5 Things You Should Know Before You Buy a Drone in 2020

5 Things You Should Know Before You Buy a Drone in 2020

Are you considering buying a new drone? The popularity of drones over the past decade has grown exponentially, especially for hobbyists, photographers, bloggers, videographers, and YouTubers.

Everybody seems in need of making the most out of his or her artistic ventures. For instance, if you are in the filmmaking industry, you are missing a lot of you if you aren’t incorporating quad copter drones for your aerial photography. A drone can enable you to capture some of the most beautiful photos and images like those you see in Hollywood movies.

Whether you need a new drone for hobby or commercial use, there are a few factors to consider before you buy any specific type of drone.

1. Understand what you need.

There are some common terminologies and acronyms that you need to understand before choosing a specific type of drone for your needs. For example;

• Ready-to-fly (RTF): The title may be misrepresentative since other than charging your drone’s batteries, you have to connect the propeller or fix the controller to the drone before flying.
• Bind-to-fly (BNF): These are drones that, although wholly assembled, they lack controllers. Thus, you’ll have to purchase one or download and install a specific mobile app on your smartphone.
• Almost-ready-to-fly (ARF): These drone kits usually don’t come with receivers or transmitters. Additionally, most ARF drones don’t come with batteries, remote control, and motors. The good thing with ARF drones is that you can tailor them to your particular requirements.
• First-person-video (FPV): This implies that the drone can capture and transmit footage from a first-person perspective to a computer, virtual reality headset, and smartphone. You can then transfer the files into your cloud photo storage account if space is limited.

2. Learn registration requirements.

Registration of your drone is another crucial requirement you need to consider before buying your drone. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) put drones in a category of aircraft that need individual licenses before they are allowed to operate in the US airspace.

3. Optimize image quality.

Many drones come with an excellent, fully functional camera. Such drones save you the cost of purchasing an excellent camera to fix on them. When buying a drone, choose the camera features of your choice. For instance, if you love quad copter drones then select one that has excellent camera features such as:

• 24fps, 30fps, or 60 fps
• Dual operator control
• Mechanical shutter
• Optical zoom
• Raw/DNG format
• 1080 or 4k

4. Know where to store your files.

Just as the market is awash with a wide range of drones, there is also a myriad of ways to keep your drone photos and videos. Some file storage options are:

• Internal drone storage: The latest range of quad copter, the DJI Mavic Air comes with an internal storage capacity of 8GB, which is suitable for those who need a drone for hobbies.
• Micro SD cards: The advantage of SD cards is that they are cheap and easy to transport and store files.
• External hard drive: Hard drives are a favorite place of choice for professional videographers and photographers. They are an excellent place for long-term storage of both edited and raw files in a single place.
• Cloud storage service: This online storage method allows you to log into your account and access your files from any place in the world. Cloud photo storage option eliminates the need for physical storage, provides unlimited storage, and eliminates risks of loss or damage to your essential files.

Other online storage options are amazon drive, dropbox, google drive, and Apple iCloud.

5. Know the basic drone flying rules.

Before you fly your drone, there are fundamental guidelines that you need to follow. You should operate your drone at least five miles away from the radius of an airport. Additionally, the drone cannot fly 400 feet above the ground anywhere. Another vital thing to remember is that you cannot fly over government facilities, national parks, private property, crime scenes, US military barracks, and people’s homes without their permission.