Author Topic: is it worth it to buy drone? (Read 3800 times)

oxygen · « **on:** March 05, 2019, 18:54 »

I'm working with couple stock video agencies. For now is OK.
I'm thinking to buy a drone and try to make more video.
Is it worth it to buy?

Thanks

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2019, 19:38 »

Depends.

Yes, drone footage sells. But there are 100,000's of thousands of people with drones, taking footage, and uploading it. If you did it 5 years ago, it would be much much easier to make money from footage than it is today.

Can you make money from it? Yes.

But will you make a LOT of money? Really depends. If you take attractive footage that people want, keyword/title it properly, and have a lot of videos, then maybe. There is a lot of competition, so it depends if you can make it stick out.

If you are *only* getting it for footage, then you probably should *not* buy it. But if you are getting it to have fun, and maybe make some money too, then sure, go for it.

A good drone will be about $1500 USD.

trek · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2019, 20:10 »

Most places I want to fly have drone ban laws. Be sure to research local rules before buying.

ForrestBrown · « **Reply #3 on:** March 05, 2019, 20:36 »

If you're buying it because you think it would be fun, then go for it, but I would not buy one just for stock footage. I have a really wide range of stock footage (6000+ clips online) and out of all of the different types of footage, drone footage is my lowest seller.

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2019, 04:58 »

Quote from: oxygen on March 05, 2019, 18:54

I'm working with couple stock video agencies. For now is OK.
I'm thinking to buy a drone and try to make more video.
Is it worth it to buy?

Thanks

Is it worth it for personal films, having fun and seeing how the world looks from above? Yes, 100% yes. It is one of the best things I've ever bought (actually, I'm on my third now).

Is is worth it in order to just make money from stock? As always, that depends. Just like if it's worth buying any camera, it depends on what you film with it.

Just any regular drone shot will never sell. There are millions of them by now. If you're thinking of uploading 20 different angles and movements of a random beach on your vacation, forget about selling them.

You need to compete with the high-end helicopter shots of things people want to buy.

Brightontl · « **Reply #5 on:** March 06, 2019, 06:56 »

It also depends on where you are:
Here in old Europe there are very few places where you can legally fly and the regulations changes in each individual country. A big mess!

georgep7 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2019, 13:10 »

As a newbie, I dunno for sales.

But this question really haunted me for some time in Christmas past. All those different shots, POVs etc. so much creativity to unfold.

It is totally subjective but I didn't got one for those reasons:

Legal: most of areas / shots I would love to have are not allowed / are crowded with people etc.
Time/battery limitation: speaking for smaller foldable nodels, I wouldn't add 1-2 kilos of body and batteries in the backpack
4K workflow: I currently deliver and also upload stock in fullHD, I would need a hardware upgrade.
Price: even if I change my mind, next year, today models will be much cheaper,
I cannot justify to end up with a damaged or fly away drone for 800-1000E that currently cost second hand.
Tile to learn to use it efficiently It took me ages to learn focus pulling, dialing cameras adjustments without looking where they are etc.
I don't believe that I can take a remote and start shooting usable footage with a drone soon.
Second (third) hand price you will get if you decide to sell it if not satisfied.
I do not worship my equipment, I use it as a tool, scratches and damages included.
Forums and Youtube videos Forums that talk drone problems and Youtube videos that show spectacular aerial footage even from DJI Sparks....

Having half the budget and trying to decide between a drone or a fast tele lens, I have made my mind to eventually purchase a second hand lens.

Hope this helps... (or not!

)

Wrighty · « **Reply #7 on:** March 07, 2019, 07:01 »

There's a lot to consider.

Permit
Do you need a permit? Int he UK if you want to earn money from your footage you have to have a Permit For Aerial Work (PFAW) which means you have to go on a course and take a test and so on. It can be quite expensive. I imagine it varies a lot form country to country, but it's worth checking first.

Drone
New 4k recording drones are cheap to buy now, but they don't always meet the technical requirements of agencies. The cheaper drones compress the image a lot and can introduce compression artefacts, especially where you have subtle gradation tones. So you need to really research your choice of drone.

Subject and locations
As many have said already it is a very saturated market now. My first sales were actually drone shots back in 2015, but now, despite uploading more, I have had very few drone sales.

Cost
As well as the possible costs for training and permits etc. you will have the additional costs of extra batteries, cards, cases, accessories, spares. It soon adds up. I would say I have just about broken even on my set-up over three years. So not a great return form me. Others may have done better.

If you think you have something unique to bring to the market then I'd say consider it, but otherwise it might just turn into a fun hobby. Which is no bad thing.

cloudvisual · « **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2019, 06:59 »

Quote from: Wrighty on March 07, 2019, 07:01

There's a lot to consider.

Permit
Do you need a permit? Int he UK if you want to earn money from your footage you have to have a Permit For Aerial Work (PFAW) which means you have to go on a course and take a test and so on. It can be quite expensive. I imagine it varies a lot form country to country, but it's worth checking first.

Just worth noting that the PFAW was dropped a couple of years ago and superseded by the Permission for Commercial Operations (PfCO). Under the PFAW it was legal to shoot stock as you weren't being directly compensated for the work you were doing. However the main reason it was changed was because people could circumvent the law by doing the drone work for free and then charging the whole job for the editing.

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Author Topic: is it worth it to buy drone? (Read 3800 times)

oxygen

SuperPhoto

trek

ForrestBrown

increasingdifficulty

Brightontl

georgep7

Wrighty

cloudvisual

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