How do I capture only thermal or RGB with an M3T?

Overview

This guide explains how to configure your DJI Mavic 3 Thermal (M3T) drone to capture only thermal (Infrared) or only RGB (Visible) imagery when flying a mission in DroneDeploy. You must set the media capture options in the DJI Pilot 2 app before launching DroneDeploy.

How to Set Media Capture Options in DJI Pilot 2

To ensure your drone captures only the correct media formats (RGB and/or Thermal), follow these steps carefully:

1. Set Media Capture Options in DJI Pilot 2 In DJI Pilot 2, you must manually select the media formats you want the drone to save. If a format is not selected, the drone will not capture or save in that format.

   Options available in DJI Pilot 2:

   • Visible (V): Captures only RGB imagery.
     
   • Infrared (I): Captures only thermal imagery.
     
   • Current View (C): Captures only from the camera currently active (whichever lens is selected at the time of capture).
     
     • If you switch to Visible (V) during the flight, it captures RGB only.
     • If you switch to Infrared (I), it captures thermal only.
   • C/V/I (or V+I): Captures both RGB and thermal simultaneously, regardless of what the gimbal is showing.
     

   Examples:

   • If you want only thermal data, select Infrared (I).
   • If you want both RGB and thermal data, select Visible (V) and Infrared (I).

   Important: After making your selection in DJI Pilot 2, close the DJI Pilot 2 app (swipe up and click "clear all") and completely re-load DroneDeploy.

2. Open DroneDeploy Once your capture settings are configured in DJI Pilot 2, open DroneDeploy.

   In DroneDeploy, you will always see both Thermal and RGB view modes (you can change views by tapping the switch camera lens button on the left). You can switch between camera views freely during the mission. However, only the media types selected in DJI Pilot 2 will actually be saved by the drone.
   
   

   Note: The drone will only save media types enabled in DJI Pilot 2—regardless of what you are viewing in DroneDeploy. For example, if only Infrared (I) is selected in DJI Pilot 2, and you are viewing the RGB camera in DroneDeploy, the drone will still only save thermal (infrared) images.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Is the DroneDeploy flight plan for an M3T based on the thermal or RGB camera? 
A: The DroneDeploy flight plan for an M3T is based on the thermal camera. The plan will be consistent with the thermal camera's narrower field of view, even when only capturing in RGB (wide camera) imagery.

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