5 Best Camera Drones for Photography

Drones are not toys. From the very beginning, they were supposed to do something special like surveillance and taking photos for the military in the remote areas.

But, things have changed, regular people and kids are using drones for various purpose. Like racing, having fun drone fights, filming videos for YouTube, taking group selfies, etc.

While our discussion today is to introduce you with some of the best drones you should consider for photography.

The outstanding photos & videos on Facebook and Instagram you see are mostly shot by drones. A camera attached drones give a very unique aspect of shooting movies and taking pro graded photographs.

Although it is sure that camera drones are not limited to movie makers only. You can get a camera drone for your regular photography and surprise your friends and family with the beauty and creativity a camera drone can bring into.

Here is our list of Best Camera Drones for Photography.

Top Picks

Product	Details	Price
DJI Phantom 4 PRO Professional Drone	➤ Camera with 1-inch 20MP sensor ➤ Supports H.264 4K videos at 60fps or H.265 4K at 30fps ➤ Five-directions of obstacle sensing	Check Price
DJI Spark	➤ Quick shot videos with a tap ➤ Flight time 16min ➤ Camera: 1/2.3″ Sensor, 12MP	Check Price
DJI Mavic Air 2 Quadcopter Drone	➤ 48MP photos with a 1/2-inch CMOS sensor ➤ 3-Axis Gimbal & 4K Camera ➤ 34-Minutes Flight Time and transmission distance of up to 6.2mi / 10 km	Check Price
Ryze Tech Tello – Mini Drone Quadcopter	➤ Camera features 5MP (2592×1936) photos and HD720 videos ➤ Maximum flight time of 13 minutes ➤ Max Speed 17.9 mph	Check Price
DJI Mavic Pro Foldable Propeller Quadcopter Drone	➤ OcuSync transmission system offers up to 4.3 miles (7km) of transmission range ➤ Fly at up to 40mph (64kmh) or for as long as 27-minutes. ➤ True 4K video	Check Price

1. DJI Phantom 4 PRO

This is the best drone if you consider shooting videos and photos of real estate and for commercial purposes. Ask anyone who is doing drone photography, they will definitely told you that Phantom Pro is one of the best.

It’s super quality 20-megapixel camera with a 1-inch sensor made it possible to capture most stunning videos. Videos can be captured in 4K at 60fps or 30 fps. If you consider the GoPro 5 than Phantom 4 Pro is far better than that.

The flying control radius is 7 km and it can float for 30 mins with a fully charged battery.

The body of the drone is made with titanium and magnesium alloy, rugged and lightweight for crash protection.

The 3 axis stabilization, 5 direction object sense & ability to capture 4K video with stunning aspect has made the DJI Phantom 4 Pro one of the best camera drone for movies, commercial and regular use.

2. DJI Spark

This is a budget drone for photography lovers. Although you can’t fold the drone. It’s kind of rigged body and lightweight too. During the launch, this was one of the best that uses AI to track your movement and gesture.

The camera is pretty good for 1080p videos. Mostly if you shoot videos for YouTube then this is a perfect budget drone.

What we love about the DJI Spark is it’s simple gesture controls. With simply moving your hands you can operate it to fly near, go far for a selfie, start video recording, follow and record, land on your palm automatically.

The gesture control is not as perfect as the Iron Man movie, but you are going to be used to it with one or two tries.

3. DJI Mavic Air 2

A fold-able drone that you can take with you anywhere. Actually, this might be the single camera drone you will ever need.

Mavic Air has sensors on the front, rare and downward. This helps to warn the pilot before crashing. The drone is capable of avoiding obstacles like trees, walls and create a safe flight path in its route.

Taking 180-degree sphere panoramic photos with the Mavric Air is just great. In 8 seconds the camera takes 25 photos and combines them together to create a perfect 32-megapixel panoramic shot.

You will love the fold-able controller that can hold your phone while flying the drone. Excellent lightweight design. The gesture control like the DJI Spark is also available in here and you can easily get some cool selfies or videos instantly with that.

4. Tello Quadcopter Drone

This is a microdrone and It’s from DJI. Yes, you can confuse it with any racing sports drone for its size and lightweight design. But, this is our second choice for budget drone and we think this microdrone is an excellent choice for the beginners who want to start shooting aerial photography.

Tello can go up to 10-meter height and 100m away. On a single charge, it flies for 13 minutes or less.

Tello captures excellent sharp JPEG image with its 5-megapixel camera and shoots video in 720p mp4 format. The video is recorded directly into your mobile, there is no onboard memory card.

You can fly the copter from your hand or can just through it. An experienced user can even tweak the program of the quadcopter via the app.

It’s fun to have a cool microdrone like this in your backpack. One thing missing in this copter is the GPS module.

5. DJI Mavic Pro Foldable Propeller Quadcopter Drone

DJI’s MAVIC PRO can be folded to the size of a bottle. It’s interesting that companies now making lightweight and foldable designs so you can carry your drone anywhere.

Mavic Pro can transmit signals up to 4.3 miles or 7 kilometers. The flying speed varies due to wind and other factors, but it can go flying at up to 40mph (64kmh). The flying time in the air is 27-minutes max. This 12 inches drone can record true 4K, fully stabilized video, and ensures smooth footage.

Smart features like obstacle avoidance, GPS, and GLONASS ensure precise positioning indoor and outdoors. Like the other Mavic version, it will alert the pilot for obstacles and can avoid those in the flight path.

This is a small drone that can help anyone to get a great quality professional video in no-time.

There are several other great professional drones in the market and the technology is improving each month.

Before You Buy A Camera Drone Consider These Things

Don’t rush to buy anything you saw or read that has a good review. One drone that works for a person might not work for you. It has to suit your purpose.

Some people like to take selfies and shot videos for their Instagram only. While some may have dedicated YouTube channel for subscribers and fans.

So here are the things you might need to consider before you rush to the order button.

Image Quality and Format

If you are an amateur photographer and do not take photography too seriously then our recommendation is not to buy expensive drones. The regular camera drones are pretty much awesome for selfies and travel videos for your YouTube channel.

But, if you are a pro photographer then you might need a camera drone that can handle shooting in RAW mode. So you can later edit the images from the RAW format. Check if your drone can shoot in RAW.

Another thing matters when you do aerial photography is the camera sensor size. A good quality camera drone has a 1-inch image sensor. The iPhone has a smaller sensor size, so obviously, drones take better photos than your iPhone.

Flight Time

Flight time of a drone is another factor you need to confirm before buying. Not all drones gives the same amount of flight time. Expensive and commercial drones gives longer flight time.

For amateur use or for your kid, no need to buy an expensive commercial grade drone. The price of a drone mostly vary for the flight time it is giving to you.

From a cheap drone, you can get 7-8 minutes flight time max, while a commercial drone can give you up to 30 minutes or more in some cases.

Always carry extra battery and charger with you.