Mavic 3 Classic panorama images unable to stitch in Lightroom 12.0.1

Report · Nov 27, 2022

I shot panorama images in RAW (9 images total) with the new Mavic 3 Classic and I'm unable to stitch them with the perspective mode in Lightroom 12.0.1.

Prior to this I used Mavic 2 and didn't have any issues with this.

Does somebody experience similar issues?

Report · Nov 27, 2022

Try Cylindrical or Spherical. Cylindrical if just one row, Spherical if multiple rows/columns? Or just try one then the other and see what you get.

Report · Nov 28, 2022

Cylindrical and Spherical works but the outcome is very different from perspective. I have tried exporting images and use PS but still cannot make proper perspective stitches. As I said the panorama files from Mavic 2 works perfectly, some the images from Mavic 3 classic all don't work.

Report · Nov 28, 2022

I find that on my non drone cameras, perspective sometimes fails. Heck sometimes Spherical

fails but perspective works.

Report · Nov 28, 2022

Whether or not you can use perspective depends on the angle of view, so the fact that you can do this with a different drone model does not say anything. Think about it: how on earth would you create a perspective panorama that covers a greater than 180 degrees view? I'm not saying that the Mavic 3 Classic does create a larger than 180 degrees view (I have no idea what it creates), but I trust you get the idea. Perspective stops at about 120 degrees in practise.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-projections.htm

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Nov 28, 2022

I'm looking for a solution on this very specific issue using a specific drone and softwore not an opinion. 9 images is not 180 degree. 21 images is 180 degree.

Report · Nov 29, 2022

Why such hostility? I'm trying to help by giving a possible explanation, based on facts, not on a personal opinion. If Lightroom cannot stitch using perspective projection, but it can stitch using the other two projections, then the most likely explanation is that the resulting angle of view is getting too wide. I only mentioned 180 degrees as an easy to understand example why perspective projection fails beyond a certain angle of view, but I already said that the stitching failure occurs much earlier in practise. Granted, maybe that is not the correct explanation in this case. I do not claim to know everything in the universe. I already mentioned that I do not even know how wide a 9 images panorama from this drone gets. That's up to you to check and then you can draw your conclusion if this could indeed be an explanation or not.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Nov 30, 2022

Sorry about that, my bad. I did also contact DJI about this and they said that the current PS and Lightroom does not support the new Mavic 3 Classic files. Might have to wait for new updates available. I'm surprised that nobody has raised these issues among the professionals because it's very substantial for professional drone shooter. Now I have to resort to PTGUI which is more work.

Report · Jan 15, 2023

having the same issue with a mavic 3 cone. the problem is the new panorama 3x3 mode from the mavic. dji says its a feature... and they dont want to change it. the gimbal rotates when capturing the panorama - every row has a different horizon-line. its terrible

Report · Jan 16, 2023

I'm surprised nobody else has encountered this issue when most professional use this feature to generate panoramas from the DNG. I was told that the issue is that the new Classic lens is now 24mm, the previous Mavic 2 is 28mm. The stitching of perspective mode is only good at 25mm and above, 24mm is too wide.

Report · Jan 16, 2023

Well i have following information by german dji support:

The M3Cine Rolls its Gimbal (at Row 1 and 3 to the inside) for a higher degree as you tilt it down when starting a 3by3 Panorama. And i can confirm that - when i begin a 3by3 with 0 degree tilt i have no issues. When i begin it with -15 degree tilt you will see images at row 1 and 3 like below. Therefor the Roll is different at every of the 6 images in the Row 1 and 3. This is not processable by lightroom. You can indeed process it with ptgui or autopano giga or different specialised software for stitching. Thats a real bummer for me too - but dji says its a feature to make in-drone stitching faster...

Report · Jan 16, 2023

and i think its unfair to play the ball into adobe`s field. i mean who does that roll change on kameras while shooting panoramas? Yes - nobody. and indrone stitching is the only reason to justify that. the indrone jpg are useless for professionals. in my opinion we should rise awareness by dji to fix this immediatly but this is to specific for them to care i suppose

Report · Jul 28, 2025

DJI drones are unbelievably popular consumer drones used worldwide.

All DJI drones have done panoramas like this for over 4 years.

Lightroom has not been able to process these panoramas for 4 years now.

That is 100% Adobe's fault. The same way it would be Adobe's fault if Nikon made a new RAW file for a camera released in 2021 and Lightroom still wasn't compatible with it 4 years later.

Report · Jul 29, 2025

You may blame whoever you want if that makes you happy - it's up to you.

It's not Adobe fault, it's the lack of understanding on your end - nothing to fix because it's not broken.

Perspective projection implies that camera was moved sideways during capture, NOT rotated around its axis.
Which is not the case for panoramas that are shoot with drones.

It doesn't really matter for normal or telephoto lenses, but it does for wideangle.

To properly stitch such pano, perspective needs to be warped, and this warp is not applied for perspective projection because there is no rotation (this is implied by projection itself).

Which leads to stitching issues as same object in the different frames have different shape (and it shouldn't if you were indeed moving camera sideways).

Report · Jul 29, 2025

So you're saying that a software feature that other apps can do without a problem, but lightroom can't, is because of my lack of understanding and not adobe's fault?

That is just insane fanboy copium right there.

Also, perspective just immitates an extremely wide angle shot. It doesn't "imply a camera was moves sideways doing capture". Again, perspective panoramas in lightroom work fine for most built-in drone panorama modes when the edge photos aren't tilted, and the drone is completely still.

But for years, DJI has tilted the edge shots and Adobe hasn't updated their app to cope with that change in 4 years. Other apps can do this. That's not an "understanding" issue. That's Adobe dropping the ball.

So if you're going to say other people dont understand stuff, can you please not be wrong while doing it? Thanks in advance.

Report · Jul 31, 2025

So you're saying that a software feature that other apps can do without a problem, but lightroom can't, is because of my lack of understanding and not adobe's fault?

What feature? Stitching?
You can stitch in Lightroom using Cylindrical projection too.
You do not know what exact transformations other software packages are doing, and wheather they are the same as in Lightroom or not.

Also, perspective just immitates an extremely wide angle shot. It doesn't "imply a camera was moves sideways doing capture".

Perspective Mode:
Perspective projection projects the panorama as though it were mapped on a flat surface. In this mode straight lines are kept straight so this mode works well for architectural photography. You will find that if your panorama is super wide this may not work well with this mode as excessive distortion at the edges of the resulting panorama will occur.

For ultrawide lens this will require moving camera, not rotating, or you'll have issues during stitching.

In my opinion pano stitching in Lightroom is a generic algorithm which works the same way no matter the source of input images.
Can Adobe implement improvements taking into account specifics of some devices like cameras/drones?
Sure, why not.

But I wouldn't hold my breath...

And I'm very far from being LrC fan honestly.

You just expect dedicated support for your specific drone, which is a bit naive in my opinion.

Dedicated panoramic software can do this, but Adobe do not bother - its just one of the many features of the app, and probably not the most prioritazied.

Report · Jul 31, 2025

You genuinely think it's naive to expect Adobe to be able to stitch panoramas from the MAVIC PRO line? Seriously?

Report · Aug 01, 2025

Yes.

Do you see dedicated support for any other specific camera/drone?

So why should this drone be so special, because you happen to own one?

I'm not saying it's good situation, it is what it is.

Report · Aug 03, 2025

Lightroom LITERALLY adds dedicated support for every camera and drone that comes out. It adds profiles and adds support for them if they use new RAW files. jfc.

So not only is what you said wrong and stupid, even if they didn't do this, tilting panoramas isn't propietary lmao. It's just code to recognise some tilt, which already exists.

Sorry but I actually don't know why you're still defending this, the code is already there, adobe has had 4 years to modify it to accept more widely tilted photos. Not that hard, other apps do it, adobe's reputation and stock price is in the shitter cause of customer-unfriendly behaviour over a decade and you're here defending them as if the behaviour you're defending is doing them wonders as a company

the mind boggles.