Combining imagery from two drones

Agriculture
1

Hi all,

I recently purchased a second DJI M3M to increase the speed of my field capture. I didn’t even think about the issues with differences in camera performance, I just assumed (ha) that each camera would be similar.

I have flown many fields with both. I use a calibrated reflectance panel for each, before each flight. I capture the images, throw them all at 'fields for one large mosaic, and hope for a miracle.

I don’t know if I have missed a setting on the drones, such as auto white balance, or if the sensors are truly different. What I am seeing is attached, which obviously throws things off.

  1. I presume 'fields is using only one of the calibration images and is applying it to both drones. Is that accurate?

  2. Is there a setting in 'Fields to accommodate this?

  3. Do I need to process the field as two separate missions and merge them? (I hate this idea)

  4. Is there a different setting on the Mavic I should adjust?

  5. Other?

Thank you for your input!

-Mike

Screenshot 2026-07-28 012904
Screenshot 2026-07-28 012904733×1169 115 KB

2
  1. correct
  2. no
  3. That will probably give you the best result. Your problem is different lighting conditions for the different sub-flights. If you can get a picture of the calibration panel that is representative for both flights, that would probably solve it.

Unfortunately, with those drones, there is a chance that the sensor batches are really different.
But if I understand you correctly, you were able to process both data sets together into one ortho, correct?

3

Yes I have supplied the images from both drones to 'Fields. Unfortunately, the difference in images is throwing off analysis. Do you think this Is an insurmountable issue?