Most reviewers describe the DJI Flip as a drone for vlogging and short-distance autonomous tracking, but it is also an excellent affordable model for landscape photography and videography
In this video, I will show how to take panorama photos with the DJI Flip
Other related articles you may find interesting:
Planning a panorama
In Panorama mode, the Flip takes several photos according to the mode chosen:
- Sphere
- 180 degrees
- Wide angle
- Vertical
The app stitches the images to get a larger format
Panorama photography serves several purposes:
- To produce higher resolution than regular photos, which is handy for large prints
- To post interactive images on social media
- To get a creative distorted view of a scene
A drone is the perfect way to shoot panorama, as with the point of view up in the sky there are no obstacles, even in the case of full sphere panorama
Issues to Avoid
The stitching software needs some reference points to align the images properly. Scenes with a large portion taken by uniform elements, like water or the sky, should be avoided. In this case, taken a few years ago with a Mavic 2, the stitching failed
So far I have not encountered any issues of this kind with the Flip
With Sphere Panoramas, the sun will always be in the shot causing extreme dynamic range. It is hard to expose correctly under these conditions. To reduce the dynamic range and preserve the highlights it is preferable to shoot around sunset or sunrise or when clouds cover the sun
The use of polarizing filters is to be avoided, as they react differently according to the angle of light creating severe banding in the sky
Shooting a Panorama
We access panorama mode via the photo video button above the shutter. The menu to the left will display four icons for the different pano modes. The panorama functionality is available only when the drone is flying
DJI Fly app automatically stitches a JPEG panorama after shooting the photos
It is possible to save each photo in RAW or JPEG format to process and assemble the images using a third-party program. Until a few years ago, I would use only RAW files, but the quality of the JPEG files with the DJI Flip is excellent and I prefer using them for panorama to avoid vignetting issues
We can then choose the exposure mode in the bottom right of the screen. In all other circumstances, I use manual exposure. Still, in the case of panorama, Auto exposure is often a better choice, as the scenes contain the sky and elements in the ground with a wide difference in luminosity
I recommend using manual white balance to avoid shifts of colors.
In Sphere mode, the Flip shoots 25 photos in rapid succession, while in the same mode, the Mini 4 Pro takes 35 images, as the gimbal of the flagship model has an extended vertical excursion and can reproduce almost a full 360 scene
In the 180-degree mode, 21 photos are taken, seven columns and three rows
In the wide-angle mode, 9 images, three rows, and three columns
Vertical mode consists of a single column of three photos
Auto-generated panorama
The files are saved on the memory disk. There will be two folders: one named panorama containing the individual files of each photo if this option was chosen, while another folder contains the auto-generated JPEG panorama
In Sphere mode, we get a 360-degree horizontal representation of the scene. A certain amount of distortion is needed to fit the image in two dimensions, which adds a surreal, creative feel to the scene. The app extrapolates the upper part of the sky, I prefer to crop it away
A Spere panorama posted on social media is interactive, as the viewers can move around the scene
The 180-degree mode has a moderate amount of distortion. It is more suitable for images taken on a sunny day as the sun can be kept out of the scene thus reducing the dynamic range
Wide Angle mode produces traditional two-dimensional views without distortion. that can be cropped or reframed thanks to the high resolution. It is the one to use for large prints
Vertical is suitable for posting in portrait mode on social media
The quality of the auto-generated JPEG file is more than acceptable for posting on social media right out of the camera, however, a touch of editing is beneficial to adjust the shadows and the white balance and add a bit of saturation when needed
Panorama Using Other Programs
Post-processing and assembling the images with other programs can provide better results and more flexibility
I use Luminar Neo, my favorite photo editing program. It offers excellent Panorama stitching functionalities. You can watch my article about Luminar Neo
I start by quickly color-grading one of the photos containing the brightest part of the sky. The Enhance functionality is an excellent starting point
Then in Develop we can add some contrast, lift the shadows, adjust the White Balance, and add a touch of saturation if needed
Once I am happy with the result, I select all the images forming the pano and synch the adjustments
Now I drag them to the window Panorama Stitching. I can select options for devignetting, distortion correction, and chromatic aberration reduction
A few seconds after hitting Start, this window offers several panorama processing modes
- Spherical
- Cylindrical
- Mercator
- Plane
- Fisheye
In each mode, we can move the image to modify the center point and the amount of distortion. I suggest playing around with all the options to get different results
We can then further enhance the stitched panorama by adjusting the light and applying some local Dodge and Burn