Commercial Feasibility - MRs for Aerial Videos/Photos

[PeterLester]

Notwithstanding the legalities related to flying these commercially in various countries.......
from the perspective of the photographer/videographer, just how effective are these for making the hobby self-supporting and/or turning these in to a full time career?

I see lot's of wonderful photos and videos taken with these but where is the money?
Just want to know how far I might want to take this hobby someday.....

 

[Droider]

I am sure DennyR will jump in here and give his "as always Guru opinion"

TBO I really doubt anyone will really get the investment in time and materials back.

I am really trying but after three years of time investment and more money than my pension fund I guess ill still be designing other stuff totally unrelated, rather than flying MR's to fund my old age!

I thought it would be a great bath chair income but I guess you would need a niche to REALLY make it pay.

Saying that one photo of Prince BLA and Lady BLA making out on a beach would undoubly pay for the MR and the court injunction!

HayHo I used to snort coke which was cheaper! (joking)

Dave

 

[DucktileMedia]

Dont quit your day job. It is possible. but I think more than flying skill you need to be good with marketing yourself, love to travel, constantly market yourself, be creative, and have a good eye for composition. It is totally realistic to make a good living doing this and to say otherwise would be a lie. But not everyone has the make up to be a Ben Rowland, Bart, Kilby, Droider, Denny, AMP, Kopterworx or a Kloner. These guys know the terminology of the trade, are great with people, super friendly and just exude confidence in what they sell. I on the other hand am an ******* and like being by myself in a cave with topless trolls. And I know this about myself. So putting myself in a career that involves constantly testing my people skills is unrealistic. Having said that, give it a go, learn the ropes, take your time, dont crash in front of anyone, and see what name you can make for yourself. No matter how saturated this may feel at times, keep in mind we are on a global forum, most people out there havent a clue as to what these things are even called. Your real competition is not the other guys doing this, it is the FAA and China. China has the intention of selling every production company a multi for as cheap as possible. And they will succeed.

 

[tstrike]

Personally, I'm changing course and plan on releasing customized roller blades for film makers. I'll call them "Moovmi blades". What Yuri and Droider said, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the adventure. I don't know of any other piece of film equipment that requires so much tweeking and testing, I imagine the pro guys spend more time in the shop than in the field, and from my experience, shop time is non billable so it kind of cuts into any profit you might make.

Yuri, you sound just like me except the only topless troll is my neighbor and I insist he wear a shirt when he comes over to borrow tools.

 

[DucktileMedia]

Haha! Moovmi blades huh? Reminds me of Coming to America. "they got the golden arcs, we got the golden arches. They got the big mac, we got the big mic."

 

[wizprod]

I think that in order to make a living you shouldn't focus exclusively on AV/AP, but also on other tasks, where a stable RC platform could be useful.

 

[sfpuk]

We are a video production company looking into using UAVs.

We will of course be taking the courses to gain the license etc.

We have some great ideas and there could be a big contract lined up in the future for us with a current client who has shown a lot of interest.

Im sure you can make it a viable business, but don't rely on making enough money with UAV only video work.

Good luck.

 

[PeterLester]

Thank you for the suggestion..... what tasks do you have in mind where AV/AP would not be applicable?

I think that in order to make a living you shouldn't focus exclusively on AV/AP, but also on other tasks, where a stable RC platform could be useful.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Thank you for the suggestion..... what tasks do you have in mind where AV/AP would not be applicable?

The industrial, research, mapping, disaster response and exploration uses are *endless*. I could spend all day listing them, which I'm not going to do...

But as an example: peering into active volcanoes. A UAV can go where nobody else can. In fact, a colleague of mine is exploring dropping ground rovers into volcano rims.

 

[R|M|D Photography]

Figured I would share my .02. I am a fairly well known photographer around my area and posted on a local forum and my facebook that I am buiding a MR for video and photo use. I almost immeadiatly have been offered 2 contracts (pending sample work of course) for doing real estate work. The lesser one taking stills of houses and yards. The bigger one doing video of rural properties. So basically if you market yourself, the business is there