Rookie looking for advice

[Dudeinthedesert]

Hey everyone. Hope all is well and thank you for taking the time to read this! So as the title might give away, I just passed the 107 and I am looking to get into the field. There are a ton of options and paths and I am finding it a little overwhelming and was looking to get advice/guidance. I was looking at real estate/mapping as a start and wondering if that's a good place to start? Can anyone suggest the best way to get my foot in the door? Maybe there are other options I should look into first?

Suggestions on drones would also be appreciated! I was thinking something along the lines of the Air 2S, but maybe there is a better option that can cover more job types?

Appreciate it!

 

[BigAl07]

WELCOME to the forum

First off, CONGRATS on your Part 107. You now have a License to Learn!!

Are you a photographer yet? If not, you absolutely need to become a PHOTOGRAPHER to become a successful Real Estate Photographer (REP).

Have you created a comprehensive Business Plan yet? If not STOP and start doing that yesterday because it can save you a LOT of $$ and help get your venture off on the right phoot (See what I did there LOL).

 

[R.Perry]

Congrats on getting your 107. There are many different avenues in this business. I would suggest reading the different forums on here. Remember everything on the internet is true, "RIGHT". However there are some very knowledgeable people on this forum, I have learned a great deal from many of them.
When you do decide on a drone, learn everything you can about it, learn to fly it well and it's flight characteristics. Look into software like Drone Deploy, and Litchi and what they are capable of doing.
As BigA said, learn photography there is a lot to it.
Don't ever get so focused on photography that you forget to fly the drone.
Best of luck to you.

 

[JimD]

My advice would be avoid real estate photography the market is flooded and it doesn’t usually pay very well.
There’s a ton of other options construction progress, precision mapping, thermography.
As has been mentioned get a business plan up and running and make sure that you verify there is an ROI on what you decide to do.

 

[rx7ward]

I am also in your exact situation, and I'm asking the same questions. I am following this to get the same advice!

 

[Skycam509]

You won't go wrong with the Air 2s. I think it's the best all-around drone for the price. Get the Fly More combo. I even sold my Mavic 2 Pro a while after getting my Air 2s.

 

[JimD]

You won't go wrong with the Air 2s. I think it's the best all-around drone for the price. Get the Fly More combo. I even sold my Mavic 2 Pro a while after getting my Air 2s.

Although I’m sticking with my Mavic two pro I agree the air2 s as well.
I’m sticking with The Mavic two mainly because I live in Florida and we have a lot of wind and that drone is bulletproof in the wind. I also don’t care for the fly app I like having manual control of my camera.
I actually just bought another one used and got a super deal.

Due to the fact no SDK for the M3 it’s a brick to me. You should never buy a DJI drone until it’s been out for at least a year. That’s basically their beta Test time

 

[BigAl07]

Although I’m sticking with my Mavic two pro I agree the air2 s as well.
I’m sticking with The Mavic two mainly because I live in Florida and we have a lot of wind and that drone is bulletproof in the wind. I also don’t care for the fly app I like having manual control of my camera.
I actually just bought another one used and got a super deal.

Due to the fact no SDK for the M3 it’s a brick to me. You should never buy a DJI drone until it’s been out for at least a year. That’s basically their beta Test time

I also can't stand the DJI Fly app.... huge step BACKWARDS by DJI IMHO.

I'm flying a pair of M2P and wouldn't upgrade to the M3 right now (or Air2S) if DJI paid me to.

My average invoices for doing Real Estate with an M2P (keep in mind we are a Full Service Photography Service Provider) right stand around $600 and some days we can do 4-5 different shoots. We are only working 5 days a week usually.

 

[JimD]

I also can't stand the DJI Fly app.... huge step BACKWARDS by DJI IMHO.

I'm flying a pair of M2P and wouldn't upgrade to the M3 right now (or Air2S) if DJI paid me to.

My average invoices for doing Real Estate with an M2P (keep in mind we are a Full Service Photography Service Provider) right stand around $600 and some days we can do 4-5 different shoots. We are only working 5 days a week usually.

Yeah if you start a real estate photography business that’s one thing but in all honesty how much would you just pay a drone pilot for a shoot.

Having the photography skills and videographer skills is the important thing not so much flying the drone.

Right now in this local market when you can sell a house in a week (day?) with iPhone pictures it’s hard to charge too much. In fact most real estate agents just do it themselves. You really don’t need high-end photography to get someone to come look at the house.
Having said that there are high end elite services but it’s hard breaking into there.

 

[Skycam509]

Although I’m sticking with my Mavic two pro I agree the air2 s as well.
I’m sticking with The Mavic two mainly because I live in Florida and we have a lot of wind and that drone is bulletproof in the wind. I also don’t care for the fly app I like having manual control of my camera.
I actually just bought another one used and got a super deal.

Due to the fact no SDK for the M3 it’s a brick to me. You should never buy a DJI drone until it’s been out for at least a year. That’s basically their beta Test time

I liked my M2P a lot, and didn't make this decision lightly. I fly in a lot of wind at times, as well. Occasionally, I would get a message that obstacle avoidance was disabled because the sensors couldn't see far enough forward due to the amount of pitch required to counteract the wind. The Air 2s doesn't have this problem due to the extra upward-facing sensors on the front. Having shot windsurfers in the Columbia River gorge with both drones, I would argue that they are both beasts in heavy winds.

Initially, I didn't want to give up the adjustable aperture, but was noticing that anything 5.6 or higher didn't look as good as the shots with the wider aperture, so I didn't tend to use it that much, anyway. I also noticed that the Air 2s has less choppiness in the video when panning a little too fast, both when following the 180° rule, and not. This is probably due to the faster write speed, I guess.

Another thing the Air 2s does, that I can't explain, is create some motion blur even when not following the 180° rule. I know it's subjective, but I like the look of the video from the Air 2s better all the way around.

I totally agree with you about the camera controls, but I have gotten used to using them on the screen now. It was far more convenient on the controller, though. The thing I miss the most is the side obstacle sensors. I've never had an incident (knock on wood) but it was comforting knowing they were there when shooting in tight quarters.

All in all, they're both great drones. I just couldn't justify keeping both since I was never flying the M2P anymore.

Good luck in your ventures!

 

[BigAl07]

Yeah if you start a real estate photography business that’s one thing but in all honesty how much would you just pay a drone pilot for a shoot.

Having the photography skills and videographer skills is the important thing not so much flying the drone.

Right now in this local market when you can sell a house in a week (day?) with iPhone pictures it’s hard to charge too much. In fact most real estate agents just do it themselves. You really don’t need high-end photography to get someone to come look at the house.
Having said that there are high end elite services but it’s hard breaking into there.

I wouldn't and in most areas REA don't want to fool with a Drone Only vendor. They much prefer to make one phone-call or one online scheduling form and get Drone, Interior Pics, Ground Pics, Drone Video, Floor Plan, and Virtual Tours all wrapped up in a nice neat Property Website created just for them.

Even though "some" REA get away will cell-phone only pics there is a very real need for high quality photo/video and many of your top performing REA would rather high that service out so they can concentrate on doing what they do great, "SELLING".

Also it's important to keep in mind that when (and it's going to) the Real Estate Market becomes more moderate and reasonable that's when Photographic Skills will come into play and you can bet the high end providers will be reaping the rewards. In fact, guess what was once of the busiest times for Real Estate Photographers? After the economic collapse of 2008.

 

[Dudeinthedesert]

Apologies for the late reply, but I just wanted to thank everyone who has offered their advice so far! Taking all of this into heavy consideration as I move on to the next step!

 

[R.Perry]

I was talking to a real estate broker recently, his comment was right now if a home goes on the market it is sold within a few days. He said his agency takes one exterior picture and that's it. In my area (Northern California) there is a severe shortage of homes and property there is no need for high end photography. New housing developments the homes are sold before they break ground.

 

[Dudeinthedesert]

I was talking to a real estate broker recently, his comment was right now if a home goes on the market it is sold within a few days. He said his agency takes one exterior picture and that's it. In my area (Northern California) there is a severe shortage of homes and property there is no need for high end photography. New housing developments the homes are sold before they break ground.

I appreciate this. Maybe I should look into mapping/construction for now.

 

[R.Perry]

Most of what I do is construction and agriculture, although I'm finding that construction pays much better. I use Drone Deploy for Mapping but it is expensive.
Most of my construction jobs are through contracts I have with Multivista. Being new to construction you might want to consider working for a company like Multivista to get the experience. They have excellent training as well. For their employees they supply the drones. They are moving towards the P4P RTK and moving away from the Inspire 2.

 

[Dudeinthedesert]

Most of what I do is construction and agriculture, although I'm finding that construction pays much better. I use Drone Deploy for Mapping but it is expensive.
Most of my construction jobs are through contracts I have with Multivista. Being new to construction you might want to consider working for a company like Multivista to get the experience. They have excellent training as well. For their employees they supply the drones. They are moving towards the P4P RTK and moving away from the Inspire 2.

Thank you! I will be checking them out!

 

[MikeA]

Just my two cents but I looked into Multivista in the past. They had plenty of work, but they were having people fly 9-10 jobs a day driving to different sites, bend or outright break rules to get the shots ASAP, spend hours "after work" downloading images and prepping gear until late into the night, and paying a salary (no OT of course) that was a couple dollars/hour higher than an auto parts store or fast food employee. I'd imagine they were very cheap from the customer POV to make all of that work.

To me it was not worth the stress and late nights and possible legal headache for even a beginner 107 operator. They are franchised, so hopefully the one in your area is more reasonable.

 

[R.Perry]

Just my two cents but I looked into Multivista in the past. They had plenty of work, but they were having people fly 9-10 jobs a day driving to different sites, bend or outright break rules to get the shots ASAP, spend hours "after work" downloading images and prepping gear until late into the night, and paying a salary (no OT of course) that was a couple dollars/hour higher than an auto parts store or fast food employee. I'd imagine they were very cheap from the customer POV to make all of that work.

To me it was not worth the stress and late nights and possible legal headache for even a beginner 107 operator. They are franchised, so hopefully the one in your area is more reasonable.

Mike, I would like to know what branch you worked for? I have been given two to three jobs in one day, but no more than that. The San Francisco branch is very strict on safety and flying legal. As for pay I don't know what the average guy is paid in our branch because I'm a contractor that only does aerial, I don't do boots on the ground photography for them. They do pay me very well and have never once questioned my billing.
As for the indexing and uploading of your daily work, I normally never spend more than an hour indexing the photos and once I start the upload it requires no effort on my part.
The contract I had on the UC Merced project was two days a week billed at eight hours a day. Actual total work time was about six.
Also what I found is if they believe you are of value you can negotiate your salary or hourly contract rate. Remember if you go in too cheap, that's what they feel you believe what your talent is worth. The game is they want the work done as cheaply as possible, and you want to make as much as possible, finding the middle ground can be tricky.

 

[MikeA]

The branch that I am referring to was in the Southeast US, and they hire pilots as full time employees, not on a per-project basis. I am glad that this branch seems to be uncommon in regard to the things I mentioned. The projects you have worked on sound like a good deal for everyone. I just wanted to point out the franchise nature, so that the OP did not assume they were all the same.

 

[R.Perry]

The branch that I am referring to was in the Southeast US, and they hire pilots as full time employees, not on a per-project basis. I am glad that this branch seems to be uncommon in regard to the things I mentioned. The projects you have worked on sound like a good deal for everyone. I just wanted to point out the franchise nature, so that the OP did not assume they were all the same.

Here is one thing I can say about all of Multivista, their training is top notch. It is a good starting place as it was for me, and I fully admit I had a great deal of learning to do. I thought I had the flight things down pat until they sent me to the Avion school and I dealt with ex military drone guys worked on all my bad habits. I guess my opinion is it is a good place to start if you have your 107 license. The San Francisco office also hires drone pilots as employees but they also must do the ground work, and I'm too old and too lazy to to that.