Drones, aerial vehicles controlled by a human with a remote control, are increasing in popularity. There are Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations that mandate what you can and cannot do as a hobbyist and there are more rules if you are doing anything commercial. But businesses and entrepreneurs are finding more and more ways to use them for commercial purposes.
The general population mostly sees drones a hobbyist phenomenon, but there is much more to it. Just a few of the advanced uses are in the bullet list below, then I would like to focus on the marketing aspect by way of a recent project I completed.
- Agriculture: crop surveys or inspecting livestock
- Underwater inspections
- House or building inspections – roofers are just one example, but construction sites use them to monitor and document work progress (commercial and residential)
- Industrial inspections – again, on buildings, but also could be commercial sites with windmills or solar panels or oil pipelines.
- Rescue, Fire, or Police work – there are some amazing stories of how a rescue team has found a lost child or adult hiker in a remote area.
- Marketing purposes for real estate agents, wedding photographers, and a host of other business purposes.
While there are a number of drone manufacturers, DJI is the 800-pound gorilla controlling about 80 percent of the marketplace. Just about every aspect of their drones is second-to-none, but the two functions that stand out the most are the amazing gimbal (camera stabilizer) and the true ease-of-use software they have built. As a beginner, you can easily launch and fly a DJI drone. If you are an expert, there are advanced settings, also.
I have had the opportunity over the last couple of months to test out a loaner unit of the DJI Mavic Air. As most of my readers here know, I test out a lot of gear. But in all my years as a reviewer, there have been few items that I have been truly sad to return to the manufacturer when the loan period is over. The DJI Mavic Air is one of them I will shed tears over returning. The only bright side is the company promised to let me test out the Mavic 2 at some point in the future.
My company occasionally does video and photography work for local and regional businesses. I often do 360 degree photos to help people with their Google Maps profiles as the photospheres are particularly popular with consumers searching for information.
Because I am not a “licensed” drone pilot, and because it is a loaner unit, I was not going to charge any of my customers for drone footage. I did think it would be a great way to pay it forward and give some extra value to area business owners, however, so when I went out on a 360 project shoot a few weeks ago, I packed up the Mavic Air and took it along.
I visited the Farm Kitchen in Poulsbo, Washington and it was the perfect place to do some creative marketing work with the drone. It is a large property that hosts weddings, runs a wholesale / ecommerce bakery, and has a commercial kitchen for other food entrepreneurs in the area. Farm Kitchen is a rustic, yet elegant event and food-crafting space located on an 18-acre organic farm near Seattle.
After shooting the 360 photos, I flew a variety of what DJI calls “QuickShots.” These are largely pre-set options, six different QuickShots — Rocket, Dronie, Circle, Helix, Asteroid, and Boomerang. You simply get the drone in the air and then tap one of the options. I did a couple of Dronies, then the Asteroid, and then tested out the Boomerang.
There was one particular shot that the owners wanted to capture of a special tent used during weddings – it is a big tent and standard video and photo work was not capturing it. I flew the drone in under the tent and moved it slowly around the perimeter creating a wonderful sense of the space (used the slow-mo video setting). Because their 18-acre property is hard to capture in regular video or photos, a drone is the perfect way to give a sense of the place like no other method.
The Mavic Air also has a slow-motion option which I found is excellent because it creates this super smooth video footage even when you do not have to fly the drone at high speeds or capture something that is moving at high speed (which is often when people use it).
Overall, I believe drones will grow more for marketing professionals to create those one-of-a-kind shots or solve a problem from a new angle that is not so easy to access.
Last year, DJI shared some early 2017 Black Friday deals with us and we hope to do another post with specials like that this 2018 holiday shopping season. Stay tuned.
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Features from the DJI website with some minor comments and modifications:
- 3-Axis Gimbal Camera
- The Mavic Air is the most portable DJI drone to house a 3-axis mechanical gimbal, with dampeners to help create even steadier shots.
- 32 MP Sphere Panoramas
- In addition to Horizontal, Vertical, and 180° panoramas, the Mavic Air stitches 25 photos together in just eight seconds to create crystal-clear 32 MP Sphere panoramas.
- 4K 100 Mbps Video
- The Mavic Air shoots video at an incredible 4K 30 fps, recording at 100 Mbps.
- Slow-Motion Video
- With support for recording 1080p 120 fps slow-motion video, the Mavic Air captures all your epic high-speed adventures.
- 8 GB Internal Storage
- Foldable Design
- Foldable Remote Controller with detachable control sticks store inside the remote controller to pack more comfortably on the go.
- ActiveTrack follows targets even when they're running, jumping, or cycling.
- SmartCapture offers a new and interactive way of controlling the Mavic Air by hand. Launch and control the drone with hand gestures, then take photos or videos however you like.
- 21 minute flight time
