The Best Drones for Photo and Video

When shooting drone photography, you always want a high-quality new drone, whether that be an entry level budget drone, or a high-end drone and camera system that filmmakers will love are all available on the drone market today. DJI which is the class leader in drones and drone photography over competitors like the Autel Evo, has a tremendous lineup of drones including the beginner drone the DJI NEO, DJI Air 2s, the DJI Air 3, The DJI Mini 2, The DJI Mini 3 Pro, the DJI Mini 4K (which makes for a great mini drone), the DJI Mini 4 Pro, the DJI Inspire line, the DJI Mavic Air and the DJI Mavic 2 and DJI Mavic 3 Pro, The DJI Mavic 3 Classic and the wonderful DJI Avata 2 Fly more combo drone.

When looking for a great drone for photos and videos, you want the camera system on the drone to have excellent low light performance and the functionality to shoot in 4K HDR with a refresh rate of at least 60FPS. In addition, besides for extreme functionality, you want your new drone to have great battery life which will add to the minutes of flight time and still get amazing image quality from the camera’s exposures. The camera system on the drones is operated by a gimbal system which allows for a great wide-angle shooting of cityscapes.

You should also keep in mind some of the features and specs like the wonderful stabilization that these drone cameras must help remove blur during your aerial photography. This will help with the video quality and ensure that with the drone’s wind resistance technology and will also help with stabilization. This will help your exposures be ready to show off on social media.

Safety is another key aspect of the best drones, and these include the best budget drones as well. Videographers will appreciate not only getting a drone with one of the best cameras but also with safety features like “RTH” or Return to Home. As a drone pilot, you can use the drone’s remote controller to set a home point that when activated, your drones’ propellers will help automatically guide your drone back to that “home point” that you designated. DJI drones usually contain the functionality for tremendous obstacle avoidance which is another way these drones give videographers peace of mind.

We will explore some of the great DJI drones that their main camera and dual cameras if so equipped acting like a DSLR camera, getting tremendous video resolution which will show each megapixel with tremendous image quality. We will also look at important specs on some of our top-rated best drones for photo and video like included Wi-Fi and the portability to easily take your foldable drone on your landscape or cityscape photography sessions.

Remember to check your local laws with the FAA as there may be drone flight limitations set by the FAA, and you may need to get a drone pilots license to fly your drone. Also, when using your drone, make yourself a pre-flight checklist including that the propellers are properly attached and the settings you want are ready to go.

Top Drones

These are done in no order, other than the later reviewed models may be upgraded models from the standard ones.

Option #1

Our first choice for a great camera drone system that is currently priced very attractively with discounts applied is the DJI Mini 3 Photography Drone and DJI RC Remote Controller with Screen Bundle. Let’s review some of the specs which make this a great mini drone perfect for portability as you travel to your photoshoot site.

Main Features

This light weight and ergonomic camera drone are great for ease of use as this drone weighs in at less than 390 grams with the DJI RC included and less than 290 grams without the remote. This includes the newly designed DJI RC makes travelling with drone to your photoshoot a breeze.

This foldable drone comes with propellers that are larger, giving the drone the ability to perform 40-degree aerodynamic body tilts, so you can get any angle of view for your photos especially a great wide-angle view.

In addition, for safety and functionality we have the RTH “Return to Home” function and a wonderful obstacle avoidance sensing system, with included wind resistance to get better flight time to handle your high-resolution exposures.

The Battery life is rated at up to 64 minutes on the included “Intelligent Flight Battery”, and you can use a USB-C PD or Power Delivery for fast charging of your drone. The DJI RC has been designed to provide up to 4 hours of usage. There is also Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 included which will allow you to pair your Apple iPhone or Android phone directly to your drone. You can then download the DJI FLY app which will give you the ability to upload images and videos to social media and some great post processing and editing options.

These are all tremendous features to have for a beginner drone.

Camera Performance

The DJI Mini 3 Pro’s camera, which is contains a 1-inch sensor with CMOS capability that has dual Native ISO Fusion can capture high quality 4K images in high dynamic range, so your photos and videos will have tremendous image quality.

Shoot 4k HDR videos in 60FPS with a brightness level of 700 nits on the RC, plus you get 48MP or megapixel image production. You can also get 1080P or Full HD at a blazing refresh rate of 120 FPS. The camera is quite amazing on such a small drone.

The design of the camera on a gimbal-based system, not only allows you to switch from horizontal to vertical shooting with simplicity, but these best cameras can get amazing image quality with its 180-degree tilt and wide-angle shooting ability. You screen on the DJI RC will automatically switch from a portrait to a landscape display depending on the flight mode you are using.

With the Master Shots feature you can zoom in and select the subject of your video and The DJI Mini 3 Pro will execute a sequence of maneuvers, thus getting you a short video afterward that will appear cinematic and lifelike with its image reproduction. This is a cool feature to have.

Not only does this drone give you a wide range of functionality to get the high quality sharp and detailed photos and videos you desire, but This can also be accomplished with the drone set at a long 4x zoom range. There are also various flight modes that this drone has automatically built in which adds to the functionality of the camera system. Use features like hyperlapse or timelapse video, so your exposures are unique and ready to advertise on your social media page. As will the included flight modes Quickshot modes of Dronie, Helix, Rocket, Circle, Boomerang, and Asteroid.

We all want the high-quality amazing exposures that we can feel comfortable sharing with our friends, colleagues and loved ones on a social media feed.

Option #2

Our second option for a great mini drone is the DJI Mini 4 Pro 4K HDR Folding Drone with RC-N2 Remote Kit. This is a great light weight drone perfect for portability weighing in at under 249 grams. Here are some of the features and specs which make this far from the cheapest drone you can get.

Main Features

Portability and ease of use are top notch here as we mentioned that this drone weighs in at less than 249 grams. So, feel free to take this drone with you on those long photoshoot sessions.

Not only is image quality an important aspect of a great drone but safety is just as important when discussing drone photography. Thankfully the DJI Mini 4 Pro has an all-new advanced omnidirectional obstacle avoidance sensing system with wind speed resistance of up to
10.7 m/s. Additional safety is provided by the APAS system which gives the drone automatic braking and bypassing of any obstacles while in flight. Additional safety features like Waypoint Flight, Cruise Control and a great Return to Home system makes this a comfortable and safe drone to use in neighborhoods.

It also has a global navigation satellite system with GPS + Galileo + BeiDou, so you can have your drone accurately get to the area. With the included DJI RC-N2 controller you can really get some great cine shots which help with the stabilization of the drone by lowering its speed and movement for extremely clear and lifelike photos and videos. There are three main flight modes with a fourth which is ATTI mode, meaning that the drone automatically changes to this safety flight mode when either the downward viewing system is weak or not existent as is with the GPS signal.

The standard Battery life which comes with the DJI Mini 4K PRO is rated at 34 minutes of flight time. If you so desire, you can purchase the “Intelligent Flight Plus” battery for even better flight time of up to 45 minutes.

The RC gets you feeling like a top notch FPV drone pilot as it’s versatile and sharp 10-point multi touchscreen for tremendous control over the drone. And once you download the DJI FLY App, you can share these tremendous exposures online on your social media feed. The app can be found in the Appstore on an Apple device, or the Google Play store on an Android phone.

And as we previously mentioned the app serves multiple purposes by also acting as a post processing and editing tool. You can also use the app for downloading firmware updates directly to your drone which will keep it up to date with the latest specs and features.

There is 2GB of internal storage for your videos and photos, however with the size of these files, especially when shooting in a RAW uncompressed format, you should make use of the MicroSD Memory Card slot which is rated for sizes of up to 512 GB. Lexar, SanDisk, Kingston, Samsung and others make great memory card options.

You can easily charge the drone via a USB-C cable to a charging brick with the DJI Power Delivery charger or the 30 Watt charging brick.

Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi AX is included with this drone as is Bluetooth 5.2 for great connectivity. Having the ability to utilize Wi-Fi 6 which can be up to 2.5x faster than Wi-Fi 5 means your still images and videos are uploaded to your social media page extremely fast.

Camera Performance

Building on the previous model, the DJI Mini 4 Pro’s camera comes with a 1/1.3-inch CMOS which includes Dual Native ISO Fusion, so you get amazing 4K sharp and vibrant HDR or high dynamic range photos and videos. Take your 4K HDR videos in 60 FPS and 4K non high dynamic range content with a fast refresh rate of 120 FPS. So, if you wish to disable the HDR function you will get a higher refresh rate but lose some of the features that HDR brings like added clarity and color accuracy to its images.

There is slow motion 4K video recording capability with a refresh rate of 100FPS and 120FPS at FHD or 1920x1080P.

Featuring a transmission system, the DJI’s O4 video transmission also assists with noise reduction. thanks to the all-new noise reduction algorithm. This is a great feature for nighttime and low light conditions. You can even shoot in ProRes not just in JPEG mode during these types of flight. Shooting in RAW or ProRes will also give you further detailed post processing capabilities in the DJI FLY App.

The 3-axis gimbal camera shooting capabilities of the DJI Mini 4 Pro allows for vertical recording which is then optimized for social media and smartphone playback. You can use the “follow me” flight operation on the DJI RC controller to have the drone follow you as you might be Vlogging your photoshoot.

There are several Photo and video modes on the DJI Mini 4K which include MasterShots which can give you templates perfect made for portrait, close-up, and long-range shots. Your subject will be in full focus and view by using the telephoto lens option to home in on your subject with extreme clarity.

If you want to try out some of the QuickShots modes such as Circle, Helix, Rocket, Boomerang, and Asteroid which are also found on the DJI Mini 3 Pro you can get some more artistic flair in your final exposures.

Option #3

Our third option in no particular order for a tremendous drone for your photos and videos is the DJI Air 3 Dual-Camera Drone with DJI RC-N2 Remote Control. This is an all-new drone and builds on the features of the wonderful DJI Air 3. Here are some of the additional specs you can expect from this drone.

Additional Main Features/Upgrades

There are two camera lenses, a 1/1.3″ CMOS Medium Tele & Wide-Angle Dual Primary Camera lens. So, getting those telephoto lens shots including extreme close ups of your subject makes this for a great portrait camera as well as a wide angle for landscape and cityscape photography. 2 for the price of 1, you can’t go wrong.

The telephoto lens gets you 3x optical zoom and you still get the stabilization and obstacle avoidance found on the DJI 3 Pro which will ensure that your videos are exposed with tremendous clarity and lack of shake and blur.

You can also get 4K HDR footage up to 100FPS on both the wide angle and telephoto lens.

You can also use the included Wi-Fi to connect to the Light Cut app on your Apple or Android smartphone for additional options such as One-Tap Edit of your image. This is great for post processing prior to loading up your image on social media.

With Wi-Fi A/C or Wi-Fi 5 allowing you to access the faster 5Ghz band over the basic Wi-Fi 2.4 band will get you faster upload and download speeds. Keep in mind that final speeds will have other factors involved such as what router you are connecting to and your ISP’s speed limitations.

Option #4

Our next option for you would be the DJI Mavic 3 Pro Drone with Fly More Combo and DJI RC. This is in the Mavic Pro lineup from DJI which gives advanced features and specs. This is a nice combo package for a drone upgrading the wonderful specs of the basic DJI Mavic 3 Pro.

Additional Main Features/Upgrades

So, this drone will contain the same “guts” as the DJI Mavic 3 Pro like unbelievable 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad Camera and Dual Tele Cameras. With Hasselblad camera, you can shoot in 12-bit uncompressed RAW footage allow for eve more detailed post processing and editing of your image. The camera can also record in HLG 10-bit log for additional post processing. The f/2.8-f/11 aperture also allows the second camera with the telephoto lens to produce two different zoom abilities.

This is also a micro four thirds sensor, if you want to shoot in that mode. This will use an aspect ratio of 4:3 versus 3:2 which is standard on DSLR cameras.

Also upgraded is the transmission distance up to 15 km with stable signals, so feel free to zoom in on your subject from those distances and still get high quality photos and videos.

This DJI drone can be used as an FPV or First-Person Viewer drone. You will need to get the accessory goggles and then receive FAA approval to fly.

This combo package comes with the DJI RC, Battery Charging Hub, ND Filters Set and a spare battery, so feel free to conduct a long cityscape vlog without the worry of running out of power.

You can record your images in the standard JPEG format, but the DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine has triple camera Apple ProRes codec support. Images van be shot in RAW give you more post processing options.

The fantastic included Active Track function by DJI is where the camera tracks a subject or object accurately. You can choose which object/subject the camera should track.

Not only does the amazing Hasselblad camera system get you 4K HDR video, but it can be achieved at a blazing refresh rate of up to 120FPS. There is support for the 4K video feature with a 60FPS refresh rate at a 7x optical zoom, and you can still get 12MP images. The hybrid zoom on this drone can reach up to a magnification of up to 28x. That will really get you the close-up shots you want.

As mentioned, prior there are MasterShots setting is available on this drone just like the DJI Mini 3 Pro and the DJI Mini 4 Pro, and the new QuickShots modes.

Final Option

Our final choice for an amazing drone is the DJI Avata 2 Fly More Combo (1 Battery) FPV Drone with Camera 4K. This quadcopter has propeller protectors for all kinds of flight scenarios.

This is a high-end drone. With 28 minutes of flight time and a 155deg FOV and ultra-sharp video added to the 1-inch sensor, you can get a unique flight experience while still getting 4K HDR images and videos at 60FPS even at low altitudes.

The upgraded CMOS image sensor really gives you amazing shots in the HDR or High Dynamic range at 60FPS. And with the included goggles, you even can adjust the sharpness and noise reduction levels and more.

The included googles have Micro-OLED screens so your entire photoshoot area is shown with outstanding clarity. The FPV goggles or the as commonly known as goggles V3 from DJI expect 4K resolution for your images and vides with picture in picture options, and 50/60fps image and video recording; or 2.7K@50/60/100/120fps; and or Full HD which is 1920x1080p@50/60/100/120fps. These are great refresh rates that will highlight the smooth recording action of the camera system on the drone. Wait until you show these images and videos off on social media, or even on a large screen TV at your home. You are going to get some pats on the back with the amazing landscape recording you have done.

There is 46GB built in storage which is a nice amount of storage for a quick fly around the neighborhood. You can get 90 minutes of flight time when recording in FHD at 60FPS. Use the memory card slot to add additional storage up to 512 GB from wonderful memory card manufacturers like Lexar, Kingston and more.

There is fast charging which takes about 2 hours to charge and up to three batteries can be charged in sequence. As always besides for spare batteries, if you plan on doing a long landscape photography session or Vlog, we highly recommend getting a power bank. These are more affordable now and come with the power and inputs needed to charge your device on the go without having to look for a charging receptacle.

This is a flagship type drone that DJI has produced that is a must have if you want to expand your landscape photography skills and if you are a professional photographer the images and videos from the camera will look great on your website or advertised on your social media page. This can be done with the included Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 when you connect to your smartphone and download the DJI Fly app.

Final Thoughts

Looking for a great drone to take photos and videos with, look no further than the amazing lineup of drones from DJI which are all available at wonderful pricing at buydig.com. Whether you are looking for a beginner drone like the DJI Neo or a high-end drone like the DJI Avata 2, you can rest assured that you will be choosing from the best quality camera drones on the market.