Polarpro ND filter test

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just got my set of polarpro ND/PL cinema filters and stuck it on the P4P, did a quick test flight around a river mouth to see how it would work, and must say I do like the look it provides. I was using the ND16 in this case.
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Very nice footage and a tranquil scene. The slight blurring of the waves works very well, so the nd is definitely needed here. I assume this is using the none colorprofile? I see the shadows suffers slightly from the compression (and I assume the vimeo-encoding increases that), so it would have been interesting to see the same in dlog.
 
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Very beautiful. Would it be possible to know your settings, for us noobies? Did you do any post on this? If not, I'm impressed it kept the highlights this bright with the filter on. I'm referring to the white of the breaking waves.Thanks,
Steve
 
I'm impressed it kept the highlights this bright with the filter on. I'm referring to the white of the breaking waves.
Steve

A (high quality) nd filter affects the whole picture, from shadows to highlights, equally. The only thing changing compared to no filter, is the shutter-time. The polarizer will reduce light from certain directions and thereby minimize reflections/glare and with a wide-angle as in this case give a slight gradient (from left-to-right) in the sky. Except for this, It should not change the tonality overall.
 
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Very nice footage and a tranquil scene. The slight blurring of the waves works very well, so the nd is definitely needed here. I assume this is using the none colorprofile? I see the shadows suffers slightly from the compression (and I assume the vimeo-encoding increases that), so it would have been interesting to see the same in dlog.
yes it was shot in NONE color profile. I did not use dlog as it didnt matter to me in this case. just a quicky test.
 
Very beautiful. Would it be possible to know your settings, for us noobies? Did you do any post on this? If not, I'm impressed it kept the highlights this bright with the filter on. I'm referring to the white of the breaking waves.Thanks,
Steve
The ND wont affect highlights, etc, but having the polarizer built in to this filter does effect how the camera can "see" thru water and reflections depending on the angle to the sun.
 
Nicely shot. Nice editing as well. Good to see what can be achieved even in a quick test.
 
This may be common knowledge, but you can still get Art mode if you have Litchi.

First open Litchi, set the mode to Art and dial in your other settings like sharpness, etc.

Then close it and reconnect with GO4. It will still say "None" or whatever you left it on, but you can clearly see that Art is still applied. In my opinion it is still the best, hands down, assuming you want to have the most control possible for post processing grading.
 
First, sorry to OP for getting off topic here.

Can you point us to some examples? Preferably with/without Art applied.

Part of my opinion is based on tests other people did on the P4 and Mavic that showed Art retained the most information and was the easiest starting point to grade from. I'll put those videos below. Of course this is for the best starting point, but you'd be required to grade everything because Art is still too bland to use out of camera. D-Log should theoretically hold this title, but is just too flat/crushed to easily recover from, maybe so much so that data is actually lost.

Now it's true the following videos are for the Mavic, but they both use DJI GO 4, and the discussion I've read since then is that it also applies to the P4P. It certainly seemed to be the case when people did the same tests for the P4. I only recently found out about the method I explained to use Art via Litchi, and while I did some tests and found it was very easy to grade (similar to when I used it on the P4), I do not yet have back-to-back examples of the same scene to share comparing to None or D-Cinelike, etc. It's a good idea though, and I will do so when I have time and good light because I also like to verify things for myself.

One thing is true though, almost everyone recommended Art, then it was gone and a lot of people are disappointed that there does not seem to be a replacement, even if D-Log or D-Cinelike may have been updated. If I had to go film tomorrow with no other info or ability to test, I'd keep using the Litchi Art trick.

This is from when Art existed for the Mavic. He does a pretty good job showing why it is best.
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This is another video by the same guy comparing the remaining options after Art was removed. His conclusion is that there isn't a great option anymore. I believe this applies to the P4P as well, but you can consider for yourself. (Note: He advised just going back to DJI GO instead of using GO4, but it would not work for me with the P4P)

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D-Log should theoretically hold this title, but is just too flat/crushed to easily recover from, maybe so much so that data is actually lost.
The last firmware update fixed dlog, at least for p4p. Not sure what is the case for Mavic.
If you are willing so sacrifice some highlight tones for shadows and plan to tone in post, dlog (-1/0/0) is currently the safest option for most scenes. None is still a viable option and gets you great results without need for additional toning (when time is an issue).
 
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