After the recent FAA rule leak this is probably running thourgh most of our heads.

what do you guys think?
$100-$200 for photographs
for a extra $150 video?

I'm not sure but i would love to hear from you!

When flying for film or TV productions, I charge $70 per hour, $300 per half day,  and $500 per full day.  Shoots lasting more than 8 hours are $70 per hour plus time and a half.  Time is calculated from arrival at Call Time until being released from the set.

Copyright belongs to the production company.

Client must show proof of blanket liability insurance and name me as an employee that is covered.  I have my own liability insurance as well to back this up.

If I have to apply and get a Special Flight Operations Certificate (Transport Canada requirement), then I charge for my time to draw up the application.

If I am flying full scale aircraft there are additional charges for the aircraft.

5 Aerial pictures starting at $229
3 min video including simple editing  $399
Also you can have combo pks.Thats for Real Estate photo/video
some charge  travel time.

It looked like for us in the proposed rules that we could charge for our services. However, I did see an article, maybe AMA that we couldn't charge for advertising Videos as it was in the past and that we had to have the Quad within sight. Here is the loophole, you can charge for Post Editing.

rmaxwell.dccnet Posted at 2015-2-28 08:54
When flying for film or TV productions, I charge $70 per hour, $300 per half day,  and $500 per full ...

Thanks for your input. We do need a fair base for our investment and time. The Posts give us an idea as to what this is worth. A starting point which I appreciate. I am not going to do it for nothing and I don't want to cut anyones throat by not knowing what I should charge for a job and my time and investment.

There is a company out of Calgary that charges $500.00 for an exterior for real estate. Interior was extra, I think I recall $350.00. Bear in mind most people would need a real job as you won't be employed at this 5 days a week. The best way to do this is weekends and for spare time filler. In the movie industry there are Union flat rates for camera operators, the money is quite good, however, landing the work entails some serious skill and redundant equipment. You will need a substantial investment in gear! Also a strong understanding of cinematography and the jargon as you will be working on set with directors and actors etc.

I've been shooting aerial video for 18 years using the traditional Cineflex V14 and WESCAM and started shooting RC / Cinestar 8 about 3 years ago.  While the cinestar is much harder to fly, i rather fly the Inspire 1 for many reasons.   I get $1500 day for any RC video work not including travel expense.  Add $500 if you want a 2nd person (camera operator).  Cost doesn't change if it was an apartment complex or a tv commercial.  $200 for a job isn't worth the risk and wouldn't pay for the repairs if something went wrong.

Just my 2 cents

www.newmediasystems.net

Richard, thanks for the input.  Those are great points to take into consideration when pricing a job. Cheers.

richard@newmedi Posted at 2015-3-1 04:22
I've been shooting aerial video for 18 years using the traditional Cineflex V14 and WESCAM and start ...

You really think you can use Inspire footage for a commercial? I'd prefer the Cinestar with a red or s900 with a Gh4 at least.

richard@newmedi Posted at 2015-3-1 04:22
I've been shooting aerial video for 18 years using the traditional Cineflex V14 and WESCAM and start ...

Hi Richard I totally agree with you! I work in the video industry my self and one of the things that I have learn and its a huge issue with many people who are in the industry is that many new comers to the business get so excited to get some job and they lower the video rates affecting the market. I am a video camera operator, I do jib and steadicam and what ever is needed when it comes to camera work. I won't do camera work for someone if they are not willing to pay at least what a camera operator gets pay on the low end. If they go below that amount it's not worth the hassle. Let them find some cheap guy who is desperate and  will Do a mediocre job! At the end they end the end up calling you   And hiring you instead of risking the project! When it comes to rates  Usually the camera operator charges a day rate plus equipment if you are renting Your equipment to get the job done. . It's base on an 8-10 hrs plus over time after 14 if you are doing 10 hrs and after 14 it's double! Rates can change but the ball park is around 45 and can go higher depending how good you are! I am new to this business  of aerial videography but I  sure don't want to under sell my work. I think if you are in the plans of making this into something profitable you should first sharpen your skills and make sure you do a hell of a job so that you can actually charge a good rate help other who are in the business maintain reasonable price according to the expertise.  If you are just some guy who is really not serious about it why get in it just enjoy the hobby. I know that for this type of jobs the best way to charge is for the project not hourly or day rate. It's not worth it. I am not going to tell a client that it will take me 5 -8 hrs if it might only take me an hour! My suggestion is do your research think about what you really want to do and be sure that you know what you are doing and what you are getting yourself into! It goes way beyon just flying a drone. You need insurance in the event that something goes wrong and your drone ends up crashing into a clients car, house ect! If you guys really want to get a good idea of what I am talking g about then look at the website that Richard posted or check scooterlam website!  www.scottlamoreaux.com  has a website a good reel with great work, and at the end he can charge the client what he wants because of his high end product! I am not discouraging anyone just think that this is a great opportunity to do something right if you want to start charging for your work.  

As the old quote goes "if you think it's expensive to hire a professional wait until you hire an amateur"!

good question.   great answers.

Thanks to all

s900 with a Gh4

What kind of lenses would you be using on that setup scooterlam?

cheers

scooterlam Posted at 2015-3-5 14:47
You really think you can use Inspire footage for a commercial? I'd prefer the Cinestar with a red  ...

that's a really good question.  I got into the RC world about 3 years ago and invested about $20k into a Cinestar 8 using the 3-axis gimbal and moving over to the MoVI5 flying the GH4.  At the end of the day, there was so much supporting gear, dual operators, harder to fly, and 5 min battery / flight times.

Business was pretty good but the flight times were hard to deal with.  I recently sold my C8, kept the MoVI and trying out the Inspire.  The C8 had too many issues and i would never fly my RED on it.  I go back and forth on buying/investing into a S900 with the GH4 gimbal.  Just alot of $$.  So far my clients have been happy with the Inspire so I'm still feeling that out.  But I did loose a job with Camp4 in January because I didn't have my C8.  

Hi,
This is a very useful thread for me - I'm just starting into Aerial work, and have a few ideas of how to position myself. I bought an Inspire 1, because I think it has the capacity to shoot good footage which is at least good enough for online advertising and promotional or real estate work.
I've done some research of my own and do find it generally quite hard to find info on pricing, which is a bit of a stumbling block when trying to put together a business plan and cash flow forecast.
Although I'm new to this, I do not want to undervalue the services that I will offer. I also want to be able to cover the cost of a considerable investment and everything that goes with it; license, insurance, my own time, business promotion, maintenance, etc...
So I suppose I'd  probably break it down to different areas of expertise - I mean, if I was taking stills of a property, perhaps I'd charge £200 to £300 per property, and I'd try to keep it in the countryside too, so the risk of crashing / causing damage to other property is lower. I've heard that filming work is a bit different and companies do charge up to £1000 a day rate. Footage may only be 5 to 10 minutes of unedited material.
Anyway, that's what I have - It would be good to hear from anyone else operating in the UK as to how they price themselves and just how successful they are managing to be!  
I'm in the UK too, by the way.

If anyone would like to slate or encourage my first ever flight footage, feel free to have a look here:

This is like anything in the industry, some people can command $5000 a day because they are amazing, some people will struggle to get $100 a day because their results are beyond mediocre.  

I can buy the same paintbrush as da Vinci but doesn't mean I'll create the Mona Lisa...   
In the end it's about the talent, instincts and experience of the artist.

jimhare Posted at 2015-8-14 05:56
This is like anything in the industry, some people can command $5000 a day because they are amazing, ...

we can only try ;)

Skinnertron Posted at 2015-8-14 08:02
we can only try ;)

Absolutely, and everyone should!   

Just don't all use the same rate, needs to be based on results.  

Real great information on this thread. Cleared up a lot of questions.

jimhare Posted at 2015-8-14 05:56
This is like anything in the industry, some people can command $5000 a day because they are amazing, ...

valid point.  however it also depends on where youre located, and what type of job it is as well as how much competition you have.  if you live in a less populated area and are taking pictures of real estate properties that are worth 50-200K you arent very likely to get anywhere near 5000$ a day for 10 minutes worth of work.  Might fly if you your doing a professional tv commercial or music video or something that takes all day and youre the only guy in town, or maybe if youre photographing million dollar plus real estate properties but if for your average priced home in your average city real estate agent will pay you 200$ for 10 minutes work to snap a couple pics of a property Id say thats not a bad rate at all.  

sultangris01@gm Posted at 2015-8-14 11:32
valid point.  however it also depends on where youre located, and what type of job it is as well a ...

Excellent point, and further supports my argument that a poll won't give you a clear take when deciding what to charge for your services.

I am a long time advertising shooter with a lot of clients in the building industry. Please understand that advertising clients have marketing budgets. Please understand the value we bring, don't sell yourself short, or under price the market.  

This is a rough guide I have worked up for my clients.

Still photography - one trip less than 60 miles from downtown Silver Spring each way.

Minimum fee - $1200 -  Proofs will be posted and 5 images may be used. $250 for each additional image used. If it turns out you want a lot of the images, it can move to the "Extensive" pricing below.

Extensive photography on site - $3000 - proofs will be posted and up to 20 images may be selected and used.  $100 for each additional image selected.  (I can't say if any particular site has the potential for this many views.) Also if more than one trip is required in order to get specific views at certain times of day, that will entail additional charges.

In the future, I may bring my copter along on some of my normal ground assignments. If I have the time and see potential, I MAY shoot some aerials speculatively and give clients an option to license them for $600 each with a quantity discount of some sort.

Video aerial photography.

This gets much more complicated to price because there are so many variables and possibilities when shooting a video...

How long is it?

What are the subjects and the various takes that you want?

Am I editing the video and producing it?

            Do you want a music track and how will you approve of the music?

            Is there a voice over?

            Are any existing or new still images to be included?

It is a bit too soon for me to have a "package price" with examples that I can show to potential clients. I apologize for not having prices carved in stone at this point but I am motivated to determine your needs and work with you on fair pricing.

To give a rough guideline at this early stage, I will say that the video work starts around the $3,000 range. That would cover one trip to a project and about an hour - two hours of actual filming on site (spread over half a day to a day on site.) I have to make a number of different "takes" of various homes, amenities and then will choose the best ones.  

What is possible really depend on the site. This would be enough material to make a 1-2 minute video and I'd include fairly simple editing at that price. (Music may require a licensing fee.) We'd have to discuss any project in detail to see if I can meet your needs and expectations at this price.

If you are only after a very brief flyby of one home... maybe 10 seconds of video footage or so, that is something that probably would be best to price along with my typical assignment of still photography or some aerial stills.

People actually pay that much for a still picture? of what?  I kinda felt bad charging 200$ as i feel the quality isnt all that great once you get it blown up on print.  My cell phone takes better quality pictures than the inspire.  There are guys with airplanes and DSLR cameras that fly over your farm and then show up with it printed and framed and charge around $500 for it in my area.  If people are paying $1200-3000 for still images from an inspire im freaking moving there immediately! lol

I think it's worth getting a portfolio together if you are not established. I am cutting my teeth at the moment, not so much doing work for free, but using my friends in real estate to give me access to properties and bounce ideas, and my work off them. Action footage of friends surfing or skating, always good to have some variety. Getting your post production together, and working on presenting yourself as a package is what I see as important, practice makes perfect shoot, shoot, shoot. This will give you confidence to price appropriately.

The price of the work has nothing to do with the camera used. But the Inspire is capable of doing high quality stills. However, I also fly a larger camera for stills. Most of these images end up on the web so resolution is not much of a factor. I encourage any of you trying to sell photography to understand that for some of us this is a real full time business. When pricing work we have to look at all of our overhead,health care, insurance, retirement plan, college savings plans before we even are making personal income. We are not just trying to make a few bucks with our hobby to help justify our gear.If you are going to compete with professionals, please learn the business and do it professionally. Check out the trade associations... ASMP, PPA,APA.

alan@goldsteinp Posted at 2015-8-14 12:46
I am a long time advertising shooter with a lot of clients in the building industry. Please understa ...

Alan, would you mind sharing your website with us?  I'd love to see some of your work!

Tom

http://alangoldstein.photoshelter.com/

Very nice Alan!!  Thanks for sharing!

scooterlam Posted at 2015-3-5 14:47
You really think you can use Inspire footage for a commercial? I'd prefer the Cinestar with a red  ...

Yes. It's not about the gear but what you can do with it. Check out Philip Blooms work with the Inspire for CNNs Wonder List for example.

I'm having the same issue, determining what to charge in a rural area.

I am in the process of establishing an LLC and preparing the paperwork to submit for the 333 exemption.  I'd like to have all my ducks in a row so I can hit the ground running when I become legal.

Are you guys still shooting aerials? I hope you are charging more these days. Those rates are like YIKES!

I shot about 20 ranches here in Texas last summer. I am looking to shoot more this summer. I used last summer, my first summer to shoot, as more of an introductory offer to get clients hooked. I only charged $250 but I told them that the normal price was $650. This is for aerial video only. Edited, color graded, and put to music. I put it on my YouTube channel and send them the link or if they want I will upload it to their channel.  The biggest problem, which I had anticipated before I even purchased my inspire, was that the same thing that happened to the photography industry would happen to the drone industry. That you would get a bunch of hobbyists flying real estate for dirt cheap. These people have regular jobs and do this on the side so they are not trying to create a business out of it, they are just trying to get some compensation. If you are like me and are trying to create a business and you have insurance, a 333 from the FAA then you need to get paid. the other problem is that Real Estate agents are notoriously cheap when it comes to marketing material for their properties. I have some agents that don't bat an eye at it while others have told me that it was too expensive. Two weeks ago a realtor called me to fly a $10M property in the Dallas area. It was 1 mile from one of the busiest private airports in the country. I told her I would need a second pilot to be on the radio with the tower, need to get permission from the airport, edit, color grade, music et cetera. I quoted her $750. I am sorry, if you are making 300K on the sale of a property and are complaining about $750, I don't want you as a client. Not sure how long I can hold out on these prices but if you ask me the original poster is WAY too cheap. If you guys are interested in getting in the business, think about the value that you are bringing to them and the risk that you are taking. At this stage of the game we are in education mode. Our clients are still trying to figure out if this is valuable or not. Stick to your guns.

my $0.02

Sample video of the my work I did for a client. he hired me for 3 other ranches after this.


Cheers.

houston Posted at 2016-4-22 12:11
I shot about 20 ranches here in Texas last summer. I am looking to shoot more this summer. I used la ...

Very nice work houston. Im wondering what you would charge for 1 photo framed and ready to hang. I have started my own business, launching the site today and obviously i want to do it cheap enough to get peoples attention. Only other thing i need is insurance which is $500 a year here in Canada.

Im in Saskatchewan so there are farm yards all over and that's what i'll be photographing mainly

augusthansen@gm Posted at 2015-3-4 23:39
Richard, thanks for the input.  Those are great points to take into consideration when pricing a job ...

augusthansen  you shure are pretty , get rid of the joker behind you though .....

Just kidding..... ( I really am kidding, I am old enough to be her father  52 )  

cheers - donnie

eskimodogg@hotm Posted at 2016-5-5 17:58
Very nice work houston. Im wondering what you would charge for 1 photo framed and ready to hang. I ...

Hi,

I am from Nova Scotia.  I noticed you said insurance is $500.00 here in Canada.  That's cheaper than I have found.  Do you find sharing the company name?

I charge homeowners 100 bucks for 1 hour of work, 500 for large events (4 hours)

scooterlam Posted at 2015-3-5 02:47
You really think you can use Inspire footage for a commercial? I'd prefer the Cinestar with a red  ...

The inspire 1 pro with x-5 camera is sufficient.

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2016-7-20 15:21
I charge homeowners 100 bucks for 1 hour of work, 500 for large events (4 hours)

$100 for 1 hour of work? What do you give them for 1 hour of work? That's insanely cheap.

I charge $150/hr for commercial shoots. $200/ house for real estate but that includes interior stills and exterior drone work. Let's not give our work away, folks.

scooterlam Posted at 2016-9-20 09:32
$100 for 1 hour of work? What do you give them for 1 hour of work? That's insanely cheap.

Well it depends on where you live, I live in central New York in the country and while it's a very nice area there's not many rich people living there, just average working joe's so if I charge more than 100 bucks to take photos of someone's house than I wouldn't have any work at all.