does anyone know if DJI has come out with a ND filter yet? I found this , has anyone tried this one yet? http://ragecams.com/shop/nd100-p ... daca523470203bc5246ND100 PHANTOM3 DJI GLASS FILTER NEUTRAL DENSITY JELLO KILLER

Way overpriced. Real good ones coming soon.

I am filming at the beach and pretty sure i will need a ND filter for the shot, but I don't have mine yet to see what it looks like without. Does anyone live near a beach that has shot with or without a  ND filter that can enlighten me?

Chris you will definitely need an ND filter, I shoot at the Lake where I live and on a sunny day I have to put in a 10 stop filter to keep my frame rate in check.  I try to keep with the general rule of setting my shutter to double my frame rate and since we can not control the aperture an ND filter is required.  Faster shutter speeds tend to introduce a 'jello' type effect...

Super noob question, but what is an ND filter?

An ND filter is short for Neutral Density Filter and they are used to restrict the amount of light that comes into the camera allowing us to shoot with a lower ISO setting wile keeping our frame rates down.  Since we can not control the Aperture of our camera we have to rely on ND filters to regulate the light that gets to the sensor to expose the image.  

I would not buy those slip on ND Filters, i would wait for the ones that use the original threads because than the weigt balance is not changed. The P3 will definately need ND Filters because the Jello effect seems to be a problem which was not shown in the first marketing videos.

Here is a video I did comparing this with the P3 Camera set in manual and the required frame rates shot without and ND filter and with and ND filter:
NOTE: The colors are a bit muted becasue I shoot in LOG mode on the P3 and normally do post process to render richer colors.

Noob question - How do you switch between Auto and Manual on the P3? I can't figure it out.
I've been messing around in the app, and sometimes I'm able to change the expo. setting and other times, I can only change the shutter speed.
What am I doing wrong?

When you have the camera setting panel open this is where you set the ISO and frame rate....do not close it by clicking the ICON again you have to slide the panel you have open that shows the ISO and framerate to the left and it will move out of the screen that means you are running in manual settings mode on your camera.....

Dataway Posted at 2015-5-20 01:31
Here is a video I did comparing this with the P3 Camera set in manual and the required frame rates s ...

Which F-Stop Filters you recommend for ISO 100 and 30fps and 60fps? The good thing with the P3 is that you can adjust the ISO, i cant do that with my gopro.

Increasing the ISO makes it more susceptible to light so shooting ISO 100 on a sunny day at 30 fps I would normally use a 12 stop filter to get my frame rate down to 1/60 and for 1080/60 that usually will take me a 9 stop filter to get the proper exposure with a frame rate of 1/120..

Dataway Posted at 2015-5-20 02:54
Increasing the ISO makes it more susceptible to light so shooting ISO 100 on a sunny day at 30 fps I ...

ISO 100 means the sensor is less sensitive to light and iso 100 is the least sensitive. If you have a fully open apperture like the Phantom3 camera its good to adjust the iso to 100 because the camera need longer exposure times. Thats a trick the gopro cant do, it usually uses higher ISO

Do you know of a ND filter I can use for know? Which do you have for yours DATAWAY? The only one I can find is the Rage cams or tape a piece on my camera which I do not want to do.

too expensive is our opinion.

I just unscrewed my front lens cover and cut a circular piece of Roscolux N.9 filter media.  Two layers = 6 stops.  Cut the material to fit behind the glass.  Screw the glass cover back on.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product ... 0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Fulgerite, would you please make a video tutorial on how you do that?  

Fulgerite Posted at 2015-5-22 02:49
I just unscrewed my front lens cover and cut a circular piece of Roscolux N.9 filter media.  Two lay ...

do you leave the ND filter in always no matter how the sun light is or where you film? Or do you have to take it in and out depending...

CHRISWILLIAMS29 Posted at 2015-5-23 22:24
do you leave the ND filter in always no matter how the sun light is or where you film? Or do you h ...

If you plan to fly in dim lighting (night) you will need to remove the filter.

With the P3P having a shutter speed of 8-1/8000 of a second higher shutter speeds are going to reduce motion induced blur.  The problem lies in finding the best combination of shutter speed verses sensor sensitivity at various ISO ratings. Since you don't have an aperture reduction method to increase depth of field and inherently sharpness, the neutral density filter is the only choice to change the shutter speed.

Normally I would go with a B&W filter, but the B&W filters are heavy due to using a brass threaded ring, I'd look at Tiffen Filter due to price.  For quick and dirty attachment, a piece of bicycle inner tube stretched over the camera body snout and the filter will hold it in place and is quickly changeable if you need further speed reduction.  

gregg1r@mindspr Posted at 2015-5-25 02:39
With the P3P having a shutter speed of 8-1/8000 of a second higher shutter speeds are going to reduc ...

What about colored filter gels? Do you use these with your P3P, if so in what setting ?

gregg1r@mindspr Posted at 2015-5-25 02:39
With the P3P having a shutter speed of 8-1/8000 of a second higher shutter speeds are going to reduc ...

I love these forums! I'm very much an amateur photographer. Most of my camera experience has been with lots of auto functions. While I understand the basic concepts of f-stops, ISO settings, etc., I figure I know about enough to be considered dangerous!

My initial complaints with the camera in my P3P is that everything just seems so washed out. Learned that I could probably do better in manual mode and learned how to get in manual and stay in manual without accidentally switching to auto. Regardless, my videos still seemed lifeless - either washed out, not much in the way of true colors, etc. Was beginning to think the camera was pretty crappy. Then I came across this thread, ND filter discussion, etc.

Wide awake now and looking forward to a decently-priced (and adequate) ND filter for my camera!

Keep the hints and tips coming, guys!

Renaat Posted at 2015-5-21 02:35
too expensive is our opinion.

How much longer till your filters are released Renaat??

CHRISWILLIAMS29 Posted at 2015-5-25 02:49
What about colored filter gels? Do you use these with your P3P, if so in what setting ?

Colored gels would be difficult to use since the entire image would have the same color applied.

The Tiffen graduated color filters would be great to use, but there is no way to move them into the image once the P3P is in the air. Also the filter is going to be a lot larger than using a 30mm circular filter.

You could take one of the graduated filters and cut it down and make some test exposures.

There's a big difference between being behind the view finder and making adjustments verses having to use a static position filter for flight. Maybe in a few years aero platform camera makers will devise an internal system, but then again at the cost of a P3P, I wouldn't hold my breath.

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2015-5-25 02:50
I love these forums! I'm very much an amateur photographer. Most of my camera experience has been  ...

For your application, you might look at a polarizing filter. It will reduce the effective shutter speed as well as reducing reflections.

Again, the best filter for this application would be a circular polarizer, but you have no means to rotate the filter to get the effect you are looking for.

gregg1r@mindspr Posted at 2015-5-25 03:09
For your application, you might look at a polarizing filter. It will reduce the effective sputter  ...

Why on earth does the camera not have the ability to control aperture?

lightpanther Posted at 2015-5-25 03:58
Why on earth does the camera not have the ability to control aperture?

Because the lens has a fixed aperture, F/2.8. Just like a gopro or cell phone.

gregg1r@mindspr Posted at 2015-5-25 03:04
Colored gels would be difficult to use since the entire image would have the same color applied.

...

Ok so probably the best thing to start off with is a 30mm circular ND filter or polarized ? And do I cut to fit behind the  P3P lens?

lightpanther Posted at 2015-5-25 03:58
Why on earth does the camera not have the ability to control aperture?

I can't answer for DJI, but most fixed lens cameras don't have the room for an aperture control devise.

Your cell phone camera also doesn't have a variable aperture.  Typically you are attempting to get the most light in so you  can record the image. Adding an aperture devise would require a longer lens  and a control feature with moving parts.

At the price point that the P3P is aimed, adding this feature would likely raise the price another $200-250.
The folks purchasing the Inspire units use DSLR cameras with the control units to adjust shutter speed as well as aperture.

Not all DSLR cameras can be used since they don't have the circuits.

CHRISWILLIAMS29 Posted at 2015-5-25 04:28
Ok so probably the best thing to start off with is a 30mm circular ND filter or polarized ? And do ...

If it were me, I'd go for the polarizing filter and use the bike inner tube for attachment.

A  piece of inner tube for a 700C tire/wheel is small enough in diameter to hold the filter very snug.

Keep the DJI filter in place.

Sjoerd Posted at 2015-5-25 04:24
Because the lens has a fixed aperture, F/2.8. Just like a gopro or cell phone.

Right, but what is the advantage of that exactly? Wouldn't these problems be more effectively dealt with by being able to control aperture as well as shutter speed and iso?

Does the polarization help with jello ?  So do u cut a square and put the bike tube over it? It seems like the gel would have some deformation from not being flat. Or is the gel pretty pliable ?

lightpanther Posted at 2015-5-25 05:02
Right, but what is the advantage of that exactly? Wouldn't these problems be more effectively deal ...

Yes off course...but as explained in a reply above at the end it is always about money, haha. If you want to have full control buy a machine where you can add your own camera. Phantom 3 is an AIO machine. A good ND filter will definitely help you to control your light better. Set the ISO to 100 and and aim on a low shutter speed (24 fps = 1/50 shutter speed, 30 fps= 1/60 shutter speed, 60 fps=1/120 shutter speed ect.).
If there is coming too much light into the camera, add a nd filter or raise up the shutter speed.

CHRISWILLIAMS29 Posted at 2015-5-25 11:14
Does the polarization help with jello ?  So do u cut a square and put the bike tube over it? It seem ...

From my knowledge the ND filter wil help the best to block light. It's like sunglasses for your eyes. I think a polarization will help to get better colors and less reflections.

The high shutter speed is creating the jello effect so you need to bring it down.

Sjoerd Posted at 2015-5-25 16:37
Yes off course...but as explained in a reply above at the end it is always about money, haha. If yo ...

You're confusing frame capture speed per second verses the shutter which acts like a fan blade which blocks out light. The faster the "blade" spins, the less you see of it.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that the "jello" effect is caused when the shutter speed and the frame capture speed  come close to being synchronized.

I'm going to conduct some static testing to see where the effect starts.

Dataway Posted at 2015-5-20 01:25
An ND filter is short for Neutral Density Filter and they are used to restrict the amount of light t ...

Just want to correct you as you want to keep the shutter speed "down" and not frame rate with an ND filter. For a frame rate of 24 you want a shutter at 1/50 and a frame rate of 30 you want 1/60 to get the best looking video. Rule of thumb is you double your frame rate to get your shutter speed.

Daninho Posted at 2015-5-20 02:46
Which F-Stop Filters you recommend for ISO 100 and 30fps and 60fps? The good thing with the P3 is  ...

Photography 101 you have the exposure triangle (will work of video also) You need to let in a XX amount of light to get your exposure right. There are 3 ways to do that. Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO.

In the most simple of ways this is like water and you want to fill a bucket You have a valve that opens and closes, a pipe, and a bucket

The bucket is your ISO the larger the number the bigger the bucket

Shutter speed is a valve that opens and closes. This is done in moments of time

Aperture is the pipe and is expressed in size f 2.8 is a large pipe  f16 is a small pipe.

You have to set the 3 to fill your bucks just right. Too full of a bucks is over exposed, a not full bucket is underexposed.

So asking what ND filter you need would depend on how much water (light)  you are dealing with.

Spankybear Posted at 2015-5-26 03:30
Photography 101 you have the exposure triangle (will work of video also) You need to let in a XX a ...

I guess I was just hoping that on a "Professional" there would be the capability of controlling aperture, or if not, at least that the appropriate attachments to do so would be included, not promised sometime in the future. Anyway, I'll stop complaining, but it just seems odd to me.

Spankybear Posted at 2015-5-26 03:30
Photography 101 you have the exposure triangle (will work of video also) You need to let in a XX a ...

I know all this but i did not knew the rule of shutter speed and frame rate because thats of course not needed in still photography. You were telling me the photo 1x1 but not the fps relation rule

lightpanther Posted at 2015-5-26 04:23
I guess I was just hoping that on a "Professional" there would be the capability of controlling ap ...

well in the end its just a smartphone camera. For example even smartphones have autofocus but the inspire and p3 camera is very similar to a gopro.