Best Camera Drones

1.Dji Mavic Pro– Best drone for beginners to buy in 2017

The Mavic Pro was launched by DJI in 2016 and quickly caused a sensation in both the drone enthusiasts and the more amateur users. Since the beginning of the whole ‘drone scene’, there were only two kinds of drones you could get. The professional, high-quality expensive ones, and the low end, amateur, blurry footage cheap ones. The Mavic Pro lands right in the middle, leaning towards the better end of the spectrum. DJI’s idea was to manufacture a drone that was both lightweight and compact but still could deliver more than average footage from above that we all need and want. And all that you can get for a more than a decent price, unlike most competitors.

Design

As for the design, the Mavic Pro features a compact design, measuring only a 19.8×8.3×8.3cm form factor when folded. It can easily fit in a backpack, or even a larger pocket if you prefer wearing those khaki cargo shorts when outdoors. Weighing at 734g you won’t have to think about dragging that pesky briefcase with you when you decide to get that beautiful shot of the sunset over the beach. When you reach the spot that you want to film at, you just have to unfold the rotor hands, turn it on, and you’re good to go airborne!

Ease of use

A simple user interface and a great AI implemented in the application on your smartphone makes using this drone fun and fairly simple. Once you set it on the ground, push both of the control sticks down, and then just push the left stick forward, in order to take off. Simple as it can get. If that’s too much for you, you can always tap the dedicated ‘auto takeoff’ button in the app, and let the drone do the rest. A great feature implemented in this drone’s AI is the intelligent brake system. If you let go of the joysticks at any time, the Mavic Pro will automatically and gradually drift to a halt. That way, when you start flying your first drone you won’t have to worry about crashing into those darn lamp posts and skyscrapers someone had to put in your flight path.

Camera

As you reach your desired altitude, it’s time to take those shots. DJI didn’t cut corners when they decided what camera to put into this beast, thus making this model one of the best drones with a camera. Don’t let the size of this drone fool you, as the Mavic Pro rocks a 1.23” CMOS sensor, capable of capturing 12MP still shots, as well as video up to Cinema 4K (4096×2160 @24fps). And all that footage gets streamed live to your phone in 720p HD, so you can clearly see where you’re flying the drone, and adjust the angles of the camera easily on the fly. The camera is mounted on a 3 axis gimbal with a pitch ranging from -90 to +30º giving you a great range of angles to film at. If you feel brave enough, you can take it for a spin to a distance up to 4.3 miles, at a speed of 15mph, without worrying about it crashing, as the Mavic pro has a number of smart intelligent features which are designed to protect itself, and also you, the user, from your own incompetence.

Safety features

Crashing into an object is unlikely to happen, as the sensors on the front prevent the drone from flying too close and into walls, trees, and other people of course. Do mind that the sensors are positioned only on the front, so do be careful when flying it sideways or in reverse. On the bottom, there are also sensors telling the drone to slow down its descent when it’s close enough to the ground, so rough landings shouldn’t happen too often. The battery lasts for about 27 minutes, but can easily be swapped out by a spare if you get one if you need some more air time. It also memorizes the takeoff position, so if you get distracted and ignore the low battery warning, it will automatically return to the takeoff position once the battery percentage reaches a critical value. The app also gets updated frequently on the restricted zones near you, preventing you from taking off near airports, or flying in a no-fly zone. So if you were planning on flying over Area 51 and filming those UFOs, tough luck. Because of its compact size and great flight stabilization, the Mavic Pro is also a great choice for a drone to fly indoors, in which case you don’t have to worry about the no-fly zone limitations.

SMavic Pro vs Phantom 4

It’s now fairly clear what DJI intended to focus on when they made the Mavic Pro. It would only be fair to compare it to a drone with similar characteristics. The Phantom 4 is also manufactured by DJI and is a good example for a side by side comparison with the Mavic Pro. The Phantom 4 is now considered a legend in the drone scene, mainly because of the boom it created in the market when it was first released in early 2016. It quickly became one of, if not the most popular drone you could buy. If you don’t believe me, ask Casey Neistat who rocks 7 Phantom 4s with him. In comparison with the Mavic Pro, the Phantom 4 is considerably bigger, so it loses some points in portability, where the Mavic Pro excels. Both models have obstacle avoidance and return to home features, but only the Phantom 4 comes with a slow motion recording option. Considering all this, if you’re not too keen on using the slow motion option, and value portability and mobility over this feature, you are better off getting the Mavic Pro. All in all, both models are built extremely solid and perform outstandingly well, and with the price difference of a couple of hundreds of dollars, it’s an easy choice, depending on what your usage of a drone will be centered around.

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