When the “selfie” came into the picture (pun intended), it became so popular that it was named word of the year in 2013 by Oxford Dictionaries. According to Google reports, 93 million selfies are taken in a day, so the struggle to post the "perfect selfie" continues to gain traction across different social media platforms.
It is no surprise then that the stakes are getting higher by the day, with people ditching the once-popular selfie stick for the trendier and more sophisticated drone selfie.
Thanks to advancements in camera drone technology, quads are now being equipped with high-quality gadgets that can take higher-resolution pictures than the ones on your smartphone. In this post, we shed a light on the best selfie drones.
In a hurry, our best beginner drone is...
Our winner after 32hrs of research is the DJI Mavic Mini 2!
DJI Mavic Mini 2
- Flight time- 31 minutes
- Camera- 4K HD
- Range- 10km
Our #2 Rated
Holy Stone HS720E
- Flight time- 46 minutes
- Camera- 4K
- Range- 900m
Our #3 Rated
Ruko U11
- Flight time- 40 minutes
- Camera- 4k
- Range- 300m
What Are Selfie Drones?
Selfie drones are smaller than your average quadcopter. They come in a slim and compact package and with some featuring a collapsible design. This is done to enhance their portability, allowing you to pack and carry them effortlessly.
Once launched into the air, a selfie drone will hover in one position to snap the photo and return home. Some of these quads even allow you to share the pics directly on social media with a simple touch of a button.
Most of the selfie drones you’ll come across today are controlled via an app, which you must first download on your phone or tablet. This usually features programmed flight modes such as “selfie mode” for seamless capturing of pictures and videos.
They are also easy to control in the air and will be perfect for those wishing to post the perfect “dronie” on their different social media handles.
What Features Make a Drone Perfect for Selfies?
Portability
A good selfie drone should be lightweight and compact; one that you can readily throw inside your daypack and take wherever you want to go. This allows you to have your camera whenever the right photo opportunity presents itself. Selfie drones are especially popular among adventurers who are always on the go.
Ease of Use
Usability is another important feature that you should keep in mind when searching for a selfie drone. The best quads for this purpose eliminate the learning curve to ensure that even first-timers can pilot the drone and snap a picture without fumbling with the handles.
Most of them are controlled by an app that can be downloaded on your smart device. The apps typically feature beginner-friendly controls that will have you snapping away with the touch of a button. In some cases, you can even edit and share your pics directly on social media.
Great Image Quality
A high-quality image may be the difference between 10 likes and 1000 likes when you post on Instagram or Facebook. You can get a quad with high-resolution to ensure you attract as many reactions as possible. Ideally, the drone should offer 4K camera resolution to deliver professional-level quality.
Another feature that greatly affects image quality is the presence of a stabilization feature. This helps to keep the camera steady, especially when it gets windy. For a stable footage recording session, you want to check if the drone has a gimbal stabilizer or a gyroscope.
Follow Me Mode
Follow Me is an intelligent flight mode that compels the drone to track you wherever you go. It is a great feature for enthusiasts that results in more dramatic and interesting selfies. You can program the drone to follow you from behind or the front and snap pictures of your face when you’re hiking, riding, skating, or even riding a bike.
Overall, the image appears natural and spontaneous, which is just what you want in a selfie. For the selfie drone, it doesn’t get more autonomous than this!
What Advanced Features Can You Find in a Selfie Drone?
Precise Positioning- Some latest models of camera drones come with special vision sensors that allow them to hover precisely in one place, even without GPS support. This ensures that the camera is stable to avoid any jello effect in the resultant footage.
Facial Recognition- This intelligent feature gives the drone the ability to focus on the face of the user so that it captures a “true selfie”. The photo comes out with your face as the main point of focus with no “photobombs” in the background or periphery.
Gesture Control- With this feature, taking a selfie with your drone becomes a piece of cake! In some quadcopters, all you need to do is draw a frame in the air using your hands and the drone will pick this up as a command to start recording.
Best Selfie Drones
The original DJI Mavic Mini is already a popular and high-performance drone that swept the entry-level drone market with its 2.7K camera. But DJI had to go and make an upgrade just to flex its muscles as the industry leader of consumer drone manufacturing.
As such, the DJI Mini 2 goes one better with 4K camera capabilities along with a host of other high-quality specs that allow it to be the ideal drone for selfie lovers and the number one pick on our list!
For starters, the drone comes with a very compact and lightweight design! It is so small that it can sit pretty in your palm. This makes it the perfect traveling companion to take on all your adventures and capture the best memories of your life in style.
The manufacturer was careful to keep the weight of the Mini 2 below 249g, which falls just short of the FAA registration limit for drones. As such, you’re spared all the bureaucracy and extra costs that come with registering your drone before flying.
However, this quad shines most when it comes to the camera quality! It is equipped with a 12MP camera to shoot crystal-clear photos that guarantee to attract a record number of likes and comments on social media.
The camera can record 4K videos at 30fps, which allows you to capture professional-level footage of your time in the great outdoors. Thanks to the new 1/ 2.3” CMOS sensor on the camera, the picture quality is taken to a whole new level.
This is paired with a 3-axis gimbal that keeps the camera stable in windy conditions and delivers stunning and consistently smooth images, no matter how tricky the conditions. According to DJI, the Mini 2 can resist winds as fast as 29-39kph, so there’s nothing to deny you that “perfect selfie.
Another exciting feature introduced on the Mini 2 is the 4x digital zoom, which ensures that you don’t have to get too close to get a clear image. You can conveniently capture shots of different distances and compositions with consistent quality to bring different dimensions to your selfies.
The integration of Quickshots into the Mini 2 tailors this drone to capturing social media footage. It can shoot stills and record videos automatically with just a few taps of a button, making for a user-friendly piloting experience even for amateurs.
Meanwhile, the Panorama feature allows for dramatic footage of your surroundings with different perspectives when you use the “wide”, 180-degrees”, and “sphere” modes. You also won’t have to struggle with editing and cropping your photos after they are taken; the drone uses the DJI Fly app, which comes with built-in photo optimization.
This enables enhancement of the image quality, resulting in vivid colors and popping photos that are social media-ready.
In short, you'll be hard-pressed finding a better camera than the Mini 2’s in this price range. The drone also offers a 31-minute flight time, which is more than enough to snap as many and diverse photos as possible.
It also incorporates intelligent flight features such as Smart Return to Home, Precision Hovering, and Automatic Takeoff, to make it easy for first-timers and inexperienced enthusiasts. Overall, the DJI Mavic Mini 2 is what you go for when you want to turn the sky into your playground!
The HS720E is the latest release from Holy Stone and an updated version of the HS720. It is a small drone that comes stacked with an array of higher-performance features than you’d expect, considering its relatively affordable price tag. You can get up to 46 minutes of flight time for way less than what you paid for the Mini 2, therefore, the HS270E is easily our best value for money selfie drone!
This drone allows you 23 minutes of playtime when you launch it into the air. However, the package comes with two batteries to offer you up to 46 minutes of capturing footage for your various social media accounts.
You can fly it to a maximum control range of 900m, which I doubt you’ll need to exploit when taking aerial selfies. The camera on the HS720E does not disappoint; it can shoot 4K stills, which means you get crystal-clear images with rich colors and details.
However, you’ll have to settle for 1080p at 60fps when it comes to recording videos. Thanks to Electronic Image Stabilization technology used on the drone, there is no blurriness in your footage.
Furthermore, the Sony image sensor on the camera boasts advanced image-capture technologies that help to offer superior image quality than other sensors on some models. The Optical Flow, as well as the air pressure altitude control system, makes for a precise hover.
This lets you fly the Holy Stone HS720E indoors with relative ease and snap away amazing pics during birthday parties, family get-togethers, and other memorable events.
A memory card slot on the camera ensures that you can conveniently store all the footage you record before sorting the files to find the perfect one for social media. It can accommodate a 128GB memory card, which should sort out all your storage needs.
You also get various intelligent flight modes that let you capture more dramatic and appealing footage. For instance, Follow Me mode gets the drone to track the subject from behind wherever you go, allowing you to snap spontaneous selfies as you walk.
Orbit Mode will lock the quad onto a target while Waypoint is an exciting flight function that lets you preselect the drone’s flight route before it launches into the air. The HS720E will operate on autopilot then come back home eventually.
Meanwhile, the automatic Return to Home mode minimizes the risk of losing your prized possession. It makes sure that the drone comes back to the takeoff point in case of signal loss or when the battery is running low.
So, if you want to spend modestly on a selfie drone that won’t let you down, the Holy Stone HS720E will be a great starting point!
3. Ruko U11
The Ruko U11 is a more affordable iteration of its sibling, the Ruko DF11. It manages to combine a range of high-quality features on its diminutive frame including a high-capacity battery to prolong your flight time.
In short, the U11 hits above its weight class as far as performance is concerned, and comes with the profile to make for a practical selfie drone.
This quadcopter impresses with a 7.4V lithium polymer battery that can keep it hovering for around 20 minutes. But the package features an extra battery, meaning you get twice the flight time to make for an endless aerial photo session.
You can also control the drone to a range of 300m, which is just perfect for recording close-up footage of your adventures in the outdoors. The camera is the most important feature on a selfie drone, and the U11 is equipped with a device that serves this purpose perfectly.
The drone uses an ultra-HD camera to 4K stills, meaning you get to capture the most memorable experiences in your life with expert-level quality. Videos are recorded at 2K resolution, which is pretty impressive at this price range.
The camera is adjustable through 90 degrees to let you capture different perspectives in your shots. Meanwhile, a uniaxial gimbal with shock absorbers helps to keep the camera stable in breezy weather.
This may not be as effective as the 3-axis gimbal on the Mini2 but it goes a long way to reduce shakiness in your footage. For extra reinforcement, the drones use a built-in Optical Positioning System that allows for a stable hover when shooting photos and videos.
The drone incorporates a micro-SD card slot to ensure that all your storage needs are catered to. This can accommodate a 32G memory card, although you’ll have to buy it separately. If you want to get an even more immersive experience when flying the Ruko U11, the FPV feature allows you to view the drone footage in real-time.
Piloting the drone is a seamless experience even for beginners who are still trying to wrap their heads around drone flying. This is a credit to the various GPS-supported flight modes incorporated into the U11.
The Auto Return is a useful mode that serves to ensure you never lose sight of your drone. Meanwhile, the Optical Flow Positioning feature allows for stable and precise hovering whereas the one-button takeoff/landing gets the drone flying with a single touch of a button.
Other intelligent modes such as Circle Fly, Point of Interest, and Tap Fly enable you to take dramatic footage that will be perfect for social media. You can preprogram the drone to fly in a particular route and snap photos of various subjects as you walk, run, or even ride a bike.
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If you want to keep your budget at a minimum when spending on a selfie quadcopter, it doesn’t get cheaper than the Eachine E520S. This mini drone will cost you something in the range of $100 but offers a performance that can easily rival some of its more expensive counterparts on the market.
The E520S comes with a collapsible design that folds into a compact frame, almost the size of a smartphone. With this, you get a highly packable and portable device that you can bring along wherever your adventures take you.
The drone is delivered inside a velvet carrying case that will come in handy during transportation. This protects the propellers and other vital parts to make for safe carrying at all times.
You can as well throw the drone into your pocket while on the go to make sure that it is always within instant reach for whenever the perfect selfie opportunity presents itself. The camera fitted on this drone impresses for a product in this price range.
It can take pictures at 4K HD resolution, which results in high-quality images. A 120-degree field of view ensures that you capture maximum details in your photos while the lens can be manually adjusted to achieve the perfect angle during shooting.
Additionally, the drone can record full HD videos in VR mode to make for a fully immersive drone flying experience. Thanks to the FPV feature, you get to see the drone footage in real-time so that you know exactly what the camera is recording.
The drone uses 5G WIFI to transmit the live footage to your phone, and this happens seamlessly with no lag whatsoever. A 6-axis gyroscope allows for a precise hover when you want to focus on your face for the perfect dronie.
Alternatively, you can customize your photo session with the various intelligent flight modes on offer like Orbit Mode and Waypoint to get more exciting footage. To makes sure that you never run out of storage space for your files, the camera features a micro SD card slot that can support up to 32GB of memory.
The Eachine E520S is a practical budget selfie drone. At 16 minutes, its flight time is slightly modest compared to the other drones in our review but still more than enough time to record your footage.
The altitude hold function and built-in barometer keep it hovering stably in one position to let you capture photos effortlessly
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Lastly, the Snaptain SP700 is another fun drone you can use to take photos of yourself. It is a compact and collapsible quad that will make a reliable traveling companion. It also features a sturdy build to go with a host of high-performance specs on its tiny frame.
The drone provides you with 16 minutes of playtime and can be controlled to a maximum range of 500m. It uses a GPS module that makes it easy for first-timers to control its flight in the air. With features like one key takeoff/landing and Auto Return, you get to enjoy an effortless and intuitive flying experience.
The SP700 carries a 2K UHD camera to let you shoot high-resolution photos and videos. You can use the 110-degree field of view offered by the camera to maximize the number of details in your shots while its 90-degree adjustable angle makes for customizable viewing angles.
A 6-axis gyroscope is integrated into the camera to keep it stable in the air and prevent shaky footage in a gusty environment.
The camera is further powered by 5G WIFI technology, which allows you to connect to your smartphone and enjoy real-time footage of the drone through the FPV function.
If you want to make your photos more interesting, you can make the most of the smart flight modes like Waypoint, Point of Interest, and Follow Me. These enable you to customize the flight path of the drone and preset the camera to take dramatic selfies as you walk.
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Conclusion
The selfie-craze has lately shifted from smartphones to drones! The drones we reviewed above hopefully provided you with sufficient information to select the best drone for your “dronie”.
Whether you’re a social media influencer or a simple selfie enthusiast, these are the best selfie drones you can buy from the market without spending a fortune!
Last update on 2024-12-02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API This article contains affiliate links which for which the owner of the site may receive a commision.
