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ND Filter for Videos only?

Fiete

Well-Known Member
Join
May 7, 2018
Messages
66
Age
40
I have 6 Pack of ND filter from PolarPro ND8, 16, 32 and PL 8, 16, and 32. Can I use the Filter also for Pictures ore more Videos?
 
Those ND filters won't be useful for photos, but the PL filters might come in handy if you're trying to cut down the glare on shiny surfaces (e.g. water) or you want to make the blue skies pop (like when wearing polarized sunglasses).
 
As msinger mentioned you can reduce reflections and enhance the sky with the polarizing ND filters. But you have to rotate the filter into the optimal angle and that angle changes with the direction your camera faces. You can’t do this during a flight, so your best bet is to adjust the filter before takeoff for the direction you plan take your best shots or video from. Due to this limitation polarizing filter on drones are of limited use, some even say they make no sense.

Normal ND filters are very useful for video in bright light to get a more cinematic look (slight motion blur). You normally don’t want them for photos as they lower the shutter speed and can introduce motion blur which you normally don’t want in your photos.
There are special usecases like waterfalls, car headlights at dusk etc. where motion blur in photos is desirable and for these you can use the filters for photos too.
Unfortunately you cannot activate/deactivate external filters during flight. So you have to decide whether your priorities are more towards photo or video and use a ND filter or not.

Hopefully in the future DJI will give us a camera with a build-in ND filter that automatically enables in video mode and bright light. Many point and shoot cameras and smartphones do this already.
 
Are these polarizing filters not circular polarizing filters that do not need adjusting?
 
Don’t think so but it wouldn’t matter. A CPL is a linear polarizer with a "quarter wave plate" on the back, which turns linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light. You need this if there is some polarizing component in the light beam AFTER the polarizer, like the semitransparent mirror in a DSLR.
A CPL needs the same orientation adjustment as a linear polarizer for blocking reflections or enhancing the sky.
 
Don’t think so but it wouldn’t matter. A CPL is a linear polarizer with a "quarter wave plate" on the back, which turns linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light. You need this if there is some polarizing component in the light beam AFTER the polarizer, like the semitransparent mirror in a DSLR.
A CPL needs the same orientation adjustment as a linear polarizer for blocking reflections or enhancing the sky.
This, I didn't know. I just thougt that a CPL was kind of a "universal" filter that worked from any angle. Thanks for the explanation. So, even with a CPL filter on the Spark camera, it would be a "hit or miss" situation then depending on the light source.
 

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