Drones Virtual Tour Cameras & Lenses

DJI Mini 3 Pro now takes fully spherical aerial 360 photos automatically (see sample)

DJI Mini 3 Pro now takes fully spherical 360 photos

The DJI Mini 3 Pro (reviewed here) can now take fully spherical 360 photos automatically after the most recent firmware update, becoming the first DJI drone with such a capability.

Almost all DJI drones can capture aerial 360 photos automatically by rotating and taking multiple photos sequentially then stitching the photos together.  Unfortunately, there has always been a gap in the zenith of the 360 photo (the top of the photo) because the camera’s tilt is limited by the body of the drone itself.   However, the Mini 3 Pro has become the first DJI drone to be able to overcome this issue thanks to its unique design.

DJI Mini 3 Pro key features
DJI Mini 3 Pro key features

The Mini 3 Pro has a unique capability of rotating the camera to portrait orientation.  It also has a space above the camera to enable the camera to rotate to potrait orientation without being blocked.  These unique characteristics enable the camera to take a photo of the area directly above the Mini 3 Pro, as I speculated before its release.  Now, DJI is finally utilizing the Mini 3 Pro’s capability by enabling it to capture a fully spherical 360 photo.

Here is a fully spherical 360 photo by Andrew Van Beek, shot with the Mini 3 Pro. See the photo on Kuula here.

Update:

Some users pointed out that if the 360 photo is stitched manually in PTGui, there is still a small gap in the zenith that looks like a slim rectangle (see crop below by Les Moyle).  Fortunately, it is easy to patch it.

When stitched manually, there is still a small gap but it's easy to patch
When stitched manually, there is still a small gap but it’s easy to patch

WHERE TO BUY

The Mini 3 Pro is available starting at $669 (without a controller) from Amazon or B&H Photo.

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15 Comments

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  • Can you stitch the raw photos yourself? The 8k pano my Air 2s stitches is too lo-res and contains too many stitching errors for my taste, so I stitch the raw photos myself in ptgui and photshop.

    • Yes I use the Anafi for this. I just use Microsoft ICE to stitch and get a 20k image very easily.

      I think DJI has more dynamic range in the sun, but I’m still pretty happy. It takes 40 usable jpegs vs I think 25 in DJI.

      Google compresses to 16k, but here is a sample. Aerial 360 View of McAlpine Park

      https://maps.app.goo.gl/2zGVWwnqm4DNWkSQ6

        • Pretty much anyone’s pictures are terrible compared to the one in the article!
          His are the best I have seen. It is also heavily processed by a professional photographer and from what I read somewhere I think he manually takes the pictures for better resolution. Not 100% sure.

          Here are the main “straight out of the camera” samples I have been able to locate prior to the last firmware. https://kuula.co/post/NTh7n/collection/7vJCk

          Don’t get me wrong, the Mini Pro 3 is a better drone and I am thinking long and hard about upgrading, but even the other samples on the Kuula site that he posted are nothing like this! An amazing shot for sure.

          I didn’t photoshop my Anafi sample, it is pretty much straight out of the camera and stitched in ICE. Takes 5 minutes and faster than the drone. Still obviously not a worthy comparison, just was trying to be helpful.

          Your reviews are great BTW, appreciate all the work you put into them!