hi everybody!

for those experienced in such matters, what is your advice for a cheap drone, with camera, to learn the chops (flying it basically).
I'm not looking for anything capable of producing good footage, just a drone that i can learn to fly without being afraid to though away a lot of money in case it crashes, necessarily with a camera (to start getting the feel of shooting drone footage), as a mid step towards a really good video capable drone.

thanks!

Well, you have to define what "cheap" is for you.  $100? $500?

Anyway, anything by DJI will work great. The cheapest one is the DJI Spark (about $400 or so, depending on where you are). Maybe that's not what you meant by "cheap" though?

The thing is that the drones that are really cheap are MUCH, MUCH, incredibly MUCH harder to fly. And much easier to crash. You will probably crash them within the first couple of minutes since they don't have any of the great support systems the more advanced drones have.

So you wouldn't really be practicing for the more expensive Mavics, Phantoms or Inspires anyway. Completely different flying experience.

The more expensive drones are very easy to fly, and very difficult to crash. Still possible though, but difficult.

So, what are you looking for specifically?

Thanks for the answers!

increasingdifficulty. Yeah, you got me both in the price range and the purpose of this drone.

I was thinking something around $100-$150, and yes, my purpose was to use it mainly as a practicing drone, to upgrade when i felt confortable. I never flew a drone, so i really didn't know there was such a difference in the flying experience (i know by theory what the more expensive drones have to support the flying experience, but i never tried them).

So, you think i would do better in go straight to a better drone, something like the DJI spark? I definitely would like to get into the drone world, starting to learn about it.

leaf! i'll consider your advice.. i really don't have expensive lamp shades . Is it such a big difference when you go outside? i mean, does wind constitute a major issue?

One important thing.... if you live in the US  you must pass an FAA test to be rated and you need the rating to sell your footage.

thanks! so helpful everything.

increasingdifficulty, would you recommend the DJI Ryze-Tello, as an introduction? (forgetting the insufficient 720p video)...

One important thing.... if you live in the US  you must pass an FAA test to be rated and you need the rating to sell your footage.

I don't live in the USA, but i'm already learning about laws in Portugal and Spain, where i spend most of my time... anyway i'm curious, do the agencies ask for the FAA rating in order to accept drone footage clips? how does that work, is it like a model release kind of thing?

I recommend spending less than $100 on your first 'drone' and go for a cheap toy-grade quadcopter in the $30 - $80 range. And forget about cameras and filming when you're first starting out - learn how to fly first. Later on you can attach a light weight action camera or keychain camera when you get more comfortable with flying (check if the quad is powerful enough to lift it.) The cheap toy-grades quads like the Syma X5C-1 and FY326 Q7 are fully manual with no automation. They may be more challenging to fly initially than the more expensive drones but this will make you a better pilot with arguably quicker reflexes too. Spending time practising with a cheap quadcopter will develop your manual flying skills and will allow you to get out of sticky situations in the air and reduce the chance of flyaways. However, flyaways are always an ever-present risk when you're first starting out. I admit I had my share of flyways when I first got into quadcopters over 5 years ago (during the first year) but I haven't had any since.

Yea sure the expensive drones like those from DJI are great but the technology is not perfect. Things can go wrong like the GPS playing up and acting weird. Ive fooled around with a Phantom 2 a number of times and for the most part, it was reliable. However, one day in my backyard, it started drifting wildly all over the place in GPS mode, despite getting a good GPS lock (plenty of satellites detected.) The Phantom was about waist height and it was a dead flat calm still day without the slightest breeze so it wasn't the wind that was moving it around. It was pretty extreme drift. I was constantly having to counteract that drift with the sticks all the time (never a second's rest.) There were some verandah posts in very close proximity but I was easily able to avoid them and had 0 crashes / collisions because of all the practise I had flying cheap toy-grade quads during the previous few years. Basically, the Phantom was acting like a toy-grade quad on that particular day.

The DJI Mavic is certainly a popular choice these days. Though in my opinion, it has one major design flaw for beginners. And that is no user-selectable Atti mode. The vast majority of the time, it provides a safety net with it's default GPS mode. Though in instances when the GPS decides to quit for whatever reason, the Mavic automatically switches to Atti mode. The problem is that people who are completely new to drones have no manual flying skills and no previous experience with Atti mode. Yet Atti mode is forced upon them and in such situations, the newbie pilots are often overwhelmed and as a result panic and crash or experience a flyaway.

By the way, over time, when you get proficient with flying the cheap quads, you can always upgrade to a more expensive drone later on.