First, the thing is, that 4 pound quad might not be a drone, it might be a radio controlled aircraft, and it may not be subject to much regulation at all.
Except the FAA's most recent published position on this is that ALL radio controlled flying machines are the same. They make no distinction between a hobbyist's 4-pounder and a much larger machine. This is why large organizations populated by mostly hobbyists are currently freaking out - because the FAA is gearing up to ban their events, meets, contests, etc. It's not about "drone"-ness, it's about "it flies in the air, period." Other government entities, like the Department of the Interior and all of their sub-departments, also lump them together. That's why you're no longer allowed to operate ANY sort of RC device on any of the millions of acres, ten thousand miles of coastline and river boundaries, etc., that fall under the administration of that agency. They don't care if you're getting paid or if you have a camera or downlink - it's just about whether you're flying something by remote control, period. The FAA's current position would prevent any hobby store from testing a 1-pound palm-sized quad in their parking lot, or prevent hundreds of decades-old model clubs from ever again holding contests where you might, say, win a free radio. No professionals will be allowed to demonstrate new products at events, no kids will be allowed to be sponsored as they fly RC. Why? Because like you, they can't draw any sort of rational distinction between that sort of "commerce" and FedEx flying an RC 747 at 30,000 feet.
If you go out and buy your own aircraft and take pictures of your own field, the idea is that you have enough skin in the game to be willing to assess the risks and should have enough knowledge to be able to do so.
No, the FAA says that if you're a farmer, you can't do that - it's commerce. Flying over your own soybean field to look for dry spots is using an RC aircraft to help your farm business. You now owe $10,000 or worse. But if your friend asks if he can fly the exact same device in exactly the same way, and wants to use your bean field as a place to goof around - that's OK. And you're saying that's OK because the hobby guy has "more skin in the game" than the farmer does? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?
If it is your own aircraft and you're flying it, hopefully you have enough personally invested that you care that you're safe.
So, if two guys who OWN THEIR OWN DEVICES are flying right next to each other in exactly the same way, with exactly the same risks to their identical devices as they fly with exactly the same level of experience, you're saying that the guy who happens to be helping out the farmer for a small fee is the more dangerous one, and the hobbyist is by definition safer? Or better yet, what about ONE guy who flies a lap around a stock pond just for fun (hey, it's a hobby!), and then ten minutes later makes exactly the same flight while allowing the pond's owner to look over his shoulder at a high-def downlink display so he can see where the algae is blooming and pay $15 for that useful information - the EXACT SAME GUY FLYING THE EXACT SAME RIG MINUTES LATER - that that guy should be free and clear at 12:15 PM, but at 12:25, when the farmer is looking over his shoulder with a $20 bill in hand, he should be subject to a $10,000 fine? Yes or no, please. The FAA has already said yes - that the 12:25 flight is more dangerous and should be subject to life-altering financial damages, while the 12:15 flight is just fine, and that's because the 12:25 flight is inherently more risky because ... well, they never actually explain that part, because they can't.
They won't say what differentiates those two flights - in terms of equipment, practices, safety, risk, experience, or anything else - but perhaps you have the secret knowledge. When does the 12:25 risk begin? As the operator checks the props? Is that when he's a poorer judge of the status of his equipment than he was ten minutes earlier? Is it the extra 10 minutes of age on the batteries he's using? Is it because the sun is at a different angle? Is it because he can't concentrate with the farmer looking over his shoulder, but he CAN concentrate when a friendly fellow RC enthusiast does the exact same thing and it's all for fun? When, specifically, does the 12:25 flight become the risk that the 12:15 wasn't?
Yes, it's a rhetorical question. Because you're not being honest about your actual agenda. You want the feds to come down hard on the would-be commercial operators as round one, and to ban hobbyists from using equipment they've already been enjoying for years, which they use in EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, because that's what really pisses you off - people having fun with things that fly without having to go through the expensive hoops you had to jump through to operate the gear you operate. I'll bet that the local AMA clubs flying 500mm toy helicopters have been getting under your skin for years. And, of course, you don't want smaller, safer-than-you competition able to do things like aerial real estate photography from the far more useful altitude/perspective of tree-top-level flying. At least be honest about it.