Camera Payloads

Sony A7R

My pictures are blurry when taking pictures manually or running a mission. How can I make future pictures clearer?

• Make sure that there are no smudges on the camera lens that would cause a glare.

• If taken pictures appear blurry, be sure the lighting outside is allowing the camera to Auto Focus. Presence of a heavy overcast can have an impact on this.

  • If pictures look good after a mission but somewhat blurry on zoom-in, be sure you are running the mission at the correct flight speed. The default configuration for the mission speed on photogrammetry missions is 5 m/s. This can be adjusted at any time, but can also cause picture quality to drop as a result. Find the speed that produces the best results for you and adhere to it, unless other factors require you to make changes.

What if the camera feed displays the camera going in and out of mass data storage mode?

Unplug the multi-port cable (top USB-C cable plugged into the side of the camera). Unplug the drone and repower it. Once powered on and Control has loaded the parameters, plug the multi-port cable back into the port.

The camera takes multiple pictures when pressing the camera button on the controller. How can I fix this?

This is a setting that can be changed. Navigate to Menu Settings → Shoot Mode → Drive Mode → Change to Single Shooting.

What if I get a “Battery Exhausted” pop-up on my Sony A7R? What should I do?

• If the camera is manually triggered over an extended period of time (3-5 minutes), the camera will overheat.

This indicates your camera has become overheated, and needs to cool down. You can prevent this by:

• replacing the battery with a dummy battery, which will prevent this while letting you do continuous flights.

• Decreasing the number of continuous pictures by having flight plans planned accordingly.

The following message appears on the camera screen: “The operation and safety of this battery cannot be guaranteed”

When this message appears, it suggests the Dummy Battery in your camera is degrading. While this should have no effect on the operation of the camera, it will produce this message dialog that the user must clear before use. For a replacement Dummy Battery, contact Customer Support.

An older picture is displayed in the video feed. How can I connect the live stream?

• Press the Auto Focus (AF) button.

• Press the “take picture” button on the Sony Camera.

• Take a picture using the physical button on the top right of your controller. The Auto Focus button should be tried before using this method.

• Note that it may take a couple of tries with each of these respective methods, a bit of patience is sometimes required. Try 5-10 times at least for each one. Generally, one of these solutions will resolve the issue.

If the camera feed isn’t appearing, what should I do?

• Verify that the camera is receiving power and is powered on.

• Take a picture using the physical camera trigger button on the top right of your controller.

• Examine the connectors and ribbon of the HDMI ribbon cable for any significant damage that might effect data transmission.

  • Check the ports and connectors of your HDMI ribbon to make sure there are are no loose connections. All connectors should be snug when plugged into the HDMI ports.

• Leave the HDMI ribbon unplugged from the front mini-HDMI port of the drone until the drone has finished booting, and then plug the HDMI back into the camera

  • If drone is already powered on, unplug the HDMI cable and plug it back in.

• Take a picture manually using the button on the camera itself. Be sure to do this several times if necessary and give it some patience, as generally this step is a reliable way to return the camera feed.

• If all of these look good, you should close out of WISPR Ground Control and reboot the drone. The camera feed should appear after the next bootup.

• Be sure that QGroundControl isn’t open in the backgrond, as it will fight over the port to display the feed with WISPRGroundControl.

After taking off, the camera is going into mass storage (geotagging mode). The camera is dumping the data once the flight is over (going back into mass storage mode), but the images aren’t being geotagged. What could be the problem?

• After taking pictures, once the drone has landed, give it time to move the data to the pictures saved on the SD card.

  • Once landed, you should see it enter mass storage mode. It is now moving the data onto the pictures on the SD card. Always wait for it to finish this process to ensure you get the data captured with the pictures.

• Check that your SD card is inserted into the Camera Controller completely.

• Verify that your SD card has the pictures on it

  • If the pictures are not on the SD card in the Camera Controller you should:

    • Try clearing and reformatting the Micro SD card

    • Check for any damage to the Micro SD card. If any damage can be seen, replace the Micro SD card.

• Check your camera settings and be sure mass storage is selected.

• Reformat the SD Card through the Sony camera.

• Reformat the MicroSD Card through the Camera Controller.

When I try to capture an image with the physical or touch buttons, the camera begins to focus but does not a take a picture. What is the solution?

This is currently associated with two possible causes. The first is that the camera will not capture photos if the SD card is in slot 2 (top slot) rather than slot 1 (bottom slot).

The second reason is correlated with a function of the Sony A7R that will refuse to capture an image if the lens is unable to achieve satisfactory focus. On rare occurrences this has been linked with locking up the touch buttons.

• To get the capture buttons to work properly, adjust the content in the frame of the camera shot. If an object is too close, an object in the distance rests under distortive lighting, or rests at an angle that distorts the way the camera focuses, the camera may reject capture commands.

• Sometimes when this happens, the touch buttons may be unresponsive and the camera is able to capture a photo, then a reboot of WISPR Ground Control will be required. This should reset the initialization of camera controls and the touch buttons should be responsive again.

Pictures are not being saved on the SD card in my A7R correctly. How do I resolve this?

Format the SD card through the camera settings. To do this, go to media in your camera menu. You will see the option to format. Rotate the roll-wheel, and select enter by pressing the center button of the roll-wheel to begin formatting. You will receive a message that the card has been successfully formatted when it is complete.

Pictures are somewhat blurry when at maximum zoom. This is making it difficult to process data through Pix4D. What should I do?

If using Pix4D to process your data, it’s optimal to use Pix4DMapper, which supports the Sony A7R IV. Pix4DMapper is designed to process pictures, and should produce good data. The A7R IV is not supported by Pix4DMatic currently, but is projected to be in the near future. You may still upload pictures for data, but the results may be skewed. Until support for the A7R IV with this program is added, Pix4DMapper should be used.

My gimbal will not tilt by using the roll-wheel. What could be the problem?

Solutions:

• Ensure the gimbal is receiving power.

• Verify the SBUS cable is fully plugged in and no wires feel loose.

• Make sure the SBUS cable is plugged in correctly. The wires from left to right should be Black/Red/White, as seen below:

My gimbal pitch doesn’t adjust while running a mission. How can I resolve this?

Solutions:

• Try to take a picture with the Capture button on your Smart Controller (soft touch buttons).

• Watch the Camera Controller while taking a picture with the soft buttons. You should see a white flash every time you take a picture.

• Check that the Camera Control status light is blue. This means it is in the ready state.

• Ensure your gimbal pitch is correct under the mission tab when planning your mission. The gimbal pitch selected is the angle the gimble will be set to while running the mission.

What if my Gimbal Pitch isn’t set to the angle I would like when planning a survey?

You may change the Gimbal Pitch to a custom angle once you’ve selected “Done with Polygon” and have the polygon the size you would like it, you may now change the gimbal pitch under the mission tab, selecting the correct pitch you would like to run the mission at.

• The Gimbal Pitch will default to 90 degrees when running a survey with a camera payload selected, if you do not input a custom gimbal pitch.

  • See Gimbal Pitch in the image above.

What should I do if running a structure scan and get a “Critical: PreArm: GPS 1 failing configuration checks.” and the .TXT file doesnt save?

• Bring your drone home, reboot and plan the mission again. This should reset all on the drone and you should not have a problem gathering the .TXT file.

  • This is caused by the GPS dropping out due to interfernce resulting in corruption of the log. Be mindful how close you are running your structure scan to the structure itself and surrouning structures/power lines.

WIRIS Enterprise

What should I do if my WIRIS camera does not have camera control?

• First make sure that your WIRIS Camera is receiving power and is powered on.

• Open WISPR Ground Control and select the Wispr button in the top left. You should be taken to the General tab. Under payload be sure WIRIS is selected from the drop down menu.

• Verify that your Camera Controller is powered and a blue LED light is shining from it.

• Press the Capture button on the WISPR Ground Control screen, and see if the Camera Controller receives the command. To confirm this, after giving the command you will see the blue LED on the Camera Controller blink white, and then return to blue.

• Check to make sure you see that no cables are loose, cut, or that any wires slid out of the connectors going from the I/O ports to the gimbal.

  • If you try all of these steps and still do not have camera control, please visit https://wisprsystems.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/3/group/11/create/38 to get a replacement wire harness or have your payload returned for service.

WIRIS Enterprise Quick Start for the Ranger Pro