ND/PL Filters

[TX Steve]

I have been looking at ND/PL and came across one with the note

"The top ND filter has been removed for the telephoto lens to allow shooting at lower ISO without having to bring the drone down and remove it when switching lenses"

When you use the zoom would you not use the same filter as for the regular camera?

 

[mavic3usa]

 

[Meta4]

"The top ND filter has been removed for the telephoto lens to allow shooting at lower ISO without having to bring the drone down and remove it when switching lenses"

I've read that 4 times but can't work out what they are trying to say.

When you use the zoom would you not use the same filter as for the regular camera?

Your drone doesn't have any zoom lenses.

What are you wanting to use the filter for?

 

[TX Steve]

I've read that 4 times but can't work out what they are trying to say.

Your drone doesn't have any zoom lenses.

What are you wanting to use the filter for?

The Mavic 3 has the same camera (Hasselblad) same as the Mavic 3 Cine except for smaller SSD and it does not use the apple software. they both have 2 separate lens, one for the regular camera and one for the tele lens..

 

[TX Steve]

That helps so on theirs they factor the zoom lens a percentage of the other camera to level out the filters between the two.
Thanks

 

[akdrone]

The telephoto lens is a slower lens. I’m not sure what the aperture is. Maybe F4 or 4.5 or something like that. Therefore, an Indy filter that gave you a proper exposure with the wide angle lens might give you the wrong exposure when you switch to the telly lens. This would be more likely with a stronger ND filter.

 

[TX Steve]

The telephoto lens is a slower lens. I’m not sure what the aperture is. Maybe F4 or 4.5 or something like that. Therefore, an Indy filter that gave you a proper exposure with the wide angle lens might give you the wrong exposure when you switch to the telly lens. This would be more likely with a stronger ND filter.

So if you go from the regular lens to the zoom there might not be much difference?

 

[Sir Maxwell Greene]

There is a difference. See here:

Questionable Quality Control for DJI Filters?

Out of the 12 filters I’ve had over 3 sets (1x dark set and 2x light sets — all purchased brand new, 2 of which were sealed in retail packaging), 3 filters (25%!) have this weird "starriness" to them — they look almost like mist filters. The defect pattern is uniform and across 100% of the...

mavicpilots.com

 

[TX Steve]

There is a difference. See here:

Questionable Quality Control for DJI Filters?

Out of the 12 filters I’ve had over 3 sets (1x dark set and 2x light sets — all purchased brand new, 2 of which were sealed in retail packaging), 3 filters (25%!) have this weird "starriness" to them — they look almost like mist filters. The defect pattern is uniform and across 100% of the...

mavicpilots.com

Thank you, interesting read, very informative.

 

[akdrone]

So if you go from the regular lens to the zoom there might not be much difference?

It depends on the ISO available and aperture. If you are using an ND filter with video you would be doing it to get motion blur. Not much other reason. If that is the case your shutter speed is being set manually, quite low like 1/60 and when you go from wide to tele if your Aperture is already at f 8 then changing to the tele will have no effect. If it was at f 2.8 then you would have to allow the ISO raise in order to maintain the same exposure. On a bright day it would be easy to choose an ND filter that would allow a low ISO AND an fstop of f11 with such a slow shutter speed. Then you simply allow the aperture to float and lock in the low ISO. If there is a huge variation in exposure you might have to let the ISO float but if it doesn't go over 400 you're probably good for anything but pro work. Even then....The Mav 3's variable aperture is, in this case in particular, a huge advantage for film.

 

[akdrone]

There is a difference. See here:

Questionable Quality Control for DJI Filters?

Out of the 12 filters I’ve had over 3 sets (1x dark set and 2x light sets — all purchased brand new, 2 of which were sealed in retail packaging), 3 filters (25%!) have this weird "starriness" to them — they look almost like mist filters. The defect pattern is uniform and across 100% of the...

mavicpilots.com

None of the filters we get for our drones compare in quality to filters for cameras. Not even close. Much like the lenses on our drones, the quality control is not super high or the costs would be much higher for our drones and the filters. The filters, I'm quite sure, are a huge profit margin and I would expect a significant variation from set to set. The kinds of coatings needed to make the free of internal reflections and such are quite complex. People have noted significant differences between 7x tele samples. I got pretty decent sharpness from mine but have seen others with really mediocre sharpness particularly with the original Mav3. I had a Mini4 Pro with such horrible lens flare I sent it back and my second is pretty decent. It is what it is .