Best Drones for Car Videos

Drones are exceptional for taking car videos, whether you’re a gearhead who loves documenting car features, own or manage a dealership.

Or just bought a new car and would like to create an eye-catching video of it. Drones add a new aerial perspective to your shot which you could never achieve with a handheld camera.

However, there are so many drones out there, with even more getting released every year.

While you can use almost any decent camera drone to create a high-quality video, some have proven to be more useful than others due to some unique features.

So, which are the best drones for car videos?

Here are the top drones for car fanatics:

- Tracking videos – Skydio 2+

- FPV – DJI Avata

- Best value for money – DJI Mavic 3 Classic

- Best for cinematic shots and highest-quality video – DJI Mavic 3 Pro

- Best cheap drone – DJI Mini 3 Pro

Keep reading to learn why we chose these drones and some tips for creating cinematic car videos!

1. Skydio 2+ – Tracking

Skydio 2+ Pro Kit

Autonomous Cinema Drone with Advanced Cinematic Skills, Unmatched 360° Obstacle Avoidance, 4K60 HDR Camera, 27 Minute Flight Time, with 2 Year Skydio Care Warranty.

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✅ Pros

- Excellent tracking capabilities

- Affordable

- Easy to use

- Convenient beacon control

- Impressive range

- Unique KeyFrames feature

❌ Cons

- It’s mainly built for tracking

- Obstacle avoidance may be limited in low-light conditions

Tracking a vehicle as it moves is one of the most captivating features of a drone.

The Skydio 2+ is currently the best tracking drone. This is thanks to its automated flight, 360-degree obstacle avoidance, and excellent camera.

What I love most is the beacon. This handheld device lets you quickly change the drone’s position as it follows you. This is quite a convenient feature considering most drones in this price range can only follow you in specific positions due to inadequate obstacle avoidance or outdated follow-me systems.

As you can see in the video below, the drone pilot controls the direction the drone will follow and even the height with a lot of freedom.

The intelligent flight modes also allow you to create cinematic footage without much hassle. Skydio 2+ is ahead of most drones on the market today in automating flight, as it only needs little input from the pilot, and it will do many tasks it’s programmed to.

Besides tracking by identifying the object, Skydio 2+ also uses GPS, where it will locate the GPS position of the beacon or the car in case it loses it.

The obstacle avoidance also works quite effectively, allowing the drone to choose the best path without breaking up the footage and while maintaining excellent transitions in the footage. However, this doesn’t mean you should expose it to areas with several obstacles. Avoid such areas if possible since even the most advanced drones will bump into tiny objects like twigs or power lines.

Another reason the Skydio 2+ is quite practical for tracking is the range. With the controller, the drone can fly up to 3.7 miles, and with the beacon, you can get a range of up to 1.9 miles.

This means that if one person is using the beacon while in the car and another pilot is stationed at one point, the one with the beacon can still control the drone even when it’s out of the range of the controller.

How about speed? The Skydio 2+ can fly up to 36 mph, so it can keep up with your car. The 27-minute flight time also gives you enough time to take all the necessary shots before recharging the battery. However, having at least three batteries will help if you need to create more footage.

One unique feature of the Skydio 2+ that you will barely find in other drones is KeyFrames. This feature allows you to add KeyFrames, which work like waypoints, for the drone to follow. You can come up with the various angles you want to film the car in, add them as KeyFrames, and the drone will fly through them autonomously.

2. DJI Avata – FPV

DJI Avata Fly Smart Combo

DJI Avata + Intelligent Flight Battery, DJI FPV Goggles V2 + Battery, DJI Motion Controller

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06/28/2023 04:46 pm GMT

✅ Pros

- Beginner-friendly

- Excellent speed

- Decent footage quality and an option to add third-party cameras

- Excellent video transmission

❌ Cons

- Needs advanced flying skills to fully utilize it

- Limited flight time compared to non-FPV drones

You will have better luck with an FPV drone if you want to create more dynamic and cinematic car videos.

While regular camera drones like the Skydio or the DJI Mavic are good, they work best outdoors and for flying a few meters away from a car. The GPS and obstacle sensors make flying too close to the car or indoors challenging.

That’s where FPV drones come in. FPV drones are “manual,” which means the pilot has control of the drone’s altitude, and they will have to avoid the obstacles manually.

Whether you want to film very close to the car, indoors, through the car (yes, you can do that), or any other tight spaces, you can do that with an FPV drone.

FPV drones are also perfect for car videos due to their speed. This is evident from the Sweden WRC rally drone shots, where FPV drones are fast enough to track a racing car, albeit for a short distance, due to the range and flight time limitations.

However, most FPV drones require customization and great skills to fly. That’s why I recommend the DJi Avata, especially for beginners.

This is an FPV drone that you can pick up and fly even if you don’t have any experience. Its controls has been simplified, allowing you to fly in beginner modes (Normal and Sport). Once you’re comfortable with it, you can switch to Manual or Acro mode where you’re in control.

Besides being the easiest to fly, Avata has a good enough camera that shoots up to 4K at 60 fps. It’s possible to mount a GoPro, DJI Action camera, or an Insta360 if you want to spice up your footage further.

The overall design of the Avata also makes it safe to fly indoors, close to cars, and even close to people. Avata is more of a Cinewhoop drone, which explains its small size, and the propellers are enclosed in a frame. As such, if it bumps into anything, the props will not be damaged, and they will not cause any injuries.

Avata also features an 18-minute flight time, which is quite long considering that most FPV drones can barely achieve 10 minutes. With a speed of up to 60 mph, you can rest assured that the Avata can film a moving car, as seen below.

This video shows Avata flying through a Porsche museum in Germany. Watch how close to the cars it flies and how it flies in tight spaces such as under cars and through the windows.

While it takes a lot of flying and video editing skills to develop, the drone’s flight time, strong video transmission, excellent camera sensor, and overall flight performance played a significant role.

3. DJI Mavic 3 Classic – Best value

DJI Mavic 3 Classic

Includes the drone and the DJI RC remote controller with a built-in 5.5-inch HD display for crisp viewing, even in direct sunlight.

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06/28/2023 12:51 pm GMT

✅ Pros

- High-quality camera

- ActiveTrack 5.0 to include tracking directions

- Great value for money

❌ Cons

- Limited tracking video resolution.

The DJI Mavic 3 Classic is a great prosumer drone. Adapted from the OG Mavic 3, the Mavic 3 Classic was built for those who found the OG Mavic 3 too expensive but thought drones like the Mavic Air 2S are too limiting.

DJI stripped down one camera, leaving the Mavic 3 Classic with one 4/3 CMOS camera that can film in up to 5.1K at 60 fps and take 20 MP still images.

This camera is better than the one you will get on the Skydio 2+ or the DJI Avata, making it the perfect option if you want the highest-quality car video. However, tracking videos are limited to 4K at 30 fps.

Another reason the Mavic 3 Classic is one of the best drones for car videos is ActiveTrack 5.0. This is the latest edition of ActiveTrack, which has been improved for optimum performance.

Unlike drones like the Air 2S or the Mini 3 Pro, the Mavic 3 Classic allows you to switch the drone’s position as it follows you. You can place it in front, back, right, left, or diagonally. This gives the viewer a dynamic view of all sides of the car and gives you room to correct the drone’s position in an emergency.

The Mavic 3 Classic also features 360-degree obstacle avoidance, making it aware of its surroundings and avoid obstacles from all directions.

This drone has a Nifty mode in the Bypass mode. These features allow the drone to fly smoother and sometimes closer to obstacles, producing some of the best footage.

Watch how this user flies the Mavic 3 Classic to track a 1970 Corvette Stingray. Check out how he changes the drone’s position, how the drone avoids obstacles, and the quality of footage he gets from the drone.

4. DJI Mavic 3 Pro – Best for cinematic shots

DJI Mavic 3 Pro

Flagship Triple-Camera Drone with 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad Camera, 43-Min Flight Time, and 15km HD Video Transmission, for pro aerial photography.

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06/28/2023 12:41 pm GMT

✅ Pros

- Convenient multi-camera setup

- Excellent quality footage

- 1TB built-in memory

- Long flight time

- Omnidirectional obstacle avoidance

❌ Cons

- It could be complex for first-time users

- Additional post-processing time may be required due to the setup

- Limited zoom in some of the cameras/modes

This is the ultimate drone for car videos. It features not one but three cameras, each providing a different perspective. This gives you a lot of footage to choose from after a few takes.

These cameras include the 4/3 Hasselblad sensor that you will also find in the Mavic 3 Classic, a 1/1.3 Medium Tele camera, and a ½ Tele camera.

These three cameras film at different focal lengths; you can even combine them to create various artistic combinations for your shoot. Another feature you will find in the Mavic 3 Pro that’s lacking in the Mavic 3 Classic is the zooming feature.

The Hasselblad camera has a zoom of 1-3x, a Medium Tele lens of 3-7x, and a Tele camera of 7-28x in Normal and Explore modes. The zooming feature opens up even more creative options, allowing you to pull off shots like the dolly zoom before you use any editing software.

The Mavic 3 Pro also features omnidirectional obstacle sensing and avoidance, a further improved system to give optimum performance and smooth video. Combined with ActiveTrack 5.0, you can develop some of the best tracking car videos. And if you forget your SD cards when traveling for a shoot, the 1 TB inbuilt memory in the Mavic 3 Pro can hold enough footage.

Other features that make this drone perfect include the 43-minute flight time, small foldable design, and reasonable pricing considering all the work you can do with it.

Below is an epic car video filmed with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro.

5. DJI Mini 3 Pro – Best cheap drone

DJI Mini 3 Pro

Lightweight and Foldable Camera Drone with 4K/60fps Video, 48MP Photo, 34-min Flight Time, Tri-Directional Obstacle Sensing, Ideal for Aerial Photography and Social Media

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06/28/2023 12:46 pm GMT

✅ Pros

- Lightweight and easily portable

- High-quality camera

- Tracking feature and obstacle sensing

- Intelligent flight modes

❌ Cons

- Limited obstacle sensing

- Limited tracking options

- Limited zoom range in some resolutions

You don’t need a drone that costs thousands of dollars to create cinematic car videos.
https://skydanceimaging.com/best-drones-for-car-videos/