Top 5 Cameras For Drones
The type of camera you need for your drone will very much depend on what you intend to use your drone for. If you are an avid photographer then you may well be looking for a drone that is capable of carrying a 4K or even 5K camera such as a GoPro or another brand of attachable action camera.
However, if you are a drone racer then you are going to want a very different type of camera for your drone – and it is most likely that you will want the option of customizing it to your exact specification.
Today, we are going to be focusing on small FPV cameras that you can add to mini drones or Tiny Whoops so latency and connectivity is at the top of our list when it comes to specs. We also don’t want to compromise too much on quality so we will be looking to get the biggest bang for our buck when it comes to these drone cameras.
We are not listing drones with cameras in this article, so if you are looking specifically for a drone that comes with a camera then you might want to check one of our other articles.
Our Top 5 Cameras
Here are our top 5 cameras for mini drones.
Makerfire 700TVL
The Makerfire 700TVL is one of the cheapest cameras on the market that stacks up in terms of performance. Typically, you will find this budget camera available for around $16 and it has an impressive 150 degree field of view which makes it perfect for FPV.
At just 3.6g it is not going to add much weight to your drone and it has an excellent image quality for the price with a 700TVL resolution.
Turbowing OSD
The Turbowing OSD camera is one of the top cameras on this list. Mainly because of its OSD compatibility and coming in at a very lightweight 3.7g. Similar to the Makerfire, this camera also sports a 700TVL resolution and performs well indoors and outdoors.
We found this camera to just have the edge over Makerfire when performing in lower lit areas.
Available for around $20 this is an absolute steal.
Crazeypony FPV Micro AIO 5.8G Camera
Another camera for tiny drones that we love is the Crazepony AIO camera. With 48CH and a 25mW transmitter this 3.6g camera has a wide angle lens of 120 degrees.
Available for just over $21, it supports NTSC and PAL video modes and the only thing preventing us from giving this camera our top pick is the fact that it doesn’t support OSD.
Eachine TX01S FPV Camera
Available for around $20 is this Eachine camera – another that more than holds its own in this sphere. It is slightly heavier at 4g so you may notice a slightly bigger drain on your battery than some of the other cameras we have mentioned but with a 1/3” CMOS lens we can forgive it the extra weight.
This camera is OSD compatible so after a little soldering work you will be good to go. All instructions on how to connect to OSD are supplied with the camera.
We have not found too many drone owners with a bad word to say about this camera and it is certainly a solid buy for FPV racing.
Wolfwhoop WT05 Micro Camera
Weighing in at an astonishing 3.4g this is the lightest camera on our top 5 list. It performs at 5.6GHz and has 48 channels. Available for as little as $16 this is one of the most affordable high quality FPV cameras on the market and has a field of view of 120 degrees and a camera resolution of 600TVL.
The camera is not OSD compatible out of the box but we have it on good authority that with a bit of modding and following online instructions you can make it OSD compatible.
So, now you have five top choices to start your Tiny Whoop adventure – we would love to hear how you get on with these cameras so please get in touch and let us know.