How hard is it to amortize the cost of decent quality drone with

>>1962482

So I have a brother that does drone photography. He as a successful business, has done commercials, movies, footage for construction companies, etc...

I know pretty much everything about the industry. So whatever you need to know.

What I'll say for starters is the money is good, but not quite as good as it once was. At one point my brother was getting $5k to $10k for a single day of shooting. He was using a massive chopper that was flying a Red though.

Anyway you're probably looking at a DJI chopper and some lenses, gear, etc. You DEFINITELY need a 2 person operation. One person flies and the other operates the camera. You'll be looking at about $4k to $5k to get the chopper, camera gear, some business cards, and a website.

The first thing they will want is examples of your work. You need to frame the shot right, make sure your lenses and light settings are good, and that the shot is STEADY!

So you have a website and a demo reel you should be able to get going pretty fast.

You should start at like $500 a day and work up to $1k or $2k a day. Yes there are a lot of people doing it, but only a small portion are doing it really well. STEADY SHOTS with the right lens!

> Won't potential customers just buy their own drone?
Nope. First you need to know camera and shooting basics and you need to take a few weeks to learn how to handle the chopper. It's not something you figure out in an afternoon.

Be extra cautious, it's fucking easy to crash these things. And many birds that see it will try to attack it. So be cautious of that. Tap a powerline or tree branch and that $3k chopper is gonna fall to the earth and shatter.

My bro works in a 3 person team. One person flies, one shoots, and a 3rd just looks around keeps an eye on the shoot, because the other 2 people get tunnel vision.

Good luck.

>>1962781
Very much appreciated information, thanks.

It makes sense that you need at least 2 people to run the production. You convinced me to do it right from the start. I will put the venture aside for now but will definitely keep your input in mind.

One niche that might not be as crowded is thermal imaging, especially here in Europe where there are environmental tax cuts for improved insulation. DJI sells a FLIR for its Inspire drone.

Thanks again.

>>1962872

Good luck. It's a pretty simple business. As I said if you have other questions feel free to ask.

>>1962482
You'll need an FAA commercial drone license

>>1963042
I'm in Germany but yes, we have equivalent licenses here.
It's much easier if your drone stays under 5 kg.

Liability insurance is also mandated by law, just in case the drone crashes into something expensive. This rarely happens, so the insurance is cheap.

>>1962781
does your bro usually work with the same companies over and over again? or does he always have new clients? is he located near a large city?

>>1963042

currently that license is very easy to get.

The reality is that if everyone who has a drone would refrain from being a dumbass then there would not be all this regulation talk. But you got guys flying em next to airports and over crowds of people.

I expect more regulation to come in within the next 3 years. But that is probably a good thing, because the idiots are giving drones a bad name.

>>1963066
A little of both. I'd say he's about 50% entertainment and 50% industry stuff. You got power companies out there that need miles of towers and wires looked at via drone. You get a consistent deal with a company you could easily do $100k a year in business.

Yes, a major city.