2 Zoom First flight with a ND 8 filter from DronePitStop as advertised on Amazon.

[Nathan Barteau Mavic]

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[slup]

Hi there ... from your clip & what you show there with mostly static filming & little movements I get a feeling that you might not understand why a ND filter sometimes need to be used while filming.

A proper quality ND filter shall not/will not enhance the overall quality of the film when it comes to color, hue or sharpness or anything else... if such differences is seen it's generally a sign of a bad quality ND filter.

As a ND only serves the purpose to be sunshades for the lens ... meaning it will let less light in to the sensor, it will only modify one exposure setting, which is the shutter speed, if you have set the camera to manual exposure. If left at auto it actually risk degrading the clip as the auto setting might keep the fast shutter speed but instead rise the ISO to get the correct exposure ... & by that introduce more noise.

A ND to lower the shutter speed can be necessary sometimes to get the correct amount of motion blur so the film doesn't look too sticky or behaves jittery during playback. It can also be used in very bright conditions like sunlit snowy shots or in deserts with nearly white sand ... this as the fastest shutter speed possible by the camera perhaps isn't fast enough so the shot gets overexposed ... this is really rare as most cameras can make 1/8000sec which should be enough for most filming or photography.

This with introducing motion blur is the most common reason for using a ND filter ... if trying to follow the so called 180 degree rule for a "Cinematic" look (shutter speed 2 times the set frame rate --> set at 30FPS means a shutter on 1/60sec) ... you usually needs to slow down the shutter very much compared to the ordinary auto exposure which can be as fast as 1/500-1/1000sec in sunny daylight... & if you don't have a aperture setting on the camera you can't bring down the light entering the lens by any other means than putting a sun shade on the lens ... a ND filter. If you only go with the auto exposure the fast shutter will "freeze" all movements in every single frame in the clip which looks unreal for the human eye.

Motion blur also come into play from other thing's than only from moving objects in the film ... it also needs to be considered when it comes to drone/camera movements like yawing, panning camera up/down or flying low over objects.

It's usually less need to consider motion blur higher up in the air ... from approx 30m height over ground/objects the motion blur isn't so visible anymore, meaning that the ND can be left off if that's easier.

For taking stills it's again in general no need to use a ND ... if the camera can get a proper exposure without it, that's enough ... no good will come to the picture just because you put another glass in front of the lens ... rather the opposite. If you have a particular artistic need for a slower shutter when taking stills ... like creating buttery smooth streaming water then you can use a ND ... but besides purposes like that a ND isn't needed for still shots.

Sorry if you already had the knowledge about all this ... then perhaps somebody else finds it useful.

 

[Repaid1]

Hi there ... from your clip & what you show there with mostly static filming & little movements I get a feeling that you might not understand why a ND filter sometimes need to be used while filming.

A proper quality ND filter shall not/will not enhance the overall quality of the film when it comes to color, hue or sharpness or anything else... if such differences is seen it's generally a sign of a bad quality ND filter.

<SNIP>

Sorry if you already had the knowledge about all this ... then perhaps somebody else finds it useful.

Well said and explained, and without reference to this clip...well just a bit. Far too many people run right out and buy ND's and have no clue how to set up the manual side of the camera for their benefit. So many times I hear people use them for stills or a camera set on auto for video. In such instances the camera just overrides the ND. Proper use of the Histogram and dialing in which ND would be best is easy with DJI systems.

It looks to me like the OP was like me, "playing" with his new toy as pans were to fast and zoom was ramped up as well.To the OP, perhaps again as I did when I got my M2Z your just trying to get a feel for "Ole' Girl" and see what she has as a base. It looks for time of day he has the correct ND on...Just not taking advantage of it for this particular shoot. Still was a nice location, but would have liked to have some more footage parallel to that freeway on the hill side.

 

[Nathan Barteau Mavic]

Hi there ... from your clip & what you show there with mostly static filming & little movements I get a feeling that you might not understand why a ND filter sometimes need to be used while filming.

A proper quality ND filter shall not/will not enhance the overall quality of the film when it comes to color, hue or sharpness or anything else... if such differences is seen it's generally a sign of a bad quality ND filter.

As a ND only serves the purpose to be sunshades for the lens ... meaning it will let less light in to the sensor, it will only modify one exposure setting, which is the shutter speed, if you have set the camera to manual exposure. If left at auto it actually risk degrading the clip as the auto setting might keep the fast shutter speed but instead rise the ISO to get the correct exposure ... & by that introduce more noise.

A ND to lower the shutter speed can be necessary sometimes to get the correct amount of motion blur so the film doesn't look too sticky or behaves jittery during playback. It can also be used in very bright conditions like sunlit snowy shots or in deserts with nearly white sand ... this as the fastest shutter speed possible by the camera perhaps isn't fast enough so the shot gets overexposed ... this is really rare as most cameras can make 1/8000sec which should be enough for most filming or photography.

This with introducing motion blur is the most common reason for using a ND filter ... if trying to follow the so called 180 degree rule for a "Cinematic" look (shutter speed 2 times the set frame rate --> set at 30FPS means a shutter on 1/60sec) ... you usually needs to slow down the shutter very much compared to the ordinary auto exposure which can be as fast as 1/500-1/1000sec in sunny daylight... & if you don't have a aperture setting on the camera you can't bring down the light entering the lens by any other means than putting a sun shade on the lens ... a ND filter. If you only go with the auto exposure the fast shutter will "freeze" all movements in every single frame in the clip which looks unreal for the human eye.

Motion blur also come into play from other thing's than only from moving objects in the film ... it also needs to be considered when it comes to drone/camera movements like yawing, panning camera up/down or flying low over objects.

It's usually less need to consider motion blur higher up in the air ... from approx 30m height over ground/objects the motion blur isn't so visible anymore, meaning that the ND can be left off if that's easier.

For taking stills it's again in general no need to use a ND ... if the camera can get a proper exposure without it, that's enough ... no good will come to the picture just because you put another glass in front of the lens ... rather the opposite. If you have a particular artistic need for a slower shutter when taking stills ... like creating buttery smooth streaming water then you can use a ND ... but besides purposes like that a ND isn't needed for still shots.

Sorry if you already had the knowledge about all this ... then perhaps somebody else finds it useful.

Thanks for your insightful commentary. I am just getting started, and I am learning so the informative commentary helps a lot.