Mavic three pro ND filters question for tele lenses

[jephoto]

Hi gang. Just got the M3 pro. And I’m setting it up. Have not even flown it yet. I have had the M3 for the past year and a half. And almost always put on in the filters because my jobs typically want both stills and video. I do my best to stay within the 180° rule.

My question is how are people dealing with matching exposures and frame rate between the main camera and the telephoto lenses? Obviously this only applies to video. High shutter speed isn't an issue for stills.

Obviously, we’re not gonna get an exact match but in practical use specially, for the 3X camera I’d like to be able to set my exposure on the main camera so that it’s very similar to when I switch over to the 3X.
How is everyone dealing with staying within the 180° rule on the 3X camera which is a fixed aperture?
I try to keep my aperture between F4.0 to F5.6 whatever possible to use the sharpest part of the lens.
The 3X camera is a 2.8 which I’m happy to see as I thought it was a 3.3.

I’ve also ordered the DJI and the filter set which I know has darker in the glass for the main camera and less or probably None on the 3x.
So does this mean if I want to keep my exposure constant between the two I have to set the main cameras at 2.8 and then there will be no change when I switch to the 3X?

I guess what I’m asking is how are you are dealing with this in practical use.

Example:
You’ve got a scene set up with your main camera and your exposure is say at 5.6 and 1/60 sec/30fps. @100iso. It’s a sunny day so I’d be using an ND 16 usually.

Then you switch to the 3X camera, which is a 2.8, .
What will the DJI ND for the 3x be?
I won’t have the set until tomorrow to play with, but I’m a little fuzzy on how this is supposed to work. So I am unclear as to how I will maintain my one 1/60 of a shutter speed when the lens opens to 2.8.
I do realize that there’s some wiggle room and that if my shutter speed had to be a little higher, it’s not going to ruin the shot, but I want to know how people are dealing with this impractical shooting.

And the 7x is a 3.4 I know the ND is less for that lens.

Tips welcome….

 

[jephoto]

Update- just looked at the specs for the DJI ND set. Its only the filter for the 7x that is less density or none as its camera is ƒ3.4.
"Light reduction stops for the tele camera with 7x optical zoom are slightly different from those of the other two cameras to avoid the situation where the wide-angle camera and medium tele camera are properly exposed while the tele camera is underexposed."

So again, how do I maintain a proper shutter speed when switching to the ƒ2.8 when I have a filter on the main optimized for ƒ4-5.6?
Or does everyone just keep the main camera @ ƒ2.8 and a higher ND if they know they might be switching from one to the other?

 

[jephoto]

No one has any tips for me ?

 

[FLDave]

Why do you really want to use an ND filter? Are you satisfied with your current videos?

 

[jephoto]

Currently the jobs I do the most video for are school websites. And I don’t even do the editing. I provide the content. They do want stills and video. And truthfully, they probably would be OK whether I use the ND filters or not. The videos are shot in 1080 P and it’s not art, but I try and make it look as good as possible and I want to get in good habits for when I have to film something better. I can tell the difference when I’m shooting at high shutter speeds as opposed to the 180 rule. I’m trying to make it look as nice as possible.
Which will serve me well when I have to do some thing that needs a higher quality.
And whenever I’m learning a new piece of equipment, I’d like to know best practices and how to use them and understand the process.
I can always break the rules later, but I like to do it in a way that I know how it will turn out

 

[jephoto]

And I have been happy with the quality I’ve been getting and that’s because I’ve been using ND filters.
But I only had the one main lens,w/variable aperture, to deal with and now I have the F2.8 fixed 3X lens, which I hope to incorporate into my videos. I love the feel of that lens.

 

[BobaFut]

Hi gang. Just got the M3 pro. And I’m setting it up. Have not even flown it yet. I have had the M3 for the past year and a half. And almost always put on in the filters because my jobs typically want both stills and video. I do my best to stay within the 180° rule.

My question is how are people dealing with matching exposures and frame rate between the main camera and the telephoto lenses? Obviously this only applies to video. High shutter speed isn't an issue for stills.

Obviously, we’re not gonna get an exact match but in practical use specially, for the 3X camera I’d like to be able to set my exposure on the main camera so that it’s very similar to when I switch over to the 3X.
How is everyone dealing with staying within the 180° rule on the 3X camera which is a fixed aperture?
I try to keep my aperture between F4.0 to F5.6 whatever possible to use the sharpest part of the lens.
The 3X camera is a 2.8 which I’m happy to see as I thought it was a 3.3.

I’ve also ordered the DJI and the filter set which I know has darker in the glass for the main camera and less or probably None on the 3x.
So does this mean if I want to keep my exposure constant between the two I have to set the main cameras at 2.8 and then there will be no change when I switch to the 3X?

I guess what I’m asking is how are you are dealing with this in practical use.

Example:
You’ve got a scene set up with your main camera and your exposure is say at 5.6 and 1/60 sec/30fps. @100iso. It’s a sunny day so I’d be using an ND 16 usually.

Then you switch to the 3X camera, which is a 2.8, .
What will the DJI ND for the 3x be?
I won’t have the set until tomorrow to play with, but I’m a little fuzzy on how this is supposed to work. So I am unclear as to how I will maintain my one 1/60 of a shutter speed when the lens opens to 2.8.
I do realize that there’s some wiggle room and that if my shutter speed had to be a little higher, it’s not going to ruin the shot, but I want to know how people are dealing with this impractical shooting.

And the 7x is a 3.4 I know the ND is less for that lens.

Tips welcome….

I've never needed to worry about this level of fine-tuning, but the way I would approach this is to use an ND that is more matched to the 3x lens and keep the ISO as low as possible with that, with maybe a bit of breathing room. Then on the primary lens I'd just use ISO to match the exposure when using a narrower aperture. I'm loath to use Auto anything, but going with Auto ISO on the primary lens would probably ensure you get even exposures as you switch from the 3x to the 1x lenses, dialing in exposure comp as needed. ISO is the one thing that you can change across all lenses, so that's what you'll need to plan around for dialing everything in.

So I figure if you configure your drone for the correct exposure on the 3x lens at say, 200 ISO (just in case the scene gets brighter for some reason, you need to leave yourself some room to bring the brightness down) with the appropriate ND to keep your shutter at 1/60, then on the primary lens you should be able to use whatever aperture you want and still maintain 1/60s, while using ISO to compensate when you use narrower apertures on the primary lens.

 

[jephoto]

Was able to fly for testing today- no filters as they just arrived- and, interestingly even though the 3x is ƒ2.8, the sensor is just about exactly 1 stop darker than ƒ2.8 on the main. Must be differences in the sensor.
So, like your example above, if I put the 3x at 200 iso, then its about the same as ƒ4.0 @100 iso on the main camera.
I prefer staying at 100 when possible, but I don't think it will be a huge problem.

I also was able to tweak all my Expo & Gain settings to get smooth pans and predictable POI's.
Appreciate the input.