ND filters? Which ones are actually useful?

[edcMavicPilots]

That's literally what I said: "At 90 degrees the polarization is strongest and at 180 degrees there is no polarization. " - not sure what you mean?

Variable ND's still require you to land the drone to change the strength, so all it does is prevent you from having to remove the filter to change the ND level, but variable ND's have other disadvantages so it depends what is more important to you - saving a few seconds or the highest quality footage.

Sorry, just read quickly.

 

[Jamie Preston]

I want to do long exposure and hyperlapses so I will likely need the 1000 ND

But what about other ones?

Is the polarized filter actually useful for photos?

Also does anyone know any promo codes for free well? $20 shipping for a $50 purchase kinda hurts

I just got the ND1000 & ND2000 yesterday, haven’t had a chance too try them yet… I’m hoping for the weekend. I went with Freewell filters. I like taking long exposure too….. I’m not super good at it but I do it cause I enjoy it and any landscape photos.

 

[wags1]

Thinking about this set for my Mini 2 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0824V129W/

Thoughts?…seems decent for the price but unsure of the quality and selection of filters.

 

[vindibona1]

I know that virtually everyone in the universe expresses it that way, but I'm still on my futile crusade to correct the math: The objective is a shutter speed that's half the frame rate, not twice. If you express both in the same units, 30 frames per second is 1/30th second per frame, and you want an exposure of half that, 1/60th second per frame.

But I'm not just being pedantic; I believe that expressing it correctly makes it easier to understand what's happening. Consider that this is also called the "180 degree shutter rule" because it attempts to emulate the rotating shutter in a film movie camera, which is open for half the rotation. If the shutter is open half the time, that means the length of the motion blurs is half the distance moved from one frame to the next. If you want the shutter open half the time, doesn't expressing that as a shutter speed of half the frame rate make that objective easier to understand?

Yes, it’s true. In fractions 1/60 is half of 1/30. It’s just that people don’t think in mathematically correct terms. Few think of 30fps as 1/30sec to be able to make the mental connection between 1/30 and 1/60. Likewise a lot folks don’t think of an F stop enumeration as 1.4286 times greater than a previous F stop number transmitting one F-stop LESS light and doubling or halving the actual F stop number allows or prohibits 4x the amount of light. Yet doubling the ND designation (ND8 vs ND16) only affects exposure by one f stop. There are so many mathematical anomalies when it comes to photography and exposure.

 

[RogerDH]

Yes, it’s true. In fractions 1/60 is half of 1/30. It’s just that people don’t think in mathematically correct terms. Few think of 30fps as 1/30sec to be able to make the mental connection between 1/30 and 1/60. ...

Well, my point, still, is that the connection comes from understanding what we're really trying to do, which doesn't spring immediately from the way it's conventionally described, which is why I object to that description.

Instead of saying, "For 'cinematic' motion blur you want a shutter speed of twice the frame rate," why not explain it as, "you want an exposure time that's half the frame capture time" and then give the typical examples of 1/60s for 30fps and 1/50s for 25fps. For the benefit of the mathematically challenged (and not particularly observant), you might then note that the shutter speed is just 1 over twice the fps number (but practically speaking, the two examples are probably all anyone needs to know, anyway).

Is that really so confusing that it needs to be dumbed down to the point that it's just a Magic Number without rhyme or reason?

 

[CanadaDrone]

Another thing to note with the 1/2X frame rate "rule" for shutter speed is that it's just a guideline roughly based around the idea that it mimics the natural motion blur seen with the human eye. Nothing bad is going to happen if you aren't set exactly to that value, it's just generally a good place to be.

If you're flying particularly close to something or around something that is moving, the blur is going to be quite a bit more noticeable and you may want to raise the shutter speed slightly. If you're shooting at 30FPS for example, even if you used 1/100 for a shutter speed, you probably won't notice anything too offensive. Especially on drones without variable apertures, sometimes you need to make a small adjustment to exposure, and if you raise the shutter speed slightly to accommodate that, it's going to be just fine in most situations.

The main reason you want to avoid too high of a shutter speed is because constant movement starts to look very jerky - it's easiest to see with something like ocean waves or traffic or when panning.

 

[PAW]

Not an opinion of anyone here; meant only as assistance to individuals who struggle with the term pedantic:

Someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise, especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

This information is provided without assessment, assumption, or judgment in order to aid clarity, simplicity, and directness.

 

[RogerDH]

Not an opinion of anyone here; meant only as assistance to individuals who struggle with the term pedantic:

Someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise, especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

This information is provided without assessment, assumption, or judgment in order to aid clarity, simplicity, and directness.

For example, pointing out that your definition is of pedant, not pedantic?

 

[MS Coast]

This is a serious question, not a jab at anyone.

Pedant - Someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise, especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

Is there also a word for someone who is inappropriately annoyed by having errors corrected, cares too little about details, or detrimentally confuses discussions with nonstandard nomenclature?

 

[PAW]

This is a serious question, not a jab at anyone.

Pedant - Someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise, especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

Is there also a word for someone who is inappropriately annoyed by having errors corrected, cares too little about details, or detrimentally confuses discussions with nonstandard nomenclature?

Antonyms for pedantic:
anti-intellectual, lowbrow, nonintellectual, philistine
ignorant, illiterate, uneducated, unlettered, unread
uncultivated, uncultured.
merriam-webster.com

 

[jphoto]

I know that virtually everyone in the universe expresses it that way, but I'm still on my futile crusade to correct the math: The objective is a shutter speed that's half the frame rate, not twice. If you express both in the same units, 30 frames per second is 1/30th second per frame, and you want an exposure of half that, 1/60th second per frame.

But I'm not just being pedantic; I believe that expressing it correctly makes it easier to understand what's happening. Consider that this is also called the "180 degree shutter rule" because it attempts to emulate the rotating shutter in a film movie camera, which is open for half the rotation. If the shutter is open half the time, that means the length of the motion blurs is half the distance moved from one frame to the next. If you want the shutter open half the time, doesn't expressing that as a shutter speed of half the frame rate make that objective easier to understand?

Yes, the 180 degree rule, and you are quite correct, the shutter speed is half the frame rate. However, the 180 degree rule is really just a general target because to get motion that appears smooth you do need some motion blur in each frame. But even at 180 degrees, film motion contains someNot every camera will do it, but it’s often quite artistically useful to run the shutter below 180 degrees, especially with a hyperlapse (a term I personally object to, btw!).

Filters: yeah, polarizers on wide angle lenses are tricky. I wouldn’t bother with the typical cameras we use on drones. But I’m also not sure why you’d limit yourself to owning just one filter when the filter sets are not expensive. I’ve paid $70+ for a single filter for my DSLR lenses, so paying that for a set of 5 or 6 for the drone is sort of not an issue. And because we don’t have any other means to control shutter speed and exposure, I want the most complete set I can get. I don’t find the 1 or 2 stop NDs useful, really, but they also are nice cheap lens protection.

 

[Torque]

Frequently Asked Questions About pedantic​

What is the difference between pedantic and didactic?​

The word didactic generally means "designed to teach," but it is often used in a negative way to describe boring or annoying lessons, or the people who teach them. While didactic can have a neutral meaning, pedantic is almost always an insult. It typically describes an irritating person who is eager to correct small errors others make, or who wants everyone to know just how much of an expert they are, especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

Is pedantic an insult?​

Pedantic is an insulting word used to describe someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

What is an example of pedantic?​

A pedantic person may do lots of annoying things, such as point out minor errors, correct people who make small mistakes, and brag about their own knowledge and expertise.

Definition of PEDANTIC

of, relating to, or being a pedant; narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned; unimaginative, dull… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[Brojon]

The big problem with polarizers on drones is that you can't adjust them during flight. You have to compose the photo and position the drone to suit the polarizer rather than adjust the polarizer to suit the photo.

It's long been encouraged in photography to pre-visualize your shots.
Given that you have an idea of the angle you'll want the left hand rule works pretty good for presetting the filter.
That said I do not use them typically on sunny days with lots of blue sky for the uneven gradient.
I DO use them on cloudy days because it gives you great saturation.
As far as ND goes it's all up to what you want to use it for. You can calculate what ND you need if you have an ambient light meter that can read in Ev (exposure value).
The following assumes you're following the 180 degree rule where the shutter speed is 2x the frame rate.
My Mini 3 Pro has a lens aperture of f1.8. I usually shoot at 24fps so shutter speed is 1/50.
That gives me an Ev value of 7.3 @ ISO 100. That means if you read an ambient light level of Ev 7.3 it will be a perfect exposure as-is.
So now if I read the ambient light is 16Ev then I have a difference of roughly 9 - which translates into 9 stops too much light. So to knock it down as close as possible to my "native" Ev, I would pick an ND filter that gets me as close as possible. Referring to the chart I've attached you can see an ND512 would get me there.
So an ND1000 filter would be an additional stop so you'd only be able to get shutter speed down to 1/25 of a second.
Most drones like teh Air 2S have a f2.8 lens which has a "native" Ev at 1/50th of 8.67. So an Air2S for a bright sunny day with Ev 16 would be roughly 7 stops so you'd need an ND128 filter. It will be approximately 1/3 stop over but that's the nature of the beast since most don't have variable apertures.
You could in fact raise teh shutter speed to 1/60 which would be close to that 1/3 stop and still within the parameters for "cinematic" video footage.
Note that you can use different ISOs as part of the equation if you need to.
I picked Ev 16 because it handily falls in with the "Sunny 16" rule for estimating exposure.
Sunny 16 says that on a typical bright sunny day if you set your aperture to f16 and your shutter speed to a reciprocal of your ISO then you will get a good exposure. So ISO 200 you'd set your shutter speed as close to 1/200 as you could.
Probably this has been TMI to the "keep trying 'til you get it right" crowd but it never hurts to share a bit of knowledge.
FWIW I use the Sekonics L-758DR light meter because it allows me to profile up to 4 cameras and it can take multiple reading and show me the dynamic range of a scene allowing me to shift the proper exposure to capture it all given the camera's limitations. Worst case it will show me what exposure will give me the most of the scene's details.

 

[basyok]

I realize I'm out of my league here, I guess I might as well be colour blind for how dumb I am with colour correction or even realizing there's a need for it. But, I really love using my CPL - circular polarizing lens on my MA2 - I love the colour saturation it gives me. I'm not sure if it's just my colour ignorance speaking, or if the skies where I live happen to lend themselves better to being "circularly" polarized... high altitude sub-tropics.

 

[MS Coast]

I realize I'm out of my league here, I guess I might as well be colour blind for how dumb I am with colour correction or even realizing there's a need for it. But, I really love using my CPL - circular polarizing lens on my MA2 - I love the colour saturation it gives me. I'm not sure if it's just my colour ignorance speaking, or if the skies where I live happen to lend themselves better to being "circularly" polarized... high altitude sub-tropics.

If it's what you like, it's right.

How about sharing some of your photos of Oaxaca?

 

[CanadaDrone]

I realize I'm out of my league here, I guess I might as well be colour blind for how dumb I am with colour correction or even realizing there's a need for it. But, I really love using my CPL - circular polarizing lens on my MA2 - I love the colour saturation it gives me. I'm not sure if it's just my colour ignorance speaking, or if the skies where I live happen to lend themselves better to being "circularly" polarized... high altitude sub-tropics.

If the sun is very high in the sky, it's more likely that any given direction your drone is pointed will be 90 degrees to the sun, and you end up having an easier time keeping exposures even.

 

[basyok]

If it's what you like, it's right.

How about sharing some of your photos of Oaxaca?

Good point. It works with wine too - what's good is what you like.

OK, I'll post some Oaxaca stuff at some point...