Drone Photography Settings Calculator

Camera settings from altitude, time of day, and subject.

Flight altitude (m)

Focal length (mm)

Sensor width (mm)

Image width (px)

Image height (px)

Ground speed (m/s)

Overlap %

Tab to move between fields

Ground sample distance (cm/px)

1.01

Min shutter speed (1/x sec)

498

Image coverage width (m)55

Image coverage height (m)36.7

Single image area (ha)0.2

Photo interval (sec)2.2

Flight line spacing (m)16.5

Photos per hectare55.1

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your drone camera sensor size and the focal length equivalent.
Set the flight altitude in feet and the desired ground sampling distance (GSD) in cm per pixel.
Input wind speed and lighting conditions.
Review the Recommended Shutter Speed, ISO, and Aperture for the conditions.
Check the Battery Flight Time Estimate and the Coverage Area per battery charge.

How the result changes with Flight altitude (m)

Ground sample distance (cm/px): Size of one pixel on the ground in centimeters.
Image coverage width (m): Ground width covered by a single image.
Image coverage height (m): Ground height covered by a single image.
Single image area (ha): Area covered per image in hectares.
Min shutter speed (1/x sec): Fastest shutter needed to avoid motion blur (1 pixel).
Photo interval (sec): Time between shots for desired overlap.
Flight line spacing (m): Distance between parallel flight lines.
Photos per hectare: Number of photos needed to cover one hectare.

Identify Input Parameters
4 parameters
Flight altitude (m) = 100, Focal length (mm) = 24, Sensor width (mm) = 13.2, Image width (px) = 5472 = 7 input(s) provided
Calculate Ground sample distance
Ground sample distance = (sensorWidthMm * altitudeM * 100) / (focalLengthMm * imageWidthPx)
1.01 = 1.01
Calculate Min shutter speed
Min shutter speed = ceil(1 / maxExposureSec)
498 = 498
Calculate Image coverage width
Image coverage width = (gsdCm * imageWidthPx) / 100
55 = 55
Calculate Image coverage height
Image coverage height = (gsdCm * imageHeightPx) / 100
36.7 = 36.7