1st Drone for semi-retired professional photographer???? I'm confused

vindibona1

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I'm a semi (mostly) retired professional photographer and quite honestly have been bored with it for some time. I'm in the been there/done that syndrom and need to supercharge my creative juices. I'm also fascinated by aviation and have toyed around with airplane and helicopter simulators (I know- drones are different as are simulations vs real).

I'm the type of person who goes from interest, to involvement to proficiency →→→ to money making, often in short order. But I'm older now and I'm not sure what opportunities await, especially now that the economy is only running on one cylinder. I've got GAS for a drone, but need some solid suggestion based on the above stated profile. I need to find a balance so that I don't have to go through 3 drones to get from ground zero to being able to be able to make a little money (real estate photo/video?)...

DJI, of course has the biggest name in the industry, but their name and marketing (like Taylor guitars) garners a premium that I'm not sure is worth the extra money from a functional basis. Am I wrong? I certainly don't want to start off spending $1000 for a drone, controller and a couple of batteries, only to crash it or lose it a few days in.

So I ask for your suggestions for a drone. Do I need 4k? Does a controller with LCD readout matter? FPV necessary/unnecessary?

I'll make it a bit easier. The choices that pop up are:

Hubsan Zino (which model??)
Holy Stone 720
Mavic Mini
FIMI x8 2020

Lastly... Some of these are shipped directly from China. I know one shipper indicated that they cannot ship to the US at this time.

Any help and advice would be appreciated. TIA
 
you cant beat a mini from DJI - i got one last week after also wanting to tip my toe in the drone market. it shoots at 2.7K which is good enough for my needs. Photos and videos are very good. I have seen reviews comparing the footage with some other more expensive drones from DJI and there was little to no difference. NO HDR though which may be a must fro you. to make money from drones i understand you need a commercial licence which is expensive to obtain.
 
Mavic Air 2 is the goto drone that gives you the ease of use for beginners and all the bells and whistle that a experience person would want.
 
Current drones are much more reliable than the original generation and uncommanded flight into terrain is much less likely. That's not to say you won't fly it into something or someone yourself, but even that is less likely due to AI driven collision avoidance available on some of the high end units.

A couple of things to bear in mind:
Check out the legalities of commercial work in your country. I'm not up on the current US rules, but I know they were making very hard work of it a while ago. You might be best to stick to flying as a hobby at the moment.

DJI are the best known because they make extremely good components including the critical parts such as the flight controller and communications. Their camera gimbals are extremely smooth and the cameras themselves offer great quality at a reasonable cost. You are not really paying for the name but the reputation and dealer backup. I don't dismiss some of their real competitors, but I would ignore cheap Chinese copies.

Buy local. Would you buy a high end camera directly from China with no warranty or local support? Trust me, it's worth the extra money.

Consider spares support. If you do damage a propeller on landing, how easy is it to replace? Can you get filters for the camera? What about some spare batteries in a year or so? My 5 year old Phantom 2 is still flying because I can still get parts for it. That being said I have never crashed it hard.

Flying modern drones is easy. Point the stick and that's the direction it flies. Release the stick and it stops Tap on a map and it will autonomously fly to that point, circle around it, track a mobile device etc. They are 10x easier than a radio controlled aircraft so you can focus on filming not flying.

If you want to learn to flly manually, get a cheap racing drone. Much harder to fly and much easier and cheaper to fix! I would suggest you get one first as it will make you a better pilot in the long run!
 
Current drones are much more reliable than the original generation and uncommanded flight into terrain is much less likely. That's not to say you won't fly it into something or someone yourself, but even that is less likely due to AI driven collision avoidance available on some of the high end units.

A couple of things to bear in mind:
Check out the legalities of commercial work in your country. I'm not up on the current US rules, but I know they were making very hard work of it a while ago. You might be best to stick to flying as a hobby at the moment.

DJI are the best known because they make extremely good components including the critical parts such as the flight controller and communications. Their camera gimbals are extremely smooth and the cameras themselves offer great quality at a reasonable cost. You are not really paying for the name but the reputation and dealer backup. I don't dismiss some of their real competitors, but I would ignore cheap Chinese copies.

Buy local. Would you buy a high end camera directly from China with no warranty or local support? Trust me, it's worth the extra money.

Consider spares support. If you do damage a propeller on landing, how easy is it to replace? Can you get filters for the camera? What about some spare batteries in a year or so? My 5 year old Phantom 2 is still flying because I can still get parts for it. That being said I have never crashed it hard.

Flying modern drones is easy. Point the stick and that's the direction it flies. Release the stick and it stops Tap on a map and it will autonomously fly to that point, circle around it, track a mobile device etc. They are 10x easier than a radio controlled aircraft so you can focus on filming not flying.

If you want to learn to flly manually, get a cheap racing drone. Much harder to fly and much easier and cheaper to fix! I would suggest you get one first as it will make you a better pilot in the long run!

I agree with everything you said. And I think I've narrowed it down to two drones at the moment, a fairly cheap one and an older reburished DJI Mavic Air.
The cheap one is a CSJ X7, with one battery abour $150. The camera isn't adequate for good pictures, but it's a good flyer based on some reviews I've seen. One thing it has, but I'm not sure how important a feature it is, but it has a LCD(?) panel on the controller. Personally I'm not a fan of menus that have to be summoned on a sell phone. I currently have an iPhone 6s Plus, which is the beginning of 801.11 AC.

And as we know, to fly commercially I would have to jump through a lot of hoops and would have to start a whole marketing hoo-hah as I'm really not active except for a product shot here and a portrait there. In some ways I think I might be more into the flying/FPV aspect of it. I don't know yet. I'm not good at planning stuff. I'm good at walking through doors when they open in front of me. That's sort of how I ended up in the photography business (I have a music ed degree).

OTOH, the Mavic Air, while not on the same level as the Mavic Air 2, it has obstacle avoidance, a decent camera, and of course the DJI components. I can get a kit with extra batteries and charger for around $600. And while in drone terms that's pretty cheap, justifying that much at home for my first drone will be a difficult sell. And of course the Mavic Mini... Flymore + tax = $550. Only $50 off of the refurbished Mavic Air. What do you think?

I might have better luck at home getting the cheaper drone first, which might make it easier to spend $1000-$1500 next time. I don't know. Right now I want a drone, but I don't *need* a drone. So much easier to justify expenses for things that can be massaged into need.

So, what are the opinions on the CSJ X7? Anything better in this price range? Also, if I wanted to go the cheap racing drone route, would I want FPV goggles? What would I buy? Where would I buy it? How much would I expect to spend?

Thank you for your past and future advice.
 
I can't comment on the cheaper drones, I've never owned one! I went straight in and bought what was at the time the best consumer drone on the market, as it was less likely to frustrate me if it was not fun to fly.

If you want to learn how to fly, get a basic stabilised racing drone. The photographic platforms are designed to be much simpler to master and don't offer much of a challenge after a while. Goggles are not mandatory as a decent screen will give you more than enough detail to start off with.

Any function chamges while flying would be better served using physical switches. This would normally be things like position hold, return to home etc. That being said, the mobile platforms using just the screen work pretty well.

I built my own drone based on the PX4 standard and use Q control running on my phone to control it. I can also use my my conventional radio control alongside or even a joystick plugged into a laptop. Each is a different flying experience!

Buy something reliable and that will hold your interest. Cheap drones rarely meet that basic requirement.
 
I can't comment on the cheaper drones, I've never owned one! I went straight in and bought what was at the time the best consumer drone on the market, as it was less likely to frustrate me if it was not fun to fly.

If you want to learn how to fly, get a basic stabilised racing drone. ...

Buy something reliable and that will hold your interest. Cheap drones rarely meet that basic requirement.

You know, a racing drone may be what I'd be interested in all along. While I'm older now and no longer participate, at one time in my life I was an avid ski racer and dabbled in mountain bike stuff. Drone racing looks like a ton of fun. I know it would be a long long time before I would consider racing, but I think just FPV flying would be a scream.

With that said... I wouldn't even know where to start in where to even look for a first time race-type drone, controller, etc. Can you make a few suggestions and get me pointed in the right direction as to where to buy one? TIA

Edit: I did some preliminary digging and it appears that to go the racing drone route requires purchasing a separate controller- yes? If that's the case which one?
 
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I just joined minutes ago and asked same kinda questions, There seems to be little action here. I need good quality videos at far range with solid controllers. It´s a hobby not a profession. I am somewhat familiar with shooting pics since I am also oleder and had my career in advertising and music.
Now I make music as a hobby. Would like to ad videos to the songs.
 
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Rumors of Mavic Mini 2 due to be released in nov. Might be worth waiting to see exactly what been upgraded from the mini. Deffo 4k video
 

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