Top drones for wedding photography

Your drone footage whether you are a beginner or a professional wedding photographer, will have your aerial photos providing unique perspectives of the wedding day. As a wedding videographer, you want to get great images and videos of the new couple, the family and guests. The DJI drones which we will look at can provide the high-resolution image quality that will have your wedding video beautifully done and ready for uploading to your social media page to share with your friends, loved ones and subscribers.

As part of getting good flight time, you want to make sure that the battery life of your drone can handle the necessary number of images and videos with its listed flight time. Thankfully, you can always purchase spare batteries for these drones, so drone operators can have the drone engage it’s RTH or “Return to Home”. This will allow for the drone to return to the takeoff spot that you have designated safely and automatically, so you can swiftly and easily change out batteries at that time.

As this is a UAS, it is also important to note that as a drone pilot your area maybe subject to FAA regulations which determine if a drone can be flown in a specific area and what licenses are required. Many of the DJI drones meet the requirements not to necessitate the licenses to be a certified drone pilot, however, you should double check the FAA website for your area in the USA to be certain.

Wedding Drones

Option #1

Beginning with what may be considered a good budget drone is the DJI Mini 3 Pro Drone. This drone has a great build quality and is extremely lightweight and portable. Let’s review some of the great features of this drone.

     General Features

Extremely light weight for ease of use as this drone weighs in at less than 249 grams. This makes travelling with drone to your wedding day photoshoot is that much easier and comfortable.

With its larger propellers, an aerodynamic body tilt, and a superb obstacle avoidance sensing system, you will get better flight time to handle your wedding photography.

The Battery life is rated at 34 minutes on the included “Intelligent Flight Battery”.

Providing added peace of mind and safety, the DJI Mini 3 Pro is supports active obstacle avoidance and stable video transmission. This is something that may be noticed by the guests of the wedding as well.

You can download and use the DJI Fly companion app which can be found in the Appstore on your smartphone. This gives you the user more versatility, control and post processing of images and videos.

Also included is Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi AC and Bluetooth 5.2, so you have plenty of connectivity options for which to share your wedding day images and wedding videos via social media.

Images and Videos

The DJI Mini 3 Pro's camera, which is backed by a 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor has dual Native ISO Fusion and the HDR or high dynamic range image quality photos and videos that you can expect from DJI Air drones.

Shoot 4k HDR videos in 60 FPS and get 48MP image production, even when not shooting in a RAW or uncompressed format. You can also get 1080P or Full HD at a blazing refresh rate of 120 FPS.

Thanks to its innovate gimbal design, you can easily switch from horizontal to vertical shooting. It takes just a quick tape from portrait to landscape mode on your controller.

With the MasterShots feature you can hone in and select the subject of your video and The DJI Mini 3 Pro will execute a sequence of maneuvers, thus getting you a short video afterward that will appear cinematic and lifelike with its image reproduction. This is a cool feature to have.

Not only does this drone give you the ability to take crisp and clear photos and videos even at a 4x zoom range, it also has features like hyperlapse or timelapse video, so you can create a unique perspective in those videos for the wedding day couple. As will the included Quickshot modes of Dronie, Helix, Rocket, Circle, Boomerang, and Asteroid.

Option #2

Our next option for a great drone wedding photography is the DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone. This fantastic lightweight advanced drone in the DJI lineup is a can’t miss. Here are some of the specs and features about this drone that we love:

General Features

Extremely light weight for ease of use as this drone weighs in at less than 249 grams.

Safety is always the key with drone photography, the DJI Mini 4 Pro provides just that with an advanced omnidirectional obstacle avoidance sensing system. The four wide-angle vision sensors plus a set of downward vision sensors, allows the drone to detect obstacles and avoid them. The Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems or (APAS) gives additional safety by enabling automatic braking and bypassing during flight.

Battery life on the standard battery is rated at 34 minutes of flight time. You can get this up to 45 minutes of battery life by upgrading to the DJI “Intelligent Flight Battery Plus”.

It’s 10-point multi touchscreen interface will have you operating this drone like a professional drone pilot.

Get the DJI Fly app which can be found in the Appstore on your smartphone, you can then use the included bluetooth to pair the drone to your phone and utilize the app for additional control of the actual drone and post processing of images.

This drone includes advanced features like Waypoint Flight (for image repeatability), Cruise Control to reduce fatigue from usage and advanced Return to Home System. This means you get a great compliment of safety and performance with this drone.

There is also 2GB of internal storage besides for your MicroSD Memory Card which this drone can support with sizes of up to 512 GB.

Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi AX is included with this drone as is Bluetooth 5.2 for great connectivity. Having the ability to utilize Wi-Fi 6 which can be up to 2.5x faster than Wi-Fi 5 means your still images and videos from the wedding day can be uploaded to your social media page and shared even quicker.

Images and Videos

The DJI Mini 4 Pro's camera, which has a 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor featuring Dual Native ISO Fusion, a f/1.7 aperture will get you those sharp and vibrant HDR or high dynamic range photos that you desire for your photoshoot of the wedding day.

Take 4K HDR videos in 60 FPS and 4K non high dynamic range content with a fast refresh rate of 120 FPS.

Slow motion 4K video capturing is also available at up to 100 FPS and 120 FPS at FHD or 1080P Full HD.

The all-new noise reduction algorithm of Mini 4 Pro’s Night Shots minimizes if not altogether eliminating image noise.

With its 3 axis gimbal the true vertical shooting capabilities of the DJI Mini 4 Pro allows for vertical recording which is then optimized for social media and smartphone playback. As a wedding photographer, you can place some of the best shots you take on your social media page, which should significantly attract new business for your Drone Wedding Photography skills.

With a 2x zoom capturing ability of photos and a 4x zoom range for taking video recordings, you can feel confident in knowing that you can get that HDR shot from even a decent distance from your subject or object.

Included Photo and video modes include MasterShots which can give you dynamic camera movement templates made for portrait, close-up, and long-range shots, ensuring your subject is focused in on and the like on the DJI Mini 3 Pro, your drone will execute movements to give unique perspectives on your wedding day photos and wedding videos.

There are also QuickShots modes such as Circle, Helix, Rocket, Boomerang, and Asteroid for even more stylish and artistic image production.

The Hyperlapse mode and Panorama shooting capability provide multiple shooting angles to get the best aerial photos of the wedding day.

Option #3

Our next choice for a top tier amazing drone is the DJI Mavic 3 Pro Drone. What makes this drone so wonderful?

General Features

Battery life on the standard battery is rated at 43 minutes of flight time. You can get this up to 45 minutes of battery life by upgrading to the DJI “Intelligent Flight Battery Plus”.

With its high-speed quick transfer system, you can easily and swiftly transfer photos and videos to your smartphone without linking the remote controller.

There is tremendous storage capability on this drone with compatibility with MicroSD card at up to 512 GB.

This DJI drone can be used as an FPV or First-Person Viewer drone by purchasing the accessory goggles making this a true FPV drone which would require FAA approval to fly.

The upgraded obstacle detection utilizes an omnidirectional obstacle avoidance sensing system. Eight wide-angle vision sensors, lets the drone to detect obstacles and execute maneuvers to avoid them. The Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems 5.0 or (APAS) gives additional safety by enabling automatic braking and bypassing during flight.

The RTH or Return to Home feature lets the DJI Mavic 3 Pro to automatically determine a safe and efficient flight route back to the designated home point that you set. It will also utilize its obstacle avoidance system automatically during an RTH. This is also a great feature, because you can have the drone return to you so you can swiftly change out batteries if needed with minimal delay in your wedding day drone photography photoshoot.

The “Fly More Combo” pack offers the following with your drone: a DJI RC Pro with 1080p high-bright touchscreen, a Battery Charging Hub, an ND Filters Set.

Images and Videos

The tri-camera system on the DJI Mavic 3 Pro which includes the ultra-tier 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera, will get you unrivaled image quality. With HLG dynamic range recording in 4K up to 120fps, these images will show beautifully on the touchscreen drone viewer or even a high-end TV or Monitor.

In addition to being able to record images in the standard JPEG format, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine has triple camera Apple ProRes codec support and images van be shot in RAW as well for better post processing and editing options.

The fantastic included Active Track function by DJI is where the camera tracks a subject or object accurately. You can choose which object/subject the camera should track.

The DJI Mavic 3 Pro with Tri-Camera System, with an f/2.8-f/11 aperture also allows the second camera with the telephoto lens to produce two different zoom abilities.

4K video with a resolution of 3840×2160 with refresh rates of 24/25/30/48/50/60/120fps are available. It even supports shooting 4K video with a 60FPS refresh rate at a 7x optical zoom and get 12MP still images. The hybrid zoom on this drone can reach up to a magnification of up to 28x.

The MasterShots setting is available on this drone just like the DJI Mini 3 Pro and the DJI Mini 4 Pro, also has the features and capabilities QuickShots modes. These include Circle, Helix, Rocket, Boomerang, and Asteroid for some more artistry in your images and videos. In addition, the Hyperlapse mode and Panorama shooting capability as on the DJI Mini lineup provide multiple shooting angles to get amazing aerial shots during drone wedding photography.

Great Budget Drone

The DJI Neo is the lightest of DJI’s drones, weighing in at just 135 grams, making this extremely portable. It can also capture footage in breathtaking 4K UHD at 30FPS and 12MP image recording while still fitting right into the palm of your hand.

There are also propeller guards for added safety around the actual propellors and should also help keep them in good working order. The single axis gimbal provides for tremendous stabilization of your drone while taking footage. This means less of those blurry images which could ruin a great wedding day moment.

QuickShots modes are also available on this drone, which include Circle, Helix, Rocket, Boomerang, and Asteroid. These will give you some unique perspective video and image recordings that would look great in a Wedding Day Album or shared online via social media.

Pair your drone to your phone and download the amazing DJI Fly App, and you get multiple control options for your drone including voice control. This makes the DJI Neo a great and easy to use drone for beginners. In addition, with this app you get post processing editing tools as which include “One Tap Glamour” which can enhance your wedding day photoshoot subject. The newlyweds will surely appreciate this feature as it will make the wedding couple really stand out; this is something that wedding photographers will be able utilize as well to post great images on their business website to attract new customers.

With approximately 18 minutes of flight time, this budget drone still comes with level 4 wind resistance and the safety features of RTH or “Return to Home” as we delineated when discussing the DJI Mavic 3 Pro.

Enjoy that Special Day

As a wedding photographer, you want your clients to be able to enjoy their wedding day and not have to worry constantly about getting the best high-quality images and videos on their special day. With adding Aerial Photography via a drone to the wedding photography, your subjects will get unique perspective images and videos with amazing image quality. So, Videographers grab one of these DJI drones to enhance your overall photography skills and elevate your overall photography experience.