I’m evaluating a multispectral camera to use for Ag applications with Pix4Dmapper, I’m currently focusing on Rededge-M and Sequoia.
Is there anyone out there who has compared the two cameras, maybe even with some images (RGB and NDVI index) he could provide?
Thank a lot.
Reto
Dear Reto,
I have processed about 1000 projects with Parrot Sequoia and about 200 projects with MicaSense RedgEdge, and I would definitely recommend MicaSense RedEdge over Parrot Sequoia. The quality of orthomosaics from MicaSense RedgEdge is much better than Parrot Sequoia. Moreover in my opinion Pix4D handles MicaSense RedEdge datasets better than Parrot Sequoia in terms of processing, crashing and stitching and stuff. Furthermore with MicaSense RedEdge you are able to create composite RGB’s since it has the Blue channel in the camera itself.
Thanks a lot Selim for sharing your experience.
Does the composite RGB look like an RGB or is it very artificial?
Do you also have experience with evapotranspiration (ET), based on addn. FLIR images?
Dear Reto,
You can tell that the composite RGB is not a real RGB usually by looking at it however in my opinion it doesn’t look very artificial and I think it usable and good enough depending on your requirements. Sometimes though bare soil looks a little bit lighter or darker than it normally should be. Micasense RedEdge should have a sample dataset on their website, if not you can request it from them. I would process that sample dataset.
As for the FLIR images, you should be able to determine the wet and recently irrigated spots after processing a thermal project. I am not sure if that is what you were asking about evapotranspiration.
Hi Selim
Thank you for the detailed description.
> As for the FLIR images, you should be able to determine the wet and recently irrigated spots after processing a thermal project.
> I am not sure if that is what you were asking about evapotranspiration.
Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Compared to NDVI and all the other indices, capturing ET with FLIR cameras seems to be pretty new. You don’t have expertise in this area, do you?
Kind regards
Reto
Dear Reto,
I have processed quite a few thermal projects but not as many as RGB’’s or multispectral projects. I have determined the wet and recently irrigated spots based on the temperature difference, it is pretty noticeable with a thermal camera.
Hi Reto,
The Rededge- M currently is not in our database hence I could not give you, let’s say, a fair comparison :-).
Cheers,
Ina
@Selim:
Have you managed to overlay the thermal images with the other layers, it would be interesting to have everything on top of each other, of course.
@Ina:
As far as I can see there is currently only one Rededge camera on the market, the Rededge-M (https://www.micasense.com/rededge-m/).
I was also told that the former Rededge 3 (or III) has/had the same technical specification as todays Rededge-M.
Am I mixing something up?
Pix4Dmapper doesn’t provide support for the Rededge-M, are you sure?
Regards
Reto
@Reto, that is correct the camera has the same technical specification but the rig relatives are different. Our dedicated calibration team is currently working on adding the M version in our database.
As per today, there is only the former camera in our database.
regards,
Ina
Good to know, thank you Ina. I guess it’s a matter of weeks then, rather than months, until the calibration is available.
Hi Ina
I’m sure you are aware of the special offer, from Micasense:
Of course, full compatibility is more than welcome, in this case 
Reto
Hey Reto,
I have overlayed a thermal orthomosaic over an an RGB orthomosaic. Moreover I forgot to mention, processing a thermal project is much more complex than processing an RGB or a multispectral project. This is due to low resolution of thermal images and processing time is much longer for thermal projects compare to RGB or multispectral projects, based on the number of images.
Hi Retro,
As mentioned before from our part our team is working on this and the camera is expected to be in our dataset in the upcoming 2 weeks.
Thanks,
Ina
Thanks a lot Ina, that sounds very promising.
Have a nice day, Reto
@reto
Thanks, I will comment here when the camera is already added
Have a nice day too
Hi Reto,
Rededge - M is now in our database.
Cheers,
Ina
I am confused about band assignments to rededge M imagery processed by pix4d. Is layer1 = blue or red? I am trying to create a natural color composite, and it doesn’t look natural. I have tried layer1=blue, layer2=green and layer3=red and also layer1=red layer2=green and layer3=blue. Both look unnatural. This is a tallgrass prairie site in central KS. Should be green with some tan/brown bare ground, but not yellow and certainly not blue. Also, does pix4d not create a 5 band composite ortho? I only see the reflectance images for the individual bands and not a composite in the output
Hi Scott, Micasense has an article regarding this (https://support.micasense.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000831714-How-to-Process-MicaSense-Sensor-Data-in-Pix4D). Can you try using the raw images in QGIS and creating a composite?
Also, are you using the reflectance bands or the orthomosaics for creating the RGB composite? You will need to use reflectance maps.
Pix4DMapper does not create a 5 Band composite. Our software, Pix4DFields which is solely dedicated towards agriculture has this feature.
