Summary of Issue:
I was able to fly missions shooting DNG photos since the beginning of my usage of DroneDeploy 8 or 10 months ago , but now DroneDeploy changes my settings to JPEG, it even affects my DJI Go settings, so when I fly using DJI Go, I need to revert to DNG on the app, I need raw support because most photos need some kind of color correction that JPEG won’t allow.
Date Issue Began:
It happened on the last 2 missions I flew
Drone Model:
Mavic Pro on 1.4.100 firmware
Mobile Device Model and OS version:
Motorola Moto X Play on Android 7.1.2
I am not sure why DroneDeploy will allow DJI GO camera settings to change in this case the image type. If you set your image type to DNG in the DJI GO app and try to fly with DroneDeploy, your DNG image type might change to JPEG automatically. It should not be changing your DJI GO app setting independently.
We do not allow DNG/RAW file types to be uploaded. If you want to use RAW image types for color correction, I would recommend using a photo editor to edit your photos, then batch process your photos to be converted into high res Jpegs. I do not believe we have ever processed our maps using RAW image types.
Hello Yusuf, I might have not expressed myself correctly. I am aware that the platform doesn’t accept DNG image files, but on previous versions of DroneDeploy, the image type I set on DJI Go was the image type DroneDeploy App used. I then fixed and color corrected the images and exported them as high quality JPEGs.
The weird thing is that DroneDeploy App no longer lets my Mavic shoot DNG images but it hijacks my DJI Go settings.
I reached out to my engineers and they let me know we have never let the DroneDeploy application allow the camera in an automated flight to take RAW/DNG images. This will slow the rate at which the photos will be taken and sometimes memory cards cannot keep up with this high payload of write speed required.
As far as the DJI GO Settings, our application just mirrors what settings the DJI GO app is set too. Not sure why your DroneDeploy app is affecting the settings of your DJI GO app. If possible could you send me screenshots of your camera settings of both the DroneDeploy app and also the DJI GO app in a personal message? I will then further investigate.
Hello again Yusuf, I just tested again and it doesn’t matter if I set the mission to use manual exposure and focus on DJI Go or not, the DroneDeploy App still hijacks my DJI Go settings as shown on the video of my previous post. I tried looking through the app folders to see if there was a configuration file I could modify, but found nothing of use.
I would be interested in getting this feature activated. I would like to capture RAW format with drone deploy. Why not just slow down the flight to allow the write speed to the SD card and put in a pop-up to require that the user have an appropriate SD inserted? I use my DJI Phantom 4 pro for research and am struggling to find a flight planning software that will allow me to shoot RAW…
Anybody have a solution?
Litchi would allow you to shoot any camera setting you like. For shooting .DNGs you would be limited to setting a minimum 5 second capture interval so you would need to fly slowly. But it should work without issue.
@mbarbee Our platform has been based on mobility and cloud based functions. RAW imagery would have slowed down the performance and require users to have high bandwidth of upload in order to upload their data sets.
The upload does not need to be slowed down. Why? Because the RAW or DNG users could pre-process their photos to bring out the details they are looking for and then upload smaller .jpg files. DD should definitely support DNG even though it imposes stricter speed limits for successful picture taking. Users will take this into account when deciding whether to use it. But the cited upload limitation may be a red herring.
To DD devs: Think of the DD capture app as distinct and independent from the processing service, because it is. If a user wants to capture using raw with it’s flight speed limitation, why not?
If the processing engine has limitations, then specify those. If the user needs to edit and then save as a .jpg with a size limit to process with DD, so be it. Will the user need to be careful about not disturbing the exif information while editing? Of course! But that is on them.
There is no doubt that there is room for improvement in the Capture App. If DD is reluctant to spend time on it because it is freeware, perhaps consider charging an appropriate fee for an enhanced version of the application. The marketplace is not over saturated with high quality photogrammetry focused control apps for DJI models.
DNG is much better for post-processing and far superior in quality. In ACDSee they can be saved as a JPGs in 4 clicks. 300 images in just over 3 minutes.
Thanks for the response and @Dave and @Solarbarn input. For the advanced user, I would definitely appreciate the ability to shoot .DNG but I will be testing Litchi too. Would like to see this feature added DD since I appreciate many other aspects of the interface and ability to create, import and fly irregular AOIs. Any other software recommendations @Dave or anyone?
You could try aerobotics and hanger autopilot, but quite honestly after testing a ton of solutions drone deploy for the straightforward stuff and litchi for the more creative is about as good of a pair as you’re going to get.
Any waypoint app can be pressed into service. I have Autopilot but prefer Litchi. You could try DJI’s Ground Station Pro if on IOS. Litchi allows setting up missions on your PC through their Mission Hub which is nice.
Obviously there is Map Pilot by Maps Made Easy, which has the option to shoot raw images. I personally use both DD and Map Pilot. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. Focus has been an issue on both for some.
From the outside looking in, it seems like both Drone Deploy and Maps Made Easy are a little bit slow to develop and improve their app. On the other hand, Litchi is very proactive and seems to attack problems quickly. MME and DD could take a lesson from Litchi IMHO. They both have a pretty good app but for some reason can’t quite take it up the last notch to be really good. I’m hopeful though !
I give credit to DroneDeploy because of the functionality and their solution besides flight planning. Analysis and Reporting takes a lot of resources to develop. You think they’re slow, you should try Kespry!
