A poll commissioned by a community of aerial video/photography drone hobbyists shows that drone operators can expect friendly skies in 2015.
Skypixel recently released a poll revealing that 75 percent of 500 drone pilots expect to use drones for photography in 2015 while nearly 60 percent reported plans to use drones for filmmaking.
A large majority – 60 percent – of users will deploy drones for recreational use this year while almost the same number (57 percent) will fly solo. Drone hobbyists are pretty serious about flying as 56 percent of them own more than one drone (perhaps some of them used DRONELIFE’s Buyer’s Guide?).
“As more professional features integrate into consumer level drones, we will be interested in seeing how these numbers shift,” said Gabriel Chan, Skypixel’s Community Manager.
Meanwhile, professionals are, as expected, even more committed to UAVs — 62 percent of professional drone pilots reported owning two or more drones.
Chan further reports:
“Pilots that fly recreationally are more prone to fly alone. Though the 56 percent of total respondents claim that they fly solo, the majority of these pilots fly recreationally. Of solo pilots, 62 percent claim that they will fly for fun, while 38 percent will fly for their work.”
Skypixel members are not just casual users. In October, member Eric Cheng, who also works for DJI, flew a drone over Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland to record the Holuhraun eruption. The poll responses resonant closely to industry forecasts. The Consumer Electronics Association says 2015 drone sales will increase 49 percent with 341,000 units sold over 2014.
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
Beginning his career as a journalist in 1996, Jason has since written and edited thousands of engaging news articles, blog posts, press releases and online content.
Email Jason
TWITTER:@JasonPReagan
Subscribe to DroneLife here.