A Drone Photograph can Express Greater than a Thousand Words

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

Note Drones must now have a transmiter that transmit your assigned ID (identification). If your drone does not have this feature built in, you must add it.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have powerful capabilities when it comes to surveillance and reconnaissance. The news has made the public at large of the increasing drone presence. With the USA using drones during the Mideast conflicts and the Ukraine using the Turkish made drone during the “Special Military Operation” . The focus of this page is Real Estate Photography. To emphasize that drones are far from being just toys for children I list the cost of some of the drones that governments purchase.

• The Bayraktar TB2 Cost: under $2 million (fixed wing)
• Avenger (General Atomics) Cost: $12-$15 Million (fixed wing)
• AAI RQ-7 Cost: $15.5 Million (fixed wing)
• Northrop Grumman X-47A Cost: N/A (fixed wing)
•  MQ-9 Reaper Cost: $15.9 Million (fixed wing)
• MQ-1 Predator Cost: $4 Million (fixed wing)
• MQ-8 Fire Scout Cost: $14.6 Million (helicopter)
• RQ-4 Cost: $223 Million (fixed wing)
• RQ-11 Raven Cost: $173,000 (fixed wing)
• RQ-12 Wasp Cost: $49,000 (fixed wing)
• RQ-20 Puma Cost: $250,000 (fixed wing)
• The list continues...

Drones that are used in residential real estate do not cost anywhere near what governments pay for military use. The cost still can be very dear to a private photographer. Using such drones for any commericial purpose requires a FAA remote pilot certificate (see FAA part 107).

Some of the most popular quadcopters for real estate photography are:

…

• Autel Evo II 8K
• Phantom 4 Pro V2.0
• DJI Mavic Air 2  
• PowerVision PowerEgg X Wizard (to use near or on water)
• Beginners – DJI Mini 2
• I have a list on a previous page that a different photographer reconmended

This list will change faster than I might change this page, therefore we should look at the features that are desirable.

Desirable Features

• obstacle detection and collision avoidance 
• Insurance on expensive equipment and near items that might be damaged?
  Does not come with drone this is a reminder of what could happen and how quickly
•  GPS and GLONASS satellite navigation systems
• clear and crisp photos.
• hover perfectly still
• integrated gimbal
•  shooting in 1080p is sufficient. (for web )
• Remote Identification (coming requirement)

Advanced features, additional features

• return home feature, GPS
• CMOS sensor, while 1-inch  or larger
• adequate minutes of flight time (plus spare batteries)
• 60 FPS at 4K and 25 FPS at 8K
• Ability to Track And Follow Objects
• Night-Time Photo shooting
•  4K is a better
• Weight

A few of the drone with Obstacle Avoidance

Reduce the chance of having very costly accidents, In addition to having commericial insurance that covers drone accidents, avoiding the accident and keeping the customer is better yet.

• Skydio 2
• Kespry 2
• DJI Mavic Air
• Walkera Vitus
• DJI Mavic Pro
• DJI Mavic 2 Pro & Zoom
• Yuneec Typhoon H / H Plus
• DJI Phantom 4 Pro
• Walkera Voyager 5
• DJI Matrice 200
• DJI Inspire 2
• Autel Evo

Note your usage will decide what features you need

-photography under the water surface

• Geneinno Underwater Drone Camera:
• Titan Professional Underwater Drone:
• Nemo Underwater Drone:
• Youcan Robot Underwater Drone:
• CHASING GM0001 Gladius Mini
• PowerVision Powerdolphin Wizard Water
• Power Vision PowerRay Wizard
• CHASING Dory Underwater Drone:

If you are filming underwater housing, these are available. If global warming continues a greater number of houses will be under water, not just Atlantis.

In order to fly your drone for any commericial money making purpose or non-money making commericial purpose under the FAA 's Small UAS Rule (Part 107), you must obtain a Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA. This certificate demonstrates that you understand the regulations, operating requirements, and procedures for safely flying drones. Become a Drone Pilot

Some of the topics on the FAA exam are: Applicable regulations, What are you allowed to do and not do in different airspace classifications, aviation weather, Small UA loading and performance, Emergency procedures, Crew management, Radio communication, performance of aircraft, Physiological effects of drugs and alcohol, decision-making and judgment, Airport operations, Maintenance and preflight inspection procedures, and night operations.

Why is weight a factor? The FAA require drones to weigh less than 55 lbs (25kg),( above this weight the craft would be handled as as other full size air craft. Drones that weigh less than 249g do not require registration with the FAA.

There is also a functional reason weight is a factor, If you have a small car it only requires a small engine to move it. A large truck requires a large engine. A small drone therefore require less power to fly than a larger heavy drone. The same principal applies for the power of the wind. A gust of wind could take a small light weight quad-copter, perhaps never to be seen again.

---

---

for Holy Stone's Specs of their remote ID module