The market of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones is growing rapidly. Drones used in the photography domain are called ‘Camera drones.’
They have a wide range of use—film shooting, travel, weddings, and sporting events among others. The competitive drone market has too many brands offering attractive features. The top drone manufacturers in the world include players DJI, Parrot, Uneec, Kespry, Autel, Skydio, and Insidu.
Here we will pick six top models of camera drones noted for better features such as good image quality, ease of use, and value for money attributes.
In the list, DJI Mavic Air 2 tops as an all-rounder for its excellent range of shooting modes and brilliant image quality.
• DJI Mavic Air 2: Mavic Air 2 combines high-end imaging features and powerful flight performance. Notable is the 1/2-inch sensor.
• DJI Mavic 2 Pro: The Mavic 2 is best for pros and enthusiasts. It offers a Hasselblad camera with a 1-inch sensor.
• DJI Mavic Mini: Mavic Mini is compact and captures perfect cinematic moments effortlessly.
• DJI Mavic 2 Zoom: Mavic 2 Zoom has a 1/2.3-inch 12 MP sensor with two-times optical zoom.
• DJI Phantom 4: Phantom 4 Pro camera equipped with a 1-inch sensor will shoot 4K 60fps video and 20MP stills within a maximum flight of 30 minutes.
• Parrot Bebop 2: This is a lightweight leisure drone that is cutting-edge with its compact HD video. It has 25 minutes of autonomous flight time.
Expert tips on camera drones
According to the leading videographer and drone enthusiast, Paul Archer buying the right photography drone will require a fair knowledge of the basic operational principles in doing it right without incurring losses.
Archer likes many camera drones including DJI Spark, DJI Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 Pro, Xiaomi M1 4k, Yuneec Typhoon H. He also moots that important parameters in finalizing a photography drone should be battery life, obstacle avoidance, wind resistance, noise, flight modes, flight range, resolution, and frame rate.
After-sales support is important
The key expectation from a camera drone is safety. The advanced flight controller must be good enough to handle all commands intelligently. There must be a good imaging system and the high-definition camera must be capable of rendering good image quality guided by advanced sensor size, shutter speed, photography modes, and ISO range, etc.
Gimbal quality is an important variable as capturing smooth footage requires stabilization. When there is high gimbal quality the shaking from the flight will be very less. Although the market offers both 2-axis and 3-axis gimbals the latter is deemed the minimum required standard.
Portability is also an important factor to consider as carrying a bulky camera drone is really hard. So, it is important to go for smaller camera drones.
Finally, the brand’s commitment to offering value-added services after the sale is also crucial. According to market research, the global commercial drone market size is at $ 5.80 billion and growing 56 percent annually.
