Taco ND Filters turned up today.

[Peregrine]

Very pleased with them so far. They fit very nicely onto the camera, and do not limit the gimbal's movement or calibration process one little bit. I did try to give them a test out, but it's a strange day here in the UK. Quite windy, with large clouds scudding across a blue sky, so it's going from bright to dullish in a matter of seconds. Consequently, I was between an ND8 and an ND16.

As regards the test footage I gained, it's just so different. It may take a little getting used to. It was the smoothest, most cinematic footage I have gained so far. In the past, if I hovered at 150' near a road, and filmed cars going past, they often jerked a little. Not this time, they were as smooth as silk. But, on the downside, that 4k crispness has diminished a little, and the footage seems to have that slight vaseline smear effect. Much like what I'm used to seeing from films on the big screen.

I set the camera up as 2.7k - NTSC - ISO 100 - 30fps/60 Shutter speed. EV hovered between -0.3 and -1.0 depending on the clouds. White balance was set to cloudy, but could easily have been sunny.

Can't wait to experiment further. Overall, very pleased and quite excited. One of my better purchases

 

[=HH=]

Very pleased with them so far. They fit very nicely onto the camera, and do not limit the gimbal's movement or calibration process one little bit. I did try to give them a test out, but it's a strange day here in the UK. Quite windy, with large clouds scudding across a blue sky, so it's going from bright to dullish in a matter of seconds. Consequently, I was between an ND8 and an ND16.

As regards the test footage I gained, it's just so different. It may take a little getting used to. It was the smoothest, most cinematic footage I have gained so far. In the past, if I hovered at 150' near a road, and filmed cars going past, they often jerked a little. Not this time, they were as smooth as silk. But, on the downside, that 4k crispness has diminished a little, and the footage seems to have that slight vaseline smear effect. Much like what I'm used to seeing from films on the big screen.

I set the camera up as 2.7k - NTSC - ISO 100 - 30fps/60 Shutter speed. EV hovered between -0.3 and -1.0 depending on the clouds. White balance was set to cloudy, but could easily have been sunny.

Can't wait to experiment further. Overall, very pleased and quite excited. One of my better purchases

Yup I own a set of the tacos and use them all the time . Very happy with them

 

[darren6270]

Very pleased with them so far. They fit very nicely onto the camera, and do not limit the gimbal's movement or calibration process one little bit. I did try to give them a test out, but it's a strange day here in the UK. Quite windy, with large clouds scudding across a blue sky, so it's going from bright to dullish in a matter of seconds. Consequently, I was between an ND8 and an ND16.

As regards the test footage I gained, it's just so different. It may take a little getting used to. It was the smoothest, most cinematic footage I have gained so far. In the past, if I hovered at 150' near a road, and filmed cars going past, they often jerked a little. Not this time, they were as smooth as silk. But, on the downside, that 4k crispness has diminished a little, and the footage seems to have that slight vaseline smear effect. Much like what I'm used to seeing from films on the big screen.

I set the camera up as 2.7k - NTSC - ISO 100 - 30fps/60 Shutter speed. EV hovered between -0.3 and -1.0 depending on the clouds. White balance was set to cloudy, but could easily have been sunny.

Can't wait to experiment further. Overall, very pleased and quite excited. One of my better purchases

Just out of interest where did you get them from. I want to replace my DJI ones.

 

[darren6270]

Sorry, just noticed. Why did you set to NTSC and not PAL ?

 

[=HH=]

Sorry, just noticed. Why did you set to NTSC and not PAL ?

I got them from taco rc store

 

[Mavicjon999]

Sorry, just noticed. Why did you set to NTSC and not PAL ?

Would think so he can get the 30fps.....

 

[dufferso]

Very pleased with them so far. They fit very nicely onto the camera, and do not limit the gimbal's movement or calibration process one little bit. I did try to give them a test out, but it's a strange day here in the UK. Quite windy, with large clouds scudding across a blue sky, so it's going from bright to dullish in a matter of seconds. Consequently, I was between an ND8 and an ND16.

As regards the test footage I gained, it's just so different. It may take a little getting used to. It was the smoothest, most cinematic footage I have gained so far. In the past, if I hovered at 150' near a road, and filmed cars going past, they often jerked a little. Not this time, they were as smooth as silk. But, on the downside, that 4k crispness has diminished a little, and the footage seems to have that slight vaseline smear effect. Much like what I'm used to seeing from films on the big screen.

I set the camera up as 2.7k - NTSC - ISO 100 - 30fps/60 Shutter speed. EV hovered between -0.3 and -1.0 depending on the clouds. White balance was set to cloudy, but could easily have been sunny.

Can't wait to experiment further. Overall, very pleased and quite excited. One of my better purchases

That's great to know what ND filter needed in the UK on a part sunny part cloudy day. Slightly under exposed can be brought up in post better than overexposing and if inclined use D log for greater dynamic range which allows more latitude on slightly off exposure.
Think the TACO present better VFM overall.

 

[Peregrine]

Would think so he can get the 30fps.....

Yep. Spot on. I'll switch to PAL if I need any night time shoots.

 

[Peregrine]

Just out of interest where did you get them from. I want to replace my DJI ones.

Bought them off Amazon, but I think they came from the Taco store in China. Got here in under a week, so was happy at that. 4-8-16-32 and a UV filter. Think it came in at about £50

 

[Mavicjon999]

Bought them off Amazon, but I think they came from the Taco store in China. Got here in under a week, so was happy at that. 4-8-16-32 and a UV filter. Think it came in at about £50

Yeah same as me exactly....not had much chance to try them out properly yet.....

 

[gavcuk]

They do a more expensive multi-coating set. Wonder if they are worth the extra £20

 

[=HH=]

They do a more expensive multi-coating set. Wonder if they are worth the extra £20

Sorry that is the ND tacos I have but I can't compare them with the others because I have not tride the other's

 

[Pac]

What settings "style" settings did you use? Standard, Landcape, Soft etc. or custom?
I found it helpful to use custom with Sharpness being +1 as 0 and below (unfortunately) turns on smoothing...

 

[Peregrine]

I left the settings standard. I shall have to experiment, as the standard setting is a bit waxy, and could do with sharpening up a bit.

 

[Pac]

Problem is that sharpening and noise reduction/smoothing is within ONE setting. If you disable sharpening (setting to 0) noise reduction kicks in which really looks waxy. There are several videos on this.
So using the +1 sharpness (which means it sometimes looks oversharpened) is the only way to get good footage,
Can be easy tested with leaves on trees.

 

[Peregrine]

Thanks for the heads up. To be honest, today was the first real stab at setting things up manually, with the arrival of the filters. I had enough to think about with the other variables, lol. But I'm on the case, and will experiment with the sharpness setting tomorrow