The guy in the video doesn't understand photography or ND filters and is not someone you should listen to.Is there anything that ND filters can do that editing software cannot do if drones like the Mini 2 can already take raw photos?
ND filters can improve images by allowing improved creative effects. All they do is control the amount of light entering the lens thus allowing shutter speeds to be reduced (enabling movement effects) or opening the lens aperture as wide as possible (for depth of field effects).The guy in the video doesn't understand photography or ND filters and is not someone you should listen to.
He is giving bad information when he says "it makes a very big difference for the sake of your image quality when it comes down to correcting that light" In the sky there is always too much light and there is always glare".
This is nonsense and using ND filters won't do anything to improve image quality.
ND filters are not used for correcting exposure values.
Your question suggests that you are asking about still photography.
There is no reason at all to use ND filters for drone still photography unless you have a particular reason to want to force a slower shutter speed than otherwise possible.
Could you go through your set up procedure please e.g. do you set an initial angle based on an intial guess,then fly a test flight and correct the angle if needs be?We use ND/PL filters all the time - and the
As I said earlier - ND filters DO make a difference to the final image appearance. In two ways. 1. Enabling a long shutter shutter speed on bright light to create the effects of movement (like water and clouds). 2 Enabling a wide aperture on bright days in particular (weddings?) to enable shallow depths of field.They make no difference to image quality. This has been falsely disagreed with frequently. All they do is control exposure. The normal way to control exposure is not with an ND filter, but with shutter speed, lens aperture, and ISO. These controls cover all conditions. Folks that think they need ND filters for some kind of look do not know how to use these basics.
Some argue that they are needed to give a “cinematic” look. In most cases, this is pure hype. The “cinematic” look is a slight blurring of the image during rapid movement. Not having this blurring causes the image to “strobe” which is quite annoying. However, drones do not usually move fast enough to create this strobing, so it is a non issue to begin with. The filter makers are not likely to describe this, as it will dramatically reduce their sales.
You should not using a ND filter in low light conditions except for very specific effects. Crusader14 above is exactly correct. ??I think in lower light as in the golden hour you will compromise your still photos in sharpness when using ND filters. At least that has been my experience. In perfectly still air it might not be a problem. I can handhold my stabilized mirrorless camera a very slow shutter speeds but it's asking a lot of the gimbal on my drone.
Combining all relevant factors such as sensor size, focal length and subject distance in typical photos taken with drones, the depth of field is basically infinite even at maximum aperture so I cant see any effect of ND filter in this regard.Enabling a wide aperture on bright days in particular (weddings?) to enable shallow depths of field.
1. The ND filter doesn't change the final appearance of the image.As I said earlier - ND filters DO make a difference to the final image appearance. In two ways. 1. Enabling a long shutter shutter speed on bright light to create the effects of movement (like water and clouds). 2 Enabling a wide aperture on bright days in particular (weddings?) to enable shallow depths of field.
M2 Zoom when 2X zoomed in to 48mm equiv does have some shallowness to the back ground of it depending on focus point. Though it is technically a variable aperture lens (only in the sense that it's f/2.8 at wide and f/3.5 at tele, don't think you can set it to f/3.5 at wide).1. The ND filter doesn't change the final appearance of the image.
It doesn't have any effect on colours, contrast etc.
It's just cutting the light which forces a slower shutter speed than otherwise achievable.
This effect is only of limited use for drone photography.
2. This is not applicable to DJI consumer drones at all as their lenses are incapable of shallow depth of field at any aperture (and all except the P4 pro and M2 pro are always at full aperture anyway.
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