Best Drone For Real Estate Photography
In the world of real estate photography, capturing sharp, dramatic, and vibrant images are crucial to how well your listing does on the market. Drone photography, more specifically, is now regarded as one the most powerful ways to have your properties stand out among the rest.
Not only does it provide a complete visual of the house, but utilizing a drone can also give you the opportunity to provide more perspectives that are far from the ordinary photos you see online. Because most homebuyers are looking through listings digitally where the bulk of your competition also live, you would want to do what you can to catch your viewer’s attention and pique their interest in the first few seconds.
While it has been widely utilized around the globe, the concept of drone photography is still fairly new when compared with traditional photography. Figuring out which drone is best for your real estate photos and personal preferences can be a long process when information is limited.
To help you kick start your drone photography for real estate, check our detailed guide on how drone technology impacts the real estate industry, how to choose the best drone for you, and our recommended list of options below!
What Is The Impact Of Drone Technology On Real Estate?
Drone technology has contributed many benefits to the real estate industry. It has not only made photos better and more attractive, but it also provides potential homebuyers with much more information within just a single shot. Some of the most notable ways it has impacted real estate are:
It Helps Create More Dynamic Visuals
Drone photography can help create visuals that translate more energy, passion, and vibrancy. Instead of being limited to eye level or ground level shots, imagine the possibilities when you can quite literally capture from higher angles or even directly overhead.
Sometimes all it takes is a fresh perspective to be able to tell a story in a new and exciting way. With drone technology, this is most definitely achievable, and the impact it has on the viewers is remarkable. For a real estate agent to be able to provide these types of images that go above and beyond regular listings, they can offer potential buyers a sneak peak into the lifestyle that they can invest in and have been dreaming of for a while.
It is also more convenient for them as they can better picture out the area (and lock in interest) even before they step foot on the property.
It Makes For A More Accurate Photo
Apart from being dynamic and engaging, the photos you can capture with a drone are also more highly accurate. With traditional photos, they are usually taken from the point of view of someone standing in front of the subject (driveway, garden, back yard, front porch, etc). This is all well and good when highlighting that specific area, but pairing that with photos that can show you the bigger picture of the property gives a more accurate representation.
When it comes to real estate, it is best to not leave too much (if any) to the potential buyer’s imagination. You want to present your listing as is, in its best light, and showcasing all it’s got to offer.
It Highlights More Property Features
Real estate marketing is all about showing off the property and featuring its best traits. While the traditional type of images already give a great idea as to what the property looks like, complementing them with aerial shots can make a world of difference.
As an additional tool to your marketing efforts, images taken by drone can spark interest and curiosity among viewers simply because they create stimulating visuals. By using a drone, you can better display the many features a listing has that would have otherwise gone unnoticed or under-appreciated, making each of your listings an even better one.
It Shines The Light On The Location
Location, location, location – one of the most important factors in the real estate industry. After all, if a homebuyer has the resources, who wouldn’t want to invest in a prime location that makes everyday living very convenient?
For many, this could mean having a home that’s near a park, gym, grocery store, malls, transport links, and other advantageous places. Furthermore, for growing families, this also could mean settling in a property close to good schools.
A good location could mean different things for different buyers, which is why it is very helpful that drone technology can assist real estate agents find the perfect property for a specific market. With aerial shots, you can clearly show the location with more detail and include its surrounding areas. It gives potential buyers a better visual of the property and what it would be like living there. By instilling trust in the neighborhood, you are helping instill trust in your listing.
It Is A Cost Effective Solution
Before the growth of drone photography, photographers used to take photos and videos from airplanes – in fact, many probably still do. As an alternative to this, drones can save you a lot of time, effort, and money when needing to get overhead shots of the location.
How To Choose A Real Estate Photography Drone?
Now that you have a better idea as to just how much a drone can elevate your real estate photos, let’s talk about how to select the right one for you. It all comes down to figuring out your own individual needs and preferences, and if the drone in question can meet (or better yet, exceed) those needs.
To narrow it down, there are seven main factors to consider when choosing your real estate photography drone.
Factor #1: Camera’s Performance
There are numerous models in the market today each catering to varying needs regarding camera performance levels. If you will most likely be shooting smaller properties, investing in a camera with sensors that are around 1/ 2.3” CMOS should be more than capable enough to meet your needs.
However, once you have larger properties and more extensive advertising projects to cater to, we suggest getting a drone with more powerful sensors that can help you in unleashing your full creative potential.
Factor #2: Flight Performance
When it comes to evaluating flight performance, you must mainly consider the speed and battery life of your drone. More powerful drones can reach speeds up to 58mph (94kph), which are perfect for fast-moving objects such as cars or boats that may be a highlight for your property (lake house, anyone?).
More modern drone models can offer more than half an hour of battery life, which is a lot of time to shoot everything you need, especially if you have come prepared with a shot list.
Factor #3: Flight Safety
In any given endeavor, safety should always be a top priority and this is the same when choosing your drone. Invest in a camera that offers safety features such as GPS positioning, vision sensors, obstacle avoidance, and others.
Of course, the safety features you need to invest in will rely on the type of environments you shoot in. The more complex your properties will be, the more advanced the features you should choose.
Factor #4: Transmission
The drone’s transmission is very important when you intend to use the camera for real estate photography. Oftentimes, we want to showcase the property from stunning perspectives and at various distances, which would require a reliable and extensive transmission to achieve.
Wi-Fi transmission is most suitable for daily flying and in open areas where you would not expect a lot of signal interference. However, if your environment is a little more complex, then you may opt to invest in a drone with an extended transmission flight distance and better transmission feed quality.
Factor #5: Intelligent Functions
For those still starting out with drone photography, intelligent functions are such lifesavers. Without them, you would need hundreds of flight hours to be able to capture images and videos and build on your skillset to achieve similar results. With intelligent flight functions, you have the power to automate a lot of intricate flight patterns and even have automatic takeoff and landing, which can provide dramatic footage that is both effortless and captivating.
Factor #6: Portability
The size of your drone and how easy it would be to transport from one location to another is another factor you should take into consideration. If you find yourself shooting multiple locations within a day or have trouble bringing your gear around to far distances, then perhaps smaller drones will do.
However, be sure that you prioritize the power and performance that you will need when shooting to ensure quality output each time.
Factor #7: Ease of Use
It goes without saying that with any form of technology, getting one that is easy to maneuver and not too complicated to learn is key. Otherwise, there is no use investing in the most complex and modern of models if you can’t figure out how to control it best and maximize its features.
Research further on the aircraft itself and what controls are built-in, its remote controller, and the software that it comes with. If you feel that it is an option that can help you build on your skillset and learn how to be the best drone photographer you can be, then it should be worth the shot (no pun intended!).
Other Key Specs
While the above 7 factors are generally what you should look into based on your preference, we highly recommend drones with the following key specs:
- 4K video
- 3-Axis Gimbal
- Live first-person view
- Automatic takeoff and landing
- Altitude hold
- Photo resolution that serves your purpose (high for print ads, medium for digital ads)
7 best drones for real estate photography 2022
There are a lot of drones on the market today, with some companies manufacturing upgrade after upgrade as the years progress. Below, we have put together a comprehensive list of the 7 best drones for real estate photography.
Each of these options have their own advantages over the other and choosing one best for you depends on your main goal when shooting.
DJI Mini 2 (Base Package or Fly More Combo)
The Best Affordable Drone For Professional Real Estate Photography
The DJI Mini 2 is the company’s smallest and most portable drone yet. It is great for both beginners and experienced pilots alike. It also works well for either interior or exterior real estate projects.
What’s great about this drone is its ability to provide raw power and great quality at a more affordable price and smaller package.
Notable Features:
Stellar Picture Quality. The DJI Mini 2 features a 3-Axis Motorized Gimbal, which offers the smoothest picture and video quality. The 12 MP Camera achieves exemplary interior photos, which come out bright, vibrant, colorful, and perfectly contrasting.
Easy To Use. The operating system is friendly to experts and beginners alike. It has many features that make shooting a breeze to accomplish such as its One-Tap Quick Shots with the option to perform Boomerangs, 4K Hyper lapse, and even Panorama.
4x Zoom Capabilities. This drone steadily holds up to 4x digital zoom. With this sharp focus paired with its 4K/ 30fps videos, you are sure to achieve keen and detailed photos and videos with every project.
Built-in photo optimization. With its built-in photo optimization option, you will save time, energy, and money on editing your shots after the shoot. You would only need little to no adjustments once the camera is done with your output.
Pros
- Foldable and portable
- Affordable
- 3-Axis Gimbal
- 4K Camera
- OcuSync 2.0 transmission
- 10KM HD Video Transmission
- Quick Shots
- On average, it offers 27 – 31 Minutes of flight time per charge.
- 12 MP Photos
- Fly up to 24 mph (38 kph) with ActiveTrack, TapyFly, and other smart features
- Handles up to Level 5 Wind Resistance
Cons
- Still no color profiles for JPGs and video
- No features for obstacle avoidance
- No feature for HDR
Fly More Combo. By opting for the Fly More Combo variant, you get 6 miles worth of range and an hour and half of battery life.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
The Best Drone For Professional Real Estate Photography Overall
The DJI Mini 2 is the company’s smallest and most portable drone yet. It is great for both beginners and experienced pilots alike. It also works well for either interior or exterior real estate projects.
What’s great about this drone is its ability to provide raw power and great quality at a more affordable price and smaller package.
Notable Features:
Hasselblad Camera. Hasselblad has definitely made its name in the photography industry and this drone has it built into its hardware. It checks off every Hasselblad specification flawlessly with its ergonomic design, exceptional photo quality, and intricate Swedish Craftsmanship. This allows you to capture focused, sharp, and stunningly colorful images.
Adjustable Aperture. It performs perfectly in environments that need a high dynamic range on the spot. With an adjustable aperture of f/2.8 – f/11, you have the power to play around with shutter speeds and get the shots you need exactly how you want them.
10 bit Dlog-M Color Profile & 10 bit HDR Video. This feature allows you to capture the colors of the listing as vividly and accurately as possible. With these specs, you are able to achieve the right set of color tones, luminous highlights, and increased contrasts.
Pros
- Pro Drone Quadcopter
- 120 MS Low Latency
- 40 MBPS Download Speed
- 2.4/5.8 GHz Real-Time Auto-Switching
- 31 Minute Flight Time
- 72 KPH Maximum Speed
- 3-Axis Gimbal
- Powerful 1-Inch Hasselblad CMOS Sensor
- ActiveTrack 2.0
- Hyperlapse
- 20 MP HDR Photos
- 4K HDR videos at 60 frames per seconds
- 8 Kilometers of operating range
Cons
- 8GB of internal memory isn’t much.
- No DCI format support.
DJI Mavic Air 2
The Best Progressive Drone For Real Estate Photography and Videography
The DJI Mavic Air 2 is a more advanced option and offers upscale camera properties. It is perfect for real estate photography projects that are a little more challenging and require more progressive features.
Apart from its ability to take fast, high quality shots, it also has safety features such as Obstacle Avoidance that can keep your mind at ease and enable you to focus on your creative process instead of worrying about the drone itself.
Notable Features:
4K/ 60FPS Videos and 48 MP Photos. The DJI Mavic Air 2 delivers absolutely spectacular picture and video quality. It sports a ½” CMOS Sensor and a 3-Axis Gimbal that allows you to take smooth 4K/ 60FPS Videos and 48 MP Photos. It even works great in low light settings!
Highly Portable Yet Very Powerful. Its quadcopter roughly equals the size of an apple and can comfortably sit on the palm of your hands. This makes it the perfect portable drone without compromising the quality of output.
Intelligent Tracking. Both tracking and focus are key features to look out for which is another reason why the Mavic Air 2 is a great option.
It offers Spotlight 2.0, which allows you to track and lock the focus on your main subject matter, keeping a sharp image while you fly the gadget.
It also offers ActiveTrack 3.0, which allows you to target a specific shot and keep it centered.
Pros
- 48 MP Camera
- Drone Quadcopter UAV
- 4K Video
- 8K Hyperlapse
- 1/2″ CMOS Sensor
- 3-Axis Gimbal
- 34 Min Flight Time
- Active Track 3.0
- Spotlight 2.0
- Automatic Obstacle Avoidance
- OcuSync 2.0 transmission
- 2x Zoom
Cons
- Video profiles are limited to standard and flat
- App-based editing limited to 1080p output
DJI Air 2S
The Best Mapping Drone For Real Estate Photography
The DJI Air S2 offers amazing low light performance and impeccably sharp, focused mapping. Its remarkable exposure sensitivity and dynamic range can capture up to 12.6 stops.
Every footage shot with this drone results in a high resolution and immensely accurate color reproduction. It also has a master shot feature that provides automatic image editing, saving you the time and energy during post production.
Notable Features:
All In One Drone Camera. The DJI Air 2S offers an advanced image transmission that captures video in 1080p even from a distance of 7.5 miles. It is ultra-crisp and smooth in both video and photo, with little to no disruptions within the shots.
Vivid Color Tones. Sometimes, even when the listing is well lit in reality, some cameras poorly translate that in photos. With the DJI Air 2S, this is far from the case. It features a 5.4K video that makes all your footage full of rich details and vivid color tones.
Deep Dynamic Range In Low Light . Shooting in dim lighting or during nighttime can have its challenges. But with the DJI Air 2S equipped with a 1-inch sensor, you have the power to combine exposures of different angles in 1 luminous frame. The dark shadows and bright highlights are perfectly balanced in each shot, which offers your output a deep dynamic range even in low light.
Pros
- 5.4K Video
- 1-Inch CMOS Sensor
- 4-Direction Obstacle Sensing
- 31-Min Flight Time
- 7.5-Mile Video Transmission
- 3-Axis Gimbal Camera
- Remote Control
- 2.4 Megapixels
Cons
- 8 GB of internal storage isn’t much
- App-based editing limited to 1080p output
- Raw images don’t transfer to smartphones and tablets automatically
DJI Mavic Mini
The Best Drone Camera For Commercial Real Estate Photography
The DJI Mavic Mini is foldable and surprisingly lightweight for its features. It weighs less than 250 grams and is a breeze to pack along from one location to the other.
While it offers exceptional performance levels, it does not cost nearly as much as other professional options.
Notable Features:
Incredibly User Friendly. The DJI Mavic Mini may be small but it is packed with features that are easy to use and a breeze to operate. This makes taking cinematic shots, having them ready for publishing, and getting your work out there faster and more efficient.
12 MP Photos and 2.7K Videos. With these impressive specs, this drone helps create realistic and rich details that are as close to the real thing as possible. It is also designed with a 3-Axis Gimbal for a smooth and quick process.
Half An Hour Of Battery Life The Mavic Mini has a maximum speed of 29 mph (47 kph) and can power through the shoot with 30 minutes of flight time on a single charge.
Pros
- Drone FlyCam
- 3-Axis Gimbal
- 30 Min Flight Time
- 2.7K Camera
- Quadcopter UAV
- Weighs Less Than 0.55 lbs
- 1/ 2.3″ CMOS Sensor
- Foldable Drone
- Onboard GPS
- Dronie, Rocket, Circle, Helix, and other cinematic features under QuickShots.
- Intuitive editing capabilities
- Does not require FAA registration
Cons
- No obstacle detection sensors.
- No 24fps video option.
- Doesn’t support Raw or HDR images.
Sony Flightelf Professional
Best Beginner Drone For Powerful Real Estate Photography
The Sony Flightelf Professional drone is the perfect drone for beginners who want to capture powerful imagery and smooth videos. It takes your footage to the next level while offering safety features that give you peace of mind throughout the shoot.
Three of our favorite safety features packed into this gadget are the Auto Return Mode, Obstacle Avoidance Technology, and Find Drone, which are all well worth this investment. Furthermore, the Flightelf App gives basic editing options to trim, edit, and do simple adjustments.
Notable Features:
5 GHz WiFi FPV Transmission. With a powerful first person view transmitter, you can capture high quality, crystal clear footage lag-free without any delay.
User friendly. The Flightelf is simple and straightforward, leaving no room for confusion or unnecessary fuss during your shoot. It also has a conveniently quick landing and takeoff feature to help you start and end your footage smoothly.
4K Dynamic Camera – 8PM. With a 4k dynamic camera coupled with 8 MP photo resolution, you are guaranteed to get quality results with vibrant color tones each time.
Pros
- Professional Camera
- Tap-Fly Drone
- Auto Return Home
- Obstacle Avoidance Technology
- Find Drone Feature
- Sony IMX 179 Camera
- GPS Enabled
- Follow Me Mode
- Up to 90 Min Flight Time
- 2/3 Mile Range
- 400ft. Maximum Flying Height
- 5GHz WiFi FPV Real-time Transmission
- 50x Zoom Lens
- 3- Axis Gimbal
- 4K Video Footage
- 8 MP Photo Quality
- Come with own Flightelf App for editing
Cons
- Does not come with warranty
- Shoots at only 25 fps
Ruko F11 Pro
Best Mid Range Drone For Real Estate Photography
Ruki is a professional manufacturer of high-quality drones and have been dedicated to the research, development, and manufacturing of UAVs since the year 2013.
The Ruko F11 Pro is an advanced model packed with many flight modes, a powerful battery, and a great camera, all in one portable and foldable package.
Notable Features:
120-Degree FOV Lens. With a 120-degree field of view lens, you are able to take flawless shots even in the most huddled of spaces. Its 90-degree adjustable camera also allows for broader perspectives and crystal clear frames.
4K UHD Quality. With a ultra high definition 4K photo quality, you can expect your luminous whites and vibrant colors in all your photos. This also gives you the control to capture balanced exposures even in highly contrasting environments.
Exceptional Battery Life. It has a 2500 mAh intelligent battery, which can last up to 30 minutes of powerful flight time on one charge.
Pros
- 4K UHD Camera
- Hand Gesture Control
- Follow Me Mode
- Tap-Fly
- Point of Interest Mode
- Foldable Design
- 30 Minutes Flight Time
- Easy to Fly
- 500 meter GPS signal
- Auto Return Home
- Air Pressure Stabilizer To Avoid Camera Vibration
- Brushless Motor made of High Quality Aluminum Alloy
- 11.1V High Voltage Battery
Cons
- No gimbal stabilization
- No obstacle avoidance
Which One Is Best For You?
With a list of our top 7 recommended drones for real estate photography above, you can’t go wrong in choosing one that’s best for you!
Each of the drones have their own advantages and shortcomings, all it takes is to narrow down which model ticks off your must-have features and which ones you are happy to do without.
Whichever you decide on, you are sure to get stunning real estate photos and videos in no time!
