Do I need more ND's?

[jowlymonster]

So, the flymore combo comes with 3 ND filters... I understand why we want them- to keep our shutter speed at that nice "cinematic" value (1/50 in my case as I will probably shoot 1/25s) - but the filters supplied are quite high values (16/64/256 or something, not looked in the box) - are ones that dark useful? I only have one flight under my belt so far and didn't try the filters, but should I be considering getting ND4/ND8 as well? When is a 256 useful, genuine long exposures of waterfalls and stuff?

 

[aokusman]

Yes you should. The ones included are too dark.

 

[Deleted member 127992]

I find myself switching between the ND 16 and ND 8 (which was included in the additional filter set). In our German summer I come out at 1/50 at 25fps more or less (@iso 100). I've used the ND 4 once at a day before the rain started. The dark ones might be good for time-lapse use to get good motion blur on moving things in the stills. I haven't tried that so far.

 

[itsneedtokno]

I use the ND16 from the FMC

Recording 4k60... 1/120... ISO100

it's perfect.

(Sunny Florida)

YMMV

 

[jowlymonster]

Think I need to do some testing with one of the filters fitted, in different lighting conditions- the change needed to the shutter speed to get the right exposure should lead me to which ND i'd find useful I guess.

 

[itsneedtokno]

Think I need to do some testing with one of the filters fitted, in different lighting conditions- the change needed to the shutter speed to get the right exposure should lead me to which ND i'd find useful I guess.

That's literally the only way to figure out which ones will work in your setting.

Doubt you will ever go over 64 though

 

[Max L]

Ive found the 16 to be plenty at noon on a bright sunny day here in SE Texas. Couldn't imagine needing the 64 and certainly not the 256 unless trying to do long exposure shots. I think a 4 and 8 are necessary for 90% of video situations if you are shooting under the golden rule (double shutter speed to frames) and refuse to raise iso over 100 like me?. I will be getting some SOON.

 

[jowlymonster]

So to round this off- I found that indeed DJI offer a second set, of 4/8/32, which I have now purchased, as it probably makes sense to stick to one manufacturer set in case of slight colour cast etc.
Now, to my mind, that is the set that seem more useful, and should have been included in the flymore combo... why did they include the darker (apart from 16) set? Well, I guess so we spend more money...

 

[Deleted member 127992]

As I wrote above I've bought the second DJI filter set too. For my videos I am using ND 8 or ND 16. Besides DJI maybe prefers to sell 6 instead of 3 filters I find both collections make sense to me.
ND 8 is useful in sunlight and instead of having ND 16 available you could increase shutter speed to 1/100 for compensating one stop more light. (I shoot video at 25 fps @ 1/50 sec normally)

Today I went flying to get some experience in using ND 64 and 256. These make a lot of sense when doing hyperlapses. I did some direction locked flights with flying along a row of trees in the foreground.
Take no.1 was with ND8 @1/50 (ISO 100). Result was heavy shuttering of the trees while they move thru the image. The hyperlapse was set to 5 second duration and one shot every 2 seconds, drone speed 2,5 m/s.

Take no.2: ND64 @1/4 sec
Take no. 3: ND 256 @1 sec
Both about 2/3 of a stop overexposure which looked nice and also ISO 100.

No foreground shutter - trees just move very smoothly thru the image. The filters (resulting in longer exposure time) create a nice motion blur for moving objects closer to camera.

Since MA2 has the option not only for filming but also for doing stills (what I like a lot) I find DJI's choice which filter to put in which set OK. So if you've got the fly more combo you're covered for testing all possibilities of the drone.

OTH: A set of 4 filters (8, 16, 64 and 256) would have been all I needed...

That's at least what I find.