Best Set of PolarPro Filters?

[JoColon]

I have been researching what the best combo/set of PolarPro filters are. I want to but the $250.00 combo but i dont know if that is in my budget, can someone please help me find a good combo of polarpro filters

 

[ShermanFlyer]

I would suggest that it depends on what you are trying achieve with the filters.
My first set were ND 4,8,16 They made great improvements to my video footage. Also enabled some good long exposure shots (Mavic Air)
I then went on to buy 32,64,128,256 and 1000 and have yet to use any of them.
So I would start small and go from there.
I am new to this, I”m sure some more experienced folks will chime in

 

[zocalo]

For video the best practice is to try and get a shutter speed of twice your frame rate to minimise jerkiness and enable the use of the camera at its sweet spot for sharpness - about f/4, but as long as you are no higher than f/5.6 you're good. Depending on the typical ambient lighting conditions you shoot in an ND8, ND16, or ND32 will probably be your most common filter for this. NDs can be useful for stills, but only if you want to prolong exposures to smooth out motion, e.g. for the milky water effect. Keep in mind that even on a still day a drone isn't the most stable of platforms so don't expect miracles, although people have achieved nice shots out to 8s exposures (the maximum supported).

CPs and GNDs can be tricky to use as they obviously can't be adjusted in flight (PP's GNDs rotate for slanted horizons), so it may be necessary to make multiple flights with different settings then use the best from each. CPs will reduce reflections and help saturate colours, but the effect will vary depending on the angle to the sun so you need to be careful how you use them - some people swear by them, others that they are too much hassle or even a complete waste of time. Similar for GNDs; they're great if you have a very bright sky and a very dark foreground - mostly sunrise/sunset - but you need to be mindful of their use; you can adjust the camera up/down in flight, but compositionally you are probably going to need to crop to get a pleasing image.

FWIW, I use all three types of filters heavily - mostly for stills - and have the PP 6-filter ND/CP set and the 3-filter GND set for my M2P. Depending on how I go when it brightens up during the course of spring/summer I'll probably be addding an ND32 and maybe an ND64 as well. Finally, keep in mind that PP let you do custom kits if ordering direct, so you can tweak the existing sets if they are not quite what you want.

 

[JoColon]

For video the best practice is to try and get a shutter speed of twice your frame rate to minimise jerkiness and enable the use of the camera at its sweet spot for sharpness - about f/4, but as long as you are no higher than f/5.6 you're good. Depending on the typical ambient lighting conditions you shoot in an ND8, ND16, or ND32 will probably be your most common filter for this. NDs can be useful for stills, but only if you want to prolong exposures to smooth out motion, e.g. for the milky water effect. Keep in mind that even on a still day a drone isn't the most stable of platforms so don't expect miracles, although people have achieved nice shots out to 8s exposures (the maximum supported).

CPs and GNDs can be tricky to use as they obviously can't be adjusted in flight (PP's GNDs rotate for slanted horizons), so it may be necessary to make multiple flights with different settings then use the best from each. CPs will reduce reflections and help saturate colours, but the effect will vary depending on the angle to the sun so you need to be careful how you use them - some people swear by them, others that they are too much hassle or even a complete waste of time. Similar for GNDs; they're great if you have a very bright sky and a very dark foreground - mostly sunrise/sunset - but you need to be mindful of their use; you can adjust the camera up/down in flight, but compositionally you are probably going to need to crop to get a pleasing image.

FWIW, I use all three types of filters heavily - mostly for stills - and have the PP 6-filter ND/CP set and the 3-filter GND set for my M2P. Depending on how I go when it brightens up during the course of spring/summer I'll probably be addding an ND32 and maybe an ND64 as well. Finally, keep in mind that PP let you do custom kits if ordering direct, so you can tweak the existing sets if they are not quite what you want.

I am sorry but this is every hard for me to understand, I am a beginner

 

[zocalo]

I am sorry but this is every hard for me to understand, I am a beginner

OK, there wasn't much to go on in your initial post but asking about filters seemed to imply at least some idea about filters and photography in general.

If that's not the case then it would be really helpful to know what kind of things you are going to be shooting, e.g. subject matter, stills and/or video, under what kind of conditions. Some indication of how familiar you are with filter would be useful to, e.g. the various types, their limitations, and if you've used used them on a conventional camera.

 

[JoColon]

OK, there wasn't much to go on in your initial post but asking about filters seemed to imply at least some idea about filters and photography in general.

If that's not the case then it would be really helpful to know what kind of things you are going to be shooting, e.g. subject matter, stills and/or video, under what kind of conditions. Some indication of how familiar you are with filter would be useful to, e.g. the various types, their limitations, and if you've used used them on a conventional camera.

Sorry about the confusion, I would be doing mostly still photos but if I did any videos it would be in 4K 24 or 30 frames

 

[CanadaDrone]

Most people can get away with ND8/ND16/ND32 on the Mavic Air. That will cover everything except sunrise/sunset (ND4) and extremely bright scenarios like sunlight over snow (ND64). Generally speaking of course - that is not a firm rule. This also assumes ISO 100 and 1/60-1/00 shutter or so.

For photo work you only really need ND's if:

1) Your desired settings exceed the maximum shutter speed of the drone (the Air has a fixed aperture of 2.8)
2) You want to slow the shutter for longer exposures, such as waterfall shots. Keep in mind drones are not that steady, and you should temper your expectations accordingly for exposures much longer than about 1s.

 

[zocalo]

Sorry about the confusion, I would be doing mostly still photos but if I did any videos it would be in 4K 24 or 30 frames

No problem - my bad assumption. If you need an introduction to the different types of filter and what they do, this article (skip to "7 Types of Camera Lens Filters") covers the types and effects pretty well.


Lets get video of the way first. The determining factor for Neutral Density (ND) filters here is the light level. Video will look better when shot with an shutter speed as close to 2x the output fps as possible, so for 24/30fps you want to aim for a shutter speed of 1/50th or 1/60th of a second respectively. To achieve that on a bright day, you'll want a darker filter, like an ND16 or ND32, if it is cloudy or getting near sunrise/sunset then an ND8 or ND16 is more likely.

The simplest way to determine to which ND to fit for video is to see what settings the camera wants for a typical scene while it's powered on but before you spin up the rotors or fit any filters so you can safely hold and point it. An ND4 will give you 1/4 of the indicated time, and ND8 1/8, and so on, so if the indicated exposure is 1/500s then to get down to 1/50 - 1/60 you'd want an ND8 (500/8 = ~60).


For stills, NDs are only useful for slowing motion, otherwise the faster the shutter speed the better for sharp shots. If slowing motion doesn't interest you then you won't need NDs for stills. Having one fitted for video will not prevent you taking decent stills on the same flight though.

Circular Polarisers (CPs) have a varying effect depending on their angle to the sun (they're basically sunglasses for your drone), they'll rotate to let you adjust this but this can only be done on the ground. As such for the best results you need to set the CP to work at a given angle before you take off, take your shots, then land, adjust, and shoot again as often as required. That can be frustrating when you want to shoot a subject from lots of different angles, but IMHO it can be worth the effort as using one appropriately will give images (or video) more "punch", although YMMV. PolarPro's are combined with NDs, so maybe just get one (I'd get an ND8 for general use) and get the others if you find it useful and want the additional flexibility.

Graduated NDs (GNDs) are even more niche. They're similar to NDs, but darker at the top and lighter at the bottom (ignoring rotation), so will "even out" bright skies and dark ground to help avoid blown highlights or lost shadow detail. Generally, you're only going to use these for sunrises and sunsets, and even then only on certain occassions where you have very bright skies and very dark ground. If you're unsure, I'd recommend skipping these initially and seeing how many times you are struggling to avoid blown highlights or recover detail in the ground first - if it's a lot then GNDs might be a good idea, otherwise save your money.

 

[JoColon]

I would suggest that it depends on what you are trying achieve with the filters.
My first set were ND 4,8,16 They made great improvements to my video footage. Also enabled some good long exposure shots (Mavic Air)
I then went on to buy 32,64,128,256 and 1000 and have yet to use any of them.
So I would start small and go from there.
I am new to this, I”m sure some more experienced folks will chime in

Thank you so much for your imput

 

[JoColon]

Thank you so much for your imput

Input*

 

[Inspirephil]

No problem - my bad assumption. If you need an introduction to the different types of filter and what they do, this article (skip to "7 Types of Camera Lens Filters") covers the types and effects pretty well.


Lets get video of the way first. The determining factor for Neutral Density (ND) filters here is the light level. Video will look better when shot with an shutter speed as close to 2x the output fps as possible, so for 24/30fps you want to aim for a shutter speed of 1/50th or 1/60th of a second respectively. To achieve that on a bright day, you'll want a darker filter, like an ND16 or ND32, if it is cloudy or getting near sunrise/sunset then an ND8 or ND16 is more likely.

The simplest way to determine to which ND to fit for video is to see what settings the camera wants for a typical scene while it's powered on but before you spin up the rotors or fit any filters so you can safely hold and point it. An ND4 will give you 1/4 of the indicated time, and ND8 1/8, and so on, so if the indicated exposure is 1/500s then to get down to 1/50 - 1/60 you'd want an ND8 (500/8 = ~60).


For stills, NDs are only useful for slowing motion, otherwise the faster the shutter speed the better for sharp shots. If slowing motion doesn't interest you then you won't need NDs for stills. Having one fitted for video will not prevent you taking decent stills on the same flight though.

Circular Polarisers (CPs) have a varying effect depending on their angle to the sun (they're basically sunglasses for your drone), they'll rotate to let you adjust this but this can only be done on the ground. As such for the best results you need to set the CP to work at a given angle before you take off, take your shots, then land, adjust, and shoot again as often as required. That can be frustrating when you want to shoot a subject from lots of different angles, but IMHO it can be worth the effort as using one appropriately will give images (or video) more "punch", although YMMV. PolarPro's are combined with NDs, so maybe just get one (I'd get an ND8 for general use) and get the others if you find it useful and want the additional flexibility.

Graduated NDs (GNDs) are even more niche. They're similar to NDs, but darker at the top and lighter at the bottom (ignoring rotation), so will "even out" bright skies and dark ground to help avoid blown highlights or lost shadow detail. Generally, you're only going to use these for sunrises and sunsets, and even then only on certain occassions where you have very bright skies and very dark ground. If you're unsure, I'd recommend skipping these initially and seeing how many times you are struggling to avoid blown highlights or recover detail in the ground first - if it's a lot then GNDs might be a good idea, otherwise save your money.

Great information

 

[Inspirephil]

I have the PolarPro shutter and vivid collections and they perform well. I personally like the 8PL, 16PL, and 32PL for their polarizing effect.
Also as was said previously a CPL performs well for taking the glare off of water and other bright sunlight conditions, such as windows on buildings, etc. but as was explained before you have to adjust it on the ground before you take off and that’s a hassle sometimes. It’s just depends on how much you want to fiddle with them.
I am Getting ready to get the PolarPro gradient filters asap for sunrises/sunsets as they help me with getting sky and ground in the right lighting conditions for my needs as I shoot a lot of landscapes.
But as the other person said start slow and build your collection one set at a time so as not to break the bank right off the bat.
All of these can either be purchased directly from PolarPro or on Amazon with no price difference between them as far as I know.

 

[PolarPro_Brendan]

Hi JoColon,

Thanks for your interest in the PolarPro filters. Reading through the posts, you have received some very accurate and useful information regarding filters for your drone. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me or our support team at [email protected].