I got a set of PolarPro filters for my Phantom 4 pro a while back and noticed right away that they made the video’s and photos look worse - they just seemed to crush the image clarity. They just made everything look out of focus and less crisp. For example leaves and grass just wasn’t as sharp, and everything looked more muddy. (Sorry I don’t have access to my test images to share atm.) I chaulked it up to “somethings wrong with these filters specifically” and just never used them. I know everyone else around the web seems to swear by them, and as a former photographer I absolutely understand the usefulness of ND and polarizer filters.
So I got a set for my Mavic to take with me to Iceland, and I seem to be noticing the same thing now on the Mavic - clarity just goes to crap with the filters on. It seems unlikely that I’m getting “bad copies” with poor glass, so is it just me? Or is everyone drinking the cool aid when it comes to these filters...
...actually now that I think of it, if there’s a layer of protective plastic over them, THAT would be exactly what I’m describing. However it did not seem there was?
Thanks for help so far. I am quite familiar with polarization filters and know how to use them, and I truly don’t believe that is part of the issue I’m having. However I will keep that in consideration. (The filters that I have for the P4P are actually not polarized, so at least on that drone, it is for certain not the issue.)
To answer gnirtS, sorry I do not have access to test images at this time but will try and remember to do so in the near future.
It’s very noticeable to me both in video and stills though. I first noticed it watching with video - it just didn’t seem to be as crisp and clean as I was used to seeing, particularly in the level of detail in grass and leaves. It’s like the difference between a cheap consumer DSLR lens (plastic with cheap coatings), and a high end professional lens (glass with very expensive coatings). The image is just a lot less crisp. Some of this I would come to expect, since you’re putting another piece of glass in front of the camera which obviously is going to affect the image somewhat. I mean I wouldn’t expect a filter that costs less than 100 bucks to have “that great” of quality so I’d accept some loss of image quality. But this is far more obvious, it does not take a trained eye to spot the difference. (Again, I’ll try and post examples in the next few days when I have time.)
We need more details - auto or manual exposure?
What shutter speed and ISO is being used?
Are we talking RAW or JPG images? What is the colour profile and the sharpening, contrast and saturation settings?
All I can say is that I use the Polar Pro cinema shutter series (not PL) for video and a PP UV filter as lens protection for stills. And for both the results are excellent, not at all like what you are describing.
Hate to admit it, but It appears I may have been mistaken yesterday. Took some more comparison stills inside today (it was raining) with the Mavic and I cannot tell a significant quality difference between the two. I can see a difference, but not enough to be of a concern. I actually wonder if I'm just not getting the filters on correctly (tight enough) at times, which would explain why sometimes I see a big difference, and other times I don't. Curious to test some more outdoors when the weather is better. Also curious to try the P4P filters again, since that's what I first noticed it on and it was extremely obvious. However obviously this is the mavic forum, not the p4p forum.
Got outside today and did some more comparisons. I hand-held for the videos so that each was roughly the same. So here's the weird thing: The photos I took looked fine, no quality difference. However the video's were very different. Again as I described, once I put the filter on it was as if the entire image goes soft, like a graussian blur spread evenly across the entire frame. Reminds me of a Claritin allergy commercial. In the second video w/filter the sun peeked out from the clouds, so the color is a bit different. But other than that, I had it in manual, 100iso. 1/500 w/o filter, 1/100 with. Color set to "cloudy" and 1080p @60fps. "Normal" color (not D-Log) and standard sharpness/contrast, etc. Nothing other than the sun, and shutter speed changed between the two that I am aware of. Obviously it appears as if the entire image is just really out of focus, and I can't think of any other reason the photos were fine but the video was not... has to be a focusing issue? (Even though the entire image is soft?)
Sorry, I can't seem to get them to play directly from the forum. You'll have to click "youtube" by the quality icon and pull them up directly...
Without Filter:
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