How to shoot panoramas with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro

To shoot a panorama on the DJI Mavic 3 Pro, tap Shooting Modes in DJI Fly, choose Pano, pick Sphere, 180°, Wide Angle or Vertical, and press the shutter. The drone hovers, takes a series of photos and stitches them automatically. All four modes work on the Hasselblad 24 mm camera. The 70 mm camera can shoot Sphere frames that you stitch on a computer, and the 166 mm tele has no Pano mode.

Mavic 3 Pro Pano support by camera — Based on DJI's Mavic 3 Pro camera function table. The 70 mm camera captures Sphere frames but does not stitch them, and the 166 mm has no Pano mode.

The four Pano modes

Mode	Result	Good for
Sphere	Full 360° view, viewable as a sphere or "tiny planet"	Virtual tours, real estate
180°	Wide sweep across the horizon	Coastlines, skylines, ranges
Wide Angle	A wider frame than the lens alone	Big subjects when you can't back up
Vertical	Tall frame from ground to sky	Towers, cliffs, waterfalls

Using the 70 mm camera for panoramas

DJI's manual notes that Sphere panoramas shot with the medium tele camera aren't stitched automatically. The drone captures the frames and you combine them in software such as Lightroom or PTGui. Because the 70 mm sees a narrower view, it takes more frames, but the result holds much more detail than the 24 mm version. It works best for distant subjects like city skylines and mountain ranges.

Best settings

Exposure: Pro mode with fixed ISO, shutter, aperture and white balance so every frame matches.
ISO: 100.
Aperture (24 mm): f/4 to f/5.6 for sharp edges. Avoid f/11, which softens detail.
Expose for the brightest part of the scene, usually the sky near the sun. The Four Thirds sensor recovers shadows well from RAW.
Photo Type: in Settings, Camera, Pano, choose to keep the original photos. You can restitch them later at higher quality.

Tips for clean stitching

Fly high enough that nothing is close to the drone. Nearby trees and roofs cause parallax errors at the seams.
Fly in calm air. Drift between frames shows as misaligned edges.
Avoid moving subjects like traffic and crowds, which can repeat or be cut in half.
Put the sun to the side or behind you where possible to limit flare in some frames.
Don't touch the sticks until the app says the panorama is complete.

Stitching on a computer

Lightroom: select the original frames, then Photo Merge, Panorama. Merging RAW files keeps the full dynamic range.
PTGui and similar tools: better for Sphere panoramas, tele panoramas and fixing tricky seams.
Tiny planets: start from a stitched Sphere and use the app's Asteroid view or an equirectangular editor.

Custom tele panoramas by hand

For a tele panorama of a skyline in a shape the presets don't offer, switch to the 70 mm or 166 mm camera, lock exposure in Pro mode, and take overlapping single photos as you yaw slowly across the scene. Overlap each frame by about a third. Stitch them in Lightroom or PTGui.

Real estate and commercial use

Sphere panoramas give buyers an aerial look around a property, and 180° shots suit waterfront listings. Paid work needs a Part 107 certificate. For the full workflow, see how to shoot real estate with a drone.

For more camera setup, read best Mavic 3 Pro settings, or shop the DJI Mavic 3 Pro.