Options for Transfer
Remove the SD card and put into PC card reader Use DJI Controller App - Drone to Phone Drone Direct to Phone or PC with USB Cable To delete files from drone or phone Note: for brevity, in this guide, “files” means still images and videos. These instructions are for Android phones. These instructions are based on the Mini 4K but should work for other drones. I haven’t investigated “Quick Transfer”, which the Mini 4K doesn’t have. These procedures will transfer files in full quality. There are three ways to get files off the drone.Summary: how are your images (still and videos) managed?
To summarise, this is what occurs when you take stills or videos. 1. You take the shot. It is immediately saved onto the SD card in the drone and will be visible on the “DJI Mini 4K” tab of the DJI app Album screen. 2. A short time later (not sure exactly when), any stills (including straight stills, or the three types of panos) are saved onto your phone in the DCIM/DJI Album folder. These are shown on the “Saved” tab of the DJI app album. Some stills aren’t transferred automatically (not sure exactly why!) and need to be transferred from drone to phone manually. See below for the manual transfer procedure. Videos and the Pano base files are not transferred to your phone automatically by DJI Fly app; you have to do a manual file transfer using a separate app..File Structure on Drone SD Card
The drone’s SD card looks like this: The 100MEDIA folder contains the simple still JPEGs, video files and HTML files associated with the panos. The PANORAMA folder contains the pano base-files. They (around 27 for each sphere pano) are put into dedicated folders for each pano. These base files are used to make up the final pano. When you transfer files from the SD Card to the phone using the DJI app, only the still images, the videos (if selected) and the made-up pano files are transferred. The pano base-files in the PANORAMA folders are not transferred and cannot be seen in the DJI app. When the made-up pano files are deleted from the drone using the app, the pano base files are also deleted.DJI Fly Album Display
This is the main display when you hit the “Album” button:File structure on phone
When downloaded to your phone, the actual file structure looks like this. The files are downloaded to the DCIM/DJI Album folder. This is also the folder where the made-up pano files are stored. Note the “pano optimised” files for panos and the “photo optimised” files, being the standard still shots. Videos do not automatically get transferred to your phone by the DJI fly app. Use option 1 or 2 if you want the videos on your phone. Pano base files cannot be transferred at all with the DJI fly app. A separate file-management app must be used (not that you’d probably want to, unless you have a third-party stitcher app on your phone).Transferring
Option 1 - Use DJI Controller App - Drone to Phone
Power up the drone and controller
This will transfer all the straight stills and any made-up panos. It will not transfer the pano base files. Connect your phone to the controller USB control port (not the charging port) with either the DJI USB cable or a longer USB C cable. Start the DJI app. Tap the Home button (top left of screen) or Album button if displayed. Tap Album (Quick Transfer is inoperative on the Mini 4K) Tap to allow any permissions: tap Go to Settings then Done. On the Album screen, there are two sections/tabs at the top: DJI Mini 4K This tab displays all the still images, panos and videos files on the SD card in the drone Saved this tab displays all the still images, panos and videos on the phone (in the phone’s “DCIM/DJI Album” folder) To download files from the drone, tap DJI Mini 4K.To download files (ie stills and videos) to phone:
All files, including panos, wide-angles and normal stills will automatically be downloaded to your phone. Videos are not automatically downloaded. It will pay to check the “Download” arrows on the DJI Mini4K tab; I have had times when some files have not been downloaded. Ensure you’re looking at the drone album (DJI Mini 4K underlined). If not, tap it. All the images and videos (files) on the drone will be displayed. Those that have not been downloaded to your phone have a small Download icon at the top left of each thumbnail. The transfers are done wirelessly, and videos, due to their size, will take some time. Download Individual files Tap the image Tap the Download icon bottom right; image will be downloaded (progress circle is displayed). Once the download is complete, go back to the album display (“<” button, top left of screen); note the “Download” icon at top left of each downloaded image has been removed, indicating that the image has now been downloaded. Multi or Batch Download Tap the Batch Mode button at top right; selector boxes will appear on each file. Tap the box for each file you want to download, or tap Batch Select to select all files from that flight. Scroll down to see files from other flights and select as required. Tap the Download icon, bottom right; all selected files will be downloaded, with a progress bar shown at the top. The “Download-available” icon at top left of each image will be removed for all the files that have been downloaded to phone.Option 2 - Drone Direct to Phone or PC with USB Cable
This is the most efficient way in my view; it’s fast and doesn’t require pulling out the SD card nor does it require a card reader. However, you will only get the shots/videos taken, not the made-up panos. Using a USB C cable, connect the drone direct to your phone or PC. The drone will appear as a USB drive and files can be copied in the normal way. In Windows, it will look like this: On Android, I use CX File Explorer as the file app. CX File Explorer screens with the drone plugged into the phone: To be on the safe side, ensure you “eject” or “unmount” the drone/drive before disconnecting the cable.Option 3 - Remove SD Card
Remove the SD card from the drone and place in an SD card reader for transfer to phone or PC. You will only get the shots/videos taken, not the made-up panos, which are created in the phone’s DCIM/DJI Fly folder.To delete files from drone or phone
On the Album screen, tap the appropriate view: DJI Mini 4K (drone) or Saved (Phone). Either tap on each image individually and then tap the Delete button bottom-left, or tap the batch button top-right, choose the files, then tap the Delete button. When you delete files from the drone, any pano base-images will also be deleted When you delete any files from “Saved”, the shot images and any pano base-images remain on the drone.Windows PC DJI Image Icons
Here is what each image looks like in the Windows file explorer:
Options for Transfer
Remove the SD card and put into PC card reader Use DJI Controller App - Drone to Phone Drone Direct to Phone or PC with USB Cable To delete files from drone or phone Note: for brevity, in this guide, “files” means still images and videos. These instructions are for Android phones. These instructions are based on the Mini 4K but should work for other drones. I haven’t investigated “Quick Transfer”, which the Mini 4K doesn’t have. These procedures will transfer files in full quality. There are three ways to get files off the drone.Summary: how are your images (still
and videos) managed?
To summarise, this is what occurs when you take stills or videos. 1. You take the shot. It is immediately saved onto the SD card in the drone and will be visible on the “DJI Mini 4K” tab of the DJI app Album screen. 2. A short time later (not sure exactly when), any stills (including straight stills, or the three types of panos) are saved onto your phone in the DCIM/DJI Album folder. These are shown on the “Saved” tab of the DJI app album. Some stills aren’t transferred automatically (not sure exactly why!) and need to be transferred from drone to phone manually. See below for the manual transfer procedure. Videos and the Pano base files are not transferred to your phone automatically by DJI Fly app; you have to do a manual file transfer using a separate app..File Structure on Drone SD Card
The drone’s SD card looks like this: The 100MEDIA folder contains the simple still JPEGs, video files and HTML files associated with the panos. The PANORAMA folder contains the pano base- files. They (around 27 for each sphere pano) are put into dedicated folders for each pano. These base files are used to make up the final pano. When you transfer files from the SD Card to the phone using the DJI app, only the still images, the videos (if selected) and the made-up pano files are transferred. The pano base-files in the PANORAMA folders are not transferred and cannot be seen in the DJI app. When the made-up pano files are deleted from the drone using the app, the pano base files are also deleted.DJI Fly Album Display
This is the main display when you hit the “Album” button:File structure on phone
When downloaded to your phone, the actual file structure looks like this. The files are downloaded to the DCIM/DJI Album folder. This is also the folder where the made-up pano files are stored. Note the “pano optimised” files for panos and the “photo optimised” files, being the standard still shots. Videos do not automatically get transferred to your phone by the DJI fly app. Use option 1 or 2 if you want the videos on your phone. Pano base files cannot be transferred at all with the DJI fly app. A separate file-management app must be used (not that you’d probably want to, unless you have a third-party stitcher app on your phone).Transferring
Option 1 - Use DJI Controller App -
Drone to Phone
Power up the drone and controller
This will transfer all the straight stills and any made-up panos. It will not transfer the pano base files. Connect your phone to the controller USB control port (not the charging port) with either the DJI USB cable or a longer USB C cable. Start the DJI app. Tap the Home button (top left of screen) or Album button if displayed. Tap Album (Quick Transfer is inoperative on the Mini 4K) Tap to allow any permissions: tap Go to Settings then Done. On the Album screen, there are two sections/tabs at the top: DJI Mini 4K This tab displays all the still images, panos and videos files on the SD card in the drone Saved this tab displays all the still images, panos and videos on the phone (in the phone’s “DCIM/DJI Album” folder) To download files from the drone, tap DJI Mini 4K.To download files (ie stills and videos) to
phone:
All files, including panos, wide-angles and normal stills will automatically be downloaded to your phone. Videos are not automatically downloaded. It will pay to check the “Download” arrows on the DJI Mini4K tab; I have had times when some files have not been downloaded. Ensure you’re looking at the drone album (DJI Mini 4K underlined). If not, tap it. All the images and videos (files) on the drone will be displayed. Those that have not been downloaded to your phone have a small Download icon at the top left of each thumbnail. The transfers are done wirelessly, and videos, due to their size, will take some time. Download Individual files Tap the image Tap the Download icon bottom right; image will be downloaded (progress circle is displayed). Once the download is complete, go back to the album display (“<” button, top left of screen); note the “Download” icon at top left of each downloaded image has been removed, indicating that the image has now been downloaded. Multi or Batch Download Tap the Batch Mode button at top right; selector boxes will appear on each file. Tap the box for each file you want to download, or tap Batch Select to select all files from that flight. Scroll down to see files from other flights and select as required. Tap the Download icon, bottom right; all selected files will be downloaded, with a progress bar shown at the top. The “Download-available” icon at top left of each image will be removed for all the files that have been downloaded to phone.Option 2 - Drone Direct to Phone or PC
with USB Cable
This is the most efficient way in my view; it’s fast and doesn’t require pulling out the SD card nor does it require a card reader. However, you will only get the shots/videos taken, not the made-up panos. Using a USB C cable, connect the drone direct to your phone or PC. The drone will appear as a USB drive and files can be copied in the normal way. In Windows, it will look like this: On Android, I use CX File Explorer as the file app. CX File Explorer screens with the drone plugged into the phone: To be on the safe side, ensure you “eject” or “unmount” the drone/drive before disconnecting the cable.Option 3 - Remove SD Card
Remove the SD card from the drone and place in an SD card reader for transfer to phone or PC. You will only get the shots/videos taken, not the made-up panos, which are created in the phone’s DCIM/DJI Fly folder.To delete files from drone or phone
On the Album screen, tap the appropriate view: DJI Mini 4K (drone) or Saved (Phone). Either tap on each image individually and then tap the Delete button bottom-left, or tap the batch button top-right, choose the files, then tap the Delete button. When you delete files from the drone, any pano base-images will also be deleted When you delete any files from “Saved”, the shot images and any pano base-images remain on the drone.Windows PC DJI Image Icons
Here is what each image looks like in the Windows file explorer:
