Really worth it to buy a drone for commercial purposes?

[Airmapper]

I got a M2P under the presumption if I could make money with it, wonderful, if not I didn't put myself in the poorhouse and had a great drone to fly. What I did was get one now while the getting is good, if new rules come down it will be most likely 3-5 years before it's all set in stone.

Back when we could all get together it was kind of a hit with my friends who all camp to film the rural campsite area we had to ourselves, if I had time to set up get shots of their customized vehicles going down the road from a safe distance it always looked cool. Part 107 means I can use that footage, I probably could without it but now there is no grey area as to if I'm flying for fun or semi-seriously filming. I've also been finding friends often want some footage for little projects they have, since I'm legal to fly for tasks beyond recreation I can help them and not be pushing the boundaries.

If I make a busniess out of it or not, being Part 107 and having a drone is something I enjoy. If it never goes beyond flying for myself under Part 107 to suppliment personal photo and video projects, help friends with projects, or just fly interesting areas with additional credentials to show I'm not some goof off with a toy, I'm glad I have my license.

 

[To low terrain]

DFW area.

Take a VERY CLOSE LOOK at the airspace from a Drone Pilots Perspective that you want to work. If you have Airspace issues to deal with along with being in the vicinity of a bunch of airports, what seemed like a great idea suddenly becomes aggravation. Plus the FAA is trying to figure it out as we move forward, So the Reg’s are gonna constantly be changing...Hopefully for the better. Until true “Drone Airspace“ (50-100ft AGL) is defined and written into Part 107, in my opinion it is just not worth it!…Buy a cheap copy of a popular model drone, use all the apps to figure out if you are legal, and don’t forget to get a WX Briefing....If it works then practice and move on up. If not, go become a member of the local R/C flying club and have fun with your $100.00 ”Toy”… Hope this helped...

 

[To low terrain]

I would start off flying for fun and build some skill sets. Then you need to work on your photography game BIG time. In order to even had a self sustaining business you'll need to be competent at the following (and more):

1. Safe, accurate, PRECISE flying of the aircraft
2. Composition and Photography skills
3. Photo/Video Editing skills
4. Marketing Skills (in this day and age they clients are NOT going to come knocking your door down.. that was 2013/14 days)
5. Book Keeping skills

And many others I'm overlooking at the moment.


Remember flying the drone is only a process not the business.... we're actually "Data Acquisition Experts" and if your skills aren't up to the task you are going to have a tough time even breaking even. While on the topic... "Breaking even" shouldn't be your goal. Imagine if someone came to your company wanting to fly (and compete for your job/career) and they started the $$ negotiation with "I only need to make enough $$ to pay for my training DVD's to get my PPL." You're just diluting the market IMHO. Aim HIGH and don't settle for beer $$.

ROGER THAT!…

 

[R Martin]

DFW area.

If you do commercial work some of the airports in the DFW area fall under LAANC (DFW, Addison, Alliance & Meacham) and a majority of them are still on the old method (Denton, McKinney, Mesquite, Love Field, Redbird, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Spinks & Carswell) requiring you file for the COA online through the FAA portal. My suggestion is to file for a big block of your local airpatches airspace and get a wide area COA for it that is good for at least one year if not two if possible. The last I sent in was processed and back in my hands in under two weeks BUT with COVID, I would expect that it will take longer....

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I am lucky, got into aerial photo stuff before drones and GoPro's using my self built fixed wing aircraft and the smallest digital cameras at the time (late 2005-ish). When drones came along (when you had to build them yourself) I was right there. Because of my long time involvement, it has allowed me to evolve with the industry. As stated above Real Estate which was my best paying jobs before are now non-existent because every agent knows someone with a drone that will work for almost free. My current best jobs are construction and full edits for the client including stills, ground video etc. If you are aerial only, it will be hard, you need mixed bag of talents (and cameras) to get ahead in the drone biz today.

 

[Boxer1200]

Thanks for the advice. I’m finding in my research exactly what you stated. I need a mix bag of talents/skills and equipment.

On the drone end of things I’ve had it out to practice only 3 times now due to the winds around here. It’s an amazing tool, and I’ll continue to work on my skills there. One of the three times out I tried some mapping. I’d read a lot before I did it, and the images came out pretty good, but still need to tweak some stuff. Made one video to get into the editing and color work some. Have a long way to go there too but it’s a start. I’m also working on my still photography skills. Only camera I have around here is an old Canon Rebel T3, but it’s good for getting back into the basics of composition, light etc.

Thanks again to all for the advice here. Here’s my first little video I made. Short and the subject is not very interesting, but it was an opportunity for me to learn. A jumping off point for me.

 

[AMann]

Thanks for the advice. I’m finding in my research exactly what you stated. I need a mix bag of talents/skills and equipment.

On the drone end of things I’ve had it out to practice only 3 times now due to the winds around here. It’s an amazing tool, and I’ll continue to work on my skills there. One of the three times out I tried some mapping. I’d read a lot before I did it, and the images came out pretty good, but still need to tweak some stuff. Made one video to get into the editing and color work some. Have a long way to go there too but it’s a start. I’m also working on my still photography skills. Only camera I have around here is an old Canon Rebel T3, but it’s good for getting back into the basics of composition, light etc.

Thanks again to all for the advice here. Here’s my first little video I made. Short and the subject is not very interesting, but it was an opportunity for me to learn. A jumping off point for me.

Good start! Just a comment I have that will help- remember the rule of thirds? Compare your opening oblique shot to the one at 1:23- the second one looks much nicer with less blank blue sky than the starting one. I learned not to put the horizon dead center on my landscape shots, and drone photos are the same. I like your low level fly throughs, too.

Good luck!

 

[Boxer1200]

Good start! Just a comment I have that will help- remember the rule of thirds? Compare your opening oblique shot to the one at 1:37- the second one looks much nicer with less blank blue sky than the starting one. I learned not to put the horizon dead center on my landscape shots, and drone photos are the same. I like your low level fly throughs, too.

Good luck!

Thank you. I actually thought the same after the fact. I may reshoot that because as boring a subject as it is, working on the same thing allows me to see the impact of better technique more easily.

 

[AMann]

Thank you. I actually thought the same after the fact. I may reshoot that because as boring a subject as it is, working on the same thing allows me to see the impact of better technique more easily.

Your nadir shots are nice , too- the round sidewalk, etc. play with speed, also, that one could have been a faster rotation to make it more interesting.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Good start! Just a comment I have that will help- remember the rule of thirds? Compare your opening oblique shot to the one at 1:23- the second one looks much nicer with less blank blue sky than the starting one. I learned not to put the horizon dead center on my landscape shots, and drone photos are the same. I like your low level fly throughs, too.

Good luck!

Definitely, the 1/3's rule shold be in your "mids eye" most of the time... there are rare occasions whre I use, say, 1/2 and 1/2... usually in that case it is because I'm after a stellar perfect reflection and want the photo "cut in half". On the other side, if you have a totally blue or white sky, I will go down to as low as 10% sky if there is nothing at all in the sky (no clouds or pure blue sky).

I've been into photography since I was a kid (had a dark room in our bathroom as a kid!)... so the general photo rules are kinda embedded in me.

Hope this all helps!

 

[Mavic Mac]

@CactusJackSlade - appreciate your posting of "framing" the views.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

@CactusJackSlade - appreciate your posting of "framing" the views.

When I have a moment, I will

 

[Boxer1200]

Cool stuff guys. I appreciate the input. I went back to the computer today to see about some cropping to fix composition. I’ll keep all this in mind moving forward.

 

[R.Perry]

I liked it, nice start.