Buy a drone or hire drone services

[willisduke3]

I want to make a video with a drone looking down on the porch of a house with people on it and then zoom up and out to show that the house is in the middle of 2000 acres of forest. There can be winds at this house and it seems to me that flying a drone over the woods might get it lost. I want the picture to be of good quality.

Should I buy a drone (max I would want to spend $500 -- maybe not enough to get the quality video I want) or should hire a drone owner (for how much? $100, $150, $200?) to take the video for me. The benefit of my owning the drone would be that I could upgrade my video as I got more skill. If I hire a drone I would want to save money and take the video one time.

Your response would be appreciated.

 

[Thomas B]

Hire I if you don’t want the drone. You only need enough flight to rise up to 400’ AGL and the video from the drone with the camera shooting straight down. You may want a little pan around also with the camera elevated a bit at 400- to show the surroundings. 5 min flight.

 

[Deleted Member 997]

I want to make a video with a drone looking down on the porch of a house with people on it and then zoom up and out to show that the house is in the middle of 2000 acres of forest. There can be winds at this house and it seems to me that flying a drone over the woods might get it lost. I want the picture to be of good quality.

Should I buy a drone (max I would want to spend $500 -- maybe not enough to get the quality video I want) or should hire a drone owner (for how much? $100, $150, $200?) to take the video for me. The benefit of my owning the drone would be that I could upgrade my video as I got more skill. If I hire a drone I would want to save money and take the video one time.

Your response would be appreciated.

I don't think a 500 dollar drone is going to handle the winds, plus you won't get the quality of photo while combating weather

 

[vindibona1]

As stated... You're not going to purchase a drone to handle windy conditions for $500... at least not one that won't be a "throw away" should you crash it (and you will). If you have an interest in drones but don't want to go whole-hog, buy a Mavic Mini. It is great until the winds kick up and it starts to fight for stability. If winds may be an issue, you can buy a Mavic Air 2 for around $800 I think. My first (actually second) drone was a Mini and I moved up largely because of the wind in my area. I love my Mini and it would probably do what you want it to for that $500... if you can pick and choose the days you fly due to the wind. JMO

 

[Thomas B]

Remember that winds will be different at 400’ altitude than surface, usually higher velocity.

 

[lannes]

Maybe a fellow forum member nearby will volunteer to help

 

[THE CYBORG]

Buy a drone & have some fun

 

[russellg]

I want to make a video with a drone looking down on the porch of a house with people on it and then zoom up and out to show that the house is in the middle of 2000 acres of forest. There can be winds at this house and it seems to me that flying a drone over the woods might get it lost. I want the picture to be of good quality.

Should I buy a drone (max I would want to spend $500 -- maybe not enough to get the quality video I want) or should hire a drone owner (for how much? $100, $150, $200?) to take the video for me. The benefit of my owning the drone would be that I could upgrade my video as I got more skill. If I hire a drone I would want to save money and take the video one time.

Your response would be appreciated.

city and state, we have a lot of forum members, somebody might be pretty close to you.

 

[MA2 317]

Hello from the Hoosier Heartland willisduke3.

If the footage is for commercial use (real estate), then hire a Part 107 pilot.

If it's just for you, purchase a Mavic Air 2 for starters and work your new hobby up from there.

It has 4K capability, good range and able to fly in the wind up to 24 MPH, probably a little more.

Good luck and welcome to the Forum.

 

[maelstrom]

Should I buy a drone (max I would want to spend $500 -- maybe not enough to get the quality video I want)

You can get a Mavic Mini for less than $500. The photos and video are surprisingly good quality and, unless you absolutely need 4k (the Mini has a max resolution of 2.7k), it will give good results. I recently saw a comparison of 4k vs 2.7k photos and video and the difference is much less than you'd imagine - barely noticeable in some cases. The Mini can cope with quite windy conditions (as long as you're aware of the strength and direction and fly appropriately) and has an impressively well stabilised camera. Unless the winds in your location are always very strong (rarely the case in most places), there's a good chance the Mini will have no problems doing the job. Plus, at the end of your project you'll have a very capable little drone for other things.

I don't think a 500 dollar drone is going to handle the winds, plus you won't get the quality of photo while combating weather

See above! I've flown mine is quite gusty conditions (keeping it reasonably close by) and you'd never guess it from the video or photos.

 

[DoomMeister]

It all depends on if the video is for your own enjoyment or has commercial intent. If there is any commercial intent you either have to hire a pilot with a 107 certification or spend the time and resources to do so for yourself.

 

[PhantomFandom]

I want to make a video with a drone looking down on the porch of a house with people on it and then zoom up and out to show that the house is in the middle of 2000 acres of forest. There can be winds at this house and it seems to me that flying a drone over the woods might get it lost. I want the picture to be of good quality.

Should I buy a drone (max I would want to spend $500 -- maybe not enough to get the quality video I want) or should hire a drone owner (for how much? $100, $150, $200?) to take the video for me. The benefit of my owning the drone would be that I could upgrade my video as I got more skill. If I hire a drone I would want to save money and take the video one time.

Your response would be appreciated.

A good drone can handle decent winds and not "get lost". The Mavic Mini is the only one below $500 though and will NOT handle high winds well at all. However, you also need a capable pilot at the controls. If you have never flown one and have no intention of doing a lot of flying then why buy one when you can have someone else do it for you?

As already mentioned, if this video is for anything other than purely recreational purposes, the pilot must have a Part 107 license.

Also in your description of the video you say you want to have the drone looking straight down on a porch with people on it. You cannot legally have the drone directly over the heads of people. The drone would need to be offset at least enough to not be over any people on that porch.

Seems like this would be mostly a one-time thing for you. If that is the case, it might be best to just hire a licensed experienced pilot to do the shoot. For something so quick and basic, it should be very economical.

 

[willisduke3]

Thanks for all the great posts guys and gals! They helped me a lot.

 

[DanMan32]

Make your consideration the same as with any other project. If the time and materials will only be needed/used once, then hire someone who has the resources.

Would you buy a truck and permanently hire people to move between houses or would you instead rent one and perhaps hire people to help you move?
On the other hand if you needed/wanted a truck to use for other reasons besides the move, then buy the truck

 

[oliviabrown81rt]

A drone is a safe way to explore the world for everyone and a great way to learning how to fly drones more seriously. The first thing you should consider before going out to buy or hire a drone you have to know about the features of drone . If you have a business of photography so nowadays everyone is having drones in their business. Drones are easily crashed so we have to be very careful with the features.

 

[DoomMeister]

A drone is a safe way to explore the world for everyone and a great way to learning how to fly drones more seriously. The first thing you should consider before going out to buy or hire a drone you have to know about the features of drone . If you have a business of photography so nowadays everyone is having drones in their business. Drones are easily crashed so we have to be very careful with the features.

And if you use it in a business you need to be Part 107 certified in the USA. Other countries have their own regulations in that regard.