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For professional photographers, drones are a great way to capture stunning aerial shots and take your creativity to new heights. But not all drones are made equal—if you’re serious about your gear, you’ll need one with a top-tier camera, smooth flight, and features that make your job easier.
Whether you’re looking for a reliable all-around drone or a high-end model for filmmaking, The Drone Girl put together a list of the best drones for professional photographers.
The ultimate guide to professional-grade camera drones
Now professional photography in terms of drones is a broad term. There are the folks using drones to shoot Hollywood films, who need an ultra high-end camera for the silver screen. But professional photography also encompasses areas like using drones for real estate or taking wedding photos with a drone.
The latter two use cases likely don’t demand as top-tier a drone as the former. But either way, a client paying you to document their wedding day or to maximize the return on their home sale will demand images that are likely far higher quality than what you’d get from, say, the $199 DJI Neo.
And professional photography drones are about more than just image quality. If you’re on a complicated film set, you want a drone with a robust transmission system. If the wedding you’re filming is on a breezy beach, you want a drone with strong wind resistance.
With professional photography, the top specs entail not just a powerful camera, but other features like flying experience.
How we picked the best drones for professional photography
With that in mind, we analyzed all the top camera drones available on the market today. We prioritized camera quality over anything. But even still, we considered specs like flight time, wind resistance, transmission system, ease of flying, and workflow.
We’ll dive deeper into each drone, but to start here is a quick comparison of some of the key specs on our top drone recommendations.
DJI Mavic 3 Pro: best overall drone for professional photography
The DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone is among the most powerful camera drones from DJI.
The DJI Mavic 3 Pro is a favorite among professional photographers, and for good reason. Its triple-camera setup is a real game-changer. The main 4/3 Hasselblad camera captures sharp 20MP photos and shoots video in 5.1K resolution, so your shots are crystal clear (aka happy clients). Hasselblad is a camera company that DJI bought in 2015. The Mavic 3 Pro having a Hasselblad is a big deal because it brings professional-level cameras to a drone.
The other two cameras—a 70mm medium telephoto and a 166mm telephoto—let you zoom in and capture different angles, making it great for anything from wide landscapes to close-up, detailed shots.
Plus, with a 46-minute flight time, it ties in with the DJI Air 3 for the longest battery life of any camera drone in this guide. This drone also comes with omnidirectional obstacle sensing, giving you peace of mind that the drone, in theory, should never crash. For any serious photographer, this is the top pick.
Camera system: 4/3 Hasselblad, 70mm telephoto, 166mm telephoto
Best for: Versatile, high-quality aerial photography
DJI Mavic 3 Cine: upgrade pick for filmmakers
The Mavic 3 versus the Mavic 3 Cine, side-by-side. They look the same on the outside, though have different specs.
If you need a drone for high-end video production, the DJI Mavic 3 Cine is quite the upgrade in price from the Mavic 3 Pro, but may be worth it for one critical reason: Apple ProRes 422 HQ encoding.
Besides that, though, the DJI Mavic 3 Cine shares the same camera setup as the Mavic 3 Pro. That said, the addition of Apple ProRes 422 HQ encoding is essential for filmmakers who demand the highest video quality and color depth for post-production. It also comes with a built-in 1TB SSD for storing large, high-resolution video files, making it a workhorse for long shoots.
Personally, if you’re working on commercial shoots or film projects, I’d recommend investing in the Cine version. While it’s significantly more expensive, the added video capabilities and storage make it worth the upgrade for serious cinematographers. It’ll take your videos from Instagram Reels worthy of movie theater quality.
Best for: Professional filmmakers and videographers
Sony Airpeak S1: best non-DJI drone for professional photography
The Sony Airpeak S1 has become a solid option for professional photographers, especially for those looking for a non-DJI drone. The Sony Airpeak S1 stands out because it carries Sony’s Alpha camera series. Not only does that afford you versatility (and the ability to swap cameras based on your filming scenario), but Alpha cameras are widely regarded as the gold standard in photography anyway.
And if you’re a serious photographer, you might already own a Sony Alpha series camera anyway. You just need to buy the drone — no need for another camera. And when you’re not doing aerial photography, you can use that same Sony camera on land.
So what about the Sony drone itself? The Airpeak is a quadcopter weighing nearly 7 lbs, not including gimbals, batteries, or the camera. It’s built to carry Sony Alpha full-frame cameras and can handle payloads up to 5 lbs 9 oz. For those who are used to flying DJI drones the quadcopter-style heavy-lifting drone might be a turnoff, although personally, the Drone Girl found the drone robust and powerful.
The Sony Airpeak S1 drone is not for a casual photographer, considering its high price point. The drone itself costs $9,000 but you’ll always need to purchase a camera (between $1,800 and $6,500), lenses ($1,000), and gimbal (+$2,000).
It also has a few other drawbacks, notably the abysmal battery life (especially compared to the 40+ minutes that the DJI drones in this guide offer). Sony has worked to improve it. For example, a major update in 2023 offered the drone a new battery that ups its flight time from 22 to 30 minutes without a payload.
In general, though, the Sony Airpeak stands out for how well it integrates with the Alpha series cameras, making it perfect for pros who want their drone shots to match the quality of their other footage. The Airpeak helps you keep a consistent look throughout your project, so everything feels seamless.
Camera system: Compatible with full-frame mirrorless cameras
Best for: Photographers who want DSLR-quality aerial shots
DJI Air 3: best budget drone for professional photography
Sally French, The Drone Girl, reviews the DJI Air 3 in July 2023.
If you’re trying to win an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, this one won’t cut it. But, if you’re looking for a more affordable option without sacrificing too much in terms of image quality, the DJI Air 3 is an excellent budget pick for professional photographers who can still work well in situations like real estate, wedding photography, and social media content creation.
Despite its lower price, the Air 3 still offers a dual-camera system with a 1/1.3-inch sensor capable of 48MP photos and 4K/60fps video. It also has omnidirectional obstacle sensing, giving you advanced safety features normally found in more expensive drones.
The DJI Air 3 is a perfect sweet spot between a high-grade professional drone and a recreational drone.
The US Navy (USN) has logged another milestone on its path to fielding its first aircraft carrier-based uncrewed aerial vehicle. In conjunction with airframer Boeing, the service completed a simulated landing of the developmental Boeing MQ-25 Stingray autonomous refueller jet aboard an aircraft carrier using an automated recovery system. Known as the Joint Precision Approach […]
