SKYREAT ND filters and more

[Chopstix Kid]

While waiting for my Mavic 2 Pro to show up I went out and started buying everything that I suspected I would need for it. The last of my kit arrived today, the 6pc @Skyreat ND filter pack. I am no pro so I’m going to give Short review of my impressions as commoner...

I picked up the Mavic 2 Pro, Fly More kit and RE goggles. I’ve grown accustomed to using my iPad Pro 9.7 so I also bought the @Skyreat tablet mount and cable. I also picked up an Anker Powerline+ cable for my S6 as a backup in the event I am in a situation that is not feasible to set up the iPad.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019PV2I3G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Anker PL+ Is a nice cable. Had I thought about it more however, I would’ve got one at a 90° angle at the phone... once it is all mounted up in the controller, the wire sticking out is a bit of a comfort hindrance.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CMVJ8K8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is the improved version with the alloy locking nut. I was concerned about reviews of similiar products with tablets flopping around and the locking nut cracking so I spent a couple bucks more and got this one. It is rocksolid. It moves when I want it to move and stays put otherwise. I also needed the lanyard so this one came with it. It is what I would call a medium-duty grade nylon that is not padded so take it for what it is. Two or three flights at a time it does not bother my skin however I have read reviews from others that they found it irritating. While it does cover the screen of the controller, it is very well-balanced. As you can see from the photo, I can set it down on a table and it does not topple over. That’s pretty important to me while I’m flying as the weight is very well-balanced in my hands. Your mileage may vary. It folds up nicely and comes in a small pouch. Very satisfied.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073PW3VBK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Since I’m using an iPad Pro I also needed a longer cable so I picked up this one also from @Skyreat. Since I bought their tablet holder I figured why not buy their cable as well. I have a tendency to try to stick with a single brand for the most part unless there’s a compelling reason not to. It clicks into both devices nicely and as you can see from the photos I routed it to stay out of my way. No complaints.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GWP97B8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I haven’t used them yet however my initial impressions are positive. Came in a useable case and fit the camera nicely. The footprint is identical to the factory cover. It locks on nicely with the same amount of resistance as the original. Forgive if I get this wrong, they appear to be vertically polarized in that they will remove reflection off of water and other horizontal surfaces but will not remove glare or reflection from windows or anything vertical—took them outside and tested them against the windows of my house and against a puddle of standing water. I have Polar Pro ND-CPL on my Phantom 4 and have no complaints. As I mentioned earlier, I just try to keep it all the same brand unless there’s a compelling reason not to.

EDIT: The filters are slightly wider than the original thus the gimbal cover requires a little bit of stretching to snap on. It does however, make the filters a bit easier to remove and install since you have something to grip. Be advised if you opt to force the cover on, it is even more difficult to remove. I’m going to examine it a little more closely to see if there’s any modification that can be made to the gimbal cover to work more easily with the filters installed.

Anyhow, I will get it in the air tomorrow with the new filters and see how they do and report back.

 

[Chopstix Kid]

OK so upon some inspection, does not look like that there is a practical modification that can be made to the gimbal cover that will allow it to easily slip on and off with the filters installed while still maintaining some degree of support for the camera. Thus, remove the filter and put the factory one back on or use a little elbow grease getting the gimbal cover on and off around the filter. I suspect that this is pretty common however. With my P4, I had to modify the original clamp as well as the first gen Polar Pro clamp in order to make a hybrid support system that I was happy with.

 

[gnirtS]

How to you rotate those PL filters? Because if you can't they serve no useful purpose at all!

 

[Chopstix Kid]

How to you rotate those PL filters? Because if you can't they serve no useful purpose at all!

Non-rotating. I have CPLs for my P4 and have yet to rotate them beyond my initial setting. Then again, I don’t do a lot of photography from the air that requires it. I really only needed the ND filters but for the price I couldn’t pass up getting the full kit.

 

[Skyreat]

How to you rotate those PL filters? Because if you can't they serve no useful purpose at all!

The PL glasses is already mounted at the right angle.

 

[wsettle]

The PL glasses is already mounted at the right angle.

What angle would that be, say for instance, if one had an adjustable PL filter?

I thought direction mattered.

 

[Chopstix Kid]

What angle would that be, say for instance, if one had an adjustable PL filter?

I thought direction mattered.

It does however there is always been a debate on their effectiveness on a drone since you make your adjustments on the ground at one angle and then you’re taking it into the air changing the angle thus also changing the effect of the polarizing. That’s why on my P4 with circular polarizer’s, I just set them at vertical and leave them.

I’m not even really at an amateur level of aerial photography.... more of a hobbyist. I’m sure those that do it for a living find the value in CPLs, but for me there is little.

 

[Skyreat]

What angle would that be, say for instance, if one had an adjustable PL filter?

I thought direction mattered.

If the polarization is calculated from 1 to 10, the lens has been adjusted to a position of 10, which is at the best polarization.
We know that sometimes it still need to adjust according to the actual situation. Therefore, we're going to release a rotatable PL filter at the end of September. We will do some calibration on the frame to make it easier for users to remember what the angle they want.

 

[RobH2]

If the polarization is calculated from 1 to 10, the lens has been adjusted to a position of 10, which is at the best polarization.
We know that sometimes it still need to adjust according to the actual situation. Therefore, we're going to release a rotatable PL filter at the end of September. We will do some calibration on the frame to make it easier for users to remember what the angle they want.

That's really good to hear. A calibration mark would really be nice. I can't tell you how many ND filters I have with Sharpie marks on them so I know which way is up. I look forward to seeing those filters for the M2. I wish the normal round filters had a marking system on the edges. Usually, it's just the vendor's name and sometimes I just remember that the "r" (or whatever letter you choose) goes UP. But if they aren't stamped consistently, that method fails, i.e., Sharpie. I think your idea to provide a calibration mark on the M2 Pro filters is great and about time someone implemented that. I look forward to seeing how you handle the rotating design on the rectangular filter mounts.

 

[Skyreat]

That's really good to hear. A calibration mark would really be nice. I can't tell you how many ND filters I have with Sharpie marks on them so I know which way is up. I look forward to seeing those filters for the M2. I wish the normal round filters had a marking system on the edges. Usually, it's just the vendor's name and sometimes I just remember that the "r" (or whatever letter you choose) goes UP. But if they aren't stamped consistently, that method fails, i.e., Sharpie. I think your idea to provide a calibration mark on the M2 Pro filters is great and about time someone implemented that. I look forward to seeing how you handle the rotating design on the rectangular filter mounts.

I will post the picture on the this Thread when i get the sample.

 

[gnirtS]

What angle would that be, say for instance, if one had an adjustable PL filter?

I thought direction mattered.

It does. The "right angle" changes every single time depending on the light source and subject angle. Especially in aerial photography where you're often dealing with reflected light a lot more than direct light it matters enourmously so a fixed polarisation offset is almost totally useless.
Its like polarised sunglasses - they're useful and work "ok" but ultimately for certain subjects you need to tilt your head and you can see large changes in polarisation effect.
For that reason its also why callibration marks are useless (which is why absolutely nobody relies on them with land based CPLs on proper cameras either)

 

[Ray Jay]

It does. The "right angle" changes every single time depending on the light source and subject angle. Especially in aerial photography

I can see why this is important for photography, but is it the same for video? As a hobbyist who flys DJI products simply for my own enjoyment, I mostly take video as I fly about, often using Litchi waypoints.

Under these circumstances, how important is the orientation other than for reflective horizontal light? I dont’ know about you guys, but I find it to be a giant pita to dial in polarized filters on my Mavic pro, as opposed to simply snapping them on in accordance with the orientation mark.

Looking forward to some reviews of the Skyreat filters from those who are getting ‘em.

Ray Jay

 

[Chopstix Kid]

I can see why this is important for photography, but is it the same for video? As a hobbyist who flys DJI products simply for my own enjoyment, I mostly take video as I fly about, often using Litchi waypoints.

Under these circumstances, how important is the orientation other than for reflective horizontal light? I dont’ know about you guys, but I find it to be a giant pita to dial in polarized filters on my Mavic pro, as opposed to simply snapping them on in accordance with the orientation mark.

Looking forward to some reviews of the Skyreat filters from those who are getting ‘em.

Ray Jay

It changes based on time of day since the angle of the sun will be different. Additionally, if you are shooting and need to remove glare from a window, you can rotate for horizontal polarization. There is definitely application for a CPL however I am with you... I'm just a hobbyist.

 

[Ray Jay]

It changes based on time of day since the angle of the sun will be different. Additionally, if you are shooting and need to remove glare from a window, you can rotate for horizontal polarization. There is definitely application for a CPL however I am with you... I'm just a hobbyist.

Exactly, Mr. Kid, but since you can’t rotate the filter once you’re in the air, I would think the most useful orientation when flying about taking video would be for horizontal glare. Maybe not...

Ray Jay

 

[Chopstix Kid]

Exactly, Mr. Kid, but since you can’t rotate the filter once you’re in the air, I would think the most useful orientation when flying about taking video would be for horizontal glare. Maybe not...

Ray Jay

I think that's the difference between guys like us and the pros... we "fly around" and take photos. The pros will prep and setup for each shot thus they will dial in the polarization angle each time.

 

[ricphoto]

I think that's the difference between guys like us and the pros... we "fly around" and take photos. The pros will prep and setup for each shot thus they will dial in the polarization angle each time.

Bingo...

Think about this the next time you watch a movie and see if you can keep up with the cuts....you'll be surprised at how many there actually are and how they're done/blended...

Pros begin with having an overall "vision" of what the final movie/still will look and feel like and then breaking it down into "takes"...(storyboarding) ...when on location you'll be optimizing each shot and repeating till you/the DP are satisfied ... this could mean adjusting approach, angle, exposure, filter orientation, color balance or just waiting for that cloud to move out (or in)...will most likely shoot out of chronological order due to light, weather, location or logistics...Then you and/or the editor stitch everything together in post without the hassle of trying to match/grade marginal shots with properly exposed/filtered footage...

This gives lots more options in post making visual continuity easier (and is lots cheaper than reorganizing the shoot to repeat...)

 

[Chopstix Kid]

Some people have been asking so here’s a quick video of how the gimbal cover fits with the current filters.

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[sar104]

It does. The "right angle" changes every single time depending on the light source and subject angle. Especially in aerial photography where you're often dealing with reflected light a lot more than direct light it matters enourmously so a fixed polarisation offset is almost totally useless.
Its like polarised sunglasses - they're useful and work "ok" but ultimately for certain subjects you need to tilt your head and you can see large changes in polarisation effect.
For that reason its also why callibration marks are useless (which is why absolutely nobody relies on them with land based CPLs on proper cameras either)

These CPLs have vertically polarized filters, so they will be effective against reflections from any horizontal surface, independent of the angle of illumination. They won't be useful for increasing sky contrast since the Rayleigh-scattered light in blue sky does have a polarization angle dependent on the angle relative to the sun.

 

[Sockeye]

I have received the "small" set containing ND4, ND8 and ND16. I have tested them and must admit they are useless for me. I am filming with 25fps, meaning I am targeting 1/50 of a second for the shutter speed an an aperture setting of 3.2 - 5.6 on the Mavic Pro.
Right now, the sky is completely overcast with light rain... quite dark. Even with these light conditions I need f5.6 to get my shutter-speed down to 1/50 for a 0ev with the ND16.

This means for me, I'll need to wait for my ND32 and ND64 and presumably the ND64 is going to be my all-on ND filter for filming, with the ND32 for bad light conditions....

 

[justanothermavic]

The PL glasses is already mounted at the right angle.

Some people have been asking so here’s a quick video of how the gimbal cover fits with the current filters.

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It might be important to remind members as to what a polarizing filter does, namely increases saturation and reduce reflections from non metallic sources. One reason you need to be able to adjust the orientation of a polarizing filter is so the filter does not interfere with the camera being able to determine the correct exposure (polarizing filters also can interfere with autofocus systems) Circular polarizing filters solve this problem by having a standard linear filter which does the job by only allowing light rays vibrating in the correct ordination to transverse the filter, a second filter called a "retarder" scrambles the light so it now vibrates in all planes. You need to be able to rotate the filter to maximize the effect, a filter that does not rotate has limited value.