Camera won’t auto focus when using an ND filter.

RickMC · Mar 25, 2019

I never had this problem before but for some reason when I was flying with an ND filter today, the Mavic camera would not focus correctly and everything was out of focus. Even if I tapped screen to focus it would focus for a second and then go back out of focus. When I remove the ND filter the focusing worked as normal. Any ideas why this was happening? Thanks!

AMann · Mar 25, 2019

What density number is your filter? Sounds like it may have been too dark for the ambient light conditions to focus with.

RickMC · Mar 25, 2019

AMann said:
What density number is your filter? Sounds like it may have been too dark for the ambient light conditions to focus with.

Ahh, that's probably it. I had an ND8 on but it was also a very cloudy day. It was probably just too dark. Thanks, I'm still trying to understand exactly how ND filters work. Didn't realize if it was too dark that camera wouldn't focus.

AMann · Mar 25, 2019

RickMC said:
Ahh, that's probably it. I had an ND8 on but it was also a very cloudy day. It was probably just too dark. Thanks, I'm still trying to understand exactly how ND filters work. Didn't realize if it was too dark that camera wouldn't focus.

You don’t need a ND filter on a cloudy day, unless you are going for some long time exposure shots that make blurry trails out of moving objects. They are best used on bright days when glare and white objects are easily overexposed.