Advancing technology hurting the drone pilot career field?

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Years ago an inlaw who was into RC got into flying drones and started making a decent living doing aerial photography. I haven't kept in touch with him on it but after learning about what the latest units can do for under a thousand bucks I would think the demand for professional drone pilots has taken a nose dive. It seems a company who would hire someone for aerial photography on a regular basis like realators, outdoor shows etc. would just invest 1000-1500 and train an employee. Is this happening?
 
As with anything else, he has a huge jump on the competition. If he was banking on that and hasn't advanced his product any, sure he may be in trouble. There is always a place, even in a flooded market, for the hardest/best workers to prosper.
 
It seems a company who would hire someone for aerial photography on a regular basis like realators, outdoor shows etc. would just invest 1000-1500 and train an employee. Is this happening?

That's a big question that everyone in the industry is waiting to see what wins out. Will companies develop internal drone teams or will they outsource to service providers?

My personal opinion is that for the near future (next 3 years), service providers will continue to play a big role. Once full automation takes place, that will be a huge turning point where most companies will invest in their own drone regiment instead of relying on service providers.

I do think service providers will always have a place. It's more of a question of how much of the market share they'll occupy.
 
I would think that there are hobbyists out there that do it by word of mouth for a few extra bucks here and there.

"Hey Floyd we need to get an aerial shot of this listing, you know the 5 acre ranch style with the barn?"

"Oh yeah" says Floyd, "I have a buddy that has on of those cool drones, bet he'd do it for a hundred bucks."
 
I would think that there are hobbyists out there that do it by word of mouth for a few extra bucks here and there.

"Hey Floyd we need to get an aerial shot of this listing, you know the 5 acre ranch style with the barn?"

"Oh yeah" says Floyd, "I have a buddy that has on of those cool drones, bet he'd do it for a hundred bucks."

I think you are underestimating the other stuff that comes with providing an aerial shot. It's not just flying the drone, it's getting proper shots, editing the reel, getting it to the customer, etc. People pay for the services a pilot provides, not the actual piloting.

I'm not saying a hobbyist can't do it but there's more than just flying involved. A lot of hobbyists have great cameras but not everyone can provide the same services a pro photographer provides.
 
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Everyone has a video camera in their pocket. That doesn't mean everyone can make House of Cards. It takes a lot more than technology to make something great.
 
Multiple professions have outsourcing
/contractors or internal opportunities for work... Accountants, IT technicians, camera men, brick layers are a few random examples.
UAV work will probably end up being the same I expect.


In terms of hobbiests doing stuff cheap - If people want to settle for sub par Windows movie maker, Mavic filmed, jerky, over saturated videos then that's their problem.
Then again in a similar vein, if I get a friend to fit a new pair of brake pads to my car, does my local mechanic think of me in the same light ;)
 
I’m a Part 107 guy, but the most I do commercially is take a few nice pics, upload them to VistaPrint, have a bunch of postcards made, and sell them to local shops. But, consider this. I have a simple P4 and 10.5” iPad Pro. I can do a fairly quality shoot, have the videos or photos on the iPad right away, do whatever editing is needed right then with an App, and have the final product shared with the customer on Google drive instantly. So, I gotta call it what it is. Easy Peasy! And, it’s pretty cheap really compared to even 5 or so years ago when I would have needed a high priced computer to video edit. I mean this little iPad tablet edits 4K like butter. So yeah, good question, and I think that as any high level technology gets cheaper, it creates market rearrangement in business related to it.
 
I have my 107 and have been flying drones for recreation and commercial purposes since 2013. I am a highly-trained professional with special skills and I will not accept less than $400 per hour for my services. I have had businesses try to get me down to $350 per hour but I just pack up my stuff and leave. I will not be insulted because I have a special skill set that very few people have. You wouldnt cheap-skate a brain surgeon when you have a life-threatening tumor --- so why try to stiff me? I aint havin' it.
 
I have my 107 and have been flying drones for recreation and commercial purposes since 2013. I am a highly-trained professional with special skills and I will not accept less than $400 per hour for my services. I have had businesses try to get me down to $350 per hour but I just pack up my stuff and leave. I will not be insulted because I have a special skill set that very few people have. You wouldnt cheap-skate a brain surgeon when you have a life-threatening tumor --- so why try to stiff me? I aint havin' it.
I studied photography in college, and have been doing aerial photography commercially since 1992
I am just wondering what 'highly trained' and 'special skills' consists of that would command such a nice income level. I am always looking for ways to get better, and perhaps some incite would help me.
 
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I studied photography in college, and have been doing aerial photography commercially since 1992
I am just wondering what 'highly trained' and 'special skills' consists of that would command such a nice income level. I am always looking for ways to get better, and perhaps some incite would help me.


You my friend, are a mind reader LOL! I was just about to post a similar reply. I've been "flying sUAS" since 1974 so I have a few elementary flying skills and been "doing photography" since '98. So I too am interested to know (in general terms of course) what skills you possess that are of such high demand. I commend you for your pricing as those prices are AWESOME (insert jealous smiley here).

I admit I read this Saturday night and meant to reply but I was tired and opted to shut my eyes.

I'm sure @Karlos-Kydd is going to be secretive about his processes etc that demand such a high income and I would be TOO! I'm fairly tight lipped about a lot of my processes especially the ones that are "Working well".

Sometimes your "negotiation skills" come into play for new clients. I have one project that pays $250/visit and I'm only on site roughly 7 minutes total. No editing at all. Images right out of the camera and uploaded to their Corp Cloud Service. It happens my office is about 500yrds from the job site so no travel or anything else. I'd love to have more like this but it's a rarity to say the least.
 
Re: Karlos-Kydd’s post:

“Highly trained professional” “skill set very few have”?? What does that mean? I have built from plans and scratch all sorts of model aircraft, gas and electric, as well as helicopters and now drones starting back in 1988ish.

Granted, a person has to have a game plan and some sense of creativity when shooting stills and video, but flying drones is childs play compared to flying n RC helicopter.

Comparing a drone pilot to a brain surgeon is a laughable analogy.

If you are a pilot I give you points. If you are a professional photographer or cinematographer I give you points. If you know how to work a DSLR camera in manual mode I give you points. Aside from this, I think the real skill is in your composition and film editing.

So kudos to you if you can get paid that much per hour but simple thinking you are a pro just because you can pilot a drone lacks insight. It sounds as if you are a great salesman...that is likely why you can get someone to agree with such a high hourly rate.
 
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There actually are a couple of aerial industries that will pay those rates at least for now, and I'm pretty sure I know the one that Karlos-Kydd is referring to. I too work in that industry occasionally but there is not enough work there in my target market to be able to get those rates all the time. Also, once enough people know about it the rates will come down like everything else. Unfortunately I also must remain vague to protect the value of the industry, the only way to find out about it is when a customer approaches you requesting it.

As I have stated many other times on this forum, simply do top notch work, constantly push your boundaries, and if you are in the right market your work will be rewarded. Even to this day I try to make a point of watching at least 1 YouTube video a week to learn something new about photography or vidoegraphy that I did not know before

As far as advancing technology hurting the field I think it is only hurting the ones that do not push the boundaries, and do not constantly try to improve. Technology is great at being mediocre, it takes a human to turn it into something exceptional and there will always be clients willing to pay for exceptional.
 

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