Since I now have a drone (an M2P) that supports filters, I've been wondering about which ones are actually worth getting - the PolarPro "six pack", or a similar bundle, looks like a good option, but I'm curious as to what the limiting factors are for use on a drone where you can't adjust them in-flight. I've been shooting an SLR since pre-digital, so I'm aware of the various types of filter work, and will (mostly) be shooting stills with the drone. My specific questions for each type of filter are:
NDs, are pretty obvious - slow the shutter speed for smoother video and longer still exposures; the adjustable aperture on the M2P is also good for a few stops of before the image starts to get soft, so I guess ND4, ND8, & ND16 would cover almost all normal still and video use? Secondly, with but with my very limited flight time with it so far, I'm not sure whether it's really stable enough to get critically sharp 20MP images with the 2-8s exposures typically necessary for the "milky water" effect (obviously this is lalso heavily dependant on wind speed, and thus location). Is it worth get maybe getting an ND100 or higher filter for this kind of shot, or just not worth the effort?
CPs - for a specific angle onto the subject you can make a pretty good guess at how to set the CP before takeoff by looking through the CP before fitting it, but how do people manage this if you are going to moving around and shooting from multiple angle, or even doing a 360 around a subject? Just apply a minimal amount of polarization and hope the viewer doesn't notice the sky colour shifts, or somehow fix this in post?
GNDs - I'll admit, I'm a bit flummoxed by these on a drone. Surely they'd limit you to keeping the camera level with the horizon through the middle of the frame, or is this more of a "broad brush" for a bright sky that you then fine tune in post applying a corrective GND in post? Like a CP, you're obviously going to work with the limitation and have specific goal in mind before take-off, but I'm curious whether people actually use these enough to warrant maybe getting a couple, and if so which ones?
NDs, are pretty obvious - slow the shutter speed for smoother video and longer still exposures; the adjustable aperture on the M2P is also good for a few stops of before the image starts to get soft, so I guess ND4, ND8, & ND16 would cover almost all normal still and video use? Secondly, with but with my very limited flight time with it so far, I'm not sure whether it's really stable enough to get critically sharp 20MP images with the 2-8s exposures typically necessary for the "milky water" effect (obviously this is lalso heavily dependant on wind speed, and thus location). Is it worth get maybe getting an ND100 or higher filter for this kind of shot, or just not worth the effort?
CPs - for a specific angle onto the subject you can make a pretty good guess at how to set the CP before takeoff by looking through the CP before fitting it, but how do people manage this if you are going to moving around and shooting from multiple angle, or even doing a 360 around a subject? Just apply a minimal amount of polarization and hope the viewer doesn't notice the sky colour shifts, or somehow fix this in post?
GNDs - I'll admit, I'm a bit flummoxed by these on a drone. Surely they'd limit you to keeping the camera level with the horizon through the middle of the frame, or is this more of a "broad brush" for a bright sky that you then fine tune in post applying a corrective GND in post? Like a CP, you're obviously going to work with the limitation and have specific goal in mind before take-off, but I'm curious whether people actually use these enough to warrant maybe getting a couple, and if so which ones?
