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Author Topic: dji vision camera  (Read 38719 times)

Diego ROn

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dji vision camera
« on: January 09, 2014, 08:11:34 PM »
Hello everybody, did you test the dji vision camera with photoscan? I was comsidering to buy this samll and cheap uav.... any suggestion?

thanks!

http://www.dji.com/tech-spec/phantom-2-vision-spec/ here you can find some infos

DevDoctor

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2014, 02:18:09 AM »
I have one and it is a great quad. Easy to fly and has a lot of bells and whistles that would cost more DIY. The downside is that the camera doesn't go 90degrees down. More like 60. The 14MP camera itself isn't very good. I think my camera may be defective.  I have successfully run captured images at around 100ft agl and processed them through photoscan with good results. I haven't tried at 400ft yet because there is too much of a horizon. I have a ruggedized point and shoot camera that the Phantom can carry but I haven't taken it up because it doesn't have an intervalometer.

Diego ROn

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2014, 03:24:46 AM »
Hi the 90 deg it's not a problem anymore with this gimbal

http://www.hobbyhobby.it/contents/it/p975_DJI_VISION_GIMBAL.html

this is one of the reason I was considering buying the vision.

Can you share a couple of photos taken whith the uav and show the result in Photoscan?

thanks a lot!

Diego.

SAV

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2014, 11:03:24 AM »
Hi Diego ROn,

I used the Phantom Vision (1st generation) with the GoPro Hero 3 black edition (12MP resolution) and was really pleased about the resulting orthophoto and mesh. I was flying along some coastal platforms to collect high res aerial images of them.

In my (low-cost) setup, the GoPro camera was directly connected to the Phantom using the mount which came with the GoPro camera (http://gopro.com/camera-mounts/grab-bag-of-mounts). With the DJI gimbal (Zenmuse H3-2D) you might get even better (sharper) images (less vibrations).

You should also be able to use an iPad as a GCS (ground control station) to do mission planning with the new Phantom 2, which makes life much easier. Just get the DJI 2.4G Bluetooth(R) datalink.
I was always flying manually, which made it hard to systematically collect images along a grid, especially in high winds.

I am not sure about the quality of the Phantom 2 Vision's camera. The specs seem to be alright. Not sure if it has an intervalometer (i.e. take picture every 3 seconds) like the GoPros.

Happy flying.
SAV




Diego ROn

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2014, 05:42:28 PM »
Hi SAV,


Thanks for your answer! it's an usual topic on this forum the one regarding GoPro cameras!

this lens seems to deal grat with fisheye distortion..... does anybody have an idea about how this would perform with photoscan?

http://ragecams.com/shop/54mm-flat-lens-hero3black-phantom-vision2-p-631.html

 I'd love to try a dataset created wit this lens....
If this thing works in not only the phnatom vision but also the lheman aviation cheap UAS could perform good aerial survay....
I work at the University, we have 2 good pro drones, but we also have a lot of students, so having something cheap to make them exercise with would be great :)

anyway thanks a lot!



Diego ROn

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2014, 04:02:13 PM »
About DJI Vison.... this feture seems interesting....

http://www.dji.com/dji-released-a-new-firmware-for-phantom-2-vision/

I'm going to write DJI asking infos about the camera :)

MortarArt

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2014, 12:16:07 PM »
I have used the Vision Camera for photo-grammetry, albeit without actually taking photos. I just stripped ample frames from the video ... and I got reasonable results:







However, resolution is limited and the 14mp stills are quite grainy, even in good light. Note that my best results were of rock, where it is hard to tell that grain is having a negative effect. The sensor is simply too small in my view for real professional work.

The Phantom 2, however, can lift a Sony Rx-100 or Samsung NX-1100, and there's a few options for mounts around, such as the ones I 3D print via shapeways

MortarArt

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2014, 03:36:41 PM »
I received the following questions from another forum user while I was on holiday in Indonesia. I asked him if he minded if I answered them in the thread, for the sake of others and he obliged my request:

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I am using Agisoft photoscan for mosaiiking images taken from my Phantom 2 with 2D gimbal and Gopro 3+ Black (all stock from DJI) and also an F550 with Canon sx260 or S100 (with CHDK, for intervalometer) which are fixed-mounted looking down.
I have the Sony RX100 III, which I want to mount on the F550  and I see that you have a solution for that for the Phantom. Is it a fixed mount ? absorbs vibrations ?

The mount is fixed, as in it is not motorised. I've designed a few attachments for tilting, but this has to be done on the ground after a shoot is planned. It is also dampened, to reduce the impact of vibrations on both the aircraft and on the camera sensor. The RX100 is a popular fixed camera for the Phantom 2, as without a gimbal it can take great stills, so long as the mount is dampened or the aircraft is very stable. It's weight allows for TX gear in addition to the camera, so photos can be triggered when you want.

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1. How do you mount your Sony on the Phantom ? Do I have to take apart the current gimbal and Gopro as they are interconnected with cables into the Quad.

I use the Phantom 2 Vision, which has a very basic mount that is easy to unplug. I would've assumed that the gimbal cables for the various goPro gimbals would be too, but I could stand corrected.

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2. Do you use the TimeLapse function from Sony :
https://www.playmemoriescameraapps.com/portal/usbdetail.php?eid=IS9104-NPIA09014_00-000003 But somehow i can't get it to download (i am in Israel).Do you use Intervalometer to generate your images ?

No. My camera is a Samsung NX-1100. It can shoot continuously so long as the settings are correct and the shutter is pressed, so I made a little gizmo for this: That you can buy here

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3. How do you extract the stills from the Video ? which SW do you use ?

I use ffmpeg, which is a command line utility, although you should be aware that taking frames from video results in lossy images, that are not ideal for Photoscan. I wrote a Maxscript to handle the frame extraction, since the command lines are little complicated.

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4. What are your impressions from the Sony  (1" CMOS ) ?

I've seen good results, but for this kind of work an APS-C sensor would be better. It allows for faster shutter speeds, which means that your drone can be moving more when you capture.


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Thanks,
Dave

Any time!

mrb

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2014, 05:41:12 PM »
I can't speak to the Vision camera, but the GoPro Hero3 Black works fine with PhotoScan.

Here are a number of my own results with Phantom2 + GoPro + H2-3D
https://sketchfab.com/matthewbrennan/folders/99e9a5ac56a7486cac430327eedc17e3

The results aren't as good as you'll get with a DSLR.  But of course, it'd take a lot more money to hoist a DSLR up in a quad.

Those models were all made with the GoPro on timelapse mode - no pulling frames from video.  Just plug the photos into Photoscan and you're good to go.

MortarArt

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2014, 06:09:20 PM »
The Samsung NX-1100 is cheaper than a GoPro, and you don't need a gimbal for producing Photoscan content. The roll of the shot is not that important. It also weighs less than most gimbal / goPro setups.

The Vision camera is loosely comparable to the Hero3. It's biggest advantage is that it shoots raw, but it gets grainy fast in low light.

MortarArt

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2014, 05:22:34 AM »
More questions!

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How do I attach the Sony RX100M3 to the F550 ? I currently have a fixed plate for attaching all cameras to the tri-pod screw. (and fixed looking down)

I actually don't have one for the F550. If you could provide me with measurements for any dampening plate (particularly of the distance between dampeners) for any gimbals you have, I could easily knock one up and put it on Shapeways.

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Which attachment do you have - pls. a link ? Does it fit the Sony ?. Can the camera be set to a given angle prior to flight ?

This mount is the one I use on my Phantom 2

This is the add on that allows me to tilt prior to flight

Code: [Select]
Re: the NX1100 - How long can it take continuosly shoots as the button is pressed continuously during flight (with your attachment) ?
32gb / 45mb * (length of exposure + write time)

I've shot continuously for more than 10 minutes, as it seems to take a long time to write the files.

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do you have some samples (with Agisoft) of the NX1100 ?

Yes, although no aerial ones that I can share online.

Here is one example, camera matched:



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Do you have a GPS, as I see it optional.

No. I do not think that GPS for a camera would be as capable as GPS for the multi-rotor so I have not purchased this unit. I am waiting for the NAZA hacking to be successful so that I can record telemetry in real time. Once I have that I will write some scripts to create a flight path in 3Ds MAX, match time stamps to photos and then insert GPS data into them after the fact, but prior to launching Agisoft Photoscan.

gheflorian

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2014, 10:47:54 AM »
Can Photoscan align the photos without the information from the log file that Phantom does not have?

MortarArt

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2014, 11:08:49 AM »
All my photoscans using the DJI Vision camera utilised 1920x1080 frames stripped from video as jpgs, and because of the sheer mass of frames I used, Photoscan did a good job of alignment.

However, it is not correct that the P2V has no log file. There's a linux system on the camera, range extender and flight controller, all of which talk to each other. You can (and do) get real time GPS updates fed into your phone, and with some telnet magic and scripts people have been able to get this data out. I'm fairly sure that DJI even released a patch or instruction for how to get the data written to your SD card as a log while you fly and shoot; which would be pretty easy to push into Photoscan at the end of the day.

The trick, in my opinion, would be, setting up a system that records timestamped GPS info (which will be considerably better than regular GPS data from most cameras) without the need for the Vision camera, that you can later align to raw images taken by a compact like my Samsung NX-1100.

Darko

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #13 on: November 07, 2014, 03:01:28 PM »
Photoscan beta 1.1.xx works well with the DJI FC200 camera that is used by Phantom Vision 2 and Vision 2+. My experience is that this ca be used for Photogrammery with some lower precision expectation. The Vision 2 + can point and shoot downwards and camera is much sharper in the corners.

sdelong1974

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Re: dji vision camera
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2014, 07:24:17 PM »
Do you use the standard "Phantom Vision FC200" camera calibration in PhotoScan Pro? Do you switch setting from "frame" to "fisheye"?