What are the different types of drones that can be used for videography?

Why buy a drone? Besides taking great videos and pictures, drones fulfill the fun of flying that many guys grew up with. With the increasing development of drone technology, drones have been chosen by more consumers, and the unique perspective it offers can often lead to mind-blowing works. Here, to give you an overview of the different types of drones that are the most popular for video shooting in 2023.

When it comes to choosing these drones for video shooting, you can start with two simple types, one is the whole machine and the other is the one that you build yourself.

First of all, let me introduce you to the whole drone type, what is a whole drone? It is the business directly assembled, buy directly can be used, this type of drone is suitable for hands-on ability is weak, the threshold is low. It is a little bit clear and safe, and it is determined that it is more costly and less flexible. This side introduces you to three several drones that can be bought on the market.

Types of drones-the best video shooting: the DJI Mavic 2 pro Reference price 9888 yuan.

The camera imaging quality is high, the battery life is long, and it is very compact and portable.The Mavic 2 Pro takes photos at 20 megapixels and shoots 4K videos, which is enough for the vast majority of people.

Types of drones-best folding plane: DJI Mavic air Reference Price $4999

Although the Mavic pro is also foldable, the air is clearly priced better for starters, and outstanding value for money is his main advantage. Support 4K video, as well as front and rear obstacle avoidance and automatic flight. It’s just that the range of only 21 minutes will be a little embarrassing, but considering the price, this is still tolerable.

Types of drones-cheapest camera drone: Parrot ParrotANAFI Reference price 3999 yuan

As a French brand founded in 1994, it has been on sale recently; support for 4K video shooting, 3-axis gimbal, level 7 wind resistance, and 25-minute battery life are the main highlights that it can hold its own. However, compared with DJI, the lack of automatic obstacle avoidance is a hard hit.

In addition to these drones, there is another type of drone that is more popular nowadays, and that is to form your own. The advantage of it is that it is very flexible and can be composed of different parts for whatever function you want. Also its cost can be controlled. Any part that is damaged can be replaced at any time. And one of its very big determinations is that it has a high threshold of entry, which makes it very difficult to form a drone of one’s own for those who are weak on the hands-on skills and at the same time have no technical skills.

Let’s start by showing you a strip that resembles a frequent image taken by a drone.

Here, you can see that its visual impact will be stronger, the flexibility is also very good, because the formation of their own drone, no whole machine barricade function, so in the operation of the higher requirements, but at the same time can be realized from more angles to shoot, which will bring the perspective will also be very different from the whole machine.

How to set up a set of their own movie and television level drone? Take a look at the video below.

Before we dive into the drone assembly, let’s take a quick look at the components we need, starting from left to right, we have the drone frame, stack, and the motors. On the top we’ve got the VTX and the camera.

First let’s take out the drone frame and attach the four arms, grab the right size screws, but remember, don’t tighten them just yet, wait until all four arms are roughly in place then securing the screws. Next, install the longest screws, these four screws will secure the stack, I’m using a digital VTX, the VTX connects to our flight controller using this ribbon cable. If you also use a digital VTX, you’d better to check before buy flight controller. It’s a good idea to check if your flight controller has a matching direct plug for the digital VTX, which can save you some soldering work later on.

Different cameras have varying installation widths, so be sure to choose the right one before your purchase. Secure the VTX and camera onto the frame, and then install the aluminum spacer. Now, let’s install the four motors, pay close attention to the screw length, you don’t want them to touch the motor wires as that could cause damage. I’ve wrapped the motor wires with a protective sheath to prevent the propellers from hitting the wires.

Here’s the crucial  part, the minus and plus signs on the ESC indicate the positive and negative poles. We’ll solder our power wires here, the “3-6s” indicates the supported battery voltage range, and the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 represent the order of the four motors. The arrow on the flight controller point towards the front of the drone, the ESCs are generally installed underneath. Use a ribbon cable to connect the flight controller, this is what’s known as stack.

In the video above, the motor we used is the one that is perfect for film and TV drones: the meps SZ2806.5. You can choose it when you first set up a film and TV drone. It is very stable and cost effective.

Now, let’s start soldering the ESCs. Strip the wire ends and twist them, apply solder, and then do the same for the solder pads. The black wire represents the negative pole, and the red wire is the positive pole. Make sure you don’t mix these up, otherwise you will see fire on it. With the power wires soldered, it’s time to add the capacitor. The side with color represents the negative pole, this is what it looks like after soldering, apply solder for the rest solder pads.

Before we move on, remember to clean up any excess solder blobs, Alright, with the pre-soldering done, let’s install it onto the frame. Measure the motor wires and cut off the excess length. The order of motor wires doesn’t matter, you can adjust the motor direction when tuning.

With the motor wires soldered, it’s time for the moment of truth – power on the system. If you’re new to soldering, it’s a good idea to use a voltmeter to check for any short circuit before proceeding. Once everything checks out, you can power up. Listen for this sound – it means everything is going well. Now, let’s plug in the flight controller and then power it up, Two ‘‘beeps’’ indicate successful initialization, you’re halfway there!

My flight controller comes with convenient plug-ins for VTX and receivers, If yours doesn’t have those plug-ins, you’ll need to solder those connections. Feeling overwhelmed by all those solder pads? No worries, just remember that labels like 5V 9V and BAT represent positive pole and voltage, while G stands for ground and negative pole. Ports like T2R2 correspond to the signal outputs and inputs that we’ll use for tuning, “T” stands for signal receive, and “R” stands for signal transmit. For components like receivers and VTX on the drone are all connect in this way, follow your flight controller’s wiring diagram for proper soldering. And there you have it – a fully assembled 7-inch Cinematic FPV Motor ready to fly.