Aerial photography has developed rapidly in the last 3 years. If you have followed this trend and bought a camera buzz, you’re about to have a lot of fun. But after spending some time with the drone, you’ll realize that they don’t look like the AMAZING photos you’ve seen on Instagram. Don’t be surprised, because many of those photos were probably taken with a few extra props. All photographers depend on additional accessories to make their lives easier and take their photos and videos one step further. Rest assured, you can too. Listed below are some of the most useful drone accessories that I have had the opportunity to use and test. These accessories can help you improve your overall drone experience, improving video quality, flight adventure, and safety.
1) Additional Propellers and Propeller Guards: Propellers (also known as fans or blades) are the most fragile part of a drone. You should always have extra propellers with you when you go to fly your drone. If you crash, your drone’s propellers are the first parts to break. I have enough experience with drones and have owned more than 20 different drones. But even I crashed initially when I received my DJI Phantom 2 for the first time. Prop protectors are another story. They are not required, but are useful if you are flying indoors or flying in tight spaces. Over the last six months I’ve only used propeller guards once or twice, but most people wear them every day. If you crash your drone frequently and break the propellers a lot, then you should definitely get propeller guards.
2) Additional battery: Drone technology has come a long way in recent years. The latest DJI Phantom 4 Pro offers 30 minutes of flight time according to its website. For most non-commercial drone pilots, this will never be enough. Taking into account the time spent flying and landing, you will have 20 minutes to record images. So be sure to buy an extra battery pack or even more for a reliable backup anytime you need it. If you own the Phantom 4 Pro, you may want to upgrade to the fast battery charger instead of the one that comes with the package. It will charge the P4 Pro battery in 40 minutes instead of 65 minutes with the normal charger.
3) Additional battery charger: The additional battery power makes much longer flight time possible, however, they also need to be charged. Once you have 2 or even more batteries and each battery requires sixty minutes to charge, the standby period can quickly increase to hours with additional batteries sitting idle. Therefore, it is better to buy an additional battery charger, or better yet, you may want to get the multi-charger, which allows you to charge your batteries simultaneously.
4) Vehicle battery charger: When you’re away on a road trip and the only source of electrical power you have is your car battery, that’s why it’s important to get a car battery charger for your drone. So if you have 1, 2 or maybe 3 electric batteries, even when you’re on the go, chances are you’re going to use up all your power juice at some point, so what you certainly need is the ability to charge your batteries when not near a feeding point.
5) Tablet or iPad: Controlling a drone while driving along with online video streaming from smartphone, becomes awkward to say the least. The screen is too small to get a clear view of what’s going on up there. So you’re better off buying a reliable tablet that has a screen big enough to provide a reliable feed of video clips. Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy tablet or some other equivalent tablets with sufficient processor speed are generally great possibilities depending on your financial budget.
6) ND filter: To manage the amount of light entering the camera lens and manage the little shakes, while increasing motion blur, getting an ND filter is a smart choice. ND filters are really a must have in my opinion they make video on Phantom series drones look more cinematic and they are great because they don’t add considerable weight to your drone’s gimbal. The new gimbal on the P4 Pro is extremely light and fragile, I’d also expect to add weight to the front of that camera lens.
7) GPS tracking device: When you fly your drone in remote areas, such as mountains or in the sea, it will be very difficult to find your drone if you ever crash it. A drone GPS tracker attached to your drone Legacy can come in handy when you are on a mission to rescue your drone. Using the GPS tracking app on your smartphone, you will be able to locate your drone on the maps on your smartphone, with an accuracy of up to 2 meters.
8) Storage space: Additional electric batteries will not be practical when you do not have enough space to store the images you record. The default 16-gigabyte micro SD card that is included with the DJI Phantom 4 pro can only store about 50 minutes of video footage. Consider buying a 64Gb micro SD card if you don’t want to transfer the video clips to your PC after every 2 flights.
9) Backpack or Travel Case: If you plan to take your drone along on your travels, camping, biking, or road trips, you will find that the default packaging that comes with drones will not last long and will not be comfortable to carry, to say the least. For a more comfortable and secure solution, get a backpack or travel case created specifically for drones; you will find plenty of options available. In my opinion, hardshell backpacks are the most functional and stable backpacks for their value.
Photography and video tools have always relied on accessories, just like drones. You should consider spending on accessories if you’re trying to shoot awesome drone videos.