Thanks in advance for the help, I am looking to design or buy a drone that I can use to check stock water. A perfect design I could loose in the morning, it could fly to each location, take a picture and return back all autonomously. Range would need to be 1-2 miles. Any info would be very helpful.
Big Red
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Not sure why no one has responded but I will give you some info based on my limited knowledge and experience. I don't think there are any technical problems with doing what you want to do. If you want to do it yourself, a small model sized fixed wing drone can easily carry a camera (video or still camera) that distance and using the APM autopilot and Mission Planner you can set up the route to fly. If you want to buy something off-the-shelf to accomplish this out-o-the-box there are some options but none are inexpensive (e.g., the SenseFly eBee is probably over $10,000 but there may some others that are less expensive). I would pick an airframe that is widely used in order to take advantage of the community knowledge. For example a popular plane such as the Skywalker would work. A flying wing would have some advantages in terms of simplicity and ruggedness but may not be the best first plane to learn with. The new small flying wing from Team Black Sheep for FPV can be purchased now and is intended to be a good starter aircraft. It would need the addition of the APM to do autonomous flight. Another good option for a small flying wing would be the Foamaroo which will soon be available with a configuration that has a suspended fuselage with more flexible cargo carrying capacity. Larger wings such as the Zephyr II could be used but they are a little more difficult to launch than a smaller wing and probably more than you need.
In terms of cameras it is possible you could either use a video camera or a still camera for your application. Depends on the resolution you need for the pictures. If HD video resolution is good enough it might have the advantage that you would not need to be too precise in terms of camera triggering, in fact you could probably just run it continuously to keep it simple.
Aside from the technical issues you will need to think about the current restrictions on drone usage in your area (are you in the U.S.?). Probably no need to fly above 400 feet for this type of mission but completely autonomous flight out of line-of-sight of the aircraft without FPV is not something that is typically done. Even with FPV if you are past line-of-sight you are outside the guidelines recommended for flight in the US by hobbyists. If you are you flying over your own property at all times and stay under 400 ft altitude it is possible there would no problems but who knows what might happen these days. For example, in the U.S. FAA representatives have made contradictory statements regarding whether a farmer can fly a hobby drone over his own property to do a crop survey. They have stated that they have no issue with doing this and they have stated that this is a commercial use and is currently not allowed. What the FAA allows in the U.S. seems to be variable depending on the location and usage. There seem to be a lot of things are are not illegal that the FAA is trying to restrict at this point while they develop the actual regulations.
Anyway, I hope this provides some info and maybe others with more experience and knowledge will add to this.