First sunset using ND 16 Polar Pro

[mad monkey]

So I'm glad I spent $40 on 3 ND and 3 pl... Much better prices than the number one getter

 

[Thwyllo]

Why three polarisers out of interest?

 

[wowography]

My bad..I still had my stills camera hat on!

You're right, the aperture (for the Air anyway) is fixed at 2.8 so the auto function will only change shutter speed or ISO or both. But it has a max shutter speed of 1/8000th of a sec doesn't it? That should be plenty even for desert photography - 1/1000th at f2.8 is perfectly good in such conditions, so I can only assume that, in addition to using Kodak Brownie camera technology, the metering or auto functions are crappy as well.

Otherwise you wouldn't need an ND filter to reduce light levels and bring the EV adjustment back into play (because you can't increase its range in any way, it's just trying to operate in a level of exposure where it makes little difference, the ND filter reduces that exposure, allowing the EV adjustment to work again).

The more I discover about this drone the more I can see what a piece of low tech it is on the camera front and how cheaply it must exit the factory. They are probably making almost as much money from Refresh as they do selling the drone in the first place.

I’m not bantering further, you’ll have to break my arm before I’d let you remove my ND32.

Drone owners that are not shooting vertically will have somewhere between 10 and 50% of their photos with landscape and sky. This is what we are focused on. Spin the the dials in a way that illuminates the landscape while maintaining the detail with the sky.
I chimed in because of the somewhat inaccurate discussion of the role of the ND. I shared how I use it and showed the results!

You can achieve terrific photography with the product when you understand its limitations.

 

[Thwyllo]

Not looking to nitpick but the quality of that photo is terrible...have you downsized it significantly or something? If you did it with an ND filter fitted then (1) it was totally unnecessary and (2) because all it does is let less light into the camera it will have used too high an ISO and probably too slow a shutter speed.

It's beyond me what all the hype is about with these things. They are used in stills photography for nothing more than blurring motion...making river rapids look smooth, blurring movement of people, clouds and so on. They literally have no other use and a drone is no different.

 

[4wd]

With a drone the only use for NDs is slowing shutter when recording video, and you mostly won't see much difference doing that compared to Auto and no filters.

Adding filters is an additional layer of glass and it will degrade the image slightly.
The main reason some are seeing better colours is likely making it harder to over-expose.
You can achieve this equally well with ISO and shutter.

 

[wowography]

Not looking to nitpick but the quality of that photo is terrible...have you downsized it significantly or something? If you did it with an ND filter fitted then (1) it was totally unnecessary and (2) because all it does is let less light into the camera it will have used too high an ISO and probably too slow a shutter speed.

It's beyond me what all the hype is about with these things. They are used in stills photography for nothing more than blurring motion...making river rapids look smooth, blurring movement of people, clouds and so on. They literally have no other use and a drone is no different.

View attachment 42382[/QUOTE]

Haha worthless to continue with words alone.
Show us your drone imagery. As they say, put up or [emoji850]

 

[Thwyllo]

If you can't take constructive criticism don't post photos. Look at virtually any other photo posted on this site and you'll see they are way better quality than that one - sharper and better exposed. I take it from your lack of technical response that is is indeed an original, in which case it's exactly the kind of degraded still image I'd expect from needlessly using an ND filter. If you don't understand the explanations I and others have given here and don't want to learn, that's fine, but don't get spiky about it.

 

[nevernamed]

I’m not bantering further, you’ll have to break my arm before I’d let you remove my ND32.

Drone owners that are not shooting vertically will have somewhere between 10 and 50% of their photos with landscape and sky. This is what we are focused on. Spin the the dials in a way that illuminates the landscape while maintaining the detail with the sky.
I chimed in because of the somewhat inaccurate discussion of the role of the ND. I shared how I use it and showed the results!

You can achieve terrific photography with the product when you understand its limitations.

View attachment 42382

very nice shot. and that is part of my reasoning for wanting to use them.

 

[nevernamed]

Not looking to nitpick but the quality of that photo is terrible...have you downsized it significantly or something? If you did it with an ND filter fitted then (1) it was totally unnecessary and (2) because all it does is let less light into the camera it will have used too high an ISO and probably too slow a shutter speed.

It's beyond me what all the hype is about with these things. They are used in stills photography for nothing more than blurring motion...making river rapids look smooth, blurring movement of people, clouds and so on. They literally have no other use and a drone is no different.

I did nothing. it must be photobucket compressing it or something. original doesn't look like that. i've done nothing to it.

1) your opinion, for me it WAS necessary and got me the shot I wanted vs not using one. no matter I do with the shutter, I don't really put post edit time into photos, so i kind of want a good inital photo.
2) iso was 100 shutter was 1/80. i also shot a series of very similar looking photos at iso 200

People can use tools in different ways. There's no wrong way of doing any form of art as long as you have some idea of what you're trying to achieve.. I don't think I'll be posting any more photos here.

 

[wowography]

If you can't take constructive criticism don't post photos. Look at virtually any other photo posted on this site and you'll see they are way better quality than that one - sharper and better exposed. I take it from your lack of technical response that is is indeed an original, in which case it's exactly the kind of degraded still image I'd expect from needlessly using an ND filter. If you don't understand the explanations I and others have given here and don't want to learn, that's fine, but don't get spiky about it.

My work is public so I’m comfortable with any kind of criticism and I do get my share of it. The discussion here is we all are using DJI Mavic products. If poster A says ND is useless then help us with some examples. This is a forum for sharing and learning. Tell us how to get better results, and show us some images. I’d be so happy to remove my filter.

 

[UAVNV]

I dunno, I sort of disagree with you. They may not be for sunsets, but they got me the best sunset photos without having to polish them up right out of the gate.. I played with shutter speeds and sunsets before getting the filters, the post filter photos are better.. And the color is more vibrant and less washed out. So... Yeah. I don't think I'm doing it wrong.

there is no rule more like guidelines. you're crushing your blacks and it wouldnt look as great at on a scope or at scale.

if your happy burning your look into the image rather than adjusting the dng in post it looks fine.

 

[Gpk68]

I have a MPP with an ND32 filter on virtually all the time so far this summer. I try not to shoot into the sun directly like OP, however the majority of my sunsets occur on cloudy days when the sun dips below the horizon illuminating the underside of the clouds, rendering some nice colors. On the bright summer days the ND32 gives the camera more range, by eliminating allot of the overexposure warnings. Hopefully in the upcoming model the camera will feature a variable aperture control on its camera.
View attachment 42338

Cool photo is that Jones Beach?

 

[wowography]

Cool photo is that Jones Beach?

Yes and Thanks! It was a good shoot at the time. I needed experience (courage) to fly over the bay in a head wind to grab a few shots .

 

[Tiago_Wolf]

I have my new nd filters in transit.
Bought them just recently.

I took these shots recently without nd filters.
Yes. They've been touched up but... Let's see what the new filters have to offer.

I do hope CPL filter will make daylight pictures more alive though.

Tiagão on Instagram: “: Swipe the screen for #panorama : Sunsets are proof that no matter what happens, every day can end beautifully : #KristenButler…”

 

[nevernamed]

I have my new nd filters in transit.
Bought them just recently.

I took these shots recently without nd filters.
Yes. They've been touched up but... Let's see what the new filters have to offer.

I do hope CPL filter will make daylight pictures more alive though.

Tiagão on Instagram: “: Swipe the screen for #panorama : Sunsets are proof that no matter what happens, every day can end beautifully : #KristenButler…”

those are great shots..

 

[wowography]

those are great shots..

Fabulous profile, I’m now following you!

 

[nevernamed]

Fabulous profile, I’m now following you!

Which are you referring to sir??

I am following you as well. Thanks for the follow!

 

[gnirtS]

The filter makes absolutely no difference what-so-ever in a still photo. None at all.
People really dont get how filters work. They don't change dynamic range, they don't change contrast, they dont stop things burning out.
ALL they do is slow the shutterspeed for smoother video. Nothing more.

All these claiming mythical changes - placebo effect is real.


...and for the benefits of polarising you have to be 90 degrees away from the light source. There's absolutely no polarisation effect shooting directly towards it.

 

[nevernamed]

Thanks to the 'experts' for making this thread not fun. Thanks to the contributors for their great shots

 

[gnirtS]

So the "experts" off real world, technically correct advice and bust a few myths and misconceptions but you dont like it?
Filters are the least understood thing of the entire drone world. Why is it a bad thing if those misunderstandings are corrected?