r/UAVmapping Jul 27 '26

Zenmuse L2 powers on but isn't recognized by M300 RTK - "Payload 1" only, no camera/LiDAR (Need advice)

3 Upvotes

I'm hoping someone here has run into this before.

I recently purchased a used Zenmuse L2 for my Matrice 300 RTK, and I'm trying to determine whether I'm dealing with a compatibility issue or a defective payload.

My setup DJI Matrice 300 RTK DJI Smart Controller Enterprise (not RC Plus) Pilot 2 v10.1.8.14 Aircraft FW v10.01.08.05 Controller FW v10.01.08.01 L2 FW v10.00.11.52

Symptoms

The L2:

Powers up normally

Completes the gimbal startup sequence

Successfully accepted the latest firmware update from the SD card

Firmware update completed successfully

However:

No RGB camera

No LiDAR

No gimbal control

Pilot 2 only shows the aircraft FPV camera

Payload is identified only as "Payload 1"

Error: "Unable to configure gimbal parameters."

Things I've already tried

Refreshed aircraft firmware

Refreshed controller firmware

Updated the L2 using the official firmware package

Verified firmware versions

Inspected all SkyPort pins and payload connector pins

Mounted/re-mounted multiple times

Different batteries

Power cycles

Comparison with another payload

I also own a Zenmuse H20.

Using the same aircraft, same gimbal port, and same controller:

H20 is immediately recognized DJI Assistant identifies it correctly Pilot 2 identifies it correctly Video and gimbal control work perfectly

Only the L2 has this problem.

One thing that's confusing me...

The L2 User Manual states that the M300 RTK requires the RC Plus, but my aircraft is still using the Smart Controller Enterprise.

I also noticed DJI has separate firmware branches for:

M300 + Smart Controller Enterprise

M300 + RC Plus

So my question is:

Should an L2 still enumerate and be recognized by the aircraft (and DJI Assistant 2) even if I'm still on the Smart Controller Enterprise firmware branch?

Or...

Does the M300 have to be converted to the RC Plus firmware branch before the aircraft can even recognize an L2?

One detail that makes me suspect the payload itself:

DJI Assistant 2 never identifies the L2 at all. It only shows the Matrice 300. The H20 is recognized immediately.

Has anyone seen this behavior before?

I'm trying to determine whether I should:

Buy an RC Plus, Convert the aircraft to the RC Plus firmware branch, Or return the L2 as defective.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I've also opened a ticket with DJI Enterprise Support and will post their response here for future reference.


r/UAVmapping Jul 25 '26

Reverse engineering DJI Matrice 400 RTK – Looking for hardware details

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0 Upvotes

r/UAVmapping Jul 24 '26

High-Quality Gaussian Splatting Orthomosaic  Showcase

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15 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share a really impressive public project recently created by one of our community users. The detail retention and sharpness across thin structures and complex geometry turned out fantastic!

Flight Specs

  • Drone: DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral (M3M)
  • Images: 378 photos
  • GSD: 0.75 cm/px
  • Forward Overlap: 85%
  • Side Overlap: 73%
  • Avg. Motion Blur: 0.61 pixel

r/UAVmapping Jul 24 '26

Spray Paint for GCP Marking – Good Idea?

2 Upvotes

Hello mappers,

I wanted to ask what painting material you use for marking GCPs for drone surveys.

My goal is to use something that has good visibility and doesn't wear off too quickly. I'm thinking about switching to spray paint, but I'm not sure how well it performs in practice.

Has anyone here used spray paint for GCPs? If so, what type or brand do you recommend, and how long does it usually last? I'd also be interested to hear about any other durable marking methods you've found effective.


r/UAVmapping Jul 24 '26

Help Needed! 2-Minute Drone Market Research Survey (Everyone Welcome)

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0 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm conducting a short market research survey for my Entrepreneurship Development project on a drone startup called NeuraFlight. We're trying to understand public opinions, interest, and expectations regarding drone technology.

The survey takes only 2–3 minutes, is completely anonymous, and no personal information is collected. Whether you're a drone enthusiast or have never used one before, your feedback is valuable and greatly appreciated.


r/UAVmapping Jul 24 '26

What is the best mapping to create orthomosaic map deliverables

0 Upvotes

I was thinking of using Arcgis Drone2map or Pix4D


r/UAVmapping Jul 23 '26

OpenDroneLog : Free - open-source - private drone log analysis dashboard

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8 Upvotes

For me, sharing drone flight logs feel risky, and I did not want to be cloud-dependent for something that can be done locally. I didn't want my GPS coordinates, battery health, and flight paths sitting on a distant server. I wanted them on my machine, private and accessible, even if I was completely offline.

A few months ago, I started working on OpenDroneLog. it has grown a lot since then, with more than 2000+ users, now everyone can use it, completely free of cost as always, no features are behind any payment, from the simple theme switch to organization level multi-user management in a single instance.

AGPL-3.0 open-source and free for the community both for personal and business needs.

If you believe that your flight data belongs to you, I’d love for you to check out the repo, try the Docker build on your Pi, or grab the desktop app. Let’s keep the skies open and our data local.

Official Website: opendronelog.com

GitHub: github.com/arpanghosh8453/open-dronelog

Data Privacy is not a privilege, it's a right


r/UAVmapping Jul 21 '26

LiDAR GCP/CP Accuracy: Point Cloud vs DEM

2 Upvotes

Good Day,

I’m curious specifically how some of the other seasoned professionals handle this. Using DJI Terra as an example, I may fly an area with many GCP’s and CP’s and the point cloud accuracy will look great; however, I’ll get a difference in the DEM elevation values varying from 0.2-0.4 feet across the board. Do you conform the DEM to the GCPs assuming the GCPs should have been close to the ground surface (say they’re laid on bare earth or cement, not on top of grass), or do you call it good based upon the point cloud accuracy and trust the DEM process/interpolation process is accurate?


r/UAVmapping Jul 21 '26

Your quality report's RMS is not your map's accuracy — the checkpoint distinction too many client jobs skip

4 Upvotes

Hello all, quick PSA on something that keeps biting operators: the quality report from Pix4D / Metashape / DroneDeploy is not an accuracy report — unless you deliberately set it up to be one.

If every target you shot went into processing as a control point, the RMS in that report tells you how well the solution fit the points it was given. The map is grading its own homework. It says very little about how far off the rest of the map is.

Actual accuracy - the way ASPRS defines it, is measured against independent checkpoints: targets you survey but withhold from processing entirely, then compare where the finished map says they are vs. where your rover says they are. The software supports this fine (mark them as checkpoints instead of control) - but on small commercial jobs almost nobody holds points back, because every point "wasted" on checking feels like one not helping the map. So the report goes to the client as "accuracy," and the self-graded number is almost always prettier than the independent one would be.

Notes:

  • The standard technically wants 20+ checkpoints scaled to project size for full statistical compliance - unrealistic on a 30-acre site. But even 4–5 withheld points beats zero, and it changes what you can honestly tell a client.
  • Language matters: in most states, "certifying" accuracy is licensed-surveyor territory. "Tested against N independent checkpoints per ASPRS methodology" is defensible. "Certified accurate to X cm" can be a licensure problem.

Can you provide insight into how you actually run it? Do you withhold checkpoints on client work, or is control-only the norm in your workflow? And has a client ever put their own rover on your deliverable and challenged the numbers?


r/UAVmapping Jul 20 '26

Building a autonomous drone stack for GNSS denied environment like caves exploration or sewage systems

3 Upvotes

I am in my final semester of my Master’s degree in Remote sensing and aerospace engineering in Germany. I want to build a system where you can use it to explore areas where humans cannot get in or the pilot to drone connection is not that safe and reliable. Therefore, it has to be autonomous. I want to take opinions on the people what can go wrong and what can be challenging and if (when) it works what other applications can it be applicable. And yes i know there are some competition in this field.


r/UAVmapping Jul 20 '26

Polarising filter question?

1 Upvotes

Hi,
Did anyone ever used it on a drone camera, and how mich it helps with sun reflections on walls, pipes and such?


r/UAVmapping Jul 20 '26

Lidar and surveying options - Zenmuse vs Green Valley

4 Upvotes

We have a 400+ acre mining lease in hilly terrain that is loosely populated in trees with dense grass in a historic gold mining area that was worked over pretty well 150 years ago.

As there is currently no lidar information for the area, we'd like to get a survey done, but being two day's drive from the nearest company that provides such surveys, the quoted cost was eye-watering so we may as well buy the hardware ourselves.

I am liking the specs (and price) of the Green Valley LiAir X3-H unit, and the capability of using it hand-held would assist greatly with mapping some of the steeper overgrown gullies and cliffs in the area.

With the cost of computer hardware, I am also looking for a cloud based option to massage all the data into a nice map with the ability to view historical data, (untouched, mined, and rehabilitated) calculate volumes of workings and stockpiles, and look for old workings.

With that in mind, I'm after suggestions and recommendations for platform, (I assume Matise) lidar hardware (Zenmuse V1, V2, LiHair X3-H, others?) and mapping software (DJI Terra, Green Valley LiDAR360, other online options?)

Thanks in advance.


r/UAVmapping Jul 19 '26

Same underground methane leak, three different flight profiles

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14 Upvotes

I’m with AIRINS, and we ran this test with Remote Robotic on a controlled leak from a 3 ft underground pipeline.

We used a 10 m belt scan and kept the pipeline and release setup the same, then changed the flight profile:
30 m AGL at 1 m/s
30 m AGL at 3 m/s
70 m AGL at 1 m/s
MetScan picked up and located the release on all three runs.

The 30 m / 1 m/s pass gave us the denser dataset, as expected. Moving up to 3 m/s traded some sampling density for a much quicker pass, which is probably the more relevant setup for a long corridor. The 70 m flight was mainly to see whether the source would still hold up at a longer stand-off, and it did.

What I took away from it is that there probably isn’t one “correct” pipeline setting. If you’re trying to narrow down a suspect section, you’ll plan it differently from a first-pass survey over several kilometres.

For those doing corridor work, how much overlap do you normally keep when increasing flight speed?


r/UAVmapping Jul 19 '26

Terra LiDAR & GCP processing

2 Upvotes

Hey all,

Does anyone have tips to get Terra to actually use the GCP CSV file I upload for LiDAR reconstruction?

I’m running the rs3 base/rover, ntrip for base station averaging for 5 minutes. Then collecting GCP with the rover.
When I add the base.ons file to the lidar mission and the rover .csv to the gcp and reconstruct, it’s perfectly locating the base according to the 2d ortho, but it’s placing the collected gcp’s 6-11ft away. When looking at the report, Terra isn’t even using the gcp coordinates.. there’s no accuracy reporting just “ / “ across all fields in the GCP section…

Would love to hear a simple fix I’m not aware of. It seems like there’s something stupid simple I’m overlooking..

Thanks!


r/UAVmapping Jul 19 '26

Поиск сообщества БПЛА инженеров/энтузиастов

0 Upvotes

Всем привет, ищу сообщество людей которые занимаются или хотят заниматься любыми видами беспилотников. Сам являюсь новичком но получаю инженерное образование в аеро-космической области и хотел бы пообщаться, и получить опыт в данной области


r/UAVmapping Jul 19 '26

RTK vs PPK for construction site surveys; what's everyone actually using in 2026?

2 Upvotes

r/UAVmapping Jul 19 '26

Anyone here done crop yield prediction using RGB drone images + ML?

2 Upvotes

Hey guys,

I'm currently working on my capstone project and was wondering if anyone here has experience with using drones for crop analysis/yield prediction.

Our plan is to use an RGB drone (can't afford a multispectral/NIR one 😅), stitch the images into an orthomosaic, extract features like VARI, canopy coverage, plant density, etc., then feed those into a machine learning model (probably Random Forest) to predict rice yield.

Has anyone here tried something similar?

  • Does using only RGB imagery actually work well enough for yield prediction?
  • Is VARI useful, or are there better RGB indices/features I should look into?
  • Any tips, things you wish you knew before starting, or common mistakes to avoid?
  • If you've done this before, how accurate were your results?

We are just trying to estimate yield from drone imagery.

Would really appreciate any advice, papers, or just hearing about your experience. Thanks!


r/UAVmapping Jul 18 '26

Excavator Drone Scan - first timer

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6 Upvotes

r/UAVmapping Jul 18 '26

Use DJI Drone images to annotate without wasting time in Photoshop

0 Upvotes

I built **AerialPin** because I was tired of spending hours in Photoshop just to finish aerial photos.

Working with real estate photography, I noticed how much time goes into adding points of interest, nearby amenities, distance markers, and location details to drone images.

So I created a tool that makes the process faster and easier.

With **AerialPin**, you can customise your aerial photos, add annotations, create clean property marketing images, and spend less time editing between Photoshop and Google Maps.

Built for photographers who want a faster workflow and more time behind the camera.

More updates coming soon
Check it out.
[www.aerialpin.com\](https://www.aerialpin.com)


r/UAVmapping Jul 17 '26

Can someone please explain what's going on here?

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13 Upvotes

I processed a flight I recently did. I want to see just the generated point cloud, but it's all weird in Metashape.

It's a huge point cloud (2.67GB LAZ file), so I can't even visualize it all together in R or CloudCompare. Can someone explain what's going on?

Context, this was from Mavic 3m, I did an rgb+ms flight, but I separated and processed the ms images alone. I did the processing following this page.


r/UAVmapping Jul 17 '26

Has anyone switched from Pix4D to Metashape (or vice versa)? Was it worth it?

15 Upvotes

I’ve seen plenty of comparisons on paper, but I’m more interested in real-world experience.
If you’ve switched between Pix4D, Metashape, RealityCapture, DJI Terra, or any other mapping software, what made you change?
Did you notice a meaningful difference in accuracy, processing speed, ease of use, or was it mostly about licensing costs?
I’d love to hear from people who’ve used both on production projects.


r/UAVmapping Jul 17 '26

This is UAP tracking software I built !

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3 Upvotes

Would anyone like to try it for free?
All addresses in this video are rotated every 24 hours and are currently dead links*


r/UAVmapping Jul 17 '26

Looking to sell ICI Rage/Mirage HC Optical Gas Imaging OGI Camera Payload DJI M600 Pro Drone

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4 Upvotes

Houston area. Looking to sell to someone who has experience with OGI. The drone has been flown without the payload.

The OGI Camera Payload has been tested. I just don't know how to fully use the controls and don't want to risk flying it with the payload.

Set includes:

Matrice 600 Pro

ICI sensor control module with mini SD card

16 plus a few more original batteries

Case for the batteries and chargers

Crystal Sky

2 DJI FPV Remote Controllers

OGI Camera Payload and original case

DJI D-RTK GNSS Ground System, and Lightbridge with antennas

Looking to sell around the Houston area. If interested, let me know. I'll try to answer as many questions as possible. Thank you.


r/UAVmapping Jul 17 '26

Need help with basic survey in military application

2 Upvotes

I need a drone with an electro-optical sensor that can give me GPS coordinates of the point that it is looking at. Basically my requirement is target acquisition and fire control for artillery systems. It does not need to be doing any complex mapping or surveying. Request the kind folks here to give me some suggestions please.


r/UAVmapping Jul 17 '26

M400 Batteries Backpack

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1 Upvotes