Help Me Buy a… Camera drone

Aerial stills and video are within reach of every photographer

Buying advice for aerial photography

Composition is everything in photography, so why not get the ultimate choice of perspective with a flying camera? Not just for stills, either – flight offers elegant establishing shots, new angles on exciting action, and even the means to create 3D maps.

Hoisting an SLR aloft requires an eye-wateringly priced aircraft, but camera drones are more modestly priced and represent an integrated approach to design which makes it possible to fly and shoot with the same controller.

With a free app, your phone becomes not just a live monitor, but the means of accessing a range of features, from exposure to flight characteristics. It may also serve as an always up-to-date airspace safety map. The only problem is that choosing a drone means you need to like the drone, its camera and the app!

1 Weight

Since fighting gravity is the principal burn on a drone’s battery, no designer will make a drone heavier than needed. Weight is an issue more because of legislation than anything else. The UK government plans to introduce an annual registration fee of £16.50 for all drones over 250g in November 2019, and there are similar rules in the USA and other countries, so make sure you check the weight and the rules.

2 GPS

Toy drones generally don’t feature GPS, but if you’re composing photos it’s nigh-on essential. The positioning technology was developed with guided missiles in mind, so it’s ideal for airborne drones. Unlike a missile, though, the aim is to stay very much in the same place, rather than be pushed away by the breeze.

Not only is piloting easier, but GPS support enables the automatic return to the take-off point should the drone lose contact with the pilot – a useful backup.

3 Controller

Not all controllers are created equal. Most feature twin sticks, but at the lower end they’ll use standard Wi-Fi with a range of around 100 metres, and video feedback with a clear line of sight.

Higher-end drones make use of proprietary radio systems, like DJI’s Lightbridge, with a range of 4km (2.2 miles), support for master and slave controllers (enabling separate pilot and camera operation) and first-person-view goggles.

4 Camera & gimbal

As with any camera, sensor size and megapixels matter, but so too does the means of vibration reduction. At the lower end, cushioning or some kind of digital image stabilisation works decently, but the best systems used motorised gimbals to steady and level the camera on two or three axes.

5 Battery

Battery capacity is the key limit in flying drones. Higher capacities don’t always make for longer flight times, since overall weight (not least the weight of the battery itself) and efficiency are a factor.

The much more useful measure is simply minutes of flight time. Lithiumion batteries store a lot of power, but ‘intelligent’ batteries are safer and include built-in monitors so you can easily check their charge.

6 The app

The quality of the manufacturer’s free app is a big part of the experience, since many features, especially on higher-end drones, will require you to dig down through menus. Taking the camera beyond auto is certainly done this way.

Cunning developers have also found ways using a drone’s sensors and the app’s processing abilities to create easier flying modes and awesome visual effects like DJI’s Tiny Planet selfie clip.