You're coming to the party quite late. I'm member of the Guild of Camera Professionals (GTC) and we have lots of members operating drones for film, TV and broadcast. DJI are in the mainly domestic customer market, and while for ease and speed many pro's do run them, most of us eventually go upmarket mainly because of image quality. Larger sensor sizes are becoming important, with 4K standards, and the smaller drones have what is really a GoPro style camera on it, and these don't hold up in the serious quality stakes.
DJI are also trying very hard to make drone operation safer and less problematic. There are rules of course, that everyone in the UK should follow. DJI, for example, have software that prevents your altitude exceeding a limit they control - get up to 400 feet and all of a sudden you get a message saying maximum height has been reached. The DJI systems also occasionally insist you answer legal questions before you take off, AND the drone keeps a record of where, when, speed, height and even warning messages provided to you, so if you drop drugs into a prison, and the drone is captured, they know all your history. Cheap Chinese drones do not have these restriction. DJI will also prevent you taking off if you are in a known restricted area.
Move up to a 6 or 8 rotor drone and the restrictions are totally in the pilots control.
At many thousands of pounds, this probably makes sense. If you fly for business you will also need to go on a CAA training course, and get approved, and your name added to a register. You cannot work for any of the broadcasters, or now many larger commercial entities without this certification. You can fly for fun with no licence requirements. For business there is also quite serious paperwork for each flight - exactly like flying a real aircraft. You must have a flight plan and full documentation and a log book. The training and test is very similar to some of the components of the PPL spec.
Purely on a business perspective while rates are very high for aerial footage - used so much now in news and TV, rates are not high enough to make you rich quick. Most drone work is carried out by camera people. A few firms specialise in aerial work for commercial use - estate agents, safety inspections, and of course the Police and Fire services now operate drones.
You can spend £600 on a DJI or ten grand on an octocopter, but still end up spending two or three grand on your training, to then get into a fight with the local hobby people who have NOT done the training, but nicked your work!
My own drone use is now occasional hobby flying - not because of the cost, but because when I did the events organised by the organisation I am a member of, it was quickly evident I am totally rubbish at producing decent footage. I've had two very, very close near miss collisions with fixed things like wind turbines and tall industrial structures, and I've realised it's not for me. Quite a few of my colleagues have the knack of producing really good images. Locally, our fire brigade just lost a five grand drone when they crashed it.
Drone flying is established. Most existing operators have already got the clients. It's saturated with very good firms all with specialisms, very few generic we do everything operators.
The article you read was written by an idiot. Too late to the party, and worse still, the idiots are going to bring in new restrictive legislation very quickly with all the stupid activity. Most £500 DJI owners who want to use them for business soon, buy a new one, and a new one, and a new one every six months or so - and a price point of around two grand is more typical of the pro operators, with a very short lifespan. The DJIs are often used as disposable drones. If you break them (which is normal) you throw them away and buy another. I'm on my second one, and I do NOT fly for business. In fact, my equipment makes more money by being hired by the two local guys as a second or spare drone. Flying the damn things is not, and never will be, a cash cow.
