FAQ

your questions answered

Find answers below to some of the most commonly asked questions we receive.

If your question is not on the list, feel free to contact us to get your answer!

How much does aerial filming, photography and data collection services cost?

All our services have various price points based on your specific mission requirements.  We have everything from small, nimble racing drones and quadcopter packages all the way up to very large “heavy lift” octorotors that enable us to fly just about any payload. We also offer custom fabrication and other unique products and aerial services based on your specific needs.

Please contact our office today for a current rate sheet and to get a quote for your specific mission.

Absolutely we do!  FPV, or First Person View drones are very HOT right now and DroneBoy is all over this technology.  We have a page dedicated specifically to FPV Drones that will tell you all about it.  

Depending on what you are looking for we can offer most camera and lens setups. Sometimes only specific lenses will work based on the drone and limitations of the hardware package so careful selection is required. We also have remote follow focus and adjustable iris systems available. Have a look at our camera page for more details.

Depending on your requirements we can either give you the SD (or SSD) cards right out of the camera, transfer the files to a portable drive on site, upload via FTP or deliver via courier on a portable drive on the first business day after the shoot

Yes. Our stock footage library is growing every day.

We have a full-service post production studio for everything you could require from color grading to rough cuts, titling and final edits.

Commercial aerial operations are 100% legal when they are done with the appropriate operational controls in place, proper training, licenses, permissions and clearances.   At DroneBoy we take care of all of this so you and your end client don’t need to worry if your drone mission that we are doing for you is legal and compliant – it always will be!  See our Drone Safety Bulletin for more information the rules and regulations here in Canada.

Unfortunately, there will be situations and scenarios where aerial drone operations will not be possible due to site limitations such as proximity to the public, aerodromes or airspace restrictions. For these sites we offer other unique solutions such as our cable cam system, ground cams, pole cams and custom rigs.

Depending on the camera package drone flight times vary from 8 – 30 minutes. Our teams travel with enough batteries, a portable charging station and generator to allow for near 100% duty cycle as required by the mission.

Yes, we carry $10 million CGL specific to commercial drone based aerial operations and all the other services we do as well. We can add entities and stakeholders on as “additionally insured” and get waivers of subrogation as required.   We can increase our coverage as required and work anywhere in the world.

Yes, we can!  We offer many solutions for indoor operation.  Our new drone technology has downward facing sensors that assist with flight control in indoor environments. These sensors give us close to the same degree of flight accuracy and control that we get using GPS outdoors.

Sometimes our cable cam system is a better option if you want to film indoors.

In general, drones are not permitted to fly directly over the public and we must remain 16-100′ horizontal separation from the public at all times while in flight.  

It is possible to make it appear that we are flying over a crowd by combining careful site and lens selection with creative camera angles. We can fly over actors or workers on a secure site IF those people have given us permission to do so, they are a part of the operation and everyone has received a safety brief by our pilot.

If you really need us to fly directly over the public this can be accomplished, legally and safely by implementing one of our drones with a parachute recovery system (PRC).  We currently have two drones with PRC systems specifically for this purpose.

Another option for flying directly over the public is one of our other innovative cable cam solutions.

We currently have special approval from Transport Canada for all types of night operations.

At DroneBoy we take care of the aviation permitting and permissions for all our missions 100%!  On June 1st, 2019 the regulations in Canada were revised.  NowTransport Canada issued RPAS (drone) pilot certificates much like airplane pilot licenses are the major part of our requirements here.  That RPAS Pilot Certificate combined with NAV Canada airspace approval is usually all that is required for us to fly your mission legally.  In some rare instances a Special Flight Operations Certificate (S.F.O.C.) will still be required IF your mission is outside what would be considered a “normal” mission profile.  Some examples of this would be flying in Restricted Airspace (above Niagara Falls or the Parliament Buildings) or if we were required to fly a drone that was heavier than 25kgs.  These one-time S.F.O.C.s can take up to 30 days to get so if one is required for your mission please contact us well in advance.

Please note that some additional permits and clearances may be required depending on your location. These could include Film Office, City and other stakeholder permits and permissions. We can assist you in obtaining these clearances as well but it is the responsibility of the producer to ensure that these permits are in place.

It is sometimes possible to get permission to operate in Restricted Airspace but it depends on the area and the reason for the operation.  To do so we need to obtain a special one-time use permit, in addition to our standard RPAS Pilot Certificates.  We do this often but it can take up to 30 business days to obtain this special permission. Niagara Falls is an example of restricted airspace that we operate in often.

We are based just outside of Toronto and we operate coast to coast to coast (yes, we fly in the Arctic!). DroneBoy has Transport Canada approval for all provinces and territories in Canada. Additionally, we also have partnerships in place with international operators and so, for example, should you require a drone operation in the US, we can make all arrangements and handle that for you. For the right project we will travel anywhere in the world where it is legal to fly and film.

Each drone has specific environmental limitations; these vary from -20°C to +40°C and winds up to 45km/h. As always, the better the weather the better, and safer, the mission will be. We can fly in light rain and snow but it can adversely affect your shot (moisture on the lens etc.).   We don’t fly in heavy precipitation!  We have published weather limits available for each unit in our fleet and they will be made available to our clients.

Commercial drone use is capped at 400’ AGL (Above Ground Level). If there are higher buildings or structures within 200′ horizontal distance from our operation we can fly 100’ above those buildings or structures which often gives a higher “service ceiling” in urban areas with tall buildings around.  Depending on the reason, the site and surroundings we can sometimes get special approval to fly above 400’AGL.  Please allow 30 business days to process these special requests.

All our drones have different top speeds available.  Our fastest unit right now can fly at speeds over 100km/h.

Yes! Drones are the perfect tool for all your industrial needs. We are able to cover areas as small as a couple acres, right on up to sites of several hundred acres. The technical capabilities of the drone combined with very sophisticated back end software processing enables us to generate high resolution large area terrain maps and 3D images. 

Please see our mapping and photogrammetry page for details.

Yes, we do this as well.  We can capture your footage and feed it to your live broadcasting system with ease. We also have the ability to live stream straight to all the popular online platforms for live content such as YouTube and Facebook. Check out our livestream page for more details.

At DroneBoy we do everything from aerial operations to cable-cam rigs, action cams, helicopter aerials, long term time-lapse systems, ground camera teams, stabilized heads (MōVI etc.), post production, live streaming, inspections, mapping, custom builds and consulting.

We do not currently sell drones.