ND filter question

[TedShred]

People post stills using ND filters on their drone.
Is there a reason besides long exposure?
These are day pics I see doing this.

Why would anyone want to lower their shutter speed for a regular shot?
Video of course but still shots?

 

[Porky]

I use grad ND filters for dawn/dusk stills, I use these to balance out the sky to the foreground

 

[Meta4]

People post stills using ND filters on their drone.
Is there a reason besides long exposure?

Why would anyone want to lower their shutter speed for a regular shot?

Occasionally it's to slow and blur motion, which is the common reason to use ND filters on the ground.
But mostly people are using them because of a lack of photographic understanding.
Graduated filters are a special case and there can be good reasons to use them for stills.
But otherwise unless there is a particular reason to want a lower shutter speed, there is no need to use them for drone stills.

 

[kilomikebravo]

As always, you are correct, Meta but I think most folks shoot both stills and video. So, if you took off with an ND filter for video, it's still there for stills and in my experience, there is no loss in quality or color aberations taking stills with a filter in place.

 

[CanadaDrone]

I think most folks shoot both stills and video. So, if you took off with an ND filter for video, it's still there for stills and in my experience, there is no loss in quality or color aberations taking stills with a filter in place.

Correct but you need to keep an eye on your shutter speed. If you take off with a ND set for F2.8 / ISO 100 / 1/60 shutter, that is also the fastest shutter speed you're going to be able to get a photo with unless you raise the ISO which is not ideal. Depending on the conditions or your subject, 1/60 might not be fast enough.

Lots of very compact cameras have built in 3-stop (ND8) ND filters, like most of the RX100 series using a version of the same 1" sensor - that sure would be a nice thing to have on the M2P for this exact reason not to mention the added convenience.

 

[kilomikebravo]

Thanks, CD but I always have plenty of light so SS isn't an issue and I never shoot with anything but ISO 100.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Thanks, CD but I always have plenty of light so SS isn't an issue and I never shoot with anything but ISO 100.

Sorry if I was not clear but it doesn't matter how much light there is (because you would be using a stronger ND for video under brighter light), what I am saying is if you have everything set up for video at F2.8 / ISO 100 / 1/60 shutter, it doesn't matter how bright it is, that will be your maximum shutter speed for photos as well unless you raise ISO. The exposures are identical whether it is photo or video.

One way around this is to set video up with a ND that allows for F4 / ISO100 / 1/60, and then you can drop to F2.8 to get 1/120 shutter all else equal for your photos, assuming you are happy with that aperture.

If I misunderstood your reply I apologize, the way you worded it sounded like maybe I was not clear in my reply before

 

[kilomikebravo]

CD: Nope, you understood correctly and the procedure you described is precisely what I do before launch every time. f4-0ev-1/50. I've yet to take a bad photo, at least IMHO, wearing an ND filter.

 

[Photo-Sorko]

I use grad ND filters for dawn/dusk stills, I use these to balance out the sky to the foreground

As long as you don't need shorter exposures than the Mavic provides, normal (non-gradual) ND-Filter are not improving your image-Quality or dynamic range.

As always, you are correct, Meta but I think most folks shoot both stills and video. So, if you took off with an ND filter for video, it's still there for stills and in my experience, there is no loss in quality or color aberations taking stills with a filter in place.

That's what happens to me sometimes. If I fly for taking vidoes, I fly with ND Filters. Sometimes I also want to take a picture and I don't fly back and change the filter. So far, I can live with exposures up to 1/30s. If I fly to take just picutes, I don't use ND fitlers.

Greetings
Jürgen