Hope this thread will help in clearing some doubts on drones and valuable advice what to buy and how to operate.
Drones are much more complicated than action camera.
But are amazing tech for both photography and just for hobby.
My inputs with drones are very limited.
Only used two drones in my life and that too sold them in short times.
Let me first start with what a person should do before buying some serious drones.
( This may sound like discouraging but it is my honest opinion).
1). Understand your reason to invest in drone first very clearly.
Any decent drone with decent capability will not cost you less than 40k-50k atleast.
So its big investment and it's very easy to loose that investment within seconds.
Because one wrong direction or calculation or even a bird hitting your drone . Might be enough to throw it in garbage.
My advice only buy drone if you really can afford to invest and are someone who can bear the loss of your investment without feeling a big loss.
( This will help incase by bad luck shit happens.)
Now moving from those discouraging words.
Some positives of drones.
It is just simply mind blowing the bird eye view you can capture of your trips and adventures or even small events.
Just look at those youtube videos and you will find 10 seconds of drone footage is enough to make the whole video worth a watch.
Now coming to actual drones itself.
There are quite a few big players here too.
Like Autel, Parrot,DJI
But biggest is DJI.
There is one Indian company also IZI.
Except for IZI none of the drones are available in Indian market officially.
They are either sold by camera and photography shops or consumer electronics shops.
So your best bet is to check out in camera gali( where many camera shops are found) in your city.
When purchasing drones.
There are further 3 categories you can see where you and your pocket fits in.
Beginners drone category.
This is drone for people who have been wanting to own a drone but with either limited budget or simple functions.
In this category.
DJI Neo is the new boss.
A small 135gms drone with 4k video and amazing capabilities for such a small drone. It's the best drone to start with.
But do check it's limitations on YouTube because it's not without some shortcomings.
DJI Avata 2 -A bit of both a beginner drone but at same time fpv features make it a whole different profession flying experience.
But on expensive side.
Semi-professional drones category.
Here I would say DJI Mini 3 and 4 have become very capable device to shoot almost professional level videos and photo.
They are simply best of both the world's. A small drone (250gms) but at same time amazing camera for some serious level videos and even photos.
Even price point is not too expensive tbh.
Professional drone category.
DJI Mavic and Air series of drones.
These are some very serious investment. They are easily highly professional drones for capturing mega events or wedding or even some high altitude adventure sports.
Infact DJI Mavic Air series has been used in rescue missions too due to their capabilities to fly way further and much longer and ability to zoom very well.
Matlab full package but ofcourse kidney becho price.
This thread is just a start of discussion as my own experiences is not much to share. I am more experienced with action cameras than drone but can still talk a thing or two about it.
Other drones like Autel Evo series have got some great reviews too. So check them out but I feel they might be more hard to get accessories than DJI.
As they are very limited to certain regions only.
Some tips I would like to give.
Always try to buy the fly more combo if possible. It not only adds much more to the overall experience of flying drones but incase of resale you will get better price in future.
Second tip... take drones as very serious tech and learn how to operate it in safe open areas first and do check for birds Even pigeons can act violent seeing drones.. so better be careful.
Learn first and then start taking it out for capturing in places you want to fly.
Take care of the batteries well. These drone batteries are both fire hazard as well as they can bulge very fast . So keep a check on charging them and storing them as per instructions.
Learn flying rules for every country.
In Shillong one guy was flying drones in Airforce owned area but open to public for visit. . He was prisoned.
In Nagaland they had warn me if they see me flying drones. They will shoot it down and really had to request them to allow to carry atleast as they were even asking to deposit it here or pay fine. But some how with my skills manage to convince them to take it with me without flying.
Even abroad people have had trouble with huge fines and all.
So don't think you can just fly anywhere.
Hope all this info helps.
I hope guys here can add much more to this discussion.
Drones are much more complicated than action camera.
But are amazing tech for both photography and just for hobby.
My inputs with drones are very limited.
Only used two drones in my life and that too sold them in short times.
Let me first start with what a person should do before buying some serious drones.
( This may sound like discouraging but it is my honest opinion).
1). Understand your reason to invest in drone first very clearly.
Any decent drone with decent capability will not cost you less than 40k-50k atleast.
So its big investment and it's very easy to loose that investment within seconds.
Because one wrong direction or calculation or even a bird hitting your drone . Might be enough to throw it in garbage.
My advice only buy drone if you really can afford to invest and are someone who can bear the loss of your investment without feeling a big loss.
( This will help incase by bad luck shit happens.)
Now moving from those discouraging words.
Some positives of drones.
It is just simply mind blowing the bird eye view you can capture of your trips and adventures or even small events.
Just look at those youtube videos and you will find 10 seconds of drone footage is enough to make the whole video worth a watch.
Now coming to actual drones itself.
There are quite a few big players here too.
Like Autel, Parrot,DJI
But biggest is DJI.
There is one Indian company also IZI.
Except for IZI none of the drones are available in Indian market officially.
They are either sold by camera and photography shops or consumer electronics shops.
So your best bet is to check out in camera gali( where many camera shops are found) in your city.
When purchasing drones.
There are further 3 categories you can see where you and your pocket fits in.
Beginners drone category.
This is drone for people who have been wanting to own a drone but with either limited budget or simple functions.
In this category.
DJI Neo is the new boss.
A small 135gms drone with 4k video and amazing capabilities for such a small drone. It's the best drone to start with.
But do check it's limitations on YouTube because it's not without some shortcomings.
DJI Avata 2 -A bit of both a beginner drone but at same time fpv features make it a whole different profession flying experience.
But on expensive side.
Semi-professional drones category.
Here I would say DJI Mini 3 and 4 have become very capable device to shoot almost professional level videos and photo.
They are simply best of both the world's. A small drone (250gms) but at same time amazing camera for some serious level videos and even photos.
Even price point is not too expensive tbh.
Professional drone category.
DJI Mavic and Air series of drones.
These are some very serious investment. They are easily highly professional drones for capturing mega events or wedding or even some high altitude adventure sports.
Infact DJI Mavic Air series has been used in rescue missions too due to their capabilities to fly way further and much longer and ability to zoom very well.
Matlab full package but ofcourse kidney becho price.
This thread is just a start of discussion as my own experiences is not much to share. I am more experienced with action cameras than drone but can still talk a thing or two about it.
Other drones like Autel Evo series have got some great reviews too. So check them out but I feel they might be more hard to get accessories than DJI.
As they are very limited to certain regions only.
Some tips I would like to give.
Always try to buy the fly more combo if possible. It not only adds much more to the overall experience of flying drones but incase of resale you will get better price in future.
Second tip... take drones as very serious tech and learn how to operate it in safe open areas first and do check for birds Even pigeons can act violent seeing drones.. so better be careful.
Learn first and then start taking it out for capturing in places you want to fly.
Take care of the batteries well. These drone batteries are both fire hazard as well as they can bulge very fast . So keep a check on charging them and storing them as per instructions.
Learn flying rules for every country.
In Shillong one guy was flying drones in Airforce owned area but open to public for visit. . He was prisoned.
In Nagaland they had warn me if they see me flying drones. They will shoot it down and really had to request them to allow to carry atleast as they were even asking to deposit it here or pay fine. But some how with my skills manage to convince them to take it with me without flying.
Even abroad people have had trouble with huge fines and all.
So don't think you can just fly anywhere.
Hope all this info helps.
I hope guys here can add much more to this discussion.
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