Rodney Campbell's Blog

Bait & Tackle

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/800 sec at f/1.7, ISO 130

There’s interesting stuff everywhere to photograph…

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Looong Jetty

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/2500 sec at f/1.7, ISO 100 x 3 Frames

Testing out DJI’s new “feature enhancement” to their 3 frame vertical panorama mode at Looong Jetty on the Central Coast. In this case I start with the camera gimbal set around 45˚ downward. So the starting frame starts with the horizon near the top of the frame. The drone then takes the upward and downward frames relative to that

The end result is we end up with this much more useful rule of thirds style framing. With more of what’s below and less sky

Previously to do this I would have to manually take the individual frames. A slower and more prone to error (eyeballing the overlap) process

I’m still wanting more tho – I wish they had a 4 or 5 frame vertical pano (which included a shot facing straight down)

Still the above is a massive improvement over the old. I just hope it’s a “feature” and not a “bug” and they don’t remove it in a future update

Concentric Curves

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/640 sec at f/1.7, ISO 100 x 9 Frames

In addition to the improvements to the full sphere 360˚ panorama mode on the DJI Mini 3 Pro. I’m not sure whether this was an intentional feature or a bug in their latest firmware release. However it is something I’m hoping they keep

When taking their smaller panorama’s – like the 3 frame vertical pano and their 9 frame “wide” pano. Normally the drone resets the gimbal to be central/level with the horizon before taking the pano frames. This results in a final panorama centered around the horizon

With this latest firmware update the drone now starts taking the panorama frames from the current position of the camera

In the case of this image I started with the camera pointing slightly downward. So the final panorama includes less sky (yes finally!!!) and more of the ground below

The DJI auto stitched pano actually automatically levels the horizon in the final result. This makes sense and sort of leads me to believe the change in the way the pano mode operates was actually intentional

In my case I stitched the RAW source frames separately and kept the curved horizon. Well… because it looks interesting and highlights the difference in the new pano mode

The main reason I’m excited about this change is that it really improves my pet hate with the 3 frame vertical panorama mode. Now you can start with the camera angled say 45˚ down and you end up with a more sensible 1/3 sky, 2/3rds land composition. I took a few of these on the Central Coast when I was up there and will post some examples

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

The Green Room

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S @ 14 mm, 1.3 sec at f/11, ISO 64

Marble Madness

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S @ 20 mm, 578 sec at f/7.1, ISO 100

Another from our light painting session for Dee Why RSL Camera Club

Threw the kitchen sink at this one 🙂

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.