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When you hear the word drone, you will probably be thinking that they are a big boys toy. Well, you may be right to some degree, but there are lots of great uses for drone technology from a business point of view. If you are someone who has a passion for gadgets, owning your own drone could turn into a lucrative business opportunity for you with a number of areas of business that have a need for this type of technology. 

Drones are exciting! They can fly to reasonable length away from their controllers, they can shoot high-quality pictures and videos which you can look at in a live view either from your controller or from your smartphone. Many come with GPS so you will get greater control over where they are, and some even have the ability to fly themselves to some degree. 

They differ from other remote control flying technologies in the fact that they are a lot more stable. Having four flat rotor blades all working independently of each other means that they are very accurate when it comes to manoeuvring them, and, they can stop still on one spot for any length of time. This makes them ideal for any job that requires aerial photography as you will be able to get a great shot without having to worry about moving the controller around and trying to trigger your camera. 

Drones And The Law

Of course, you will probably have heard a great deal about drones in the news. From many angles, drone technology can be quite controversial. There are a number of safety concerns that center around the use of drones. The most significant of these is using drones near the flight paths of planes. It is against the law to fly a drone near to an airport. There have been many instances now where drones have caused massive disruption, and on one occasion, a London airport was brought to a standstill for 33 hours at a cost of 50 million pounds. The risk to lives when a drone gets too close to a plane is unreal, and as such there are strict laws covering drones and property that everyone who owns one has to adhere too. Even away from airports, there are situations where drones could easily come into contact with planes. For example, many farmers use planes for crop dusting, and these will fly considerably lower than commercial jets do.

You will need to get a license to use your drone, this will ensure that you are registered and understand the restrictions that the aviation authority has set on the flying of drones. 

There is another concern that you should be aware of when getting a drone, and that is the use of them in built-up areas. If you have a camera mounted on your equipment, there are obvious security and privacy concerns and you will need to take these into consideration when using yours. 

Learning To Fly

If you are buying a drone for professional use, then you will certainly want to ensure you know how to fly it first. Drones are obviously very expensive and the last thing that you would want to do is send you new expensive professional piece of equipment hurtling to the ground, to be smashed up. 

One thing that you might want to think about doing is buying a cheaper hobby model to practice on. This will get you used to the basics of flying without the risking a product that will cost a great many times more money. 

You may want to look into getting some flying classes from a drone school. This is a good way to get some expert help and learn all of the tips from the pros. You will learn in a safe environment and in a measured manner. 

What To Look For In A Drone

Shopping for your drone may be a bit of a minefield. You may have heard of some of the top makes and models such as the DGIs. But when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of the issue, you will need to get a good handle on the differences before you part with your cash. 

The distance that a drone can fly to is going to be very relevant to you. Some can only go up to a few hundred metres, which is fine if you only want to do photography and video work of the area that you are stood in, however, if you are needing to take your drone further away, for surveying for example, then you will want something with a range of a couple of kilometres. 

Battery life is going to be a concern, and many people are shocked at how drones don’t stay up in the sky for that long. They require a great deal of battery power to run all of the motors, cameras, and GPS systems, and as such you will generally be looking at the twenty to thirty-minute time span before you will need to bring your drone to the ground to change the battery. Many have an automatic return to base function so that when the battery is low, it doesn’t just drop from the sky. Buy plenty of spare batteries whichever model you go for. Having lots to swap between while you are out will mean that you won’t run out of power!

The next thing that you should check for is the availability of spare parts. There may be times when you do happen to have an accident. A bad wind could knock you off course, or you may misjudge your position. A cracked blade will be enough to ground your drone until it is replaced, so make sure that you can freely buy spares. 

Lastly, and maybe most importantly the camera is of huge significance if you are to use this professionally. Don’t just go by the amount on megapixels the camera has, find out about the lense and if it has features like a zoom. If the camera is not good enough, find out if it is possible to upgrade this.

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