Queenstown Skydive Photo And Video Packages Compared

For the wider picture on jump choices, start with the parent guide to Queenstown tandem skydive options.

What Photo And Video Packages Can You Buy For A Queenstown Skydive?

Both operators in this region sell three photo and video packages as add-ons to a tandem skydive: a wrist-mounted camera operated by your tandem master, a dedicated camera flyer who jumps alongside you, and a combined package that uses both at once. None of the packages is included in any tour price, and none can replace a booking: you buy the jump first and the media second, almost always at check-in on the day of the jump. If you were hoping to skip the add-on cost by filming the jump yourself, the breakdown of Queenstown's rules on personal phones and cameras explains why that is not an option on a tandem skydive.

The wrist-camera option is the simplest. Your tandem master wears a camera on the wrist and films the whole sequence: the ground preparation, the flight to altitude, the exit, freefall, the canopy ride and the landing. Because the tandem master is filming while flying, the angles are close and personal, and the package covers parts of the day a separate camera flyer cannot reach, especially the aircraft and the landing.

The dedicated camera-flyer option puts a second person in the sky with you. A professional flyer exits the aircraft at the same moment and films your freefall from a distance, which produces the wide, dramatic shots people associate with skydiving media. It is also the scarcer product: both operators say availability is limited on the day and it cannot be guaranteed in advance for every jump.

The combined packages, NZONE's Ultimate Combo and Skydive Wanaka's Ultimate, pair the wrist camera with the camera flyer for the fullest coverage. At both operators this is the most expensive add-on at NZD 395, and at both it depends on a camera flyer being available for your load. If you want help weighing the underlying jump, our skydive Queenstown price guide breaks down the tour fares on their own.

It helps to understand what each camera position physically sees. The wrist camera is inside the frame of the jump: it looks back at your face during exit, rattles through freefall inches from your harness, then swings up to catch the canopy opening and your legs on landing. It tells the story from your point of view. The camera flyer works outside the frame, holding position beside you in the airflow, which means the footage shows the whole tandem pair against the landscape and the drop below. Neither position can do the other's job, which is exactly why a combined tier exists.

A practical note on ordering: because the media decision lands at the drop zone, it pays to have thought it through before you travel. Arriving undecided, with a queue at check-in and a bus to catch, is how people either overspend on the top tier out of excitement or wave the media desk away and regret it later. Pick your ceiling before the morning of the jump and the whole step takes a minute.

How Much Do NZONE Skydive Photo And Video Packages Cost?

NZONE Skydive's photo and video prices, in the operator's own NZD figures including GST, are NZD 220 for Handicam, NZD 333 for Freefall and NZD 395 for Ultimate Combo. Handicam gives you a wrist-mounted camera flown by your tandem master plus an edited HD video and 40+ digital photos; Freefall adds a dedicated camera flyer with the same 40+ photo output; Ultimate Combo combines both. All three are paid at check-in, not in your tour fare.

NZONE's own photo and video packages page spells out what each option captures. Handicam covers the ground interview, the flight, the exit, freefall, the canopy ride and the landing, delivered as an edited HD video and more than forty digital photos through a private website. Freefall replaces the wrist camera with a dedicated flyer who jumps with you and films the freefall from outside, again with 40+ photos and an edited video. Ultimate Combo merges the two camera positions into one package.

Two practical limits matter here. NZONE says its Freefall and Ultimate Combo products cannot be pre-booked: they are bought on the day and depend on a camera flyer being free for your flight. And only one person can be filmed in freefall at a time, so a group of friends cannot all buy freefall filming on the same jump load.

Remember the add-on sits on top of the jump itself. NZONE Skydive is the most reviewed tour covered here, rated 4.7 across 1,479 reviews, from USD 215.27 for the 9,000 ft entry jump, with a courtesy coach from the NZONE Skydive Centre at 35 Shotover Street out to the drop zone at Drift Bay on Lake Wakatipu. The NZONE prices page carries the operator's current altitude fares alongside the media packages.

The price ladder also rewards a little honesty with yourself. The step from the wrist tier to the flyer tier is NZD 113 more; the step from the flyer tier to the combined tier is NZD 62 more. If you already know you will want to show people the jump, the combined tier buys both angles in one purchase, which is cheaper than any attempt to revisit the day later.

How Do Skydive Wanaka's Photo Packages Compare?

Skydive Wanaka mirrors the same three tiers at the same NZD price points: Essential from NZD 220, Freefall Photos And Video from NZD 333 and Ultimate from NZD 395, all including GST. Essential is a wrist camera flown by your tandem master with 100+ photos listed, Freefall Photos And Video uses a dedicated camera flyer, and Ultimate combines both. One useful difference: Skydive Wanaka's Essential package can be pre-booked, with a refund if the operator cannot provide it.

The details come from the operator's own photos and video page. Essential pairs a wrist camera with your tandem master and lists more than a hundred photos plus video through the operator's website. Freefall Photos And Video adds the dedicated flyer for outside freefall footage and, like NZONE's equivalent, cannot be pre-booked because a flyer has to be available for your specific load. Ultimate combines flyer and wrist camera.

One caution applies to the Wanaka Ultimate package specifically: the operator's page gives conflicting photo counts for it in different sections, so treat the photo quantity as something to confirm on the day rather than a number to rely on here. The prices themselves, NZD 220, 333 and 395, are consistent across the operator's pages.

Skydive Wanaka also notes a saving for pre-booking its media online rather than paying at the drop zone, worth asking about when you book the jump. If you are weighing the Wanaka drop zone generally, the skydive Wanaka guide covers the airport base and the farm landing in detail.

The scenery argument matters for media choices here more than at most drop zones. Skydive Wanaka jumps from Wanaka Airport and lands at a private farm nearby, with Mount Aspiring and Lake Wanaka in the frame on clear days, and outside freefall footage is where that landscape actually registers: a wrist camera pointed at your face captures your expression, not the range behind you. If the landscape is the reason you chose the region, that is the strongest case for the flyer tier.

The pre-bookable Essential tier deserves a second look for cautious planners. It is the only media product at either operator that the operator says can be reserved ahead, and it carries a refund promise if the operator cannot provide it. For anyone who wants a base level of coverage arranged before they fly to New Zealand, that may be worth having, and the flyer tiers can still be added at the drop zone if a camera flyer happens to be free.

The media packages attach to whichever Wanaka product you book. 3-Hour Wanaka Skydive, rated 4.8 across 295 reviews, from USD 210.16, meets at Wanaka Airport with a shuttle pickup from the Wanaka i-SITE at 103 Ardmore Street selected at booking. Wanaka Skydive, Transfers Included, from USD 221.25, adds a Queenstown return transfer of about 1.5 hours each way on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with a duration of up to 6 hours; its 4.7 rating rests on only 3 reviews, so judge it on its inclusions rather than its score. The operator's prices and packages page shows both fares.

Which Photo Package Should You Choose For Your Jump?

Choose the wrist-camera package at NZD 220 if you want the whole story of the day on a budget, and the camera-flyer package at NZD 333 if you want the dramatic outside freefall footage that wrist cameras cannot capture. The combined NZD 395 packages suit people for whom this is likely a once-only jump and who want maximum coverage. Availability decides more than preference: flyer products depend on who is free on your load.

The honest way to pick is to ask what you will actually rewatch. Wrist-camera footage is intimate and steady, filmed close to your face through exit and freefall, and it captures the aircraft, the interview and the landing. What it cannot give you is scale: a camera mounted on your tandem master's wrist never shows your whole body against the mountains. Outside freefall footage from a dedicated flyer does exactly that, which is why it is the footage that ends up shared.

Budget groups should note the one-in-freefall rule again: only one person can be filmed in freefall at a time, so if two friends both want flyer footage they will need separate jump loads, or one takes the wrist package instead.

There is a family angle too. Both operators accept jumpers from age 6, with children 12 and under limited to the 9,000 ft jump and every child assessed on the day by the Tandem Master. For a child's jump, the wrist-camera package is usually the better buy: the close footage of a young face at exit and under canopy tends to matter more to families than wide landscape shots, and it is the cheapest tier. Parents should also know that under-18 jumpers need written parental or guardian consent, with a parent or guardian present at the drop zone or consent documents arranged in advance.

If the underlying decision is still open, the Queenstown or Wanaka comparison works through the drop zone choice, which determines whose media packages you will be offered on the day.

Can You Bring Your Own Camera On A Tandem Skydive?

No. Both operators ban personal cameras and smart glasses on the jump as a safety requirement, citing the same industry rule, so an add-on package is the only way to film your skydive. Phones, action cameras, mounts and smart glasses all stay on the ground. The operator supplies a jumpsuit, gloves, hat and goggles, and the goggles fit over ordinary glasses, but nothing that could come loose in freefall is allowed on your body.

The reason is simple physics rather than bureaucracy. In freefall, a loose object becomes a projectile, and anything strapped to a passenger's body can interfere with the harness, the handles or the tandem master's work during exit and deployment. The rule the operators cite comes from the New Zealand Parachute Industry Association, and both NZONE and Skydive Wanaka apply it identically.

This is why the add-on market exists at all. Because you cannot film your own jump, the wrist camera and the camera flyer are the only two ways the moment gets recorded, and both are operated by crew who are trained to carry cameras in the sky. Your phone can still come to the drop zone for before-and-after shots on the ground, and friends can film the landing from wherever the operator allows spectators, though Skydive Wanaka notes there is no safe spectator viewing at its farm landing zone, with family welcome at the airport base instead.

Wear glasses or contacts? Neither blocks a media purchase. The goggles both operators provide fit over ordinary glasses, and contacts are fine, so the camera packages work exactly the same for spectacle wearers. What you cannot do is mount anything of your own: cameras and smart glasses are not allowed on the jump, a rule both operators tie to NZPIA safety requirements.

When Do You Pay For Photos And When Do You Get Them?

You pay for photo and video packages at check-in on the day of your jump, separately from the tour fare you booked, with one exception: Skydive Wanaka says its Essential package can be pre-booked online with a refund if the operator cannot provide it. NZONE endeavours to deliver edited media within 24 hours through a private website. Copyright in the footage stays with the videographer and is licensed for private use, not commercial use.

The check-in flow matters for planning. Because flyer products cannot be reserved, the decision about the NZD 333 and NZD 395 tiers is made at the drop zone, when the crew knows whether a camera flyer is available for your load. Arrive with a sense of your ceiling spend so the choice is quick. Skydive Wanaka also notes its wrist-camera Essential tier can be pre-booked, which at least secures the baseline coverage before you travel.

Delivery is digital. NZONE's packages deliver an edited HD video and photos through a private website, and the operator's terms say delivery is endeavoured within 24 hours of the jump. The same terms keep copyright with the videographer: you buy the right to enjoy and share the footage privately, not to use it commercially. Ask at check-in how the files are handed over if you want them on your own device.

Payment method is worth a moment of thought. NZONE's terms note a card surcharge on some payment channels at the drop zone, so anyone paying for a media package by card on the day should expect small processing costs on top of the package price. It is a minor line item, but it belongs in an honest budget alongside the package itself.

Weather also touches media, because it touches the jump itself. Every skydive here needs favourable weather; if a jump is cancelled, the operator rebooks you and refunds in full only when no other date works. The full picture is in the Queenstown skydive weather guide.

A rebooking scenario is worth rehearsing. Anyone set on outside freefall footage should say so at check-in and ask which loads still have a flyer free, rather than assuming the first slot offered carries every option.

What Mistakes Trip People Up With Skydive Photos And Video?

The recurring mistakes are assuming media is included in the tour price, expecting to pre-book camera-flyer footage, counting on a photo total for Wanaka's Ultimate package that the operator's own page states inconsistently, and planning group filming without knowing only one person can be filmed in freefall at a time. Each is avoidable with one decision made at check-in and one question asked before the day.

First, budget the add-on from the start. The tour fares here run from USD 210.16 to USD 221.25 for the 9,000 ft entry jump, and a NZD 220 to 395 media package is a real addition to that, not a rounding error. Decide your ceiling before you travel.

Second, do not promise yourself flyer footage. Both operators restrict the dedicated camera-flyer tiers to same-day availability. If the flyer is taken, the wrist camera is the floor, and it is a good one: it covers the exit, the freefall and the landing in a single unbroken sequence.

Third, handle the Wanaka Ultimate photo count with care. The operator's page gives different figures for it in different places, so confirm what you are getting at check-in rather than relying on a number read online. And fourth, remember delivery is digital and copyright stays with the videographer for private use. Anyone planning commercial use of the footage needs to raise that with the operator directly.

A fifth mistake deserves its own line: forgetting photo ID. NZONE's terms require government-issued photo identification from everyone on arrival at the drop zone, and a morning spent arguing identification at check-in is a morning that rushes the media decision. Pack the ID with your enclosed tie-up shoes the night before, and the whole check-in, media choice included, runs to plan.

If the whole day is still being planned, the Queenstown skydive day plan guide sequences check-in, the jump and the rest of the day so the media stop fits naturally.

Whether the jump happens at Drift Bay over Lake Wakatipu with NZONE, or at Wanaka Airport under Mount Aspiring with Skydive Wanaka, the media offer is the same three-tier structure, so the drop zone choice can be made on scenery and logistics while the photo decision stays open until the day. That flexibility is the quiet advantage of the add-on model: nothing about your media spend needs to be final until you are standing at the drop zone, weather checked, ID shown, and the load list on the wall tells you whether a camera flyer is free.

Common Questions About Skydive Photo And Video Packages