Your fav. lense filters for phantom 3?

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Looking to buy some high quality filters, so I was wondering everyone's maybe top 1 or 2 filters to get me started and maybe some samples of them?


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What type of filters are you looking for? The Polar Pro ND and ND+polarizing filters work very well for me. I mostly use ND4 for cloudier days, and either ND16 or ND32 for sunny days.

Cheers,
Paul
 
I like flying early mornings and sunset if that can help you give me a better idea of which are good for high UV rays?


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If all you are concerned about is UV, the stock UV that comes on the P3 does a good job handling that. While one might think that ND filters would also cut down UV, I don't know of any data or specs that would confirm that. Low sun (either sunrise or sunset) will usually have reduced UV anyway, light is going through more atmosphere. Any of the higher end suppliers would work fine, just get the screw on type not the push on ones. These will weigh the same as the UV filter and not add extra strain on the gimbal. A 4, 8 and 16 set should handle most. I like an ND 8 on sunny days for video. Let's me keep the ISO down to 100 and the shutter at 1/60
 
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Beantown87, I compared many of the commonly used filters in this thread.
 
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Richard, still fairly new to this. Thanks for not making me look like an idiot! I was looking into the screw on ones as well and oddly enough I was looking at a ND 4-8-16 set for around $60! And Msinger, exactly what I needed to see to help with my decision. You guys rock.


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I like flying early mornings and sunset if that can help you give me a better idea of which are good for high UV rays?

You'll normally need to block UV when you have a lot of diffraction or reflection, for example in the morning if there is a lot of haze in the air, or if you're shooting over water. You don't really want to use a polarizing filter if you don't need to, it will alter the colors a little.

I think @Richard R is correct that ND filters do not inherently block UV. The Polar Pro set I have has both polarizing and non-polarizing for each stop (except the ND4), for example there is both an ND8 and an ND8/PL. I first picked up the "6 pack" set ( DJI Phantom 4 / Phantom 3 Professional Filter 6-Pack ) which should cover you. The "3 pack" set seems to be only way to get the ND4 right now, which is a little annoying since the other two are duplicated in the 6 pack.

Mornings and sunset are tricky. It depends a lot on the angle at which you're shooting. If you're into the sun, you might need a higher stop. Away from the sun, and a higher stop might not let enough light in to catch what's in the deeper shadows. So, it's a trade-off, and I'll often have to try a couple out for a given situation before I get it right. And by then, of course, the sun sets and the shot is gone. :)

The other important thing @Richard R points out is that by keeping the ISO very low, you can keep the graininess of the picture minimized. By slowing your shutter speed, usually to half your frame rate (I normally shoot at 30fps with a 1/60 shutter speed), you get just a little motion blur which gives that nice cinema/film quality. With the shutter open that long, the filter is what stops the sensor from over-loading (since we can't directly control the aperture on the P3).
 
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Richard, still fairly new to this. Thanks for not making me look like an idiot! I was looking into the screw on ones as well and oddly enough I was looking at a ND 4-8-16 set for around $60! And Msinger, exactly what I needed to see to help with my decision. You guys rock.


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You're welcome, earnest questions deserve straight answers. That's what the forum is supposed to be about. Looks like you got a lot of good info here. Now grab some filters and go out and shoot! Figure out what gives you the results that you like. Might also suggest that, at first, you take notes so when you get home and are looking at the images on your computer, you can tell which setting work of you. I also keep a handheld exposure meter in my travel case and use the readings from it to decide which filter to use based on my likes and experience.
 
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