TACO-RC ND filters set (ND4/8/16/32) for DJI MAVIC PRO

JtrJr · Dec 13, 2016

AAPhoto,

Great explanation for a layman like me! Thank you, I'd love to see you start a thread providing more of your insight!

Jerry

Rigging65 · Dec 15, 2016

Any idea when the polarized versions are coming out? @ocatcr

stealle · Dec 15, 2016

AAPhoto said:
When filming video with a drone, the goal is to make your shutter speed 2X that of your frame rate. If you're shooting at 30fps for example, you would look for a 1/60s shutter speed (shown as 60 in the app settings). This provides a nice smooth transition between frames. Without an ND filter, on a bright day, your camera will most likely use very high shutter speeds, maybe in the 2000 to 4000 range (1/2000 of a second to 1/4000 second) depending if you're looking into the sun at all, against bright white snow, etc etc. What this does is it makes each video frame extremely sharp... stopping motion every time it takes a picture. The effect this has on a video is that it looks more like a really fast slide show as opposed to a motion picture. It may not be noticeable to an amateur eye, but once you see the difference ND filters can make, you can quickly spot the difference and will never go back to not using them. The different strengths of filters (ND4, ND8, ND16, ND32, etc) adjust your shutter speed by reducing the light allowed to hit the camera sensor. If one doesn't reduce the shutter speed enough, you would try the next one, etc. There are ND calculators available to help you figure out the filter that should work best based on your shutter speed without an ND filter installed.

Circular Polarizers, on the other hand, have a different purpose. They are used to cut down on reflective light. A good example of this is shooting over water. Without a polarizer, the lake/ocean/pond may appear a shimmering white shape in the video. With a polarizer, the bodies of water appear as their natural blue color because the reflective light is blocked by the filter. Polarized filters also bring out color that may otherwise be washed out due to light reflections, so they enhance foliage, blue skies, etc. The circular polarizers have variable strength so depending on how the filter is oriented will determine the strength of the effect. In the blue sky example, you can go from washed out light blue color to a dark, almost unrealistic, blue color. You can hold it in front of your eye and turn it while looking at the sky (90 degrees to 180 degrees from the sun) to see the different effects of the filter so you can figure out which is the best orientation for what you're going to do. I mention looking away or perpendicular to the sun because CP filters do not typically work when looking directly at a light source. Hope this helps.

Thanks. You explained that very well. I'm on board with ND filters and will be getting a set. However, It seems to me that a CP would be great for video/photo shot in the ground where the user can make adjustments as they change positions, but I'm having a hard time imagining the CP on a drone that is constantly moving and the angle of the sun is constantly changing. Holding the CP up to your eye before you attach it to the drone must surely be something quite different once the drone is moving in multiple different directions, no? Seems like the polarizing effect would be constantly changing, hit or miss, or even cause a negative effect at times. Can you give me your thoughts on that?

rafelos · Dec 15, 2016

Can I leave the mavic in auto? Or do I need to go to manual and adjust the settings? What are the recommended settings?

AAPhoto · Dec 15, 2016

stealle said:
Thanks. You explained that very well. I'm on board with ND filters and will be getting a set. However, It seems to me that a CP would be great for video/photo shot in the ground where the user can make adjustments as they change positions, but I'm having a hard time imagining the CP on a drone that is constantly moving and the angle of the sun is constantly changing. Holding the CP up to your eye before you attach it to the drone must surely be something quite different once the drone is moving in multiple different directions, no? Seems like the polarizing effect would be constantly changing, hit or miss, or even cause a negative effect at times. Can you give me your thoughts on that?

You are correct in that the polarizing effect will change as in it will be stronger in some directions than others. I will typically look to the sky 90 to 180 degrees to the sun (I sweep that range) spin the polarizer until I find the strongest effect, spin it to where i find the effect most pleasing, and then line it up that way on my camera. I do the same thing with my DSLR, except that filter is attached to my lens in turning it while looking through the viewfinder, sweeping the sky. The idea is to find the sweet spot where you're not overdoing it at its strongest setting, but you also don't have the filter turned to an angle that has no effect (why have it if you're going to do that?). If you're only going to use it to reduce glare from bodies of water, or shiny surfaces, you can do this while looking directly at the reflective surface and find a setting/angle that reduces the glare to your liking.

I always keep the direction to the sun in mind while filming with a CP and will avoid recording scenes that move from one extreme to the other. If I need to film towards the sun, where there will be little to no polarizing, I go into it understanding that will be the case, but knowing that when I'm recording in other directions, my polarizer will be ready to do its magic.

In regards to having a negative effect, this could occur with very wide lenses. Many times, with super wide lenses, the polarizing effect is only applied to the center of the image. Corners can look awful when panning with a CP installed on those lenses (this negatively affects panoramas taken with superwide lenses as well). In my experience, this is much more apparent when using high end CP's on quality lenses on the DSLR. On both of my drones, the CPs are not as strong and this has not been an issue for me. The Mavic has a longer focal length which makes this even less of a concern.

wombat · Dec 15, 2016

I notice your filters are no longer on eBay, will you be putting them back on soon ?

I have been looking at the TACO-RC Multi-Coating MC ND filter set 4 -pack (ND4/8/16/32) for the DJI Mavic Pro, can I also add a UV filter to that 4 filter set ?

AAPhoto · Dec 15, 2016

rafelos said:
Can I leave the mavic in auto? Or do I need to go to manual and adjust the settings? What are the recommended settings?

It's personal preference really. I'm a tinkerer and also a bit of a perfectionist so i like to set things manually and have full control. In order to do that though, you need a basic understanding of how a camera works with light (research the "exposure triangle"). Other people like things simple, and for that, auto works most of the time. I encourage you to play around with all the settings, try each color profile, and find what you like best. If you're not going to edit your videos, as in color grading, etc, "auto" settings will work pretty well. If you are going to edit, there are plenty of YouTube videos out there that will walk you through the best setup (and for the most part, they're all recommending the same thing, so it's not as confusing as one might think).

One thing you may want to consider is setting a white balance. You can really choose anything you like, but "daytime" works for most. What this will do is make sure the white balance is consistent throughout the entire video. If it is set to 'auto', it can change and cause colors to shift while panning etc. (For example, panning from cool clouds to a warm sunset). Keeping the white balance consistent also makes it much easier to change it in post (editing) if you find the video is too warm or cool for the subject matter. If you really want to get crazy, you can experiment with setting an exact temperature (the K "kelvin" setting) so the white balance is perfect right out of camera. [emoji4]

Using Auto camera settings, a good tip is to enable the histogram (it's one of the sliders in the camera options). The histogram is a visual reference to the image exposure. The goal is to keep the peaks from hugging either side. If the peaks are smashed asking the left side, the image will be too dark (underexposed), if the peaks are smashed sharing the right side, it will be too bright (overexposed). Use the exposure wheel (right side of the controller under the shutter button) to make adjustments as needed to bring the peaks back towards the center of the histogram.

ocatcr · Dec 16, 2016

Rigging65 said:
Any idea when the polarized versions are coming out? @ocatcr

Hopefully we will have it at the end of next week. Thanks.

ocatcr · Dec 16, 2016

AAPhoto said:
You are correct in that the polarizing effect will change as in it will be stronger in some directions than others. I will typically look to the sky 90 to 180 degrees to the sun (I sweep that range) spin the polarizer until I find the strongest effect, spin it to where i find the effect most pleasing, and then line it up that way on my camera. I do the same thing with my DSLR, except that filter is attached to my lens in turning it while looking through the viewfinder, sweeping the sky. The idea is to find the sweet spot where you're not overdoing it at its strongest setting, but you also don't have the filter turned to an angle that has no effect (why have it if you're going to do that?). If you're only going to use it to reduce glare from bodies of water, or shiny surfaces, you can do this while looking directly at the reflective surface and find a setting/angle that reduces the glare to your liking.

I always keep the direction to the sun in mind while filming with a CP and will avoid recording scenes that move from one extreme to the other. If I need to film towards the sun, where there will be little to no polarizing, I go into it understanding that will be the case, but knowing that when I'm recording in other directions, my polarizer will be ready to do its magic.

In regards to having a negative effect, this could occur with very wide lenses. Many times, with super wide lenses, the polarizing effect is only applied to the center of the image. Corners can look awful when panning with a CP installed on those lenses (this negatively affects panoramas taken with superwide lenses as well). In my experience, this is much more apparent when using high end CP's on quality lenses on the DSLR. On both of my drones, the CPs are not as strong and this has not been an issue for me. The Mavic has a longer focal length which makes this even less of a concern.

Thanks for your sharing.

ocatcr · Dec 16, 2016

wombat said:
I notice your filters are no longer on eBay, will you be putting them back on soon ?

I have been looking at the TACO-RC Multi-Coating MC ND filter set 4 -pack (ND4/8/16/32) for the DJI Mavic Pro, can I also add a UV filter to that 4 filter set ?

Hi, first batch was sold out. We will have more next week. Thanks for your all support.

rafelos · Dec 16, 2016

AAPhoto said:
It's personal preference really. I'm a tinkerer and also a bit of a perfectionist so i like to set things manually and have full control. In order to do that though, you need a basic understanding of how a camera works with light (research the "exposure triangle"). Other people like things simple, and for that, auto works most of the time. I encourage you to play around with all the settings, try each color profile, and find what you like best. If you're not going to edit your videos, as in color grading, etc, "auto" settings will work pretty well. If you are going to edit, there are plenty of YouTube videos out there that will walk you through the best setup (and for the most part, they're all recommending the same thing, so it's not as confusing as one might think).

One thing you may want to consider is setting a white balance. You can really choose anything you like, but "daytime" works for most. What this will do is make sure the white balance is consistent throughout the entire video. If it is set to 'auto', it can change and cause colors to shift while panning etc. (For example, panning from cool clouds to a warm sunset). Keeping the white balance consistent also makes it much easier to change it in post (editing) if you find the video is too warm or cool for the subject matter. If you really want to get crazy, you can experiment with setting an exact temperature (the K "kelvin" setting) so the white balance is perfect right out of camera. [emoji4]

Using Auto camera settings, a good to is to enable the histogram (it's one of the sliders in the camera options). The histogram is a visual reference to the image exposure. The goal is to keep the peaks from hugging either side. If the peaks are smashed asking the left side, the image will be too dark (underexposed), if the peaks are smashed sharing the right side, it will be too bright (overexposed). Use the exposure where'll (right side of the controller under the shutter button) to make adjustments as needed to bring the peaks back towards the center of the histogram.

Thanks for the info, just what I was looking for!

Crusader · Dec 16, 2016

@ocatcr,
Looks like a good and light product.
Just ordered the MC ND 4 pack, are they in stock? The site was not very clear on this.

Cheers,
Crusader

chippie · Dec 16, 2016

Crusader said:
@ocatcr,
Looks like a good and light product.
Just ordered the MC ND 4 pack, are they in stock? The site was not very clear on this.

Cheers,
Crusader

Take a look 2 posts above yours

Crusader · Dec 16, 2016

chippie said:
Take a look 2 posts above yours

Must have daized off when i scanned this thread over

thanks!

DRONE-flies-YOU · Dec 16, 2016

Crusader said:
@ocatcr,
Looks like a good and light product.
Just ordered the MC ND 4 pack, are they in stock? The site was not very clear on this.

Cheers,
Crusader

It also wasn't clear if the pictured Mavic comes with an R/C.