Cameras for Photographing Real Estate

The 3C's: Camera, Capture, & Correction

For any aerial photography job the first question is what camera equipment do I need for the job? And because we're talking about aerial photography, we're really talking about what drone(s) are needed for the job to deliver what the customer is looking for.

In this post, I'll walk you through what drones are used by Fly High Photos, things I consider & why one drone might be a better choice than another.

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At Fly high photos, I only fly DJI drones. Why? DJI is the market leader in the drone industry. They lead in innovation, ease of use, breadth of choice and purchase price.

My use case is primarily real estate, so I look for what drones have a good camera, or fit a niche scenario not covered by the other aircraft in the fleet. The considerations I go through are laid out in the decision table below:

Camera Drone Considerations for a Job

Considerations	Air 3	Mavic Mini 4 Pro	Avata	Neo (new)
High quality RAW image capture	Yes	Yes	No	No
High quality video capture	Yes	Yes	No	No
Social Media quality image & video	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
First Person View Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Max Flight Time	46 min	45 min*	18 min	18 min
Telephoto Camera	Yes	No	No	No
Max wind speed	45 mph	23 mph	23 mph	17 mph
Can fly indoors	No	Yes (w/ prop guards)	Yes	Yes
Crash Durability	Low	Low	High	High
Temperature	14° - 104° F	14° - 104° F	14° - 104° F	14° - 104° F
Video Res	4k/100fps	4k/100fps	4k/60fps	4k/30fps
Max Image Size	8064x6048	8064x6048	4000x3000	4000x3000
Sphere & Panorama	Yes	Yes	No	No
Omni Directional Object Detection	Yes	Yes	No	No

Some Use Case Scenarios

1. High winds, Pro images and Video needed - Fly Air 3

2. Low winds, Pro images and Video needed - Fly Air 3 or Mini 4 Pro

3. High Res 360 (Sphere) or Panorama Images - Fly Air 3 or Mini 4 Pro

4. Social media video flying down a gravel road - Fly Avata

5. Flying indoors for social media - Fly Neo or Mini 4 Pro with 360 Prop guards