Best Drone Accessories Under £50 That Actually Improve

You have bought a drone, learned to fly it without crashing into a tree, and started capturing some decent footage. Now comes the question every drone pilot faces: which drone accessories are actually worth buying? The market is flooded with gadgets and add-ons, many of them unnecessary. Here are the accessories under £50 that genuinely improve your footage, and a few popular ones that are a waste of money.

Best Drone Accessories: Contents

• ND Filters: The Single Biggest Upgrade
• MicroSD Cards: Speed Matters More Than Capacity
• A Landing Pad: More Useful Than You Think
• Spare Propellers: Buy Before You Need Them
• A Tablet Mount for Your Controller
• A Decent Carrying Case
• What Not to Buy

ND Filters: The Single Biggest Upgrade

If you buy only one accessory, make it a set of ND (neutral density) filters. These are tinted glass filters that attach to your drone’s camera lens and reduce the amount of light entering the sensor. That might sound counterintuitive (why would you want less light?), but it solves a fundamental problem with drone video.

For cinematic-looking footage, you want a shutter speed roughly double your frame rate. If you are filming at 30fps, your shutter speed should be around 1/60th of a second. On a bright day, without an ND filter, your drone’s camera will use a much faster shutter speed, perhaps 1/1000th, which makes motion look sharp and jittery rather than smooth and natural.

Freewell, PGYTECH and DJI’s own ND filter sets for the Mini 4 Pro, Air 3 and Mavic 3 sit between £20 and £45 for a pack covering ND8, ND16, ND32 and ND64 strengths. That range covers everything from overcast mornings to hard midday sun. Fit them, keep your shutter roughly 2x your frame rate, and your clips instantly look more like they were shot with intent.

MicroSD Cards: Speed Matters More Than Capacity

Modern drones record high-bitrate 4K video, and a slow card will drop frames, stutter or refuse to record at all. Look for cards rated V30 or higher (V60 if your drone supports higher bitrates). A 128GB SanDisk Extreme V30 card sits around £18 on Amazon UK and is more than enough for several full flight sessions in 4K.

Avoid no-name cards from marketplace sellers. Counterfeit SD cards are disturbingly common, and a card that fails mid-flight means lost footage with no way to recover it. Stick with SanDisk, Samsung, or Lexar from reputable retailers. Our guide to the best drones for beginners covers compatible card recommendations for popular models.

A Landing Pad: More Useful Than You Think

A collapsible nylon landing pad sounds like the most boring accessory on earth, but it is genuinely useful. It keeps dust, grit and grass clippings out of your props and motors, gives you a flat take-off point on uneven ground, and marks a clear home location for auto-return. A 55cm or 75cm pad from PGYTECH or Hoodman costs £15 to £25 on Amazon UK. It packs down to the size of a paperback and you will use it on every single flight.

Spare Propellers: Buy Before You Need Them

Propellers are the single most fragile part of a drone. A stray branch, a rushed landing on gravel, or a hard knock during transport can chip or bend a prop in a way that is invisible but seriously affects flight performance. Keep a spare set in your bag at all times. DJI’s official replacement sets are £9 to £15 depending on the model.

Replace your propellers proactively every 50 to 100 flights, or immediately if you notice any nicks, chips, or warping. Always use official propellers from your drone’s manufacturer, as aftermarket props may save a few pounds but can affect flight characteristics and, in some cases, void your warranty.

A Tablet Mount for Your Controller

If you have been flying with your phone as the controller screen, upgrading to a tablet mount transforms the experience. Most drone controllers accommodate tablets up to 10 to 11 inches, and the larger screen makes framing shots dramatically easier. You can see composition details, check focus, and monitor exposure in a way that a 6.7-inch phone screen simply does not allow.

Mounts from PGYTECH, LifThor, and the DJI RC accessory range cost between £15 and £40. The key requirement is stability, because a mount that wobbles or shifts during flight is worse than no mount at all. The LifThor adjustable tablet mount (around £30) has become a favourite among DJI pilots for its secure grip and balanced weight distribution.

Pair it with a used iPad Mini or a budget Android tablet, and you have a significantly better piloting setup for well under £50 for the mount alone. For tips on what to do with the footage once you have captured it, our guide to editing drone footage on your phone covers the full workflow.

A Decent Carrying Case

If your drone did not come with a case, or came with one that barely fits the drone itself, a good carrying case is a worthwhile investment. The case needs to accommodate the drone, controller, spare batteries, your ND filter set, SD cards, and charging cables. A well-organised case means you spend less time rummaging and more time flying.

Hard-shell cases from brands like Lowepro and Nanuk offer the best protection but tend to exceed the £50 budget. For a more affordable option, semi-rigid cases from PGYTECH and DJI themselves typically cost £25 to £45 and provide adequate protection for car transport and general use. Just ensure the case has dedicated compartments rather than a single open cavity, because loose accessories rattling against your drone in transit is a bad idea.

What Not to Buy

Not every accessory is a good investment. Propeller guards are useful for indoor flying and complete beginners but add weight and reduce flight time; once you are comfortable flying, remove them. LED light kits look interesting but add weight without improving footage. Lens hoods are largely unnecessary on modern drone cameras with effective anti-flare coatings.

Signal boosters and range extenders for drone controllers are another common purchase that rarely delivers on promises. Modern drones from DJI and Autel already have transmission ranges that far exceed the legal visual line-of-sight requirement. A signal booster will not meaningfully improve your experience in normal flying conditions.

Focus your budget on ND filters, a quality SD card, and a landing pad. These three items, totalling under £50, will make a bigger difference to your footage than any amount of flashy accessories. For more on getting started with aerial photography, browse our latest DJI coverage and check DJI’s official support page for compatibility information before purchasing accessories for your specific model.