DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Filter recommendations - off-roading & adventures

Redfist

New Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2020
Messages
3
Reactions
4
Age
56
Location
Phoenix AZ
I know just about ZERO when it comes to filters and am still new to drones. I played with my Mavic Air today and noticed that when facing towards the sun I was getting a washed out effect. I also noticed that when I tilt the camera down towards grass, there is a portion of the transition where it flares brighter green for a bit. I assume one/both have to do with polarization. FWIW: I live in Phoenix AZ so lots and LOTS of sunlight.

My most common uses cases will be having the drone follow my Jeep as I off-road and also some nature video of interesting places I go (forests, waterfalls, etc.).

I'm assuming my most common enemy will be sunlight.

What would you recommend for filters for a newbie like me w/ the above use cases?

Thanks...
 
Well ... if you don't know anything head over here for instance & read up --> A Guide to Filters for Lenses

The camera on your Air isn't anymore special regarding filters then any other camera ... the only difference is that the drone camera is somewhat inaccessible & not so stationary once you're airborne.

You have in general a couple of filter groups to consider.

ND: (Drone use yes, ND4,8,16,32 can be good to have, mainly for video)
Mainly sunshades which sole purpose is to let in less light to make your shutter slower.
For stills:
In very bright conditions were the camera shutter can't be faster (think it's 1/8000sec for the Air).
Make the shutter enough slow during daylight condition to make for instance running water become buttery smooth.
For video:
To achieve settings according to the "180 degree rule" --> CINEMATIC MOTION BLUR – 180° RULE
For drone filming this should/could be considered below approx 30 meters altitude, higher then that the motion blur factor is of less importance & you can skip the ND for this purpose.

Graduated ND:
It's filters like ordinary ND but they are not equal dark through out ... usually the transition between a lighter bottom to a darker top goes in the middle of the filter. This is used to average out big light differences in the picture, for instance between a bright sky & a dark ground. Usually a motif like this will either get an overexposed sky for not getting the ground completely black ... or the opposite. Drone use ... ah, a bit fiddly & the horizon needs to be in the middle always so you can't pitch the camera down.

Circular Polarizing filters: (Drone use yes, but can be fiddly, mainly for stills or video if maintaining same angle towards sun)
These filters make clouds seemingly pop out from darkened blue skies, saturating colors and eliminating glare and reflections from the surfaces of water, glass and other polished surfaces. That they are called circular have to do with that the Polarizing filters are mounted in a secondary ring that you manually rotate while viewing your subject through the viewfinder until you dial in the desired level of Polarization. The specific rotation angle is unique for each angle between your camera pointing direction & the sun ... so for drone use they can be fiddly as you can't adjust once airborne. Would say that they are mostly for stills as it there you can pre-plan the camera direction & make adjustments before you fly.

The "group" of different effect filters:
This group include various filters that introduce adjustments to your still or video directly when you shoot ... for instance star filters which gives a starshape around every bright spot, or color correction filters that enhance certain colors. All of these is nowadays better to do in post.


Lastly ... the light effects you see when directing camera into the sun or having it shine in at an angle is glare between the camera lenses ... you can't get rid of it by using filters ... but a lens hood can shield the lens from that stray light & by that you get rid of it.
 

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
131,616
Messages
1,564,583
Members
160,495
Latest member
RYNOGOD