Trying out an ND filter - over my home

I bought the genuine DJI ND filters. This is the ND16 filter. Taken over Dromore, County Down towards the beautiful Mourne Mountains.

DJI Mini 3 Pro

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Nice photo

Do you have a no filter comparison ?

Great picture especially if no post production and only a ND16 used. Like @milkmanchris said, do you have a no filter to compare?

Sorry I don’t have a no filter version. :thinking:

Wouldn’t it look exactly the same anyway? ND filters don’t change the colour or brightness generally, unless they’re so dark the camera can’t compensate, hence why they’re called ‘neutral’. They just filter the light so your shutter speed isn’t as quick, i.e. it allows your camera to take a picture or frame of video over a longer period before overexposure allowing motion blurring (AFAIK anyway). I’ve used them to try and do that streaking car lights effect and I’ve used them in video too but can’t tell the difference. You need coloured / polarizing filters to see any effect in this type of pic. No real harm in using an ND filter though, in fact the ND4 that comes with Fly More Kits is probably only useful as a lens protector.

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I’d love some grad filters for drones, after all, it’s probably only ever going to be the sky that’s over exposed but then you’re also limiting your composition options.

I generally just under expose to ensure not blowing out the sky and then recover the blacks and shadows from the ground in post. Although there’s no doubt an ND is handy if it’s mega f’in bright and no clouds to diffuse the light anywhere.

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I wouldn’t think so, I will do a few tests to demo. ND filters are widely used in photography.

Popcorn ;o)

Neutral density filters are just that - Neutral. so Craig @makkax1 is correct, they would look the same. ND filters are designed to reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor, so you have to adjust the shutter speed to compensate, usually resulting in longer exposure times. So unless you are trying to create motion blur e.g. waterfalls, light trails etc. you are not going to see a difference.

It all depends on what you shoot, I’ve been a pro photographer for over 30 years and rarely use a ND filter. I’d say grads are more widely used than ND’s, particularly with landscape photographers.

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Interesting discussion and informative. This YouTube video was useful when I was making the decision whether to buy them. https://youtu.be/QRmOix7ZvM4

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Good as lens protector :wink:

Back in the day when i had ‘proper’ cameras none of my lenses would be seen without an ND filter purely to add protection for the front glass.

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I’ve always used Hoya UV filters to protect the front glass of my lenses.

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gradient filters

Gradient filters are useful for sky/landscape shots, enhancing the clouds or what’s at the top of your frame, if you set up the grid function on your screen you can get the correct alignment of grading. I’ve used ND filters on both my drones, tbh unless your trying to get movement shots of vehicles, water etc on a drone it’s just a lens cover. On a dslr camera you have a much more better setup to utilise the ND filters. CPL filters are a much better option to adjust the colour settings and reduce reflections of light on water, giving you the ability to see through the water. Bit hit-n-miss on a drone because you’d have to take numerous individual photos ,adjust the lens, repeat before you get the right setting.
A good editing software after all the photos taken in RAW would save you a massive amount of time.

I always used a UV filter on my SLR!