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Anyone ever use their ND256 filter?

I want to get this filter set but I do need to decide if I just was 2-5 stops only or have 2-9 stops for the extra $40. Want to know if anyone has experience with very dark ND filters.
There aren't many situations where you want to prevent 99.6% of the light getting through to the sensor.
 
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I want to get this filter set but I do need to decide if I just was 2-5 stops only or have 2-9 stops for the extra $40. Want to know if anyone has experience with very dark ND filters.
Here’s the conundrum...

ND64 (6 stops) is the darkest you’d ever need for video, HOWEVER, since that is what you’d use on bright sunny days (the best time to fly a drone) it’s probably the filter you’d use the most.

If they really wanted to make the most valuable product they would have made a 3-6 stop filter which would cover 99% of your filter needs. 2 stop filter is the least valuable of all the filters used for the lowest percentage of time and nearly unnecessary. Edit: the least valuable of the filters that actually have value. 7-9 have no value for video.
 
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Unless you really have a thing about motion blur, ND filters just create lower quality video by lowering the amount of light reaching the sensor. They have no enhancement effects at all for either color or dynamic range.
 
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Unless you really have a thing about motion blur, ND filters just create lower quality video by lowering the amount of light reaching the sensor. They have no enhancement effects at all for either color or dynamic range.
Dave is it possible for you to explain this "lower quality video" you mentioned, as I am slightly confused by this statement? There's a good chance I haven't gotten something you mentioned.

For my video captures I sometimes need anything up to 8 stops of ND reduction to be applied, so as to create good exposure levels at the shutter speeds I use, allowing me to create good shutter angles that I want depending on what is being captured with wide open apertures, like the MA2 has with it being at f/2.8. The MA2 has no ability to stop down the aperture, so a variable ND makes perfect sense to quickly fly in and change the amount of light being let in to keep good exposure levels for video.
 
Generally what happens is that the ND filter forces the ISO higher. The DJI sensors have poor performance at high ISOs. The base ISO starts out at 100, and then ramps up. Anything past 400 shows poorer color, and lots of luminance and chrominance noise.

What ISO do you end up shooting with when you force the f-stop to 2.8?
 
Generally what happens is that the ND filter forces the ISO higher. The DJI sensors have poor performance at high ISOs. The base ISO starts out at 100, and then ramps up. Anything past 400 shows poorer color, and lots of luminance and chrominance noise.

What ISO do you end up shooting with when you force the f-stop to 2.8?
I'm still confused that anyone would apply a heavier ND filter than they need to attain their shutter angle needed for whatever they are capturing so as to achieve clean video! Are you not shooting in manual mode? My ISO stays where I set it, it never changes unless I choose to do that.

On my drones, I'm almost always at ISO 100, but will go up to ISO 800 or so with no issues on my old Parrot Anafi and even the MA2 is pretty clean at that ISO from my very brief experimenting done so far with video capture on it.

There is no forcing the aperture on either the MA2 or the Anafi, they are both fixed f/2.8 apertures. On my regular video equipment I use variable ND's and stick to the base ISO's of 100, 400 or 800 for the sensors of those cameras or go up to their second ISO level of either ISO 800 or 3200, depending on the camera being used.
 
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I'm still confused that anyone would apply a heavier ND filter than they need to attain their shutter angle needed for whatever they are capturing so as to achieve clean video! Are you not shooting in manual mode? My ISO stays where I set it, it never changes unless I choose to do that.

On my drones, I'm almost always at ISO 100, but will go up to ISO 800 or so with no issues on my old Parrot Anafi and even the MA2 is pretty clean at that ISO from my very brief experimenting done so far with video capture on it.

There is no forcing the aperture on either the MA2 or the Anafi, they are both fixed f/2.8 apertures. On my regular video equipment I use variable ND's and stick to the base ISO's of 100, 400 or 800 for the sensors of those cameras or go up to their second ISO level of either ISO 800 or 3200, depending on the camera being used.

Hmmmm - I wonder if the 256 is right for snowy mountain tops, or other sunny snow/dessert scenes?

?‍♂️

Maybe the ND256 is pretty much factory fitted in Saudi Arabia ? [emoji848]?
 
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Hmmmm - I wonder if the 256 is right for snowy mountain tops, or other sunny snow/dessert scenes?

?‍♂️
For beaches here in our South Aussie Summertime, the most I have ever needed was an ND 128, so as to achieve a 1/50 shutter for 25fps (180 degree shutter angle) at ISO 100 on the Anafi (French designed drone). That was maintaining a + 1 1/3 EV so it looked right.

Maybe the ND256 is pretty much factory fitted in Saudi Arabia ? [emoji848]?
You could be on to something there! ?
 
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I have an ND-400, ND-1000, and ND-2000 I use for long exposure hyperlapse.

Couldn’t get the motion blur I need with the ND-256
It would be cool to see some of your results, if you have any up on youtube or similar.

The three times I have been able to try this at sunset for a hyperlapse it has been way too windy! Eventually the weather gods will be nice to me, allowing me to try this out too.
 
I haven't had to go higher than an 8 in full sun. Mostly just fly around with a uv filter during golden hours and haven't had problems with exposure. In my opinion you're chasing a ghost using a 1/2 sensor. On the flip side i don't have a lot of time for post processing so I'm probably "settling".
 
If you can change it.... just set exposure to time needed per frame. The see what filter you need. In bright AZ midday sun I occasionally need ND32.
 
The various segments of this Hyperlapse were taken with either a ND-1000 or a ND-2000

 
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