Lens selection

[830.1Flyer]

So I just purchased a set of ND filters for my M2Z and decided to go out and shoot a sunset photo. I'm not too sure about all the photography terms and what are the best filters for different situations. I've looked at youtube videos but I haven't been able to find any scenario based ones. I used an ND8 on this photo, what should I have used to get a clearer picture of the sun and no lense flare like what shows up just under the sun?

 

[Repaid1]

What were your manual settings and EV showing? Ground, BTW...looks about spot on for that time of day...where was your focus or metering selection? Sun looks a bit defused by horizon cloud structure..might have been just a miss for conditions...Depending on where your camera was set.

Just note for shots like this, put her in hover and manually dial down a notch on EV and take another, take a series of say 5...then see what you end up with, pic the best.

You might want to look into a HDR series as well.

 

[Meta4]

So I just purchased a set of ND filters for my M2Z and decided to go out and shoot a sunset photo. I'm not too sure about all the photography terms and what are the best filters for different situations.
I used an ND8 on this photo,

If you are shooting stills, there is no reason to use ND filters at all unless you have a specific reason to want to force a slower shutter speed than otherwise possible.
ND filters don't do anything to change or make your photo better.
ND filters just cut the amount of light getting to the sensor, your ND8 filter cuts 87% of the light, the same as using a shutter speed three stops faster would.

what should I have used to get a clearer picture of the sun and no lense flare like what shows up just under the sun?

When the sun is looking straight into your lens, you get flare. There's no way around that.
The sun is much, much too bright and you cannot make it appear any clearer.

 

[boblui]

...I used an ND8 on this photo, what should I have used to get a clearer picture of the sun and no lense flare like what shows up just under the sun?

Remove the filter. Flare is caused by reflections off lens / filter surfaces, the more things you put in, the more flare you will get.

Use HDR to get a clearer picture of the sun. By that I mean taking multiple pictures of different exposures and merging them in photoshop or other HDR software. The internal HDR function of M2 is quite crappy.

 

[830.1Flyer]

What were your manual settings and EV showing? Ground, BTW...looks about spot on for that time of day...where was your focus or metering selection? Sun looks a bit defused by horizon cloud structure..might have been just a miss for conditions...Depending on where your camera was set.

Just note for shots like this, put her in hover and manually dial down a notch on EV and take another, take a series of say 5...then see what you end up with, pic the best.

You might want to look into a HDR series as well.

I didn't change any of the settings. I kind of wanted to see what I would get by just adding a filter and going with what is preset on the Zoom. I'm gonna play around with it a little more once it cools off. Our temps here are a bit over 100 and I understand the max operating temp is 104, I don't want to push that.

 

[830.1Flyer]

Remove the filter. Flare is caused by reflections off lens / filter surfaces, the more things you put in, the more flare you will get.

Use HDR to get a clearer picture of the sun. By that I mean taking multiple pictures of different exposures and merging them in photoshop or other HDR software. The internal HDR function of M2 is quite crappy.

I'll give HDR a try! Thanks!

 

[830.1Flyer]

If you are shooting stills, there is no reason to use ND filters at all unless you have a specific reason to want to force a slower shutter speed than otherwise possible.
ND filters don't do anything to change or make your photo better.
ND filters just cut the amount of light getting to the sensor, your ND8 filter cuts 87% of the light, the same as using a shutter speed three stops faster would.

When the sun is looking straight into your lens, you get flare. There's no way around that.
The sun is much, much too bright and you cannot make it appear any clearer.

So... filters are primarily for video?

 

[SkyeHigh]

So... filters are primarily for video?

Yes and no. As Meta4 says, if you want a specific shutter speed within a suitable aperture to photograph a waterfall with the blurred water effect, you ‘may’ benefit from an ND filter - if the light level is so high that you cannot otherwise select the shutter speed you want.

Use in video is to give a slight motion blur effect that simulates a more cinematic effect. Reducing the shutter speed prevents the jumpy effect you can get with fast moving objects.

If you watch TV adverts closely that use graphics you’ll almost always be looking at motion blur that is added to ‘smooth’ and give a more realistic experience. That goes for any CGI footage used in movies.

 

[VanP]

I have a set of ND lenses I use on my Mavic 2 Zoom from a company called Freewell. Their site has some useful videos regarding ND lenses. I'm new to this so I won't offer any advice. I just do recreational flying and look at my lenses as "sunglasses" for the drone. I'm usually rolling video and not taking pictures. There also are lenses that have ND and PL on them and my understanding is the PL part is for polarized. And I use those when flying over water to cut glare and reflection off the water. Happy Droning