Imagine that you can take a group selfie or capture the scenery from an aerial view. Drones with cameras can satisfy your need. Drones with cameras can be used by both the amateur and the professional. Some drones are good for taking photos and shooting videos, and some are designed for GoPro cameras. The best drones for camera should come with Gimbal stabilization to take anti-vibration images and footage.
As for entry-level pilots, they tend to choose the easy-to-use drones to practice their flying skills. For other users, they take camera performance as the top consideration. Users can use the camera drones for FPV live streaming, shooting videos or taking pictures.
In this review, it’s cover:
- Camera drones for beginners comparison table
- Professional camera drones comparison table
- Camera drones for beginners detail review
- Professional camera drones detail review
- Drones buying tips
The best drones with camera
Camera Drones for Beginners
| Preview | Product | Editor Rating (Total 5) |
Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Altair Aerial #AA108 Camera Drone | 4.0 | |
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Force1 U28W | 3.5 | |
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HVR Mini Drone | 3.6 | |
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DBPOWER Predator U842 | 4.2 |
Professional Camera Drones
| Preview | Product | Editor Rating (Total 5) |
Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
DJI Mavic Air | 4.4 | |
 |
DJI Mavic 2 Pro | 4.5 | |
 |
DJI Phantom 3 Professional Quadcopter | 4.0 | |
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DJI Phantom 4 Professional Drone | 3.6 | |
 |
Yuneec Q500 Typhoon Quadcopter Drone | 3.9 | |
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Yuneec Typhoon H Pro | 3.9 | |
 |
VOOCO X-Star Premium Drone | 4.2 |
Camera Drones for Beginners
1. Altair Aerial #AA108 Camera Drone – Great for Kids & Beginners
The Altair Aerial AA108, with a 720p HD camera, is a Realtime FPV Drone. Compared with other racing drones, its affordable price of about $120 makes it attractive.
What’s more, the drone comes with a free Flyingseee App to work with the camera. With the App, after you connect your phone to the remote controller, you can use your mobile phone to control the drone via WiFi.
The overall build of the drone is durable, which is great for beginners. The drone comes with 3 flight modes for beginners to practice gradually. It’s Headless Mode is beginner-friendly. It also has a steady Altitude Hold for you to relax your fingers during the flight. The battery can support a flight of 10 minutes, but if you use FPV, the flight time will decrease.
Besides, the Altair offers Altair Video Tutorials for first-time users and great customer service for all users.
2. Force1 U28W – Drones with Camera for Adults or Kids
The Force1 U28W, a toy-class drone, can be used by pilots of all levels. It is especially suitable for beginners with features like One-key Take-off and Landing, and steady Altitude hold.
The drone comes with 4 channels, and it even has Custom Route Mode to set up your flight route. The battery can only sustain a flight of 5 minutes, but it has two batteries. The drone has a 720p camera with 120° wide-angle, which is good for FPV. You can connect the drone for live videos to your phones via WiFi.
Besides, the camera has a 4GB Micro SD card for footage storage. However, the drone is not that durable compared with others.
3. HVR Mini Drone – with Video Camera
The HVR Mini Drone is a tiny drone, for indoor and outdoor use. It is ideal for beginners to practice flying skills, and it is also good for entry-level professionals to get some fun.
The drone can fly for 4 to 5 minutes. But it has a built-in rechargeable battery and it only takes 20 minutes to charge. It has a One-touch recording button, besides, the camera comes with an included 4GB Micro SD card. You can watch the video by the VLC Media Player on your laptop. Although the camera resolution is not good enough, you can get a decent image.
4. DBPOWER Predator U842 – For Beginners & Outdoor Use
The UDI U842 Predator has a 720p camera for taking high-quality pictures and videos. The drone can fly for about only 10 minutes, but it takes nearly 3 hours to recharge. Through WiFi, you can get FPV real-time HD live transmission to your mobile devices.
You can control the drone through the App. The drone comes with features like Headless mode, a low voltage alarm and 360-degree flips. With gravity induction, the drone can fly in all directions. What’s more, the drone has blade cover to protect the propellers when it lands or crashes. But it lacks assembly instructions, which is not good for beginners. Since the drone is lightweight, it is not ideal to use under a windy condition.
Professional Camera Drones
1. DJI Mavic Air
The Mavic Air may not be as versatile as the Mavic 2, but the former offers great flying experience at a relatively lower price. The DJI Mavic Air, with intelligent features like advanced obstacle avoidance, is suitable for pilots from beginners to professionals.
The drone can be folded, which makes it compact and easy to carry. Its 4K Ultra HD camera with an 85 degree field of view, not good enough though, still can be used for taking decent photos and videos. The drone can fly for 21 minutes within the range of 10 kilometers. It takes only 55 minutes to recharge the battery.
Generally, Mavic Air is a great drone with high-tech features at a reasonable price.
2. DJI Mavic 2 Pro
The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is excellent for professional use with multiple intelligent features. The drone is compact and portable, which is perfect for outdoors or travels. It is worth mentioning that the drone comes with a Hasselblad camera with a 1-inch CMOS sensor. The camera with 3-axis Gimbal is capable of producing high-quality 20-megapixel photography and 4K 10-bit HDR Video.
Plus, the drone has built-in 8 GB storage for footage. Moreover, the drone has a new propulsion system which helps noise reduction when shooting videos.
Besides, the drone features an omnidirectional obstacle sensing for safe flight, which gives DJI an edge over other drones. It also boasts functions like Active Track, Waypoint, and Point of Interest modes, which is great for professional creative use. The drone can fly for 31 minutes, with a maximum speed of 45 mph. The drone is a top option for both professional and commercial use, especially for travel bloggers.
3. DJI Phantom 3 Professional Quadcopter
The DJI Phantom 3 is a reasonably-priced professional drone for you if you have a tight budget. If you are a professional pilot, you can use it as your first drone to practice. There are four versions for you to choose: Professional, Advanced, 4K, and Standard. All of them come with GPS and GLONASS, autonomous flight modes and good-quality cameras. They also boast intelligent features like Auto Return to Home, Follow Me, Ground Station and Point of Interest.
The DJI Phantom 3 4K(for semi-professionals) is the cheapest but the control range of 1.2km is shorter than other versions. The drone can take 12-megapixel photos and 4K video, with a maximum flight time of 25 minutes.
The DJI Phantom 3 Advanced(for commercial pilots) has an extended control range of 2km, but the overall flight time goes down by 2 minutes and the video resolution reduces to 2.7K.
The DJI Phantom 3 Professional, the best for specialized use, is favored by many users. Its camera is capable of capturing 12MP still and 4K video. The battery can support a flight of 23 minutes within the range of 2km, and it takes 1 hour to recharge. You can choose the most suitable version according to your level.
According to users’ reviews, the wings of the drone can be occasionally taken by the camera when shooting videos.
4. DJI Phantom 4 Professional Drone
The DJI Phantom 4 Professional is renowned for its advanced technology. Its high-quality camera is capable of taking 20-megapixel stills and 4K-resolution videos. The drone also features autonomous flight modes and one-touch controls for easy operation. Its Vision Positioning System and omnidirectional obstacle sensing to avoid hit and keep safe, ideal for both outdoors and indoors.
It also boasts GPS assistance and GLONASS for easy tracking and stable flight. The drone can fly for 30 minutes within the max range of 5 kilometers. Users complain that the drone is a little bulky, which is not suitable for travel use.
Some users find it convenient to buy a carrying case for the drone for easy transport. And it takes a longer time to set up when compared with other DJI Professionals. Usually, users choose the DJI Phantom 4 Professional for commercial use. If you are a professional pilot, the drone should be one of your top choices.
5. Yuneec Q500 Typhoon Quadcopter Drone
The Yuneec Q500+ Typhoon is on the list for its great camera. If you have a higher requirement for the camera instead of the drone, this is the one for you. The drone itself offers 3 modes, including Smart mode, Angle mode and Home mode. Of course, it comes with features like Follow Me and Return to Home. Besides, the drone has a custom case and a microphone. The drone is capable of flying for 25 minutes.
The HD camera is capable of shooting 16MP stills and 1080p full HD videos. Plus, you can have a 5.8GHz integrated download link for smooth streaming to your mobile devices like a tablet or smartphone. The drone also comes with a Personal Ground Station capability for viewing.
However, the drone has some issues which make it not a top pick. The overall size is bulky, which affects the flying speed. It takes several times to set up the Follow Me. Besides, changing positions in the air cannot be realized, and you will have to reset the direction after landing. Plus, the drone does not come with Waypoint navigation.
6. Yuneec Typhoon H Pro
The Yuneec Typhoon H Pro tops the list of professional camera drones. The drone is stable, easy to operate and fast -speed. The six-blade drone has a 7-inch FPV touchscreen in the ST16 all-in-one controller, which means that it requires no external monitor or mobile device.
It also comes with outstanding Intel RealSense collision avoidance and has Intelligent Autonomous Flight Modes, making it ideal for both outdoors and indoors. The drone even has GPS assistance with Follow Me Mode for easy tracking and Journey Mode for aerial selfies. Its powerful camera can take 12.4MP still pictures and 4K video. The drone is said to be a great alternative to DJI.
7. VOOCO X-Star Premium Drone
The X-Star Premium is comparable to drones like the DJI Phantom series. It is a great choice if you need to do some professional and recreational aerial photography, costing less than the Phantom 4.
The drone comes with features like autonomous flight modes, Return to Home, Waypoints, Follow Me and Orbit. Plus, it even has SecureFly Technology to help you choose the suitable and legal flight path, making it great for flying outdoors. Besides, the drone boasts both GPS and GLONASS positioning systems. The flight time and control range are decent.
Its camera with 3-axis gimbal stabilization can shoot HD 4K videos. You can get FPV via the free Starlink app for iOS and Android or on the controller’s LCD. However, users said that its takeoff is a little unstable.
Conclusion
The above-mention camera drones are some of the best on the market at present, for both beginners and professionals.
Some of the drones are excellent for the commercial user, and some are suitable for entry-level professionals. Usually, the best drone for cameras caters to the needs of professional use. The drone itself should function greatly with high-tech and intelligent features.
Besides, the camera should be of high quality to capture superb photos and videos. Wishfully, you can choose the best drones for camera for yourself after reading through the passage.
Buying Tips
When choosing the best drones for camera, you need to consider the following features:
Camera Performance
The camera drones for beginners are capable of taking both pictures and videos. If you intend to take high-quality images, then you need to choose those with HD cameras like 720p or 1080p. During the flight, shaking is unavoidable. To take anti-vibration photos and videos, you can choose the drones with the Gimbal stabilization feature. Besides, some cameras can connect to mobile devices or VR headsets via WiFi.
A drone with a 4K camera can offer an 8-million-pixel quality resolution with great detail and deliver excellent results even in low light. However, a drone with an HD camera can produce an image that can be easily edited and downloaded to other devices. Both are ideal for professional use.
You should notice that some cameras have no SD cards, but you can insert your won SD card for footage storage.
Flight Time
Most drones with camera can fly for about 20 to 30 minutes. If you use FPV, the flight time can decrease. Some drones even come with two changeable batteries for double flight time. If you need, especially outdoors, you can choose those which come with extra batteries or you can buy several at extra costs.
GPS
Drones with GPS can provide you with features like Follow Me, Auto Return Home and stable hover, which make it easy to operate. If you lose track of the drone, you can use GPS to find it easily, saving the risk of losing the machine.
Safety Concern
Even you are an experienced pilot, you may encounter problems like crash when flying a drone. To better protect the drone, you can choose those with strong build or propeller guards in case that the drone may hit something.
