Beatiful hidden jem, close to the "5 Terre", north west Italy.

[Καλλιστώ]

Hello.
Went to this beautiful little spot in the "Gulf of poets", a tiny "beach" close to the village of Lerici.
Testing the variable nd filter (2/400). Crappy! Cheap filter, cheaper results, back to the case, forever.
I pledge guilty to the tacky music, too.

To be honest, my very first urge was to trash all the footage. Later, while my wife was watching always the same NCIS, or whatever, i've played a bit with it, trying to make it watchable.

Enjoy!

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Very good! Thanks for not trashing, but sharing.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Would a lens hood helped?

 

[Energy Guy]

Hello.
Went to this beautiful little spot in the "Gulf of poets", a tiny "beach" close to the village of Lerici.
Testing the variable nd filter (2/400). Crappy! Cheap filter, cheaper results, back to the case, forever.
I pledge guilty to the tacky music, too.

To be honest, my very first urge was to trash all the footage. Later, while my wife was watching always the same NCIS, or whatever, i've played a bit with it, trying to make it watchable.

Enjoy!

That is a very special place! The difficulty is getting the right exposure when flying from extremes of deep shadows and into bright sun. The right ND might work for the sunny views but kills the shadows. Keep sharing your vids!

 

[Καλλιστώ]

Would a lens hood helped?

Good question.
It's true that conditions were quite difficult for a camera like this, for a number of reasons, and maybe a hood could help reduce flares and the loss of contrast..
I fear (i have to test it more) that the two additional lenses of the nd filter take away too much definition and degrading the not so incredible starting quality ot he camera. In the original footage (2.7k) there is clear overall fuzzy feeling also in the footage with the sun on the back of the drone...

It's a pity.
With the phantom in your hand you choose 1/60 as shutter speed, point different part of your surrounding, both light and dark areas, checking in your phone/tablet the right exposure adjusting the filter until you find the right balance (always better a little darker than lighter) and you can fly.
Very, very handy.

Plus i don't think i've set it more than 16 or 32, where a good filter should work fine..(not pushing its limits to the ends).
Maybe i'll try it another time, but i'm not very optimistic about it.. probably i'll buy a 16 and a 32..

 

[Καλλιστώ]

That is a very special place! The difficulty is getting the right exposure when flying from extremes of deep shadows and into bright sun. The right ND might work for the sunny views but kills the shadows. Keep sharing your vids!

Yes, it's undoubtedly true.
It's also true that when you need ND filters probably there will be deep shadows and harsh lights..
So if i need to land the phantom (yes, i've tried to adjust it while hovering... ) to adjust it according to the specific shot, probably i'll prefer to spend some extra euros and have less lenses, less weight and more optical quality.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

I'm not a professional like you, I just saw glare and wondered...

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

From what I see in the video, you did VERY well. Awesome location!

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

(Uneducated thought) set exposure darker? Use filter/hood... Tell wife to smile wider??....

 

[Καλλιστώ]

I'm not a professional like you, I just saw glare and wondered...

No sir, it was absolutely good thinking!
I can't call myself a pro in aerial videography... I have so much to learn.
Talking about glare, adding too additional lenses probably could, and will, add more to the the lens system, so i'm not completely sure that a hood will completely resolve the issue.
To be honest i don't mind glares that much, but i can't stand the overall fuzziness of this footage...

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Italy.... You did exceptional!......We in USA have no ancient artifacts. Well, not in man's written history, All earth is ancient. Drone on at Italy's finest!

 

[Καλλιστώ]

(Uneducated thought) set exposure darker? Use filter/hood... Tell wife to smile wider??....

Ahahah wifey probably hates my phantom..

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Laughs... and well she should.... Phantom is the life of the party (Wives are the jewel)....

 

[Echopiece]

Nice video! If I would have flown my P4 into the sun like that I would have gotten some serious video flicker/pulsing. Do the ND filters help eliminate that?

 

[Καλλιστώ]

Nice video! If I would have flown my P4 into the sun like that I would have gotten some serious video flicker/pulsing. Do the ND filters help eliminate that?

Hi! Actually i don't know.. Overall i felt that the variable ND filter i was trying, without much expectation, degrades too much the general quality of the videos.. Less dynamic range, less details, less sharpness.
I've just started with videography, aerial or not, so i'm still learning the basics. I' never experienced strange flickering or pulsing effects in my video, and this was the only with ND filters on.
At the end i've come to the conclusion that with the non so exceptional camera of the p3 in order to get acceptable results you have to invest some time in post production, starting with RAW images and working on sharpness, distorsions and so on.
Same on the video side, with tilted horizons, color grading, white balance, again sharpness and MOTION BLUR!
Studying the issue of the motion blur, that is universally reknowed as what make footage look cinematic or not, i've found that every Video editor has tools to create motion blur on pixel basis.
Obviously starting from perfect footage or picture is always the best start, and obviously again post production effects correspond to video editing skills, cpu power and time, and so on, but i fear it's the only way to get some good stuff from these cameras..(probably the p4 with the bigger sensor and general improvements has less problems)

At the end the ND filter has remained in the phantom backpack, and probably it will remain there...