Does anyone have ANY suggestions for a Polar Pro alternative. I just need something to tell me which ND filter to use.
It appears as thought the app is working again - the server error is gone and all the weather and flight information is back up so maybe it is working for you as well now?
Regardless, the ND filter calculator part of the app always worked as the weather portion of the app would not be needed for figuring that out - nor do I think it is even possible - the weather will not tell you what settings you need to get a proper exposure. That is going to depend on where you are flying, what your base settings are (aperture, ISO) and more important, what you are filming. The proper exposure for shooting the sky is different than shooting the ground, is different than shooting in a forest, etc. so just knowing that it is "clear and sunny" is not enough information to get a proper exposure for a specific subject and without that information, you cannot know what filter to put on to get to the 180 rule.
Maybe I am wrong - I have years of experience in photography but am a complete noob in videography and the use of ND filters in video so maybe it is possible to generalize filter use through the weather and get close but I am not even sure that is what PP was claiming to be able to do. Someone yell at me if I am off base on this....
The way I use it - set the camera to Manual mode, set the the aperture (if you can, mine is fixed on the Mavic Air) ISO and frame rate you want, frame the subject and set the shutter speed to where it is properly exposed (approx EV 0.0). Then in the app, enter your frame rate, shutter speed as you just figured for proper exposure, and what filter you have on there already if any, and the calculator tells you at the top which ND filter to put on there to get it to the 180 rule range. Install the proper filter, drop your shutter speed to double your frame rate, aim at subject and check your exposure again and you should be good to go. You may need to move it a fraction of a stop to dial it in perfect but you are still in the ball park.
Hopefully this helps but again, I am new to this on the video side so if anyone sees something I missed or misunderstood, please let me know. In the end, it is a pretty standard calculation so there are plenty of other resources out there as mentioned above if this app still does not work for you.
