Graded with my Drone & Adventure LUTs: geni.us/STngny

I think it would have been more helpful for us novices if the comparison clips were of the same scene. 3:00 it's kind of hard for me to tell the differences when I'm comparing two totally different scenes. Still really appreciate all the work you put into the content!

I'm a retired Hollywood cinematographer. Everything you said is spot on. There are a rew very limited use cases for ND filters, in which case, they're essential. Otherwise, nobody notices, nobody cares. Especially, as you say, when viewed on a phone.

Save me money. Thanks Jeven. I did an Air 2s video in full sun at the beach with no ND and it nailed the exposure.

It would have been a more effective demo if the scenes with/without ND filters were the same. The light, clouds, terrain are different and it makes a difference. As a beginner I am using the ND filter to try and control exposure ie prevent over exposure.

Finally. At last, someone who actually knows what he is talking about. Thanks. You've done everyone a service. At least a dozen drone KZfaqrs propagate the meme that NDs are a must. In some specific use cases, sure. As a rule of thumb, no. And you can save money by buying one in the mid range that you will occasionally need as opposed to a whole set.

Thanks for explaining the proper use of ND filters, and then testing them in field and showing people the difference they make in a world setting. Great video Jeven, and thanks for sharing.

Finally someone honest and impartial explaining all pros and cons with video examples. Looking around seems like we absolutely need nd filters and that will make us pro (or at least not worthless noobs) but thats not how it works, and it could lead to problems and mistakes (like the blurry photo example) for who is still learning. Well subscriber earned. Good job

Excellent Tutorial Video On ND Filters!! Great Advice Jeven!!

You really explain things so well. Thank you for making this

Finally, some that doesn’t push the prophecy of Nd filters . 👏 Most of the times the fuss outweighs the small quality gains… not to mention that if you are a beginner, you can easily damage the gimbal by forgetting to install/remove only when the drone is turned off

What a great video. Examples to back everything up. Love it. You're the man.

I can’t thank you enough for this video. I thought I was going crazy trying to get my video to look better with the filters, and most of the time having my videos actually look worse because of my inexperience with the filters And putting the wrong one on by mistake. My I’m getting much better footage is much higher without filters, but hearing you explain, it helps so much to confirm what my gut was telling me.

GREAT explanation! Thanks!

I see a difference in fast speeds.I personally fly in cine mode so this will make my life easier.Thank you very much, great video!!

The differences I would see are mostly not to do with motion blur obviously. The ND filter footage resembles TV/film footage in lighting and style. Professionals probably need them for specific reasons. I leave the ND 4 filter provided in the Fly More Combo on my Air 2S to act as a protective layer in front of the camera, not because I want that specific 'look' in my footage.

As many vids talk about having ND filters because of motion blur, this video is the best since it says even motion blur is not necessary! And thanks for reminding situations for switching between video and pics

Thank you for that concise tutorial on ND filters!

Tons of value shared from this video. I'm returning my ND filter tomorrow,

Personally to me, Nd off videos are more clear, bright juicy colours and more pleasant to watch. I've just got my filters from delivery, but haven't tested them yet. Thanks for video. It's quite right that Nd is not of high necessity, because all "pro's" say that you won't have life without Nd.. ))

Hi Jeven, love you channel and the explanation in this video was clear and concise. One piece of criticism is that the example shots weren't very illustrative to me, as they were quite different from one another. I appreciate that it's super difficult to recreate a shot, let alone using a drone, but having a moving car in one shot vs no car at all in the other shot doesn't really illustrate what you're trying to say.

Outstanding content delivery as usual. Learning is cool.

You just simplified my life a little bit 🙂 thank you!

Amazing content as always!!, I have a dji mini 2 and i love the quality even without filters

Very helpful and informative

Top notch advice. Thank you. I don't take much footage with fast motion in it, but I did notice something the other day. A bird flew across the scene and it looked very jerky. So even if most of the footage doesn't benefit from an ND filter/slower shutter, it might make those unexpected fast movements look better. I don't have ND filters yet, so I'm not sure.

Great contain and super interesting topic. Thank you for sharing this with us! You are an awesome 👏👏👍👍❤️❤️❤️

Really good Video, thanks bro

For me, it's all about cutting down the sun's glare. W/o filtering, clouds and sky are blown out. With filtering, I can adjust the difference. I've wasted so much time when I first started not having those shades on. That always trumps blur / not blur for me. Close-up fast shots: shades for any glare and motion blur. Far away panning: shades for glare. Motion blur isn't a factor at that distance anyway

Good One Bro..well explained

Oooo. A question I didn’t even realize I wanted answer for HAHA. Love hearing your thoughts on this since I always did find a hassle sometimes to switch filters on my Mavic Air 2 mid shoot! Awesome video! 💯✔️🔥

Great explanation Thanks

I found using polarizing ND filters "pop" some colors, aside from the fact they are suppose to be neutral on my Mini 2. I usually have to shift the WB to a bit cooler temp to get a truer color.

Fantastic honest video. Thank you. I have subscribed.

Perfect , thank you!

Thanks for being so honest about the utility of the ND filters. Personally, I fly and film quite high from above (30 to 50 m) capturing wider nature views, and ND filtres do not improve the footage.

I just bought a Mini 2 and wish you posted this last week before I bought the set of filters. Oh well, subscribed

From experience I would say that buying a set of ND filters is as waste of money for the most part. You'll probably wind up using the higher strengths like ND 32 and ND 64 and even those you would only need to use in certain situations as your video suggests. One of the best breakdowns on the use of ND filters I've seen on KZfaq.

I love you talking a about this even you have talked some before coz it’s educational information pls don’t feel repetition❣️

Great video, thank you for this thorough explanation! Where did you film these short clips? Especially the nd off footage looks very interesting to go with a awd car!

Great helpful video, Jeven I have a question here. Motion blur is one aspect with ND Filters. Aren't ND filters necessary if you have a bright sunny day or an overcast/cloudy day? I live in a country where its bright sunshine all year round. I think I need to have respective filter mounted on my drone to manage it, Don't I? Please guide me on this? Thanks!

Excellent content for beginners. I

A great video. I can't be bothered with ND filters when flying my drone. I like the footage without a filter on my Mavic2Zoom. It is good enough for what I want. Thanks for your videos they are really useful to me.

Great vid mate (like all your others) and you're so good at explaining. If I'm understanding correctly, the filters are only needed for the motion blur effect. But I'm from sunny Malta in Europe and I mainly use auto on my Mini 2 videos. So when it's sunny and I set my EV to -0.7 or -1.. is this best way to reduce that white wash? I'd prefer not buying filters not to mess around with my gimbal.

Thank you Jeven. I've been wondering about ND filters for a while now. Assumed that I need one. Probably not going to get one now.

Amazing tips

Living in Arizona, very very bright most days, I use a ND16 on at all times. It helps a bit.

To me it just looks darker and only one side by side example I liked. My perception of course and I am just learning all this. I plan on getting the Mini Pro 3 for the stealth low noise even if I decide to use it for commercial use. Bright sunny days I can see value but I guess I will have to test. Thanks great info!

Thanks for this, I didn’t see much of a difference between shots in terms of blur, but I.preferred the non ND shots for clarity and sharpness.

The one differences video editing, if you edit on a 24 FPS timeline with 30 FPS footage then you’ll drop four frames every second which will make it look jittery, regardless of any filter or not

beside the obvious sharpness with the non ND filters shots. Question, if you have drone like a mavic 2 pro that have a variable aperture could I make adjustments to get a properly exposed image without ND filters?

Is a HD filter more important for the F1.7 on a mini 3 pro. Thanks for your info.

Great video

Interesting video. I've recently bought my first drone and was close to buying a set of ND filters. But looking at your examples here, I'd much prefer to have sharper looking video than blurry footage. They might be useful for long exposure photos though or if it's a really bright day.

Thanks for the excellent and informative video. What's your thoughts on CPL filter?

This is a fantastic explanation as to why nailing exposure matters more than motion blur. One constructive feedback..you should add as an annotation to the video is that every time you say ND off its implicit that you are saying the shutter speed can be varied or set to auto if needed - if someone is new to photography/videography they might not catch that and it might seem to give them the opinion that NDoff vs NDon while everything else is auto.

Great content as always mate, keep it up. Was on way to Egypt with my new osmo pocket 2 to test run today but got turned away at the airport....didn't have 6 months on my passport 😭, so I'm watching you instead 😀

Hi Jeven, I have the same feeling about ND filters. A lot of the times I am to lazy to put on or change out filters.. Question what are you thoughts about variable ND filters, and then FREEWELL has the variable filters that have mist affect? Thanks Dave...

My brothers and I are going fishing in northern Canada at the Grass River Lodge. I plan to take my DJI Mini 4 Pro along. I purchased ND Polarized filters, for example (ND64PL). My understanding is that polarized ND filters are useful for sunny days in a boat while on the water. Is this correct?

Hey, I've got a rookie question perhaps. I bought the whole set of those nd filters from farewell for my DJI MINI 2. And the NDPL filters there have a movable circle around, there are two tiny white lines to mark the postion of the rotation. My question is what influence does this rotation have? I mean if the white lines are aligned it is maks polarizing efect or min poalrizing efect?

I don't know how I got to this video but it was really interesting to watch it. Maybe cause I've got a drone. As I'm filming a lot, I can tell you that this comparison is a bit incorrect. You're filming in the open space, with one or two moving objects. Trees doesn't count, cause that's how people's brain work. You introduce them with the main object of the scene. In your example it's a car. Everything around is just checked momentarily just to understand where the object is. That's all, but now, move to a scene where are a lot of fast moving objects. For example you're filming a chase in a city with a lot of moving objects. If you won't use ND filter, the scene will be without motion blur. And the watchers brain will be stuttering. Cause everything looks the same. Now, we use ND, and put our main subjects in the center of the frame. Everything around them will be a bit blurry. The brain still understands where is the main object, it understands where the scene goes and you literally blur out everything unnecessary. It's like you're telling viewers where to watch and where you want them to look at that moment. That's why you really need filters. Also, you didn't mention the CPL filter. Cause I literally hate when everybody who wants to film oceans, beaches etc aren't using them in a sunny day. Cause literally half of the scene is gone by sun's reflection on the water. You have to go through a lot of mistakes to understand how this thing works. Also, you use NDs to make scene a bit darker, if you can't correct exposure or iso... It's also one of the first rules.. You can make dark image brighter. Yeah, it's a bit hard sometimes because of the noise, but doable. And you CAN'T fix overexposed scene. If you overexposed the sky you literally can't fix it. In the white color there's no info about the correct color. It's just a white blank... I've used this rule all my life. Saved me a lot of footage. Sometimes you just can't see it right on the filming spot. And than you watch footage at home on a big screen and that's unusable...

Hi Jeven, My little Mini 2 take’s great footage in softer, even light, like when it’s overcast. If it’s sunny, really bright, like it almost always is in SE Utah, the shadows are so dark. Can ND filters help with this? Like put on a filter to darken everything, then turn up the exposure to lighten everything, maybe reducing the contrast? Or…

On my 4k TV yeah see a huge difference. The non nd filter clips look super sharp and vibrant where as the the nd filter clips look soft. I like the sharp look and I like the soft look so depends on the feel or video you're going for.

It seems like a ND filter probably shouldn't be your first upgrade to your drone. I would say extra battery or other accessories first.

I've ended up with some over/under exposed footage trying to fix my shutter speed and guess at the right ND filter on my mavic air with no aperture adjustment. I want to quickly get my drone up and get some footage with minimal interruption to the adventure and for me it seems not worth it. I'll still slap an ND on there if it is sunny, but have mostly given up on trying to fix the shutter speed.

Yea I notice a difference: A complete CHANGE OF FRIGGIN SCENERY AND COLOR PALETTE! If there's one kind of A or B example I hate, it's when the subjects being compared are completely different from each other

Jeven are you still uploading to stock footage sites? Thx

Would you also do a video on polarized filters please? I live in a coastal area, so plan on flying around or over water.

Great video. I think the filters are a great addition but as you say, not necessary. Better to spend time learning to tell the story and shoot better content before adding the complexity of the filters. Thanks.

I totally agree with everything you are saying! This is one of the best explanation of ND filters for drone that I've seen... I use ND filters only when I'm flying low and fast or taking a picture with long exposure for a nice blurry effect. One of the reason that I'm not using ND filters most of the time is that I like to be able to take a screenshot from the 4K video. I also feel that the image is better and clearer without the extra layer of glass from the ND filter. Looking forward to the next one... Thank you! 🙏

Jeven - what fps rate were you shooting in your examples? Is it possible that there is more of an effect with 24 fps vs 60 fps? because the slower frame rate captures more time? thanks for your videos.

nice cinematic for drone

is the shutter speed same for both examples on this video?

Been struggling to get a good picture quality out of my DJI Mini 2, using freewell ND/PL filters and keeping shutter speed at 1/double frame rate, and exposure pretty good. Picture quality just looks really grainy in 1080, 2.7k and 4k. Any tips? Or do I just need a better drone with a bigger sensor?

cant ii just add motion blur post filming when editing? Would u say the "natural" motion blur is cleaner?

Far off backgrounds on fast panning shots are very noticeable with high shutter speeds. I noticed the No ND pan was much slower than the ND On pan. This is why that was less noticeable.

It's surprising to see there's no stuttering on the Non-ND filter footage. I have experienced that in the past in some situations. But I think it can be fixed with optical flow in Premiere. Also yes basically the biggest difference is the Non-ND filter footage is too sharp, at all times. For most people I guess that's not a deal-breaker. Thanks for the comparison!

You can't educate enough on this subject. In your last comparison while tracking the car, the difference in video quality is minor. The scene was during sunset while the filter was off and full day while filter was on. Since the shutter was probably a bit slower for the sunset, you were able to get slight motion blur without the need for a filter. In my own experience, I use an ND4 or nothing for low light or sunsets and it still looks pretty good although we are still above the 180 degree rule. I think for landscape videos, the 180 degree rule does not make a big difference. That rule seems to work best when filming low to the ground with people or fast moving subjects.

Hi, what ND Filters do you recommend for the DJI Mini 3 Pro - thanks

It seems to me that all but the last moving truck shot in the series, with the n/d filter, the color and or perceived sharpness seemed a little softer, maybe. I thought the shots without the n/d's seemed a little brighter or crispier. I'm wondering if the N/D filters are changing the color somewhat. I liked the look of the last truck shot where the grey truck is moving towards the left with a nice blue sky seemed kind of the best of both worlds. It seemed sharp and bright, but not too crisp or even jittery. Hmmmmm. Maybe I'm losing my mind "and" my eyesight, but thanks for this valuable video. Marc T.

What is the 180 rule?

I know this is an older video - but as someone who's shooting exclusively in the Florida sun, over the water 90% of the time, I would think ND or PL would be a must. Especially if i want to see through the water at any sea life that may be stalking the beach. Am I wrong?

would a lower shutter speed affect the battery consumption?

Better bay ND FILTERS or DJI Mini 3 Pro Wide-Angle Lens were I going to be noticeably?

My problem - very much a newbie at the topic - I'm comparing one shot with bright white ground vs one with browns and greens. One is psychologically brighter and interferes with making distinctions. But also, I never view on MY phone, that's what my monitors are for. (I refuse to shoot vertically, too much info lost when watched on 16:9...)

Difference is maybe most significant in the colorgrading

None of those examples even remotely demonstrates the jitteryness I get without without my ND filters. It almost feel shaky and unwatchable with a fast shutterspeed. Also your comparison shots are completely different shots in different lighting.

Amazing explanation but for some reason I like more the shots when they don’t have the DN folders on. Idk If I’m supposed the like more the ND shots

I think ND filters are only useful in very specific situations. I have tried them on my drone and have not felt they enhance my videos. I often film steam trains and want to extract stills from the 4K video. In those situations I never use ND filters. Thank you for your honest analysis!

What type of filter do you need to photograph the solar eclipse using the DJI Mavic 3?

The comparison isn't quite apple to apple, especially comparing summer-like footage with blunt white snowy footage... But, I still learned the ND filter is basically not needed, at all.

@5:30 So with ND off the bright blue skies turn to sunset? @6:30 ND changes seasons and adds snow to the ground? Great Comparison.

Makes it sense to use nd filters also in auto-modus?

awesome.....

although there are some filters that kinda make the image look better, some of them kinda pop some colors or dehaze mountains at a long distance and stuff like that

The one thing that I notice regarding nd filters and motion blur is that if I want to extract a still image from a video that has motion blur, to use as a KZfaq thumbnail for example, it makes the picture look pretty fuzzy. The bottom line I think is that if you are making videos to use on social media like Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram for example, I believe that having motion blur in it may actually cause a distraction to people watching your video because the video formats they use create a zooming effect on the videos which make motion blur a lot more noticeable. So my question is, if you are making drone videos for social media (with the exception of sites like Vimeo and KZfaq), Is it a good idea to not use ND filters at all? I would love to get an answer to this. Thanks

I use mine on my 2S for long exposure pics and on sunny days. Even with the VND's its a pain though.

Freewell’s email list just got a bit shorter. 😁

hi, how to Use zoom camera in mavic 2s? because my mavic 2s we don’t have Zoom!

when doing a comparison. it would help if we had the exact same shot but with the ND on or ND off, but you gave us 2 completely different examples in terms of location. So for me I couldnt make a comparison.