Which ND filters are you using on the X7?

I've got B+W Filters (ND4,8 and 32) which are about 20g each and work quiet well balanced on the X7.
Sadly B+W do not make a ND 1.2/ND16 which would be great for shots in snow.
dji mentioned in a X7 balancing video a optimal weight of 10-12g and 4.4mm thickness. If this is a correct information, Tiffen ND's could work also.
B+W balance pretty well. The sweetspot for most lenses seem to be around 15g. But the 35mm needs 20g to be in good balance.

Polarpro  (old X3/X3 style) are way to light (6-7.5g each)
PolarPro QuartzLine 19.5g
Tiffen 13g
Firecrest 8g
B+W ND4 19g
B+W ND8 20g
B+W ND32 18g
Leica 10g
Heliopan 18g

DJI prototype ND's

dji ND4 = 11g
dji ND8 = 11g
dji ND16 = 9g
dji ND32 = 9g
dji ND64 = 9g
dji ND128 = 9g

No info on release date, coating quality etc for the dji ND's yet.
Would love to test them.

Which ND 16 are you using on the X7?

Hi Coyut, Zenmuse X7 support third-party filters. Use filters with ø46 mm, weight 10-12 g, and thickness (except for the screw-threaded type mount) less than 4.4 mm.

DJI Diana Posted at 2018-2-20 13:29
Hi Coyut, Zenmuse X7 support third-party filters. Use filters with ø46 mm, weight 10-12 g, and thickness (except for the screw-threaded type mount) less than 4.4 mm.

Hello DJI Diana

Thank you for repeating what I have posted above ;)
My question is what people actually use as the dji ND's are still not available.
Since the 20g heavy B+W seem to balance very well, it could be that the mentioned 10-12g are actually to light.

The Tiffen could work weight wise, but is actually just a to cheap filter with a cost of about $17. It does not even have muliticoating.
So setting a cheap ND in front of a X7 does not make any sense at all.
I still try to find out how heavy the Leica version is.

What is everybody using to shoot today?

I'm still looking for a workable solution with a high quality ND16 for snow shots.

Also looking in to what to buy.
Firecrest seems to be the preferred filter choice by some on the Rcgroups i2 forum. But as you already noticed these are very light.
I need to have some asap. So ordered the Tiffen for now until a better solution present itself. Will compare them to the more expensive 4x6 Tiffen filters. will let you know how they compare.

It seems even some of dji's own prototype ND's are a tick to light for their own specs.
Will be interesting to see the final product.
There is also not mentioning of multi coating on the prototypes. If they don't have mc they won't be a smart choice for a cam like the X7.
But lets wait and see what finaly is available at the store in the end. Because thats what counts for us.
I also don't have a clue why they are testing up to ND128. Who would ever need those for a drone? Live documentary from a nuclear strike?

ND4 = 11g
ND8 = 11g
ND16 = 9g
ND32 = 9g
ND64 = 9g
ND128 = 9g

I use the formatt hitech firecrest filters as I believe them to be optically superior. When you fly at 100kmh there are immense forces on the gimbal motors due to wind resistance and quick changes in flight direction. Don't worry about a few grams, the motors can handle it. It's much worse putting low quality glass in front of your new x7.

5kdigitalfilm Posted at 2018-2-21 10:59
I use the formatt hitech firecrest filters as I believe them to be optically superior. When you fly at 100kmh there are immense forces on the gimbal motors due to wind resistance and quick changes in flight direction. Don't worry about a few grams, the motors can handle it. It's much worse putting low quality glass in front of your new x7.

Low quality filters was never my intention.
Would be stupid to place a $50 filter in front of a $4500 camera/lense ;)

I always try to get the balance as good as possible. So it performs at its max. as any small disbalance will get a lot more impact on higher speed and gravity impacts.

Today my  x7 lens set finally arrived.
So I was able to do some more testing with different weighted filters to see how they balance.

First of all: All lenses are stock out of balance. The 35mm is the lens most out of balance.

6-7g filters are definetly to light for all lenses
B+W (18-20g) are a bit to heavy on most, but balance perfect on the 35mm

The Sweetspot would probably be at around 15g per lens.
The problem is most filters are either to light or to hevay.
PolarPro 6-7g
Leica 10g
Firecrest around 7g
dji prototypes are 9-11g

Added weights of Leica and Heliopan ND's to the initial post