Drone photography is a fairly new addition to the world of photography. It provides photographers and videographers alike the opportunity to view the world from an entirely new perspective, and allows viewers the chance to appreciate common scenes and landscapes from a brand new point of view.

More and more professionals are including drone services into their repertoire, as this is steadily becoming more sought after as more people begin to realize the potential that aerial photography provides. If you are considering getting into drone photography, then one of the first things you’re probably looking into is the drone that you’ll be using.

As a general rule of thumb, it would help for you to get a small, cheap drone to practice with, instead of buying one of those that costs a couple thousand dollars right off the bat. Familiarize yourself first with the feel of flying and maneuvering your drone in the air, and if you accidentally crash it, at least you didn’t spend too much on. Now that you’re comfortable with drone flying, here are some things that you need to keep in mind when finding the right drone for your aerial photography needs.

Flight time

The battery life or the flight time is one of the very first things that people looking for their first drone consider. The flight time refers to the amount of time that a drone can fly for while staying on a single charge. Drones are notorious for having a short battery life, so this is something that people take into serious consideration when purchasing a drone.

The longest flight time for a drone lasts for about thirty minutes only, and that’s for the more expensive models, which hover at around the thousand dollars plus range per drone. The cheaper models fare even worse, some of them lasting only about less than ten minutes of flight time. This is why professional drone photographers stock up on batteries for their drones.

Camera

Of course, the camera will be the centerpiece of your drone choose process. Drones’ cameras aren’t the same, and they tend to vary from model to model. In the case of camera specifications, you generally tend to get for what you pay for. More expensive models have more high resolution cameras and produce better looking images, while the cheaper ones tend to have a more basic setup. It’s simply a matter of what you’re comfortable with camera-wise, as well as what your budget is.

GPS capabilities

This is another important factor in the drone selection process. Some drones have a “Return Home” feature, which allow you to call the drone back to the take off point. This is useful for those who accidentally lose their drones. Some drones also allow the programming of GPS coordinates to direct your drone to.