Hi texacoon,

Adding extra cameras would be advantageous if you want to have more control over specific wavelengths. For example, using 4 cameras would enable you to filter the red, green, blue and NIR light down to a specific wavelength and bandwidth. The question is, do you really need that level of control over the spectrum? Maybe not. Visible light, that is, red, green and blue, might not need that level of control if you simply want to produce NDVIs to detect general stress in plants. In that case, all you need to do is to add an extra band such as NIR (840nm with a bandwidth of 20-40nm) to detect stress. That means that you can have just 2 cameras, one getting RGB, the other one getting the NIR, for you to produce NDVIs.

If you give me a little bit more of information I might be able to be more specific in the requirements you need. What drone do you use? Are you a farmer yourself? If so, what crops do you grow? What is it that you want to detect? Water or nutrient deficiencies? Maybe all you want to see is if your crop is growing uniformly across your field?

When you say overpriced camera, what sort of product have you checked/used? Most available products such as the Micasense Rededge/Sequoia cameras are not overpriced, they are simply targeting a specific niche with specific requirements.

Having said all that, I'm about to finish a second iteration of the multispectral camera so, it would be very interesting for me to add your feedback on the new specifications. The final product would be considerable cheaper than the products available on the market now.