The power of ND filters

[Viciam]

I dont know why but they make my videos better. Im not a technical person. More of a creative so i cant explain but i know its goof to use

 

[Fleek]

Don't get the hype about ND filters. I stopped using them. There might be that super sunny day with glaring, white sand beaches but don't find the filters add value for 95% of time.

 

[Mr. Salty]

(iii) NDs are detrimental and will degrade image quality for PHOTOS and should not be used.

In general. But if you’re trying to be creative and actually want motion blur in your still photography - say, from moving traffic, fireworks or flowing water - then achieving a slower shutter speed using ND filters is a perfectly valid reason to use them.

It all depends on what kind of photography you’re doing.

 

[Fleek]

It's accurate that ND filters have no effect on color, but they do affect overall exposure. "Neutral" is in reference to the colors, but "Density" means the filter is dense enough to prevent some of the light from passing through. It's similar to when you put sunglasses on - colors normally look a little muted or washed out, and everything gets less bright overall.

ND filters by themselves do nothing to change the actual shutter speed of the camera (though with the settings on auto, the shutter speed may change as the camera compensates for the addition of the filter). People primarily use ND filters on drones in order to enable them to change their shutter speed in order to preserve the popular cinematic motion blur look. This usually requires the shutter speed to be approximately double the fps, so for 30fps (as an example) you'd want 1/60 shutter speed. Without a filter this could result in overexposed shots, as 1/60 is somewhat of a slow shutter speed and allows a lot of light to hit the sensor. Adding an ND filter to the lens reduces the overall exposure of the shot before any light even hits the sensor, so even with the slower shutter speed everything should be properly exposed.

Because of the prevalence of this use of ND filters for drone flight, many users come away thinking ND filters only alter the shutter speed and are used only for video, but this is inaccurate. ND filters have been around and used for ground-based photography and video applications for quite some time. They're not necessary for every shoot, but are an extremely valuable tool to have available because of the additional exposure control they offer.

- Oliver from PolarPro

I keep getting my negative comments about ND filters deleted. You forum guys must own shares of PolarPro.

 

[Kilrah]

In general. But if you’re trying to be creative and actually want motion blur in your still photography - say, from moving traffic, fireworks or flowing water - then achieving a slower shutter speed using ND filters is a perfectly valid reason to use them.

Sure but that doesn't apply to drones since due to limited aircraft stability shots with a long enough exposure to achieve that are pretty much guaranteed to be ruined.

 

[Kilrah]

I dont know. something is defo goodabiut nd filters. The sky would have looked a lot detailed in the tower video above with nd

No. Completely unrelated. You were simply overexposed for that shot, and with a filter you'd also have been overexposed unless you adjusted exposure compensation... and then it would work both with and without filter.

 

[Mr. Salty]

Sure but that doesn't apply to drones since due to limited aircraft stability shots with a long enough exposure to achieve that are pretty much guaranteed to be ruined.

Bull. Watch the video link I posted.

I have some decent night photos from my Mavic with shutter speeds of a second or more allowing for motion blur from vehicle lights.

For water you only need about 1/30th of a second for motion blur.

 

[Adamcain112]

I hope on the next Mavic we can control the aperture.

 

[Viciam]

Bull. Watch the video link I posted.

I have some decent night photos from my Mavic with shutter speeds of a second or more allowing for motion blur from vehicle lights.

For water you only need about 1/30th of a second for motion blur.

View attachment 23023

This is a nice photo. What settings did you use?

 

[Mr. Salty]

This is a nice photo. What settings did you use?

Thanks. This was shot with a 1-second shutter speed at ISO 400, processed in Lightroom from the RAW file. It was shot at about 11:30 p.m., so the only light is the artificial light you see.

And yes, there were very calm winds that night, which helped.

 

[Viciam]

Thanks. This was shot with a 1-second shutter speed at ISO 400, processed in Lightroom from the RAW file. It was shot at about 11:30 p.m., so the only light is the artificial light you see.

And yes, there were very calm winds that night, which helped.

What did u use lightroom for?

 

[Mr. Salty]

What did u use lightroom for?

Raw files require some amount of post-processing. Lightroom is just what I’m most familiar with. Straightened the horizon, adjusted color and contrast, etc., and exported as a jpeg.

 

[Viciam]

Raw files require some amount of post-processing. Lightroom is just what I’m most familiar with. Straightened the horizon, adjusted color and contrast, etc., and exported as a jpeg.

Ah I see

 

[Viciam]

I hope on the next Mavic we can control the aperture.

This would be good. We as drone flyers would have a lot more flexibelity

 

[Kilrah]

Can't 50, 25, 12.5, etc. be achieved by sensor's processor by simply discarding (or averaging) samples?

No. Once a pixel saturates it's full, you can't prevent it without limiting the amount of light that comes in.

Bull. Watch the video link I posted.

I have some decent night photos from my Mavic with shutter speeds of a second or more allowing for motion blur from vehicle lights.

Well to some extent, yes... but that photo is nowhwere near what I'd call flowing traffic, nor will a 1/30th shot of water. Was talking of 10+ second shots.

I don't see any related video link in this thread.

 

[Kilrah]

Nope. The pixel is basically a photodiode (that converts an incoming photon into an electrical charge) and a capacitor that stores that charge and converts it to a voltage that can be read out later. The charge that can be held is limited.

Full Well Capacity

What you say would be nice, but is not possible since it would require being able to read all pixels simultaneously. Can't do that, so a method is required to "store" the image on the sensor for the relatively long amount of time it takes to read pixels one by one sequentially.

 

[Mr. Salty]

Well to some extent, yes... but that photo is nowhwere near what I'd call flowing traffic

But there is motion blur because it's a 1-second exposure, and it's the photo I had most readily at hand as an example.

nor will a 1/30th shot of water

Yes it will. I've been photographing flowing water in caves for years. We're not talking about the soft, mist-like look you get from really long exposures, but if you're wanting to convey motion, 1/30th will do it just fine.

Was talking of 10+ second shots.

That's an oddly high number. Motion blur is motion blur. 10+ seconds is enough to photograph the Milky Way. But there are plenty of situations where photographers might want to have a shutter speed of a second or so, and the Mavic is capable of that under the right circumstances.

I don't see any related video link in this thread.

A couple of my posts seems to be missing. Let's try this again:

 

[Viciam]

Cool video, thanks for sharing

 

[Viciam]

But there is motion blur because it's a 1-second exposure, and it's the photo I had most readily at hand as an example.



Yes it will. I've been photographing flowing water in caves for years. We're not talking about the soft, mist-like look you get from really long exposures, but if you're wanting to convey motion, 1/30th will do it just fine.


That's an oddly high number. Motion blur is motion blur. 10+ seconds is enough to photograph the Milky Way. But there are plenty of situations where photographers might want to have a shutter speed of a second or so, and the Mavic is capable of that under the right circumstances.


A couple of my posts seems to be missing. Let's try this again:

Where can we see underwater cave pictures?

 

[Mr. Salty]

Where can we see underwater cave pictures?

I haven't shot any underwater, but I've shot flowing water (streams) in caves. All of mine are on film, so I'll have to find them and scan in the negatives.

The relevant part to my point above is, there are a couple of ways to shoot flowing water (waterfalls) in caves. If you want the water sharp, you use an electronic flash. But if you want motion blur you use an old flashbulb-type flash, which has an effective shutter speed around 1/30th of a second. That's enough to get at least some motion blur.