MrTitan
First Officer
United Kingdom
Offline
|
Skyreat sent me a set of the new and upgraded 6-Pack ND and Polarised ND filters for the Mavic 2 Pro to test after I'd experienced some unfortunate issues with the first version. They didn't pay me, supply me with anything else or even ask me to comment on the product, but I wanted to provide a quick review:
The Mavic 2 Pro's adjustable aperture is great, but in order to achieve the best results in many sun-lit environments it's often necessary to install a filter, which is where the Skyreat Upgraded ND (Neutral Density) and Polarised ND filters come in.
The upgraded Skyreat filters are supplied inside a protective hard carry case that features a see through lid and a white foam insert to help ensure the filters don't rattle around or get damaged. The carry case is hinged and is easy to open with a quick press of a button. Skyreat have also included a handy and suitably soft lint-free cleaning cloth, which is a welcome extra.
Coated in Skyreat's infamous pinky-bronze finish the filters themselves are constructed from a lightweight aircraft grade aluminium and are all beautifully made, with smooth surfaces and zero obvious manufacturing defects. The multi-layered optical glass appears flawless and the fit within the filter casing is perfect with no glue or adhesive to be seen. All of the 6 filters tested are easy to install on the Mavic 2 Pro and slide into position on the camera body with relative ease. The rear of the filter has been redesigned since the earlier Skyreat version and now features an improved shape and additional metal insert to aid installation (similar to the DJI version). It also utilises a single latching indent which holds the filter firmly in place when installed on the Mavic 2 Pro (marrying up with the ball bearing sprung-pin on the Mavic 2 Pro camera body) but also ensuring it's now easier to remove the filter after use. The Polarised ND versions especially benefit from this newly employed design and they are now a pleasure to install and remove, which is quite an achievement considering how thin they are. In fact the Polarised ND filters seem ever so slightly easier to install and remove compared to the Skyreat ND filters.
The 3 grades of ND filter (ND4, ND8 and ND16) are well suited to cloudy and less bright days when the sun is lower in the sky and/or providing a less intense array of illumination (autumn, winter and some of the spring and summer here in the UK). They allow the Mavic 2 Pro to capture footage utilising comfortably low aperture settings (improving the crispness and detail within the picture) whilst achieving the best shutter speeds for buttery smooth video (generally twice the frame rate). And they don't add any obvious change in colour etc. to the overall image. It would have been nice to have an ND32 filter included as well, for brighter days. But I understand that can be purchased separately if required.
The 3 Polarised filters (ND4PL, ND8PL and ND16PL) provide Neutral Density filtration too, but also allow for enhanced colour saturation which can help make skylines and waterways etc. really pop with colour. Each Polarised ND filter features a circular filter fitted with a fine grip that lets the user rotate the glass and set the polarisation angle to respond to the changeable location of the sun or reflections off of the top of water etc. The filter lens rotates easily (though is stiff enough it shouldn't move during flight) and includes a very handy mark that clearly shows the direction of polarisation and speeds up preparation for capturing quality footage.
Another issue that Skyreat has addressed is the width of their filters; the original filters were too wide which stopped the gimbal cover being installed when a filter was in place on the drone. Happily the Mavic 2 Pro gimbal cover now fits onto the drone without issue whilst any one of the Skyreat upgraded filters are installed.
Whilst I would have liked the kit to include at least one 32 filter (specifically an ND32PL) there's very little else to leave me wanting with this set of filters. Skyreat have created a competitively priced, high quality set of filters that I'd be happy to recommend.
|
|