Drone photo and video in Okinawa costs $470 for 30 minutes: 15 edited aerial photos and a 30-second film within seven days. We fly one spot on the northern coast — the Kouri Bridge or the reef edges off Sesoko and Motobu — after checking every take-off point against the US-base, airport and densely-inhabited-district maps; a second spot is added with an extra hour.
Why here
Okinawa is one of the two places on our list where drones are genuinely practical, but it is also where most US military facilities in Japan sit and where Naha Airport, shared with the Air Self-Defense Force, controls the airspace around the capital. So the flying is planned on the map first, and the coast that works is the north, from Onna up to Kouri.
How the shoot is planned
A typical 30 minutes: a late-morning flight from a cleared spot near Kouri, following the bridge from the side over open water rather than above its traffic, then a climb to show the island and the colour bands of the reef, and a last low pass along the waterline. With an extra hour we move on to Sesoko, where the drone shows the white beach and the Sesoko Bridge back to Motobu. The footage is cut into a 30-second film and 15 stills.
The colour of the water depends on high sun, so the main flight is between about 10:00 and 13:00, when beaches are also busiest — we choose angles and moments with no swimmers below. The trade wind often strengthens in the afternoon. April to June and October to November are the most reliable months; from July to October a typhoon can ground everything for days, so we hold a back-up date.
What’s included
In the package
Fees and permits on the route
Inspiration
Frames by photographers on Unsplash, credited below — the mood to plan your own shoot against, not our portfolio.
Photos: Aaron Burden, Nic Y-C, Ken Cheung, Lukáš Vaňátko, Vania Medina on Unsplash
Before you book
$470 for 30 minutes of flying, 15 edited aerial photos and a 30-second film within seven days. The site checks, landowner consent and any MLIT application are included; the drive north from Naha is quoted if you need us to come from there.
No. Central Naha is a densely inhabited district under the approach to Naha Airport, and Shuri Castle Park does not allow drones. We film Naha from the ground and keep the drone for the northern coast.
Not over strangers. Flying within 30 m of people who are not part of the shoot needs MLIT approval, and we do not fly over swimmers at all. On a busy summer day that means low-angle passes over empty water and an earlier start.
Same shoot elsewhere
Other shoots here
Next step
The service and place are already filled in. We reply within 2 hours, 9:00–21:00 Japan time; no deposit required to enquire.
