Anyone has seen VARIABLE ND filters for the Zoom?

digiteye · Oct 2, 2018

For the life of me I don't understand why no company comes up with variable ND filter for the Zoom. Some products are available for the Air and Phantom but nothing for the Zoom. As if the manufacturers had no clue what the market needs. It's the easiest thing to make. Just two polar filters on each other, with the outside one can be turned. Done.

Just imagine, you have a variable nd filter that you only have to install once then you can tweak it until you get your right shutter speed... Now if you have not chosen the correct filter, have unscrew, screw in another one, check... Bloody boring.

Variable ND, anyone? Thx

msinger · Oct 2, 2018

I doubt we'll see them since they would likley negatively affect the gimbal due to the extra weight.

digiteye · Oct 2, 2018

msinger said:
I doubt we'll see them since they would likley negatively affect the gimbal due to the extra weight.

I don't think it gives such an additional weight to it. If the Air can handle that, why the Zoom could not?

msinger · Oct 2, 2018

It wouldn't be too much weight for the aircraft. The problem is the gimbal is designed to hold the weight of the stock filter.

Kilrah · Oct 2, 2018

The zoom is brand new, most accessory companies take a few months to come up with their products.

supergimp · Oct 2, 2018

I have no idea of how it would work on any of the specific Mavic cameras, but if you have ever tried using a Vari-ND filter on a wide angle conventional camera you'll notice that at certain ND levels the interference pattern (Vari-ND filters are essentially two polarized filters that interfere with each other as you change their relative angle) appears as a grid pattern. This is usually only apparent at wide angles. When I'm doing conventional landscape photography, Variable ND filters become problematic around 24mm (on a FF sensor). Of course this is dependent on the lighting conditions, etc.

Again, without a Vari-ND filter to test with the actual camera in question, I don't know if it would be affected or not, but this may be why we don't see their popularity on drones as they generally have wide-angle lenses.

Just a theory until someone tries it or actually does the physics.

Cometman · Oct 2, 2018

Sounds like you are asking about polarizing ND filters. They are adjustable and are already available from various dealers.

supergimp · Oct 2, 2018

Cometman said:
Sounds like you are asking about polarizing ND filters. They are adjustable and are already available from various dealers.

Not the same thing.

There are variable ND filters that are common in other types of photography. These are not polarizing filters per se, but use polarized elements to adjust the ND strength. With two oppositely polarized elements, when they coincide there is no (or little) light loss and when they are completely opposite they offer full (or very high) light blockage. Thus instead of buying a set of ND4, ND8, ND16 etc a single filter can be adjusted to suit all conditions by rotating one element relative to the other.

Here are some variable ND filters for conventional camera lenses: Variable ND Filters | B&H Photo Video

They are different than both single ND filters and polarizing filters (with or without ND).

digiteye · Oct 3, 2018

Cometman said:
Sounds like you are asking about polarizing ND filters. They are adjustable and are already available from various dealers.

No no. That's a whole different story. Variable nd filters darken by turning them around. Therefore you only have to screw the filter on and then just adjust it before flight. You are right that they have something in common with the polar filters, they are actually two polar filters over each other. By turning this is how they block or release the light.

digiteye · Oct 3, 2018

Kilrah said:
The zoom is brand new, most accessory companies take a few months to come up with their products.

Isn't that ridiculous? The Zoom cannot be used properly without filter. Auto settings give weird stuttering and what not. I live in Thailand and no shop has any filter since the launch, the official dji dealer included. There are many makes available for quite some time - in China. That's where I ordered a set from. But no variable

jwt873 · Oct 3, 2018

Weight -might- be a problem with the rotating style filter. It requires two polarized elements and a thicker ring to both hold them. It would seem that the rotating filter would be almost twice as heavy as a common ND filter.

I guess, we'd have to know how much more weight the gimbal can hold in order to be sure the rotating filter would work properly.

digiteye · Oct 3, 2018

jwt873 said:
Weight -might- be a problem with the rotating style filter. It requires two polarized elements and a thicker ring to both hold them. It would seem that the rotating filter would be almost twice as heavy as a common ND filter.

I guess, we'd have to know how much more weight the gimbal can hold in order to be sure the rotating filter would work properly.

Funny thing is that rotating filters are available for the Zoom, all ND polarizing filters rotate. Only one more tiny layer of glass is needed which does not have a lot of weight....

Eugenious99 · Oct 9, 2018

i got mine from PGYTECH , 4 pc polarized 8 16 32 64

fstop.labs · Oct 10, 2018

We have zoom lens filters as well: https://www.amazon.com/Filters-Mavi...UTF8&sr=1-3&keywords=mavic+2+zoom+lens+filter

Have some review units if anyone is interested!

mavic24theclouds · Oct 10, 2018

fstop.labs said:
We have zoom lens filters as well: https://www.amazon.com/Filters-Mavi...UTF8&sr=1-3&keywords=mavic+2+zoom+lens+filter

Have some review units if anyone is interested!

I actually just bought these

but only got my mavic 2 last night hope try them soon, i also have ur nd32 n64 combination on the way from amazon. They seem pretty decent quality, screw on easy, just wish that pack of yours included atleast n32 aswell instead of having buy them separatelyfor just n32 nd64. Where i live in South africa most days arensunny and require n32. Why did f-stop spilt them into this combination?

fstop.labs · Oct 10, 2018

mavic24theclouds said:
I actually just bought these but only got my mavic 2 last night hope try them soon, i also have ur nd32 n64 combination on the way from amazon. They seem pretty decent quality, screw on easy, just wish that pack of yours included atleast n32 aswell instead of having buy them separatelyfor just n32 nd64. Where i live in South africa most days arensunny and require n32. Why did f-stop spilt them into this combination?

These were the most popular we found

Though, ND8,4,16 is pretty popular as well!