If my statement was not clear, I used the ND16 and ND32 almost all the time in Hawaii - I did not mean to imply I only used the ND32. I also specifically recall one overcast day at a waterfall on Kauai that I used an ND8, but most days were ND16 or ND32. This was also for the Mavic Air which has a fixed F2.8 aperture, and you have an extra stop to play with on the MP2 without image quality penalty. This was for video. For stills you are fine with no ND filter, but what I find is that after I shoot my video I grab a few stills, so I have no choice but to take photos with the ND filters on which is sometimes not ideal due to slower shutter speeds.
Best set of ND filter right now ? Should we wait ?
- Thread starter kraft2000
- Start date
If my statement was not clear, I used the ND16 and ND32 almost all the time in Hawaii - I did not mean to imply I only used the ND32. I also specifically recall one overcast day at a waterfall on Kauai that I used an ND8, but most days were ND16 or ND32. This was also for the Mavic Air which has a fixed F2.8 aperture, and you have an extra stop to play with on the MP2 without image quality penalty. This was for video. For stills you are fine with no ND filter, but what I find is that after I shoot my video I grab a few stills, so I have no choice but to take photos with the ND filters on which is sometimes not ideal due to slower shutter speeds.
Thanks a lot for that info. And thanks for the welcome.
Here are some of my drone pictures that I took that would have been better with a ND filter.
On this my epic road trip July 2018.
Road Trip with some drone pictures...
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kilomikebravo
Well-Known Member
If that’s true, I think a moderator might be needed. For anyone to resort to tactics like that just to hurt sales of a competitor, is pretty **** despicable. My humble opinion of course.
KB
considering he crapped on polar pro as well he would be a horrible person hurting his own company lol.
I assure you, it couldn't be further from the truth. Its gorssly unprofessional for a company to accuse someone of something like that, especially with zero evidence. Literally all I have ever done is ask them questions regarding images they posted themselves (of which I was happy to re-post for full transparency), and asked them to back up product claims they themselves made with objective data - neither of which they ever provided. At this point it's obvious they don't want to answer the questions publicly so they are now accusing me of being employed by their competitor haha - honestly it's all quite ridiculous. Further, I could not be more brand agnostic. I have so many different brands of things that people normally argue over that I would have trouble counting them all
I buy what works best for me based on my own personal criteria and that is the end of it. If Skyreat wanted to send me some filters to change my mind so I could test them to the best of my ability and post objective results, I would be more than happy to do so, but it appears they only send review samples when they already know the outcome 
If there is something you may want the moderators to review, perhaps they should look into accessory companies (not sure if they are a sponsor or not) making offensive and baseless claims about forum members.
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Those photos actually would not have been helped by an ND filter - they are simply overexposed, and a ND filter does not protect against overexposure unless you cannot (or don't want to) adjust other parts of the exposure triangle (ISO, Aperture, shutter speed).
In most of your images you have very bright areas and very dark areas - camera can only expose for one or the other. When the drone tries to balance the exposure for the whole scene, it won't be perfect (same as with any camera).
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Thanks a lot for that info. And thanks for the welcome.
Here are some of my drone pictures that I took that would have been better with a ND filter.
On this my epic road trip July 2018.
Road Trip with some drone pictures...
View attachment 47936
View attachment 47937
View attachment 47938
Having lived in AZ you'd definitely need a 64 ND filter or above to stop the overexposure depending on the settings you have (ISO 100, 60 shutter speed). With photos you can adjust shutter speed to counter act the overexposure, you can't do that with video without it looking weird.
Trees138
Well-Known Member
but it appears they only send review samples when they already know the outcome
I don't know about that... that's a little sensationalist as well.
I was sent review samples and in no way do I have a relationship with them, nor were there any stipulations put on what my review needed to be. I've already been critical of design flaws, and I'm legitimately testing (to the best of my ability) performance characteristics that I'd wager most will not. I will post the results no matter what they are.
That bias is just not there.
And for what it's worth, Skyreat was not the only company to offer review samples to me, and I had only been a member of this forum and a drone owner for a week or so at that point.
Hmmm, I am really confused when you say this because the person after you says ND filters could help the overexposure. Plus, I am willing to change some settings to help also. So, I would expect ND filters with changing settings to make those pictures better. Those pictures were on a very bright and hot day. the sun was up with glaring rays.
That is what I thought. I was thinking ND filters would definitely help. But now, I just do not know what filters to buy. Based on what I had seen here, I was thinking I would gladly like to buy ND8, ND16 and ND32. Butr now you mention ND64 would be better used in those situations.
Sadly all the companies selling ND filters do not allow us to buy individually. So, one could ask for exactly what one needs. That is buy only 1, 2, 3 or 4 of exactly what they want.
Like one could order ND16, ND64 and ND1000. But it seems no company out there allows us to custmize like that. Or is there a company that can allow us mix and match whatever we want to order?
Polar pro allows you to buy individually (idk about the other companies). But I purchased a 32 ND from them for my MP2 (shipped out over weekend so haven't tested filter yet).
If you live in the south west I'd suggest you atleast get a 64ND
If you live in the south west I'd suggest you atleast get a 64ND
Trees138
Well-Known Member
Polar Pro lets you make custom sets. That's what I've ordered from them.
Mavic 2 | Custom Filter Sets
Mavic 2 | Custom Filter Sets
I was hoping some of these my pictures can definitely be improved with ND filters and tweaking some settings...
Here is a link to more of the pictures...
More drone pictures on route 66 in Arizona
Here is a link to more of the pictures...
More drone pictures on route 66 in Arizona
They are not edited at all. I have never thought of taking them RAW nor have I thought of using ligtroom. I will look into that.
I am anxiously waiting for my M2Pro to get here. I will start a thread for my drone and pictures to keep track of all and to get advice from here. I have bought a few accessories already. But will definitely start a new thread dedicated to my drone only when I get it. I like to keep an organized track of my cars and would love to do same for my drone and pictures.
Trees138
Well-Known Member
I'd agree with this, especially with stills, you'll get more results dollar for dollar out of shooting raw and editing in lightroom or something like it.
With video, you're more at the mercy of getting the shutter speed right in the first place, depending on the situation.
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If you aren't taking these shots in RAW and then doing post processing you are essentially wasting your time and not seeing the full picture. I can guarantee you almost every picture you have seen out of a drone is edited in some form even if its the tiniest edit. you MUST do post processing.
Just my personal opinion...
1) I have not tried them all but I bought Polar Pros. They have the reputation and products I was after at a reasonable price with a good warranty and their staff answered my questions rather than accusing me of being an undercover agent for the competition (LOL). I'm sure there are some other similar filters out there but that was the safest bet for me at the time and I have been very happy thus far aside from the fact that for the Mavic Air they have their ND kits precisely set up so that you need to buy two of them to cover the most common scenarios (not uncommon but annoying nonetheless). They do offer custom kits from their store directly, but as a Canadian that is less convenient. My view is that filters (even Polars) are so cheap relative to the cost of the drone and so important to image quality that there is no point cheaping out. I have the same opinion of memory cards. YMMV.
2) It completely depends on your personal usage and the conditions you shoot in. If you live/fly somewhere that is always overcast, you will probably use the ND8 the most. If you live somewhere sunny or tropical, you will probably use ND16 and ND32 the most. If you fly a lot at dawn/dusk you will want a ND4 and if you fly a lot over snow you might want a ND64. Given that the MP2 has a variable aperture you have even more flexibility to combine with various ND filters (note that after F4 image quality will begin to degrade slightly at first and then very significantly as you approach F11).
In my opinion an ideal kit is the ND8, ND16, ND32, ND16PL, ND32PL - that can easily be different depending on what you shoot. I never shoot at dawn/dusk for example.
I think I edited my post for clarity too slowly and you replied too fast
Assuming you cannot or do not want to change any other part of the exposure triangle (ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture), ND filters are the answer. Because most people shoot video in manual with fixed settings (base ISO, wide or fixed aperture, and 1/60 shutter or double the frame rate), ND filters allow you to correct the exposure relative to how bright it is. For a normal photo that which you are not trying to intentionally slow the shutter down below what native settings would allow (i.e. for a tripod waterfall shot or something), there is no real reason to use one on the drone. For the photos you posted, a ND filter would not have helped because simply increasing the shutter speed would have had no negative effect on the image and it would have allowed for a reduced exposure.
Either...
Either...I literally just put my drone away and used both. I think the ND16 is going to ride on my drone for the most part. I dropped the ND32 on to check it out but I had to run down to 2.8 and the sweet spot is around 5ish. It's 4 pm and partly cloudy. I think around noon on a sunny day, the ND32 would be perfect. So, I'd carry both.
Either...I literally just put my drone away and used both. I think the ND16 is going to ride on my drone for the most part. I dropped the ND32 on to check it out but I had to run down to 2.8 and the sweet spot is around 5ish. It's 4 pm and partly cloudy. I think around noon on a sunny day, the ND32 would be perfect. So, I'd carry both.
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