Could anyone give a brief dummys guide to ND filters?

[KiterTodd]

My guess you got the polar pro filters? If you did you have to turn on your drone first then put on the filter.... the taco rc filters or DJI filters don't have this problem

I did get the polar pro filters.
I have been told on this forum and by Polar Pro that these have now been designed to not require install after power-up. I did contact Polar Pro and was told they'd be happy to take them back if there are issues. They did tell me to make sure they were fully seated on the lens.
I have tried twice, I'll give it one more try.

They look like this...

 

[SoapyGolem]

I did get the polar pro filters.
I have been told on this forum and by Polar Pro that these have now been designed to not require install after power-up. I did contact Polar Pro and was told they'd be happy to take them back if there are issues. They did tell me to make sure they were fully seated on the lens.
I have tried twice, I'll give it one more try.

They look like this...

Yeah I understand, that's just what I been hearing about these a lot of people on here have this issue with the polar pro filters, however I had some say they work fine.... but mostly everyone says you have to put them on after start up, or you will get that error.....these are 1.2 grams in weight and are the heaviest... that's why I got the taco rc filters 0.7 grams because you can leave them on and no one reported a issue with gimbal overload with the tacos

 

[PalmettoAerial]

The cliff notes Version:

The shutter speed is adjusted with ND filters. Use about ND16 on sunny days, ND32 in bright snow, ND8 during the golden hour, ND4 on cloudy days. In general that should work if shooting 60fps, but you should play with it to get the feel of the settings.

This is exactly what I needed

 

[PalmettoAerial]

What I do is start Mavic without filters and see what is the minimum shutter speed I can get (ISO 100). Then I compute the necessary ND filter and mount it:

ND4 (2 stops reduction), e.g., 1/200sec -> 1/50 sec
ND8 (3 stops reduction), e.g., 1/400sec -> 1/50 sec
ND16 (4 stops reduction), e.g., 1/800sec -> 1/50 sec
etc.

1 stop means reduction of shutter-speed by half, e.g. 1/120sec to 1/60sec.

Hope this helps.

What math are you doing after e.g.?

 

[RaRaRasputin]

ND4 = 1/4 of current Shutter Speed
ND8 = 1/8 of current Shutter Speed
ND16 = 1/16 of current Shutter Speed
and so on

So, if you are getting 200 shutter speed - use ND4 to get to 50

Or write down / memorise

To achieve 50
---------------------
ND4 = 200
ND8 = 400
ND16 = 800
ND32 = 1600
ND64 = 3200

To achieve 60
--------------------
ND4 = 240
ND8 = 480
ND16 = 960
ND32 = 1920
ND64 = 3840

Remember, you don’t have to be exact, but as close as you can is generally good enough

e.g. if you are getting 300 shutter speed without filter, I would probably go with ND4

 

[PalmettoAerial]

ND4 = 1/4 of current Shutter Speed
ND8 = 1/8 of current Shutter Speed
ND16 = 1/16 of current Shutter Speed
and so on

So, if you are getting 200 shutter speed - use ND4 to get to 50

Or write down / memorise

To achieve 50
---------------------
ND4 = 200
ND8 = 400
ND16 = 800
ND32 = 1600
ND64 = 3200

To achieve 60
--------------------
ND4 = 240
ND8 = 480
ND16 = 960
ND32 = 1920
ND64 = 3840

Remember, you don’t have to be exact, but as close as you can is generally good enough

e.g. if you are getting 300 shutter speed without filter, I would probably go with ND4

That's perfect. Thank you

I see most people referring to 50 or 60 shutter speed. Why is that the desired or targeted number.

 

[RaRaRasputin]

It is the desired speeds for US / European Broadcast and achieves the best motion blur as opposed to flicker that you get from faster shutter speeds (e.g. 1/100th + )

You're shooting a film at 24fps: 24 x 2 = 48.. That means you use 1/50th, because your camera probably doesn't do 1/48th.

You're shooting for UK Television at 25fps: 25 x 2 = 50.. That means you use 1/50th shutter.

You're shooting for american television at 30fps: 30 x 2 = 60.. That means you use a 1/60th shutter.

You shouldn't notice a big difference between the two really. I keep it at 1/50 95% of the time, then bump it to 1/60 if there's a light flickering at 60hz or a screen in the shot doing similar (e.g. North American power is 60hz - UK power is 50hz).

If you like the way it looks at 1/60, go for it.

 

[ncameron]

A bit of good news is that whether you use PolarPro filters or not, they have a free App on the Apple App Store that works it all out for you..it's called PolarPro Filter Calculator

 

[PalmettoAerial]

A bit of good news is that whether you use PolarPro filters or not, they have a free App on the Apple App Store that works it all out for you..it's called PolarPro Filter Calculator

Teah I downloaded that when I bought the 6 pack of filters. thanks for the info. I have been a YouTube addict lately trying to dial all of my parameters in but there are a few I don't understand or have just gotten wrong. Filters being one of those (so thanks for spoon feeding me info and dumbing it down - appreciate it).

There are so many people on here shooting at a high level and I'm still in single digit flights so not only do I want to learn the how's but the why's as well ....

Initially I think I was changing my shutter speed thinking it was my custom kelvin temp. I am assuming there was an interface change with the 4 software perhaps because a lot of the tutorials I have watched show an app interface that is different from the one I am seeing currently.

 

[GMG]

I wish one of these manufacturers would start selling them in ND8, ND16, ND32 combos, because that's by far the most useful for the Mavic.

?!
I've got this set from Polar Pro. Aren't they shown on their website?

 

[AyeYo]

?!
I've got this set from Polar Pro. Aren't they shown on their website?

Polar Pro has 16, 32, 64 (which is nearly useless) - unless they've added a new set since I made that post.

 

[JeffGC]

I recently purchased a set of Skyreat ND filters for my Mavic 2. They are quite heavy (1.8g) but I did not experience any problems; i.e., error messages. Am I correct that the filter weight problem is not an issue with Mavic 2?