# Drone business?



## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Has anyone done anything with drones? I'm learning about all aspects of using a drone including taking my Private Pilot Part 107 license exam. I'm finding out that farmers are using drones in agriculture. I live in Kansas so obviously lots of potential for this. Any experience or suggestions/ideas?


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

I got my drone pilot license last year. Exam is tough; or at least for me. Yes, there is a market for drone photos and videos. I’ve used it primarily for real estate but also have private folks that want photos of their property or homes. It’s fun and I enjoy it. Takes awhile to build up a clientele


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

hiddensprings said:


> I got my drone pilot license last year. Exam is tough; or at least for me. Yes, there is a market for drone photos and videos. I’ve used it primarily for real estate but also have private folks that want photos of their property or homes. It’s fun and I enjoy it. Takes awhile to build up a clientele


Do you have a recommendation of a drone that can take and send video and has a decent battery life?


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Darren said:


> Do you have a recommendation of a drone that can take and send video and has a decent battery life?


I've been researching it. I believe Phantom 4 Pro is one of the best to start out with. It has 30 minutes battery life which is halfway decent as most drone batteries tend to be 20 minutes long. There's a few other drones that have longer battery life. I believe there's one that has a 40 minutes long battery life. Unfortunately they do not come cheap. Anywhere from $1,300 to high as $40k. At the higher scale, it's an commercial drone but the average cost of a good one with a decent camera tends to be $1,800 to maybe $3k.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

hiddensprings said:


> I got my drone pilot license last year. Exam is tough; or at least for me. Yes, there is a market for drone photos and videos. I’ve used it primarily for real estate but also have private folks that want photos of their property or homes. It’s fun and I enjoy it. Takes awhile to build up a clientele


Going to ask you questions via PM.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

You can use drones for aerial roof inspections, house inspections, and commercial construction inspections....that's one area that I am considering using drones in along with aerial photography. I just am concerned about how to learn to edit film and photos. I didn't take any college classes that specialized in those like I should have. Did you have to take classes in film photography or learned how to do it on your own?


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## zuren (Feb 13, 2015)

TedH71 said:


> You can use drones for aerial roof inspections, house inspections, and commercial construction inspections....that's one area that I am considering using drones in along with aerial photography. I just am concerned about how to learn to edit film and photos. I didn't take any college classes that specialized in those like I should have. Did you have to take classes in film photography or learned how to do it on your own?


My wife has a degree in general digital photography and they spent some time with video. You don't need to over think this; there are plenty of "influencers" on Youtube that are making quality videos with basic software. Focus on the drone with the best quality camera you can afford. 

Are you working on an Apple or PC computer?

If you are on an Apple, Final Cut Pro is pretty solid and runs $300 as a 1-time purchase. I think there is plenty of Youtube tutorials and other online resources to get what you need.

If you are on PC, there are a few options anywhere from freeware to expensive: https://www.techradar.com/best/best-video-editing-software-premium-free. I would avoid anything that requires a monthly subscription (like Adobe).

Your computer will need to be able to handle the video and photo work - graphics card that can handle imagery and lots of RAM to handle the grunt work of processing. You'll also want a big monitor. You could edit video and photos on a 14" laptop screen, but you won't be happy. My wife uses a 27" iMac, but you can certainly get away with less. People who do lots of video and photo work prefer Apple computers, but if you are a PC person, there is a learning curve with moving to a Mac.

Just like anything, there will be an overall learning curve - drone, software, laws regarding flight, etc. There may be courses at a community college or something online to help flatten out the video curve.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

I do have a Mac. Yes, I already am signed up on various Adobe products because my wife is a graphic designer who designs logos on the side so she needed the programs. We recently added Lightroom which is an editing program and I will be practicing with my regular digital camera and learning how to work with Lightroom.


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