Drones

Sranang Boi said:

I need a drone to take some B roll videos. It’s unlikely to be used for more than a month so I don’t want to waste money on something expensive.
Any suggestions on the cheapest drones that would still give me usable footage?

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I'm not going to be able to help, but I'm sure whoever can will want to know what kind of video you want to shoot - is it HD or UHD? Do any other specs such as frame rate or colour depth matter?

Sranang Boi said:

I need a drone to take some B roll videos. It’s unlikely to be used for more than a month so I don’t want to waste money on something expensive.
Any suggestions on the cheapest drones that would still give me usable footage?

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Unless you have some hyper-niche use case where you want FPV-style footage or something, IMO the best value in drones continues to be the DJI Mini 3. The Mini4 and upcoming Mini5 makes some improvements on battery life, speed, and obstacle avoidance, but for b-roll that probably isn't going to matter much and the image quality is still superb. And you can find them on sale or used for extremely good prices these days.

I've been a drone pilot for several years. I wouldn't recommend just buying any drone just for some B roll.

Flying a drone is a skill that has a learning curve. Flying a drone for actual video is another skill set that also has a learning curve above just learning to pilot the drone. And finally, there's the FAA laws, which prohibit the flying of any drone for commercial use without a Par 107 license. You can "fly for fun" without the license, but then can't use any video footage you shot "for fun" in a paid production, including posting it on a monitized YouTube channel.

Even for the recreational pilot there are FAA rules you must follow, and you won't find them in the instruction manual for the drone. Thinks like max altitude, controlled airspace, and if you can fly over people or not. Nobody should fly without at least reading through the basic FAA rules. Unlicensed drone pilots that do the wrong thing, and get in trouble, make it much worse for the entire drone community.

On the other hand, there are plenty of drone pilots with their commercial Par 107 licenses that can be hired economically, often one hire is much less than the cost of a drone, but without any of the learning curves or legal issues.

low_iso said:

Flying a drone is a skill that has a learning curve. Flying a drone for actual video is another skill set that also has a learning curve above just learning to pilot the drone.

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Hey, everyone has to start somewhere, why not here? Drones are a fantastic resource for video, they give your production an air of professionalism. If someone wants to come into the drone hobby because he wants to use it to shoot video, I see nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't have bought a drone myself if it weren't for its video capabilities.

low_iso said:

And finally, there's the FAA laws, which prohibit the flying of any drone for commercial use without a Par 107 license. You can "fly for fun" without the license, but then can't use any video footage you shot "for fun" in a paid production, including posting it on a monitized YouTube channel.

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This is very true, but the bar to getting your Part 107 (or, for those of us in Canada, RPAS) certification is fairly low. It's basically just a straightforward online knowledge test.

low_iso said:

Even for the recreational pilot there are FAA rules you must follow, and you won't find them in the instruction manual for the drone. Thinks like max altitude, controlled airspace, and if you can fly over people or not. Nobody should fly without at least reading through the basic FAA rules. Unlicensed drone pilots that do the wrong thing, and get in trouble, make it much worse for the entire drone community.

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Yep, know before you fly. I do agree that drone use is not to be taken lightly - but on the other hand I believe the rewards are well worth the nominal amount of effort it takes to educate yourself.

Sean Nelson said:

low_iso said:

Flying a drone is a skill that has a learning curve. Flying a drone for actual video is another skill set that also has a learning curve above just learning to pilot the drone.

Click to expand...

Hey, everyone has to start somewhere, why not here? Drones are a fantastic resource for video, they give your production an air of professionalism. If someone wants to come into the drone hobby because he wants to use it to shoot video, I see nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't have bought a drone myself if it weren't for its video capabilities.

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Yes you have to start somewhere. But there is a learning curve, and the immediate demand for footage isn't probaby a good match to the curve,.

Sean Nelson said:

Sean Nelson said:

And finally, there's the FAA laws, which prohibit the flying of any drone for commercial use without a Par 107 license. You can "fly for fun" without the license, but then can't use any video footage you shot "for fun" in a paid production, including posting it on a monitized YouTube channel.

Click to expand...

This is very true, but the bar to getting your Part 107 (or, for those of us in Canada, RPAS) certification is fairly low. It's basically just a straightforward online knowledge test.

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Part 107 is not a simple online test. It's an in-person written commercial pilots license test, and the knowlege base is pretty deep, very regulation-specific, as well as covering flight principles. It's not a drone specific test, it's what all pilots have to take. There are courses and programs, and most people don't pass it without one. Unlike a manned aircraft pilot's license, there is no actual flying test, no logged hours, etc.

Sean Nelson said:

Sean Nelson said:

Even for the recreational pilot there are FAA rules you must follow, and you won't find them in the instruction manual for the drone. Thinks like max altitude, controlled airspace, and if you can fly over people or not. Nobody should fly without at least reading through the basic FAA rules. Unlicensed drone pilots that do the wrong thing, and get in trouble, make it much worse for the entire drone community.

Click to expand...

Yep, know before you fly. I do agree that drone use is not to be taken lightly - but on the other hand I believe the rewards are well worth the nominal amount of effort it takes to educate yourself.

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No dispute on the rewards, but the problem is, you can walk into a WalMart, buy a drone, take off in your back yard, and immediate break the rules. There's no entry exam at all.

I will echo what others have said above: Be sure to get your drone certification before doing any filming. Requirements will depend on where you live and where you intend to operate the drone. Also, in the USA, if the drone doesn't have it built in, you will need to add a separate Remote ID module before doing ANY non-recreational usage (i.e., filming B Roll).

Since you want to save money and you only want to use it for a short period, I would suggest look at buying a used drone and selling it once you no longer need it.

New pilots would benefit a lot from a drone with good anti-obstacle sensors. Don't ask me how I know this.

As a new pilot, It would probably be good to spend a bit more on a drone that has a lot of automated features (tracking, orbiting, "cinematic" mode, etc.) or otherwise you will need to practice A LOT beforehand because you will PROBABLY want more interesting footage than just flying in a straight line with the camera pointed directly ahead.

I have a DJI Mini 3 pro. It is ok. The sensor is kind of small and a bit noisy in low light / high ISO settings. It doesn't have LOG so doesn't handle dynamic range so well. It has a noticable amount of moire. But it is compact and lightweight and I **BELIEVE** (but am not sure) that means you **MIGHT** have less regulations / restrictions than a larger drone. (I am NOT a lawyer so this is NOT legal advice. Check drone laws applicable to the location you will be flying it.)

At this moment in time I am looking at HD and better. It all depends on the drone that I can find second hand.

A few others have mentioned regulations. Luckily the country where I am taking the drone to hasn’t got any.
But the location is right by the sea. Strong gusts and sudden change in wind directions sank many a sailing ship there in centuries past. So the suggestion of looking at a drone with some level of automation makes perfect sense. Especially since I want to use the drone to film the shoreline from the direction of the sea.

Sranang Boi said:

A few others have mentioned regulations. Luckily the country where I am taking the drone to hasn’t got any.
But the location is right by the sea. Strong gusts and sudden change in wind directions sank many a sailing ship there in centuries past. So the suggestion of looking at a drone with some level of automation makes perfect sense. Especially since I want to use the drone to film the shoreline from the direction of the sea.

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Well... here's the thing where strong gusts of wind are:

The big, "stupid" drones like the DJI Phantom 3 and Dji Phantom 4 will do better than the smarter, smaller drones like the mini 3 pro and such.

I mean, one should NEVER fly a drone when it is too windy. But my big, loud and obnoxious phantom 3 and phantom 4 drones do a lot better when it is windy than my mini 3 pro does.

For safety's sake, if you drone will be over the sea and you want to look back at the shoreline, you would ideally want to fly when the winds are blowing toward the shore (as opposed to when the winds are blowing out to sea). That way, when you are low on battery power after filming for a while, the wind will be blowing you in the right direction (toward the shore, where I assume you will be launching). Of course, waiting for the wind to blow toward the shore might not be practical.

Also, sometimes automation can be BAD when flying in strong winds. Most drones WON'T use full power when flying in their automated modes, and you have to switch in to Sport mode to use the full power of the motors. I've heard horror stories of people who were flying on a windy day and then used the automatic "Return To Home" feature only to see their drone be blown off over the horizon because the winds were too strong.

getting smooth footage in gusty wind will always be a significant challenge.

I took my Autel Lite Plus to the coat of Newfoundland and Labrador a couple years back. Wanted to take similar footage. At one point (Cape Race) the winds were howling that my truck was just a shaking. I wanted to see if this drone could actually take off at all and before I knew it she was doing just fine over the ocean filming the waves crashing into the rock cliffs. No sweat whatsoever. But I was always controlling the drone, no automated flight features and I always fly RTH manual anyways.