NYC Drone Filming Services and Aerial Cinematography

FAA Part 107 licensed pilots delivering drone videography services, aerial videographer coverage, and drone photographer stills for film, TV, real estate, and live events across every borough.

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NYC Drone Filming Services, Flown by a Brooklyn-Based Crew

Xizmo Media provides drone filming services out of Brooklyn for production companies, brands, and event teams working across New York City. Our pilots hold FAA Part 107 certification and have logged over a decade on sets ranging from network news to studio features.
Most bookings pair the drone with a ground rig from the same crew: Steadicam, cable cam, or Techno Crane, so a director can cut between an aerial pass and a handheld shot without hiring a second team.
We work as a full production partner rather than a drone-only vendor. That means one point of contact handles the flight plan, the ground equipment, and the edit, whether the job is a single afternoon of drone filming services or a multi-day commercial shoot with a full camera package.
This page covers those drone filming services borough by borough, the same production lens we bring to our New York City aerial cinematography work. Once a shoot is booked, the day-of call sheet, crew assignments, and on-set logistics run through our drone filming company, which handles production and crew booking from there.

NYC Boroughs We Cover

Our home base is Brooklyn, and we fly in all five boroughs on a regular basis. Manhattan shoots usually mean coordinating flight paths around restricted airspace near the East River heliports; the outer boroughs give us more open sky and fewer permit layers.
Search “drone videographers near me” from a shoot in the Bronx or Queens and the crew that answers is based minutes away, not flown in from another state. That matters when a call time moves or a weather window clears early. Beyond video, we also design synchronized drone light shows for brand launches and events in every borough.

Manhattan

High-rise real estate and events, flown around heliport and river-corridor airspace restrictions from the Financial District up to Harlem. Skyline and rooftop shoots near Hudson Yards and Central Park are typical bookings, where the open sightlines give a clean wide aerial pass for a commercial or listing video.

Brooklyn

Our home base. Waterfront developments, rooftop events, and Williamsburg/DUMBO productions, usually the fastest crew dispatch of any borough. Warehouse-to-loft conversions and brownstone block productions round out the waterfront and rooftop work, with gear staged minutes from set instead of trucked in from another borough.

Queens

Long Island City towers and Astoria studio work, coordinated around LaGuardia’s airspace and the sightline shots film crews want of the Manhattan skyline. Soundstage productions near Kaufman Astoria Studios are a regular booking, where a call time can shift by the hour and the crew needs to be close enough to adjust.

The Bronx

Stadium-area events, Hunts Point industrial shoots, and infrastructure inspections along the Bronx River and Major Deegan corridor. Yankee Stadium-adjacent event coverage and warehouse exteriors in Hunts Point are common projects, alongside bridge and rail-corridor flights for facilities and engineering teams.

Staten Island

Bridge and ferry shots, plus lower-density airspace that lets us run longer continuous flights than a Manhattan permit typically allows. The Staten Island Ferry terminal and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge are recurring subjects for establishing shots, framed against the harbor traffic that defines the borough’s waterfront.

Aerial Videographer vs. Drone Photographer Services

Cinematography, full-motion aerial video shot and edited for a commercial or broadcast cut, is the primary service on this page. Clients who need a broader video package, from event highlight reels to social cuts, are covered under our drone videography services; the comparison below is for anyone still deciding between moving footage and stills.

Aerial Videographer

Moving footage: gimbal-stabilized flyovers, tracking shots, and establishing shots cut into a commercial, a real estate video tour, or an event highlight reel.

Drone Photographer

Still images: high-resolution photos for a listing package, a construction progress report, or a marketing deck.

We staff both roles on the same booking when a client needs video and stills from one flight, which is common on our real estate photography jobs.

Gear & Camera Systems

Camera payloads range from a GoPro on a lightweight rig to a RED Raptor 8K or Arri Alexa Mini LF on our heavy-lift drones, mounted on Ronin 2 or Movi Pro gimbals for cinema-grade stabilization.

Ground packages run Sony Venice and Canon C70 bodies on Steadicam and Techno Crane rigs, matched to the aerial camera so footage cuts together without a color or lens mismatch. For interior fly-throughs and high-speed chase shots, we bring in our FPV rigs, which move at up to 100 mph through gaps a standard drone can’t clear.

Deliverables are set before the flight, not decided in the edit bay: log or Rec.709 color, 4K or 8K resolution, and either raw camera files for a post house or a finished cut ready to publish, depending on what the production calls for.

RED Raptor 8K
Arri Alexa Mini LF
Sony Venice
Canon C70
Ronin 2 / Movi Pro
Steadicam
Techno Crane
Cable Cam

Sample Reel & Credits

Our team includes award-winning aerial videographer Edward Kostakis, whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Popular Mechanics, and ABC News, and NY Emmy winner Pablo Barrera, a two-time Daytime Emmy nominee credited in International Cinematographers Guild magazine.
The wider crew has flown for ABC News, Good Morning America, and The View, and supported directors including M. Night Shyamalan, David Fincher, Mike Mills, and Brian Kirk across hundreds of national commercials, TV series, and independent and studio films. See more of that work on our film and TV production page.
For live shoots like a Good Morning America segment, our aerial team coordinates directly with the live broadcast crew so the drone shot cuts cleanly into the same feed as the ground cameras.
That mix of Emmy-level broadcast experience and feature-film credits is why production companies bring us in for the shots that only get one take, and why brokerages and event planners trust the same crew for lower-stakes bookings.

Frequently Asked Questions About NYC Drone Videography & Cinematography

What’s included in Xizmo Media’s drone videography services?

A typical booking covers pre-flight planning, FAA Part 107 compliant flight, an operator and visual observer on site, and edited footage delivered in the format your production needs, from a short social cut to raw files for a post house.

What’s the difference between an aerial videographer and a drone photographer?

An aerial videographer shoots moving footage for video and film; a drone photographer captures still images for listings, marketing, or documentation. We can staff either role, or both, on the same flight.

Where can I find drone videographers near me in New York City?

We’re based in Brooklyn and fly regularly in Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, so a search for drone videographers near me in any borough should turn up a crew that’s already local, not one flying in from out of state.

Do you need special permits to fly drones in NYC?

Yes. Commercial drone work falls under FAA Part 107, and depending on the location we may also need NYPD notification or coordination for restricted airspace. Our pilots handle that as part of the booking.

How much does professional drone cinematography cost?

Pricing depends on shoot length, location, permit requirements, and gear package. We quote each job after a short call about the shot list, so contact us for a specific rate.

Pricing & Booking

Cost depends on shoot length, borough and airspace restrictions, permit needs, and whether the day calls for a single drone or a full package with Steadicam and Techno Crane. We quote each drone videography services project individually after a short call about the shot list and location.

We turn quotes around quickly and can often accommodate short-notice bookings inside the five boroughs once airspace permits are confirmed.

What Shapes Your Rate

Every quote comes from the same short call, but four factors move the number more than any others.

Flight Time & Call Time

A single 30-minute rooftop pass costs less than a full day on set with multiple call-time changes and standby hours between setups.

Camera & Rig Package

A GoPro on a lightweight rig runs lower than a RED Raptor 8K or Arri Alexa Mini LF on a Ronin 2 gimbal, and pairing the drone with a Steadicam or Techno Crane ground package adds a second crew line.

Airspace & Permit Complexity

Manhattan’s heliport and river-corridor restrictions take more planning time than the open sky over the outer boroughs, and that planning is billed the same as flight time.

Crew Size

A single pilot covers most bookings; adding a visual observer, a ground camera operator, or both raises the day rate on larger or safety-sensitive shoots.