It has become possible to purchase a drone with a camera attachment for a lot less than 5 years ago. Here, we explore the 5 best programmable drone business opportunities and give you more info on the subject.

Those things in the sky you see flying around aren’t just fancy gadgets used by YouTube enthusiasts — they also provide some serious professional business opportunities. With the drone industry growing from $35 million in 2012 to over $1 billion by 2017, many people are making the success of such devices in business. Prices have fallen recently because there is a lot more competition, plus the technology is getting better and better.

 If you’re interested in flying drones, things could be looking up for you. Now is the time to earn a living doing the work you enjoy. You could start small drone businesses alongside an ordinary day job or even make it their full-time endeavor if you’re really up for it. Here in this article, we’re going to look at 5 best drone business opportunities. Ready? Let’s get going!

 1. Aerial Photography

Before drones, it was difficult and expensive to take aerial photos. You’d need to pay top dollar, renting pricey equipment and even helicopters! Nowadays, you can take drone videos and photos using drones with a camera. Cameras come with very high resolution, and this makes for cheap ways of getting killer aerial shots. The best drone for photography even comes with advanced stabilization for professional videos.

You can use the device to track movements of subjects, capturing every moment. The highest-end devices include some low light capabilities, in-flight features and even infrared recording to produce shots whatever the weather conditions. Today it’s possible to get quality shots for a lot less money. It’s even possible to fly drones at much lower altitudes than helicopters or airplanes, enable the capture of very “real” landscapes, sporting events, wildlife, wedding events or anything else that is in demand.

 2. Photography for Real Estate

This is a huge market worth exploring. Clients always need views and site location photos, to measure the height of different things or to create layouts of various areas — these are all needs that can be easily met by photography drone operators.

People are looking for drones to make introductory videos for real estate projects. All of the surrounding areas, the parks, open spaces, highways, and roads can be captured, and these videos can be made using a mini drone with a camera.

Many developers of real estate make use of such types of flying services when working on projects. If you’re in neighborhoods and you see lots of construction work in the area, talk to some of the site developers — most likely they will require your services to fly drones around and take some snaps. A great way of getting your first client!

3. Surveillance

Many offices and luxury homes today make use of drones for surveillance. Drones can shoot views of properties high in the sky, keeping a watching eye over an area to see all the people walking around below. In the event of robbery attempts, any evidence can be captured on film and used in a court of law. Many security companies can set things up to stream footage from the convenience of their smartphone — you could offer this as a value-added service.

In a similar way, drones can be used to spot any potential dangers to properties such as water leaks and fires. Video streams can be viewed, and detections can be made at monitoring facilities. Even many municipal authorities and cities are using drones to observe certain locations as part of their disaster prevention and surveillance plans.

 4. Disaster and Rescue Situations

Drones have proven to be very useful in rescue or search operations. Not only can they reach areas that humans would find difficult or unsafe to traverse, but they can also reach such areas more economically. Just think of the power needed to send helicopters over an area vs. a drone. Drones can also fly across both day and night skies, fitted with this latest infrared or night vision sensor that can help rescuers, especially when they need to look under trapped debris for human beings. It is easy to spot the heat of a human using an infrared flying camera.

Drones can be very useful to deliver emergency aid and supplies in areas that are hard to reach or cut off from civilization, such as mountainous areas where landslides could block all roads to remote villages. Similarly, areas spewing volcanic ash wouldn’t be traversable by conventional helicopters.

5. Agricultural Surveys

Farming practices are advancing fast in today’s day and age. Agricultural workers can map out areas for drones to fly around and collect information using a series of videography equipment and special sensors. The acquisition cost of these data is relatively cheap, and in a matter of minutes, a multitude of data can be collected, from soil composition statistics to hydration levels. There are so many sensors for picking up high quality and beneficial data. As an owner, you could specialize in agricultural surveys, offering flight services to hundreds of prospective farmer clients in your county.

Conclusion: So many potential applications for a simple piece of equipment. Remember that if you’re looking to start a career as a drone flyer, make sure you do the appropriate training and get your license to operate legally. Hopefully, you can tap into some lucrative markets.

Author’s bio: Richard Browny is a technology expert and has 20 years’ experience working in telecommunications.