Do you get lens flares on your add-on filters?
Im using the JSR ones here they do produce a fair bit of flares. Those could be a feature or a bug depending on your preferences. Certain flares are characteristics of old cine lenses that are sought after. I kinda do like them but as an option. What are your opinions and do your ND filters have these as well?

After watching Pilot Institute's video on ND filters - I decided to check the JSR filters i bought from Aliexpress from the Junestar Official store.

I've had pretty bad lens flare using ND filters with my Phantom - assumed it was the cheap filters I bought.
I've tried filters with my recently purchased Avata, but am not happy with the results.  I'm still getting used to the camera's quite obvious limitations, and generally feel the need for more light, rather than less - especially when flying low and in shadow.  There were many parts of your video, for example, that I felt were too dark.  A personal preference, perhaps?  

GTHero Posted at 1-13 19:08
I've had pretty bad lens flare using ND filters with my Phantom - assumed it was the cheap filters I bought.
I've tried filters with my recently purchased Avata, but am not happy with the results.  I'm still getting used to the camera's quite obvious limitations, and generally feel the need for more light, rather than less - especially when flying low and in shadow.  There were many parts of your video, for example, that I felt were too dark.  A personal preference, perhaps?

I grade according to the graphs and charts. If however the camera was facing the sun like on that hill, the auto exposure would meter that and shadows would be dark. Its difficult to expose very dynamic scenes in fpv. Setting a fixed exposure could be dangerous especially if i happened to fly into the shade so I just let it stay on auto. Those scenes maybe darker on some screens than others because most people do not have proper screen calibrations. The hills for me are on the lower half of the mid tones but on screens with high contrast may push that into the darks. This is an impossible battle to win on all fronts.
btw try viewing my clips on a 4k TV panel and let me know if its still dark. Also have you calibrated your desktop screen with at least a contrast and brightness chart?

I suspect all add on lenses will have these flares with some more pronounced than others. The current ND i am using has an irregular shape with glass on the left and right of the lens frame and I am suspecting that to produce more flare than filters that are round. I have ordered the round version from JSR to test out and will know in a few weeks time.

D35Archangel Posted at 1-13 19:38
I grade according to the graphs and charts. If however the camera was facing the sun like on that hill, the auto exposure would meter that and shadows would be dark. Its difficult to expose very dynamic scenes in fpv. Setting a fixed exposure could be dangerous especially if i happened to fly into the shade so I just let it stay on auto. Those scenes maybe darker on some screens than others because most people do not have proper screen calibrations. The hills for me are on the lower half of the mid tones but on screens with high contrast may push that into the darks. This is an impossible battle to win on all fronts.
btw try viewing my clips on a 4k TV panel and let me know if its still dark. Also have you calibrated your desktop screen with at least a contrast and brightness chart?

I really should calibrate my monitors.  I have three x 27" screens on my computer desk and they're all different. :-)  I find darker screens a little easier for reading.  One of my screens, the brightest, is 4K, and I use that one for grading my own video.  I've just had another look at your video on that screen and it's certainly an improvement.  No doubt you've made the best of your material.
I'm struggling with the Avata's camera, not helped by the locations I like to fly - often places with low light or strong contrast.  Take this edit (link below), for example.  It's watchable on a small screen, but on my 4K monitor is one big smudge!

GTHero Posted at 1-15 15:42
I really should calibrate my monitors.  I have three x 27" screens on my computer desk and they're all different. :-)  I find darker screens a little easier for reading.  One of my screens, the brightest, is 4K, and I use that one for grading my own video.  I've just had another look at your video on that screen and it's certainly an improvement.  No doubt you've made the best of your material.
I'm struggling with the Avata's camera, not helped by the locations I like to fly - often places with low light or strong contrast.  Take this edit (link below), for example.  It's watchable on a small screen, but on my 4K monitor is one big smudge!

I think you should try shoot at a higher frame rate like 60 and conform to a 30 fps to get better images. The 'smudge' i think you are referring to is motion blur at very slow shutter speeds.
Part of the thing about video production is knowing a bit about photography. Slow shutter like 1/60th is essentially the slowest shutter speeds photographers can hand hold without image stabilisation. When you are on a moving platform, that translate to a lot of motion blur especially when you are panning left and right. Going straight head isnt so much an issue because subjects in front stay in front until they reach the edge where they becomes excessively blurred beyond recognition. There is no one size fits all in photography or videography. You will learn it over time on the effects of various settings.

In scenes like yours, you need to think about what your main subject matter you want to present to others falls into.. the sensor will not be able to cope with very high dynamic ranges where you have lots of darks and the strong sunlight streaming in is too bright. You need to choose to lose one. IMHO in your case, I would choose to expose for the shadows and ignore the sky because it will be burnt out anyway. If you expose for the sky, your shadows need to be pushed excessively and you will lose a lot of detail if pushed too much.  Ask yourself this.. do you even need ND filters for this situation at all? Since its all dark, I would look for the lowest ISO possible that fits an f2.8 aperture (for the avata) and shutter speed of 1/100-120th (50-60fps) to remove the stutters and excessive motion blur. Either fix the ISO or allow it to auto expose itself. Do a few test runs. See what works best. There will always be an ideal setting for each type of environment depending on your creative objectives.

https://www.google.com/search?q= ... mgrc=h9Cw0j40IwgrPM

Pick a chart with a wide range of shades and calibrate the brightest and darkest and then the contrast so each shade is easily distinguishable and not burnt out across all the monitors. That is the easiest. Colour calibration is another can of worms you can dig into later on.
When you are grading, always open up the histogram or other colour chart and watch for the highlights and shadows. A good image will not have crushed blacks nor have burnt out highlights if possible (not always the case but ideally). Everything else in between are midrange and will either be brighter or darker depending on your preference and the contrast you want.

GTHero Posted at 1-15 15:42
I really should calibrate my monitors.  I have three x 27" screens on my computer desk and they're all different. :-)  I find darker screens a little easier for reading.  One of my screens, the brightest, is 4K, and I use that one for grading my own video.  I've just had another look at your video on that screen and it's certainly an improvement.  No doubt you've made the best of your material.
I'm struggling with the Avata's camera, not helped by the locations I like to fly - often places with low light or strong contrast.  Take this edit (link below), for example.  It's watchable on a small screen, but on my 4K monitor is one big smudge!

Try reshoot that with 60 fps 1/120th ISO auto locked between 100-800 and EV ( 0 first then -1). I think -1 should give you a much better image because the exposure seems to be overexposing the rocks. A lot of the 'blur' is when the drone is yawing / straffing  hence the excessive blurring which should be resolved with the 60 fps and faster shutter. Dump that using any NLE (non linear editor) and it should automatically drop frames to fit.