- Do you need ND filters for your drone?
(drifty music)
One of the most common accessories that most people get
as soon as they get a drone is a set of ND filters.
And I actually was out with a buddy
who got a set for his drone,
and he was asking me why all of his photos are blurry.
That's because he was using the ND filters improperly.
So in this video,
what I want to go through is the question of,
do you actually need ND filters when you're out flying?
And what do ND filters actually do
for those of you who are beginners,
and don't know the concept behind a neutral density filter.
So first let's answer the question
of why my friend's photos were blurry.
Well, when you use an ND filter,
it's basically like putting sunglasses on your camera.
And the reason that you would use an ND filter
is to bring down your exposure,
so that you don't have to boost your shutter speed.
And the reason that we'd want to bring down
our shutter speed is to introduce motion blur
into our footage.
So motion blur is basically the blurring that happens
when there's something moving in your frame.
So if you're shooting video,
and you have a subject moving across your screen,
well, if you have a low shutter speed,
then that subject will have some blur on it.
It's not gonna be super crisp and clear.
And the same thing happens
if you're flying through a scene,
and you have a low shutter speed,
you'll see this blur on the landscape
that you're flying through.
And the reason that you'd want to have this blur
in your footage
is so that you can get more professional looking footage.
Movies, cinema are typically shot with the 180 degree
shutter rule,
which is basically double that of your frame rate.
At its base level,
when you're shooting video with your drone,
motion blur is basically just to make your video
look more filmic, more professional.
But beyond this blur,
there really is no reason to use ND filters.
It's not gonna make your colors pop more,
and it's not gonna make your image look better.
So the problem that comes up
when you're not using an ND filter
is that every frame is gonna be crystal clear,
because you're gonna have to boost your shutter speed
to be able to properly expose the scene.
On most drones,
you're not gonna have access to an aperture
to be able to close down,
only a few drones have this ability.
So you have a fixed aperture, and your ISO only goes so low.
So the only aspect that you have
to be able to bring down your exposure
is your shutter speed.
And when you crank up your shutter speed,
basically every frame is a still image with zero blur.
And so when you put those together, theoretically,
it's gonna make everything feel a lot more jittery.
But the issue is when you're flying a drone,
you're way up in the sky.
And even if you are closer, you're not way up in the sky,
you are still in the sky, and you're a distance away.
So that stuttering that happens with high shutter speeds
isn't as noticeable.
So let's look at a few comparisons side-by-side
to see if you notice any difference
between ND filter or no ND filter.
And I want to go through a few different scenarios
that you might come across when you're flying your drone.
This first shot is just a high in the sky pan.
So the drone is way up in the sky,
and I'm just panning from left to right.
(soft music)
Now, when I watched this footage back on my phone,
I don't notice any difference between the two shots.
I don't notice any stuttering.
And then when I put it on my laptop or my big screen here,
I still don't notice any stuttering.
Slow shutter speed
isn't really gonna make a huge difference,
at least from these examples, this is way up in the sky.
So the next sample is flying a little bit closer
to the ground, and just moving the drone through space.
(soft music)
Between these two, when I'm looking at this sample,
I still don't notice any motion blur
on the version with the ND filter.
And even when you pause the frame,
and you're looking at the trees on the left and the right,
there's not a whole lot of motion blur,
even though we're moving past the tree,
and we're shooting at a shutter speed
that's double that of our frame rate.
So we should be seeing more motion blur,
but at this distance and at this speed,
we're still not really seeing much of a difference.
Now, my third sample is tracking an object through a scene.
And again, we're gonna stay a little bit further away
just to see if we're gonna notice any motion blur
happen on either frame.
(soft music)
And even this sample, when you're following a subject,
and things are passing in front of camera,
there's not a whole lot of motion blur.
And when you zoom in on these trees in the foreground,
there might be a slight blur happening,
but it's still pretty clear.
So it matches up with the footage
that doesn't have an ND filter on it.
Now the next sample, let's get close to our subject,
and let's move the drone faster.
(upbeat music)
And there is a clear difference.
With the ND filter on,
you see all of the ground has this blurring happening.
Nothing is crystal clear,
and your subject is gonna be more clear,
because we're tracking that subject.
Now in comparison, without the ND filter,
everything is razor sharp.
You can freeze any one of these frames,
and you have a still image that has no motion blur.
And so when you play these back side by side,
you'll see that, yeah, definitely with the motion blur,
there is a difference.
And this is where I want to hear from you.
Let me know down in the comments,
if you see a difference between the ND filter
and the non ND filter,
I'm just gonna play these side-by-side one more time,
and I'm gonna put them both up on screen for you,
so you can see how the footage looks
with an ND filter and without,
and I want you to let me know
if you're seeing any major differences.
(upbeat music)
So when I'm watching this footage back,
especially on a phone,
I really don't see a whole lot of a difference.
When I blow it up on the big screen,
I definitely can tell ND filter versus non ND filter,
but it's still a small difference.
And the only time that's really noticeable
is when you're fast, and close on a subject.
And there's been plenty of situations
where I have not had ND filters for a drone,
and the footage works fine,
and especially when it's put in the context of a story.
Yes, the footage that has an ND filter
will have more of that filmic look,
and be a little bit more professional,
but it's not necessary.
And so it's something to think about when you're out flying
if you always need to put on your ND filter.
And I find that if I'm doing a lot of
switching back and forth between photos and videos,
I'd rather not use my ND filter,
just because I want to be able to get clean images
without motion blur.
But if I'm not shooting photos,
or I'm working with a client,
then I'm definitely gonna be using ND filters,
because it does make a difference,
especially when you get close in on your subject.
And having motion blur in your shot for shooting video
isn't a necessity.
And if it's something that you're struggling with,
or something that you're not super comfortable with,
then don't worry about using ND filters right away.
If you want to get more of a filmic style,
or you want to get that kind of movie look,
then yeah, eventually you're gonna want to learn
how to use ND filters,
so that you can get the proper looking motion blur
in your shot.
Now, if you want to see another video where I dive deeper
into shutter speeds,
and everything about getting motion blur in your footage,
then I highly suggest you check out this video right here,
and I'll see you over there.