I've been doing photography for few years as hobby and lately been interested in drone photography. Looking at what's available out there there seems to be many many options as well as wide range of prices. So I would like to some suggestions from experts here about getting my first drone. I am mostly interested in photography. Also, size is a concerns as well so not looking for giant drones that require a truck to move around . As for budget, under $1k.
dji is a well known brand. the mavic air, pro, or pro platinum can be found used within your budget. as long as the drone has never been crashed, the gimbal is not crooked, and battery life is still good, you are safe buying used.
these are ready to fly out of the box, but you will want at least 2 additional spare batteries to extend your enjoyment time.
feel free to pm me if you have additional questions.
Thanks for the reply. I will definitely take you up on that offer.
One question, do I need some type of license or register the drone to fly it?
tntcorp wrote:
dji is a well known brand. the mavic air, pro, or pro platinum can be found used within your budget. as long as the drone has never been crashed, the gimbal is not crooked, and battery life is still good, you are safe buying used.
these are ready to fly out of the box, but you will want at least 2 additional spare batteries to extend your enjoyment time.
feel free to pm me if you have additional questions.
ahh.. to be legitimate then yes, recreational users are required to registered all uas (drones) weighing more than 0.55 lbs. scroll toward the bottom of the link below to see registration requirements and flying rules for recreational uas fliers.
nowadays, the drones i suggested will fly themselves. there is also a return home button (rth) in case you lose sight of your drone or feel uncomfortable with the control or environment during flight. it is important to set the flying altitude in advance for the safe return of your drone.
Which self flying one would you recommend to start with? DJI Mavic Mini?
tntcorp wrote:
nowadays, the drones i suggested will fly themselves. there is also a return home button (rth) in case you lose sight of your drone or feel uncomfortable with the control or environment during flight. it is important to set the flying altitude in advance for the safe return of your drone.
Maybe even more than with land based photography, sensor size matters. I've used the original Mavic Pro, and now have a Mavic 2 Pro. The 1" sensor in the Mavic 2 Pro makes better images all around. If you want a drone to learn on, I'd suggest any Mavic, but if you want one to take high quality images then go with a used Mavic 2 Pro.
Along those lines, if you are using the drone for personal use only, you do not need a Part 107 certification. If, on the other hand, you are making money from your images, you most definitely need to be a certified drone pilot.
Todd Warnke wrote:
Maybe even more than with land based photography, sensor size matters. I've used the original Mavic Pro, and now have a Mavic 2 Pro. The 1" sensor in the Mavic 2 Pro makes better images all around. If you want a drone to learn on, I'd suggest any Mavic, but if you want one to take high quality images then go with a used Mavic 2 Pro.
Along those lines, if you are using the drone for personal use only, you do not need a Part 107 certification. If, on the other hand, you are making money from your images, you most definitely need to be a certified drone pilot....Show more →
This is just for personal hobby. I don't sell images or work as a pro.
I agrees about the sensor size. I currently own A7r4 and A9 so completely understand . 1" sensor size was the reason why I was looking at Mavics 2 pro but having never owned a drone I'm not sure how often I will use it to justify the cost. My research for few is pointing me to Mavic Mini which checks most of the boxes but has two critical missing items..... no raw and no obstacle avoidance. So I'm now lost again.
I primarily use my Mavic Pro for video, so I don't have very many photo examples, but I've been very pleased with its output. I'd love to upgrade to a Mavic Pro 2 but it gets used so infrequently it's hard to justify the upgrade cost.
With your budget, a Mavic Pro or Mavic Air would be a nice place to start.
ajamils wrote:
This is just for personal hobby. I don't sell images or work as a pro.
I agrees about the sensor size. I currently own A7r4 and A9 so completely understand . 1" sensor size was the reason why I was looking at Mavics 2 pro but having never owned a drone I'm not sure how often I will use it to justify the cost. My research for few is pointing me to Mavic Mini which checks most of the boxes but has two critical missing items..... no raw and no obstacle avoidance. So I'm now lost again.
obstacle avoidance capability is a nice feature to have (when not flying in line-of-sight) and will only work under sufficient light. you will receive a warning when the feature is disabled due to low-light. the feature is also disabled under other flight modes as well.
however, the feature is not completely fail-safe, so you should always fly and err on the caution side. and federal regulations require the user to always maintain a line of sight operation.
while the mavic mini has a good price point, you may find yourself wanting to upgrade should you want the editing flexibility of a raw format.
ajamils wrote:
This is just for personal hobby. I don't sell images or work as a pro.
I agrees about the sensor size. I currently own A7r4 and A9 so completely understand . 1" sensor size was the reason why I was looking at Mavics 2 pro but having never owned a drone I'm not sure how often I will use it to justify the cost. My research for few is pointing me to Mavic Mini which checks most of the boxes but has two critical missing items..... no raw and no obstacle avoidance. So I'm now lost again.
i believed the mavic air will meet your requirement in image,video, and portability. buy used if you want to save money.
flying in open space to be familiar with the controls and apps setting. if you get fluster during flight, just release the joystick and the drone will stop and hover in place while you recompose yourself (the beauty of gps-enabled flight).
dji also has a flight simulation app to connect the remote to your computer and learn the controls.
ajamils wrote:
I've been doing photography for few years as hobby and lately been interested in drone photography. Looking at what's available out there there seems to be many many options as well as wide range of prices. So I would like to some suggestions from experts here about getting my first drone. I am mostly interested in photography. Also, size is a concerns as well so not looking for giant drones that require a truck to move around . As for budget, under $1k.
Better first familiarize yourself with where you cannot fly, within x miles of an airport, national parks, state parks, any place where there are people below (beaches for example), some public schools. Eval if there is legal airspace near you where you would fly, and is there enough of it you won’t get bored with limited location(s).
jeraldcook wrote:
I primarily use my Mavic Pro for video, so I don't have very many photo examples, but I've been very pleased with its output. I'd love to upgrade to a Mavic Pro 2 but it gets used so infrequently it's hard to justify the upgrade cost.
With your budget, a Mavic Pro or Mavic Air would be a nice place to start.
nice photos. the resolution from the mavic pro is quite good. is the first image of your home?: 2nd image reminded me of florida west coast.
tntcorp wrote:
nice photos. the resolution from the mavic pro is quite good. is the first image of your home?: 2nd image reminded me of florida west coast.
The first image is my in-law's house. The second image is from my trip to Maui last year.
12 megapixels is alright. I'd love it more if it had 20.
After only minimal experience serving as the camera operator for a DJI Inspire 2, I purchased the Mavic 2 Pro and have absolutely loved every moment it's been in the air. The operation of DJI products is incredible simply and despite the Mavic 2 Pro being my first drone and having flown it well over 100 kilometres - I've yet to crash it or encounter any serious issues.
The Mavic 2 Pro has an impressive 1 inch sensor that's capable of capturing impressive imagery - both photos and videos. It's the large sensor of the Mavic 2 Pro that in my opinion make it vastly superior to the older Mavic Pro.
Thanks for the replies. Based on my research it like Mavic Air would be a good starting choice but since I'm mostly interested in pictures, Mavic Pro2 will more be better due to it's larger sensor (I'm guessing it's the same sensor as Sony RX100 camera).
ajamils wrote:
Thanks for the replies. Based on my research it like Mavic Air would be a good starting choice but since I'm mostly interested in pictures, Mavic Pro2 will more be better due to it's larger sensor (I'm guessing it's the same sensor as Sony RX100 camera).
. As for budget, under $1k. 
