Deciphering Drone Video Cost Estimates

Contents

I. Rundown of Drone Video Cost Factors
   1. Drone Video Cost Includes the License
   2. Drone Video Cost Accounts for Operating Expenses
   3. Drone Video Cost Covers Insurance
   4. Drone Video Cost Depends on Equipment Price
      a. How Equipment Ammortization and Depreciation Affect the Cost of Aerial Photography
      b. What Is the Cost of Aerial Photography and Videography with DJI Insurance?
II. Can You Reduce the Cost of Aerial Photography by Renting a Drone?
III. What Are the Drone Video Costs at YOPRST?
   1. How Much Does a Drone Video Cost?
      a. DJI Air 3      a. DJI Air 3
      b. DJI Avata 2      b. DJI Avata 2
      c. DJI Mavic 3 Cine      c. DJI Mavic 3 Cine
      d. DJI Inspire 2      d. DJI Inspire 2
      e. DJI Inspire 3      e. DJI Inspire 3
      f. DJI Matrice 350      f. DJI Matrice 350
      g. Freefly Alta 8      g. Freefly Alta 8
III. Conclusion

Drone flights are regulated. To shoot real estate, manufacturing facilities, or televised performances from a bird’s eye view, you must register your drone, receive training from a responsible authority, such as the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States or the Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom, and obtain clearance for each flight by filling out a form on a designated website. All of this raises the cost of aerial photography. Let us look into these factors and calculate the median drone video cost with YOPRST, a Warsaw-based company providing drone videography services.

Rundown of Drone Video Cost Factors

The cost of aerial photography (or drone videography) includes the pilot’s fee, their skills, and the equipment’s depreciation or rental costs. A complex flight over buildings, people, and cars requires an advanced license for the pilot. That is why you should not attempt to shoot drone videos yourself, even if the cost is higher. Also, if you work with a video production company, make sure their pilots have the necessary qualifications. Otherwise, you may end up dealing with accidents that cause property damage and injuries to bystanders. Here’s a rundown of the factors that influence drone video cost.

Factor 1: Drone Video Cost Includes the License

Drone pilots who obtain a license are trained on how to minimize risks if the drone loses control, as well as how to protect pedestrians and spectators. Of course, having this license raises the pilot’s fee, unless there is intense competition in your local market. Drone pilot training costs between $550 and $1,100 in Central Europe and around $200 in the United States, with additional fees for drone registration and certification. If you intend to shoot stock images (such as flying over mountains, a deserted beach, or other safe locations), the drone video cost will be lower.

As a result of this additional license, the pilot’s fee will increase by a couple of hundred dollars. In the practice of our production studio, YOPRST, shooting from a quadcopter was most often done above people in a city with a lot of car and pedestrian traffic. Otherwise, the frame would appear uninteresting and boring. A different situation arises when creating a video for stock services, for example Shuttershock, Motion Array or Adobe Stock. The price of filming from a drone in this case will be lower since it often involves landscapes and flights over safe areas.

If you require industrial photography, such as assessing the condition of power line insulators, the quality of thermal insulation or solar panels inspecting, order an industrial copter. To fly such copters, you must obtain a special license, which is significantly more expensive than a regular one. It entails flying in hazardous environments and receiving brief training on specific cameras. Thermal imaging cameras, lidars, and conventional cameras with large zooms are common features of such quadcopters. They may also have high-capacity batteries to increase flight duration.

Factor 2: Drone Video Cost Accounts for Operating Expenses

How much does aerial photography cost? It is impossible to answer this question without calculating the costs of purchasing or renting a drone. The average cost of a professional drone ranges from $3,000 to $10,000; higher-end equipment includes more advanced features such as longer flight times, payload capacity, and the availability of thermal and environmental sensors and high-precision geopositioning modules. Meanwhile, drones have a lifespan of only two to three years, resulting in monthly drone operation and amortization expenses of at least $100.

But we overlooked something else. If you have to fly over people or cars, you should get additional accident insurance. A quadcopter that is used for professional videography typically weighs between 5 and 20 kilograms. If such a “bird” hits your car, you will have to pay thousands of dollars in repairs. And if it strikes a pedestrian, the insurance must certainly cover treatment and rehabilitation. Such insurance policies are quite common in the United States and Western and Central Europe, and their costs may vary greatly depending on the provider.

Factor 3: Drone Video Cost Covers Insurance

The cost of aerial photography includes insurance. Professional drones can weigh anywhere from five to twenty kilograms; imagine the damage they could cause if they crashed into a window, fell on a car, or struck an unsuspecting passer-by. In the United States, a policy with $1,000,000 coverage would cost approximately $80 per month. Across Europe, hobby and leisure drone insurance may cost you $50 per year, while professional drone insurance plans begin at $200 per year. Finally, your drone video cost estimate will include the profits of the rental company you will be working with.

Let us do some calculations, adding the drone video cost factors we have discussed thus far to the pilot’s fee. A drone pilot typically charges between $40 and $60 per hour, with a minimum flight duration of three hours. Except for weddings, most projects can be completed within this timeframe. Thus, the minimum aerial photography cost will be between $120 and $170, excluding licenses. For example, a pilot with a low-cost DJI Mavic Air 3, monthly amortization costs of $60-75, operating costs of $75 per month, and the minimum insurance of $15-30 will charge around $180 per flight.

Another crucial factor is post-production editing, which is not included in drone video costs. This process involves enhancing the raw footage captured by the drone, which can have an impact on the final project price. Professional editors charge anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour. Basic editing tasks, such as color correction, adding music, and cutting clips, can take around three to five hours, leading to an additional cost of $150 to $750. For more intricate projects involving special effects or advanced color grading, the editing time can extend beyond eight hours, thus increasing the expense further.

Factor 4: Drone Video Cost Depends on Equipment Price

In the previous section of our aerial photography cost guide, we looked at the costs of flying budget drones. What if your project necessitates more advanced equipment, such as the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 camera or DJI Inspire 3, a drone with a full-frame 8K imaging system and an integrated cinematic camera? And what if your cinematographer insists on mounting a high-end camera, such as the ARRI Alexa Mini or the RED Komodo 6K, on the drone to achieve the desired image quality? In this scenario, the cost of aerial photography can skyrocket.

We will not cover such specific setups in this article because the equipment alone can cost around $110,000, excluding pilot fees and insurance. Returning to the Inspire 3 example, the pilot’s fee for an 8-hour shift could be approx. $550. Even if you only plan to fly the drone for a few hours, the drone video cost estimate will remain constant due to preparation and travel costs. Equipment selection is one of the most important factors influencing aerial photography costs, and it should never be overlooked. You should always be specific about your needs when contacting a videographer to work on your project.

How Equipment Ammortization and Depreciation Affect the Cost of Aerial Photography

In the section on operating expenses, we briefly discussed drone amortization and depreciation costs using lower-cost equipment as an example. If you are looking for information on the real estate or construction aerial photography cost and considering using higher-end equipment, such as the DJI Inspire 3 drone, amortization and depreciation expenses will be significantly higher, increasing your drone video cost proportionally. Let us go over the math again so you can negotiate drone aerial photography with a contractor with greater confidence.

In 2024, you can buy a DJI Inspire 3 drone for $16,000 in basic setup. There are different approaches to calculating depreciation costs for an expensive drone like this. If the drone can be sold for $5,500 after five years of operation, the monthly depreciation and amortization expenses could total $300, increasing the drone video cost. Drone videography specialists can also obtain DJI Care insurance directly from DJI. This package, unlike the general liability insurance we discussed earlier, covers losses if the drone loses connection or the pilot makes an error and costs up to $550 per year.

What Is the Cost of Aerial Photography and Videography with DJI Insurance?

DJI provides two types of insurance: standard and professional. Professional insurance is more advantageous, as it allows you to receive a brand new drone even if your old one is lost. DJI Inspire 3 Care Pro insurance costs $2,200 per year, which is equivalent to $200 per month. When pilot fees, drone depreciation and amortization expenses, and manufacturer insurance are factored in, the drone video cost for filming with a DJI Inspire 3 drone can reach $1,650 for an eight-hour shift, which is comparable to average video production rates in America and Europe.

Please keep in mind that our calculations allow for drone video cost reductions, which may be applicable in some cases. For example, if you work with a video production company and book multiple shifts in a row, you can request a discount. You can also contact several companies in your area and select the team with the most competitive offer. The average cost of aerial photography and videography with a DJI Inspire 3 drone is between $550 and $1,650 per shift, depending on the pilot’s level, the number of pilots involved in your project, and the flight complexity.

In short, a reasonable response to the question “How much does aerial photography cost?” is $150-1,650 per session. One way to cut costs is to work out package deals with drone service providers. Many businesses provide discounts for bulk bookings or long-term projects. Furthermore, some service providers may offer lower rates during off-peak hours or seasons, so scheduling your project during these times can result in cost savings. You can also reduce the need for extensive post-production work by clearly planning and communicating your project requirements with the pilot in advance.

Can You Reduce the Cost of Aerial Photography by Renting a Drone?

Given the figures from the previous paragraph, you may wonder if it makes sense to buy a drone and hire an experienced pilot for your project or learn to fly the copter yourself while also bearing all of the associated costs, including insurance, or just to rent the equipment and not bear any risks. For one-time projects, renting a drone may be a viable option. However, do not get excited too soon, because the rental price will still cover risks and operating expenses, even if your pilot has completely mastered the art of drone flying and no damage is caused.

Drone rental companies typically calculate rental prices using the probability formula, which serves as the foundation for insurance policies. For example, rental fees cover the risk of losing a drone by flying into a prohibited area or crashing it beyond repair. If this risk is 1%, it is factored into the rental profit multiplier and other coefficients known only to the rental company. For the sake of simplicity, let us assume it is 1%, which means that the rental profit is increased by 1%. It seems reasonable, but this percentage can vary significantly from company to company.

In addition, you will need to find a skilled drone pilot or enroll one of your in-house videographers (if you have any!) in a pilot certification program. In the United States, in-house drone pilot hourly rates range between $18 and $45. If your project does not require on-site shooting, you may want to consider hiring freelancers from neighboring countries or even overseas to reduce the cost of aerial photography. However, you cannot guarantee the quality of the footage in this case because not all drone pilots are excellent videographers, and vice versa.

Possible solutions? Look for a video production company that employs certified drone pilots and offers a wide range of drones, both budget and high-end. If you follow this scenario, your drone videographers will not only cover the operating and insurance costs, but they will also have access to additional cameras and lenses. While you are at it, check out our latest article on the best music video cameras. Finally, video production specialists can assist you with video editing and color corrections; these services are not included in the drone video cost and are charged separately.

What Are the Drone Video Costs at YOPRST?

As a professional video production company, YOPRST does not use simple, entry-level drones like the DJI Mavic Mini, which frequently fail to deliver satisfactory image quality. The DJI Mavic 3 is the bare minimum for high-quality footage, but the Cine version is preferred. The Inspire 2 and the new 2024 model, the Inspire 3, are both excellent choices. One of their main advantages is that you can change lenses to achieve a specific look and footage quality, though the selection of such optics is currently limited. However, what is the cost of aerial photography at YOPRST, and is it justified?

Our team has worked on various projects, including music videos and commercials. We are also pricing flexible, tailoring drone video costs to our customers’ budgets, as well as suggesting various workarounds to avoid exceeding budget and staying within specifications. We strive to maintain high standards and will not agree to execute poorly planned projects just to get a paying customer. Scroll down to learn about our approach and the average cost of aerial photography at YOPRST. This data is conveniently summarized based on variables such as drone model and flight duration.

How Much Does a Drone Video Cost?

YOPRST has a small fleet of mid- and high-range drones. When we buy equipment, we consider its profitability. If the equipment is only used a few times per month, it will become obsolete faster than we can recoup the investment. When our customers require specific equipment for their shoots, we may rent a drone from another company. If we notice that a particular model is in high demand, we buy it to keep the cost of aerial photography low for our clients. We have compiled a list of our drones and estimated aerial photography costs based on equipment model and flight duration.

Conclusion

How much does aerial photography cost? A three-hour flight will cost at least $165 if you choose an expensive professional drone like the DJI Mavic Air 3, and up to $1,650 if you choose a higher-end drone like the Freefly Alta 8. Remember that these drone video cost estimates exclude video editing services like color grading and visual effects, which are commonly used in music videos, commercials, and films. To estimate the full cost of aerial photography, you need to contact a reliable video production company and discuss your project requirements.

While it is entirely possible to reduce the cost of aerial photography by renting a drone and hiring a freelance pilot, we strongly advise against it. There is more to drone videography than avoiding obstacles and landing a drone safely. Your pilot must also correctly frame shots, achieve proper composition, and master camera settings. If you shoot simple content for social media and YouTube, working with an amateur may suffice. However, if you want to use drone footage in a corporate film, video ad, or music video, you must have polished, high-quality content. This is where companies like YOPRST step in.