Eventually I am able to post my personal review of the SKYREAT ND4, ND8 and ND16 filters for the Mavic 2 Pro. After having received them last week on Friday, I had been hoping for the weekend to do all the testing and the review. Unfortunately, whenever I had time to do the footage, the sky got quite cloudy and did not provide realistic testing conditions. This dilemma continued during this week until today, when finally the sun was pretty strong and the sky largely blue. Nevertheless I did not waste the past days, but used the time for test flights and communication with SKYREAT on my initial findings. And now I am ready to share my results with you.

For reasons of transparency and compliance with my personal ethical standards, I wish to clarify first of all that SKYREAT had invited me to do this testing and has provided the filters free of charge. This has been a big surprise for me since I have no track record at all for doing such tests. After some reflection I accepted the offer as a personal challenge for learning and hopefully providing some useful information to you (@DJI: I herewith renew my willingness to do this for you as well ;-). I can honestly assure you that my following review will not be biased, but purely reflect my own impressions of the product. Other opinions will be very welcome as appropriate.

When I received the little parcel last week I was of course curious to first see what the look and feel of the filters would be. It is very good indeed. The filters come in a stable box and are well placed in suitable foam as we know it from other brands too. The box does certainly not look as fancy as those from a considerably more expensive competitor, but for me this would not be a relevant criterion as long as it fits into my storage capacity. And it does fit very well into the little front bag of the DJI bag together with the extra propellers for example. What really matters at the end of the day is the quality of the filters.

They look well produced with class material. No sharp edges or any other visible flaws. I did not have suitable equipment to weigh them, but they do not seem to be heavier than the original DJI UV filter which comes with the Mavic 2 Pro. Mounting and unmounting is very easy and the SKYREAT filters fit perfectly. No play anywhere, once mounted they attach tight and stable. And here we come to one of my first findings, which I initially believed to be a noteworthy problem. To both the left and right side of the camera the filters are 0.5 Millimeters larger than the default DJI filter, which makes it difficult to put on and remove the gimbal cover. It is not impossible though, but a bit cumbersome and potentially leading to damage to the gimbal cover over time.

I immediately informed SKYREAT about my observation and much to my surprise they explained to me, that this was actually an intended feature in order to make the mounting and unmounting of the filters easier. At the same time they admitted that the potential problem with the gimbal cover had not been sufficiently considered in the design process and that they are now intending to reduce the size to match with the original DJI filter and offer free exchange to unsatisfied clients. I really appreciated this level of transparency and after testing again multiple times I can confirm, that the handling of the filters is indeed easier due to the slightly larger size which then also made my initial concerns fade. Therefore I encouraged SKYREAT to seek more feedback from clients on what would be their preferred form factor before changing the production.
EDIT: In the meantime the filters have been reduced in size and buyers of the bigger ones may exchange theirs for free if they wish so.

And at this stage I would like to hear your views on this! Removing the filters before putting on the gimbal cover is a matter of seconds if you are aware about this limitation. At least to me another advantage for having to put back one of the ND filters before the next flight is that it will automatically make you reflect first, which one is the most suitable for the then given light situation. Or would you rather prefer the convenience of putting on the gimbal cover at any time without having to remove the filter? Kindly share your opinion, it will have direct impact on the future design of the SKYREAT filters is my guess.

Ok, now let's have a look on how good the SKYREAT filters are in the field. For this review I have chosen the following set up: Fixed aperture at f5.6 to ensure good lens performance and 4K H.265 standard video recording (if you also wish to examine raw footage, I am happy to provide this within the coming days). All of the footage I am going to share with you is untouched as it came from the SD card. Please take into account that I took the footage late in the afternoon and sunset was approaching quite rapidly. Therefore the different clips are not 100% comparable, although I did my best to adjust the angle according to the sinking sun (in particular at the end when testing the ND16 filter). I apologise that the test of the ND4 filter was with a slightly higher gimbal angle. I only realised this back home when compiling the footage. Please also note that for the last clip with the ND16 filter, the shutter speed went down to 1/30. The fact that the footage is still very sharp is telling something about the flight and gimbal stability of the Mavic 2 in my view.

In summary I am truly impressed by the quality of the SKYREAT filters that come at a very competitive price compared to others. Personally I cannot see any negative colour impacts but rely on the feedback of more experienced photo- and videographers in this wonderful forum. For me the filters very well do what they are supposed to do and I do not see the need to buy other ones until proven wrong with my personal assessment by more experienced users than I am.

And here we go eventually. All original footage is available for your personal analysis at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/f ... 1spF8fXu9c7D8Wtxr7v
In addition to the video clips I have also taken photographs with the standard DJI UV filter and the three ND filters from SKYREAT.

Thank you for this. I have a set on order, but concerned about not being able to use the gimbal guard w/o removing. Seems like just one more step in the field when you are trying to just pack up and go home.

I was considering them but in your video at 1:06 theres a strong amount of glare. I've never seen this so strong with the dji filters.

I was considering them me too but I can't see much improvment in the shots with filters on. Sorry for the dummy question but where I have to see?

Just ordered a set from the DJI website as they finally came into stock. Looking forward to using them, however I once again seem to be a rain god as the one week in which I take a week off of work it is raining heavily with winds upto 40mph. Just typical.

What a sky treat for you, well deserved,
Thank you for your unbiased comprehensive review, as someone who ordered PP from day one, I know now I would have changed my mind reading your review.
You did a great job, particularly to those waiting for opinions of others before purchasing. Congratulations hopefully the first of many.

Great review my friend  you did a great job thank you for that!

Nice job on the open and honest review.
I have a set on order and will post my findings as well and discuss the potential gimbal cover issue.

Thanks for the great review Wach!

rparge Posted at 2018-9-19 17:06
Thank you for this. I have a set on order, but concerned about not being able to use the gimbal guard w/o removing. Seems like just one more step in the field when you are trying to just pack up and go home.

Thank you. As far as I know the decision to make their size identical to the original DJI filter has already been taken.

fans589cba4b Posted at 2018-9-19 18:43
[view_image]
I was considering them but in your video at 1:06 theres a strong amount of glare. I've never seen this so strong with the dji filters.

I believe that the same will happen with any other filters while you turn directly into or out of the sun. At least it is the same with my Polar Pro filters for the Mavic Air. It actually also happens when you don't use any filter.

Thriller Posted at 2018-9-19 22:51
I was considering them me too but I can't see much improvment in the shots with filters on. Sorry for the dummy question but where I have to see?

The purpose of ND filters is to reduce the shutter speed for various reasons (there are good articles about that on the web, just do a simple search). The fact that you don't see differences in my footage is actually good because it demonstrates that the filters I have tested do not distort the natural colours but are neutral (what they are supposed to be).

Duncandonut Posted at 2018-9-20 00:16
Just ordered a set from the DJI website as they finally came into stock. Looking forward to using them, however I once again seem to be a rain god as the one week in which I take a week off of work it is raining heavily with winds upto 40mph. Just typical.

Very sorry to hear this. Thus I better do not report our weather here across the Channel.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-9-20 01:03
What a sky treat for you, well deserved,
Thank you for your unbiased comprehensive review, as someone who ordered PP from day one, I know now I would have changed my mind reading your review.
You did a great job, particularly to those waiting for opinions of others before purchasing. Congratulations hopefully the first of many.

Thank you very much dear friend! :-)

Jannistmb Posted at 2018-9-20 02:03
Great review my friend  you did a great job thank you for that!

Thank you very much dear friend and congratulations again for your M2P!

Todd Harper Posted at 2018-9-20 03:24
Nice job on the open and honest review.
I have a set on order and will post my findings as well and discuss the potential gimbal cover issue.

Thank you very much! :-)

Mabou2 Posted at 2018-9-20 04:19
Thanks for the great review Wach!

Thank you very much! :-)

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-20 08:39
Thank you very much dear friend! :-)

Your welcome, you obviously put in good time and it shows throughout your review.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-9-20 08:41
Your welcome, you obviously put in good time and it shows throughout your review.

I was a bit short of sleep last night indeed . Thank you again!

Nice, well thought out review!  Thanks for sharing!

KlooGee Posted at 2018-9-20 08:52
Nice, well thought out review!  Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much! :-)

El Diablo Posted at 2018-9-20 09:13
Good to see that there’s no color cast. I have a question although: why would Skyreat send to you any filter set, with what credentials / criteria?

Yes, from what I can see the filters are very neutral. And as mentioned in my review, I have honestly no idea why they have picked me.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-20 08:36
The purpose of ND filters is to reduce the shutter speed for various purposes (there are good articles about that on the web, just do a simple search). That fact that you don't see differences in my footage is actually good because it demonstrates that the filters I have tested do not distort the natural colours but are neutral (what they are supposed to be).

Thanks for your reply. You're right I can't reduce the shutter speed without overexposure the sky. I think I'll buy them. Which one is the more used? Which one is supposed to be used with snow?

Thriller Posted at 2018-9-20 11:00
Thanks for your reply. You're right I can't reduce the shutter speed without overexposure the sky. I think I'll buy them. Which one is the more used? Which one is supposed to be used with snow?

It always depends on the amount of sunlight. On snow with a clear sky ND16 is probably not sufficient and you might need ND32 or in a particularly strong light situation even ND64 (but that is really strong). There is also a ND1000 one which is used for extra long exposure shots e.g. if you want that effect on waterfalls etc. All of them are available. But I have only tested and normally need the basic 3 filter set for my videography.

Hi there, thanks for sharing your review with the Skyreat ND filter for the Mavic 2 Pro. Cheers

DJI Natalia Posted at 2018-9-20 13:02
Hi there, thanks for sharing your review with the Skyreat ND filter for the Mavic 2 Pro. Cheers

Thank you very much dear Natalia! You and your colleagues are doing a great job here every day again, far more than I could ever contribute .

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-20 13:29
Thank you very much dear Natalia! You and your colleagues are doing a great job here every day again, far more than I could ever contribute .

You're most welcome, Wachtberger.

El Diablo Posted at 2018-9-24 04:17
I just got the reply today from the Skyreat rep that the revised version of the ND filters will be available in Germany in 2 weeks. Amazon.de is currently selling the "old" version so be aware!

Thank you for the update. I would assume that this does not only apply for Germany but also the other countries and that this is the new production batch which will go on sale.
I can also share the information that Skyreat will soon come up with a new version of the PL filters which will be adjustable and have another special feature. I don't know the precise release date but am sure we will learn about it here in the forum.

I just received a set today and upon mounting any one of them, I noticed that they do not fit snug against the camera body like the stock filter does.

I shot this quick video to show what I mean. You can see a slight movement as well as hear some ticking. That is the filter moving while mounted.
Filter not fully secure

Todd Harper Posted at 2018-9-27 09:11
I just received a set today and upon mounting any one of them, I noticed that they do not fit snug against the camera body like the stock filter does.

I shot this quick video to show what I mean. You can see a slight movement as well as hear some ticking. That is the filter moving while mounted.

I am very sorry for this, it is not the case with mine. They fit very firmly. Is it only with the ND8 or all three of them? I also see that you have ones from the first (larger size) production batch. Thus you may consider sending them back and get the new ones as it has been assured by Skryreat that they will exchange them for free.

Good work.
It is hard to really tell the effect of those filters on your final product, it would require some studio setup to be able to minimize the external factors influencing the image.
But then again, who cares about pixel peeping
If you can't see any negative effect on your footage, that means they are good enough to get the real job done!

Would like only nd32

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-9-27 11:12
Good work.
It is hard to really tell the effect of those filters on your final product, it would require some studio setup to be able to minimize the external factors influencing the image.
But then again, who cares about pixel peeping

Thank you dear friend. I tried to make the test as comparable as possible by making short flights in order to keep similar light conditions. At least I could not see any negative impact but only the filters doing what they are supposed to do. For my purposes this is definitely sufficient, my videos will never make it to Hollywood anyway... ;-)

JarmoK Posted at 2018-9-27 11:17
Would like only nd32

These are also available as well as further up.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 11:46
Thank you dear friend. I tried to make the test as comparable as possible by making short flights in order to keep similar light conditions. At least I could not see any negative impact but only the filters doing what they are supposed to do. For my purposes this is definitely sufficient, my videos will never make it to Hollywood anyway... ;-)

Yes I noticed.
Much better than some of the 'comparisons' you see on youtube.
On my screen it looks great and that matters most to me

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 09:48
I am very sorry for this, it is not the case with mine. They fit very firmly. Is it only with the ND8 or all three of them? I also see that you have ones from the first (larger size) production batch. Thus you may consider sending them back and get the new ones as it has been assured by Skryreat that they will exchange them for free.

All 3 of them.

Todd Harper Posted at 2018-9-27 12:24
All 3 of them.

Then you should send them back would be my advice.