I’ve seen this calculator but I am afraid of making expensive mistakes when picking everything myself. A kit or guide would be really helpful if they exist at this size.

I think that electric multicopters are going to have better community support and parts availability than helicopters. Gas RC stuff seems like it’s on its way out, and the energy density of gasoline isn’t that appealing to me since I don’t need a long flight time while fully loaded.

First kit says “Maximum take-off weight: approx. 1.8 kg”. I am looking for payload capacity of 5lbs: drone should be able to carry its own weight (including battery and cameras) plus 5lb. I expect that will have to be a hexacopter.

Unfortunately, hobby shops in my city seem to have either shut down or specialized into either only selling $20,000 enterprise drones or only selling drone photography services.