How Much Does Drone Photography Cost on Long Island?

The national average cost of hiring a drone or aerial photographer ranges from around $180 to $377, according to Thumbtack. Those are national figures, not Long Island figures. For a listing, Core Media Co. prices aerial work inside a package: Photos + Air is $495 per listing, and Full Package is $695 per listing.

How much does a drone photographer cost on average?

Start with the only hard number the public data gives us. Thumbtack reports that the national average cost of hiring a drone or aerial photographer ranges from around $180 to $377.

We want to be plain about what that is. It is a national average across the whole country. We did not find a Long Island specific market rate in the sources we checked, so we will not invent one. If you see a single "Long Island drone price" quoted somewhere without a source, treat it as a guess.

Pricing by the hour is also an awkward way to think about a property or a business shoot. Flight time is often short. The rest of the job is planning the shots, checking airspace, editing, and delivering files.

What drives drone photography pricing?

Thumbtack names three things that move the total: the length of the shoot, the resolution, and the services performed. It also notes that the longer the finished video product, the higher the total price.

Length and finished product

A short set of still photos from the air is a different job than a finished video. Video needs flight passes, editing, color, music, and exports. The more finished minutes you want, the more editing time sits behind them.

Licensing and airspace

Aerial drone photography requires special licensing by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to Thumbtack. The rule behind that is in federal regulation: under the federal remote pilot certificate rule on eCFR, no person may act as a remote pilot in command unless that person has a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating. Ask any drone provider to confirm who the remote pilot in command will be.

Location matters too. Under the airspace rule on eCFR, no person may operate a small unmanned aircraft in Class B, Class C, or Class D airspace, or within the lateral boundaries of the surface area of Class E airspace designated for an airport, without prior authorization from Air Traffic Control. Thumbtack adds that a waiver can take anywhere from 14 to 90 days to process and receive, so be wary of anyone who claims they can take the job the next day. Our separate guide to real estate drone rules on Long Island walks through how this plays out for listings.

Height and the shot itself

Under the operating limitations rule on eCFR, the altitude of the small unmanned aircraft cannot be higher than 400 feet above ground level, unless it is flown within a 400-foot radius of a structure and does not fly higher than 400 feet above the structure's immediate uppermost limit. For a house or a commercial building, that rule shapes what a clean aerial frame can look like.

What do the numbers look like side by side?

Here is the national figure next to what Core Media Co. charges for listing packages that include air.

The first row is a national average cost range. The other three are flat per-listing prices that are the same in every town we serve. They are different ways of pricing, so do not compare them one for one. A national average for hiring a drone operator does not tell you whether the edit, the delivery folder, or the rest of the listing media is included.

What does a listing package with air cost from Core Media Co.?

For a real estate listing, we price by package, not by the hour. Photos + Air is $495 per listing. Full Package is $695 per listing, delivered within 48 hours. Signature is $1,250 per listing. Our standalone Photos tier is $350 per listing, so you can see what the air portion adds when you step up to Photos + Air.

Every drone flight is flown by an FAA Part 107 certified remote pilot, and Core Media Co. is fully insured, with coverage that includes drone work. Prices are the same in every town on our service list, across Suffolk County and Nassau County.

You can read the studio's overview at drone photography on Long Island, see how aerial work fits a listing on the listing media page, and see every tier on the pricing page.

What should you ask before you book a drone shoot?

A short list of questions will tell you most of what you need to know:

1. Is the pilot holding a remote pilot certificate, and is the flight covered by insurance?
2. Is the quote flat per project or hourly, and what does it include besides flight time?
3. Will the property sit near controlled airspace, and has the pilot checked it?
4. What gets delivered, in what format, and how fast?
5. Who owns the finished files?

On our side, you own the finished work once it is paid for, with no usage restrictions. We also sign an agreement before every job, no exceptions.

How does the price change for a business instead of a listing?

Everything above is about listings. A business that wants aerial footage of a property, a job site, or a campus is a different request, because the footage usually lives inside a larger set of content. The monthly plans for businesses are built around content days and finished pieces, and the business posts the content and runs its own accounts. Core Media Co. does not post, boost posts, or run ads. If you are not sure which side you are on, send a note through the contact page and tell us what you are filming.

The short version

The drone figures you find online are national averages: around $180 to $377 to hire a drone or aerial photographer, according to Thumbtack. They say little about Long Island. What you can compare directly is a flat price for a defined package. For listings from Core Media Co., that is $495 per listing for Photos + Air and $695 per listing for Full Package, both flown by an FAA Part 107 certified remote pilot.