Filters??

[Deleted member 91193]

I am new to drones and still learning, I have seen a lot of filters for sale, am I missing out by not having filters around? If so what should I be buying for my M2Z ?

 

[Mr. Salty]

At the risk of being "that guy," there are a million threads discussing the care, use feeding and recommendations for filters. Do a search of the forum and you'll quickly learn everything you need to know.

 

[msinger]

So, you're not sure if Mavic 2 filters are going to help you? After watching these videos, you should know whether or not you could use them:

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I leave one fitted at all times, a bit of extra protection for the camera lens.
It may just be an NCUV for photos, or an ND8 for general golden hours video.

You can use ND filters for photography or longer aperture pics (water movement especially), but not 100% sure, the MP2 might have manual settings anyway ?

If so you only need the ND filters for video, as seen in the YouTube links in the above posts.

 

[Deleted member 91193]

At the risk of being "that guy," there are a million threads discussing the care, use feeding and recommendations for filters. Do a search of the forum and you'll quickly learn everything you need to know.

I should have clarified a little more, I am really wondering at what level do I need to think about getting lenses, I am a newbie and not a professional. At some point I would like to be able to do so , I wonder if I should get them and learn with filters at the same time I am learning drone photography and flying.

 

[Thomas B]

I should have clarified a little more, I am really wondering at what level do I need to think about getting lenses, I am a newbie and not a professional. At some point I would like to be able to do so , I wonder if I should get them and learn with filters at the same time I am learning drone photography and flying.

I am in AZ. I find that ND 8, 16, and 32 cover 95% of what I do. Don’t use 32 much.
I have polarized, but only use them for looking down into clear water as they are superior for cutting down/eliminating surface reflection.

 

[Meta4]

I should have clarified a little more, I am really wondering at what level do I need to think about getting lenses, I am a newbie and not a professional. At some point I would like to be able to do so , I wonder if I should get them and learn with filters at the same time I am learning drone photography and flying.

Don't rush.
Try videoing without and see what that looks like.
The need for UV filters is somewhat overstated in forums and it could be that for what you want, they aren't really necessary.

 

[ZooCougar]

I should have clarified a little more, I am really wondering at what level do I need to think about getting lenses, I am a newbie and not a professional. At some point I would like to be able to do so , I wonder if I should get them and learn with filters at the same time I am learning drone photography and flying.

If you are filming video with lots of motion, such as wind turbines, a bike race or things moving then Filters may allow you to make your shutter speed twice the chose frame rate. If you’re trying to be “cinematic” then this is important because it captures “motion blur” the same way your eyes see motion and the video will look more natural.

You can safely avoid these if this doesn’t matter to you.

Depending on the conditions you may not need a filter, but I always have at least an ND4 or PL4 on if the sun is up.

Some people say that even in videos without the motion that they get a smoother looking product.

Polarized filters do the same thing as ND filters but they also reduce glare from water, grass, leaves, snow or anything else and make colors look more vivid. But some people don’t like the coloration.

I like the PolarPro filters because I am a hopeless victim of marketing and because I think they look cool on my M2P.

 

[msinger]

I am really wondering at what level do I need to think about getting lenses, I am a newbie and not a professional

You might not even need them. Did you watch the videos above? They really cover everything you need to know.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

I am also a drone newbie and would consider myself a casual photographer. I do not have any ND filters and so far, have not seen the need for them. This may sound strange to the cinematographers out there but I like filming with fast shutter speeds. The resulting video looks sharp and it gives it a surreal feel which I personally like. I have shown footage to friends that are amazed and have asked if it was 3D. At some point I may try for the cinematic look and use the filters but not right now.

 

[RogerMav]

I am also a drone newbie and would consider myself a casual photographer. I do not have any ND filters and so far, have not seen the need for them. This may sound strange to the cinematographers out there but I like filming with fast shutter speeds. The resulting video looks sharp and it gives it a surreal feel which I personally like. I have shown footage to friends that are amazed and have asked if it was 3D. At some point I may try for the cinematic look and use the filters but not right now.

Totally agree, I'm brainstorming about using or not ND filters. I'll guess I will use them sometimes. But when I look at vids that I have film without filter they seem so neat, clear and alive. I definitely see that 3D sensation.

 

[mrlegroa]

I am also a drone newbie and would consider myself a casual photographer. I do not have any ND filters and so far, have not seen the need for them. This may sound strange to the cinematographers out there but I like filming with fast shutter speeds. The resulting video looks sharp and it gives it a surreal feel which I personally like. I have shown footage to friends that are amazed and have asked if it was 3D. At some point I may try for the cinematic look and use the filters but not right now.

Would you mind sharing some samples?

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Would you mind sharing some samples?

This may surprise you but I have never shared a video online in my life. I’ll try to find an appropriate one to share and give it a try.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

I just tried but the 4K video would have taken an hour or more to upload. Unfortunately, I live in rural area and have very slow upload speeds. I can try to lower the resolution and make a second attempt. Stay tuned.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Would you mind sharing some samples?

Tried again but it won’t allow the .mov file extension.

 

[kilomikebravo]

Ken: First, I would try and edit that clip down to something under two minutes (if it isn't already.) Secondly, I'm sorry that you have such poor upstream bandwidth, that certainly doesn't help when it comes to video files.

Finally, when you're ready to render, tell your software (FCP or whatever you're using on your Mac,) to render it to the .MP4 format which you CAN upload to YT or Vimeo.

Hope that helps...

 

[ff22]

I'm still pretty new to this whole drone thing. And while I did purchase filters, just getting out and flying is enough of a challenge. Adding a choice of filters complicates it too much at the moment.

Here's an UNfiltered flight in snowy, sunny terrain. Would filters have helped? Possibly. Which one? I'm willing to learn.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Ken: First, I would try and edit that clip down to something under two minutes (if it isn't already.) Secondly, I'm sorry that you have such poor upstream bandwidth, that certainly doesn't help when it comes to video files.

Finally, when you're ready to render, tell your software (FCP or whatever you're using on your Mac,) to render it to the .MP4 format which you CAN upload to YT or Vimeo.

Hope that helps...

Hi KMB: Thanks for the guidance. The clip is only about 30 sec so you can see how horrible my upstream really is (about 750kbps). I just calculated that it takes almost 3 hours per GB of data. I actually just use iMovie on an iPad and it gives me an output render option for resolution. I’ll see if it can output in mpeg 4 format. I’ll look into a Vimeo account because I think it allows higher resolution uploads. Stay tuned.

 

[kilomikebravo]

Ken: Well, with that feeble upstream bandwidth, I personally wouldn't be trying to upload ANY videos...three hours per gig is insane so you have my sympathies. I'm lucky to have 20+mbs up.

I have no idea if iMovie can output to .MP4 but possibly would be my guess. However, no matter what, you can't change your poor Internet connection and frankly, I wouldn't bother to try uploading to either of the streaming services.

As for Vimeo, I don't believe it can display any higher resolution videos than YT simply because YT can display 4k. (Auto 2160)

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Ken: Well, with that feeble upstream bandwidth, I personally wouldn't be trying to upload ANY videos...three hours per gig is insane so you have my sympathies. I'm lucky to have 20+mbs up.

I have no idea if iMovie can output to .MP4 but possibly would be my guess. However, no matter what, you can't change your poor Internet connection and frankly, I wouldn't bother to try uploading to either of the streaming services.

As for Vimeo, I don't believe it can display any higher resolution videos than YT simply because YT can display 4k. (Auto 2160)

KMB, I was successful in uploading a video after I reduced the resolution to 720p and changing the file extension from mov to mp4. It plays in Vimeo OK but because of the low resolution it totally defeats the original purpose of sharing which was to show the 3D sensation of high frame rate video. Without the high resolution it just looks like any old crappy video. I give up for now.