements.

I'm comfortable that I satisfied this condition, it was a straight up, straight down flight. You can see any changes in angular rotation as they are happening from the flashing LEDs, so you can safely say that you know which direction the drone is facing. I wouldn't take it very far from me at night as it would be very easy to lose orientation.

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-3 00:54
Understood about the VLOS requirements.

I'm comfortable that I satisfied this condition, it was a straight up, straight down flight. You can see any changes in angular rotation as they are happening from the flashing LEDs, so you can safely say that you know which direction the drone is facing. I wouldn't take it very far from me at night as it would be very easy to lose orientation.

Yeah, thats fine being that close, i was just explaining that there is a way to fly further, actually, in fact, you could fly further at night with the strobes as you can see them better Only problem there is, you would either need to take the soon-to-be-defunct A2 CofC (a few years left) or fly under the 500g class

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-3 00:45
I'm not imagining anything, I'm fully aware that the brightness is changing across the scene. It's no different than if you take a single image of a difficult scene with very bright areas and very dark areas, dynamic range of the sensor is the issue.

Taking multiple photos and stitching them together is exactly the same as taking a single image covering the same area. Imagine that you shoot a panorama with a 28mm FL and stitch together and then take the same shot with a fisheye, same composite scene, same average exposure, same bright and dark areas.

I've been taking panoramic photos with traditional cameras for decades
So have I and I described what works perfectly for me.

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-3 00:45
I'm not imagining anything, I'm fully aware that the brightness is changing across the scene. It's no different than if you take a single image of a difficult scene with very bright areas and very dark areas, dynamic range of the sensor is the issue.

Taking multiple photos and stitching them together is exactly the same as taking a single image covering the same area. Imagine that you shoot a panorama with a 28mm FL and stitch together and then take the same shot with a fisheye, same composite scene, same average exposure, same bright and dark areas.

Do you suggest recording in RAW? To then be able to stitch accordingly, or would the software even handle the various exposure levels properly? I have editing software for RAW and editing 4k movies and would like to learn if I decide to fly night time shots ... thanks!

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-3 00:45
I'm not imagining anything, I'm fully aware that the brightness is changing across the scene. It's no different than if you take a single image of a difficult scene with very bright areas and very dark areas, dynamic range of the sensor is the issue.

Taking multiple photos and stitching them together is exactly the same as taking a single image covering the same area. Imagine that you shoot a panorama with a 28mm FL and stitch together and then take the same shot with a fisheye, same composite scene, same average exposure, same bright and dark areas.

Thanks, that's some info I was wondering if I decide to try nighttime myself.

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-2 10:57
I'm in the UK and I haven't read any special requirements for flying at night, but am happy to be corrected. I've only done 1 panorama at night and that was pretty much straight up and straight down so it's very easy to keep a visual track of the drone.

Thank you. That's exactly what I would be doing as well - UP and DOWN - no flying around at all (especially where I am located.)

SirRonmit Posted at 9-5 06:15
Do you suggest recording in RAW? To then be able to stitch accordingly, or would the software even handle the various exposure levels properly? I have editing software for RAW and editing 4k movies and would like to learn if I decide to fly night time shots ... thanks!

I would always shoot raw if it is available. There will always be more headroom in a raw image to "bend it" to your will, increase/decrease exposure, change white balance etc.

One thing that years of photography has taught me is always shoot raw (+jpg if you like) and always keep your raw images. I've gone back and reprocessed stuff years after I took the images when new and better processing software is available.

When processing raw images, PTGUI suggests that you don't touch the exposure or geometric correction when processing the raw images. The stitching software would do this for you.

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-5 08:18
I would always shoot raw if it is available. There will always be more headroom in a raw image to "bend it" to your will, increase/decrease exposure, change white balance etc.

One thing that years of photography has taught me is always shoot raw (+jpg if you like) and always keep your raw images. I've gone back and reprocessed stuff years after I took the images when new and better processing software is available.

Awesome! Thank you!!

Looks great for sure!

djiuser_uLQCntom2zdm Posted at 9-2 10:53
When you are making panoramas it's not ideal if the exposure is changing from one image to another. This tends to lead to noticeable bands between adjacent images due to the exposure differences. On the other hand, if you are blowing the highlights or crushing the shadows, then this causes it's own issues. The software will attempt to correct the exposure, but there is only so much that it can do. Having images with different ISO values in the same set also causes inconsistencies that would be best to avoid. I'm working with the raw files and developing these before stitching them together.

It seems you already know the answer to the manual exposure question having previous experience of pano shooting.
When shooting panos I like everything on manual, from whitebalance to focus, for consistency throughout the image sequence which gives optimum image matching.
Sure light levels vary in different directions, that's a given, but this is handled by shooting RAW and/or AEB to get sufficient dynamic range. Followed by tone mapping in post.
This is absolutely the right way to shoot panoramas. But you already know this.