![]() ![]() Once drones became powerful enough to hoist cameras, a cottage industry sprang up with services at a fraction the price of manned aerial photography. The UAV industry is already pretty large despite the handicap of being arguably illegal. As for downsides? Fixed-wing drones often require a runway or catapult, aren't very maneuverable and they can't hover - so forget about a dronie. The main advantage of such craft is that they can fly for four to five hours at decent speeds, making them useful for surveys, maintenance operations, long-range sensing and even aerial photography. The main drawbacks to copter drones are slower speeds and shorter range than fixed-wing models even with battery extenders, most can't run more than a half-hour.Īs for fixed-wing UAVs, the FAA just approved the first commercial use over land of the AeroVironment Puma, a four-and-a-half-foot, hand-launched fixed-wing drone and the Insitu ScanEagle (pictured above). Rotary copters also do real estate flyovers, journalism, herding, agriculture, deliveries and spying, to name just a few. Starting at $679, the latter can pack a GoPro Hero 3 or its own camera, but if you want to carry a mirrorless, DSLR or cinema camera, you'll need one of DJI's expert cameras or models like the BeetleCopter or Infinite Jib - and a lot more money. While you may be familiar with the smartphone-guided Parrot AR Drone 2, other models - like the DJI Phantom series - are more common for commercial purposes. ![]() For one, they make perfect camera platforms for stunning aerial shots, since they can hover and maneuver in any direction. (We're focusing on commercial models, not Predator-style military drones.) Like their civilian helicopter and airplane counterparts, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. UAVs/drones are defined as any aircraft without a pilot aboard, but they can be broken down broadly into two categories: rotary drones - like the swarming KMel quadrotors or Amazon's octacopter - and fixed-wing drones like the Puma. ![]() The industry would prefer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or any moniker except "drone," but we'll use the terms interchangeably. ![]()
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