Camera lens filters

[sscharff624]

Does anyone recommend getting the lens filter packs over manually setting shutter speed/ISO each time? I've been having trouble getting clear video of distant horizons/city skylines and am very new to general photography. I typically use the white balance settings for sunny, cloudy, etc and lock it in. Just curious if there are any other tricks or if the filters are the way to go.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Murray Martz]

Does anyone recommend getting the lens filter packs over manually setting shutter speed/ISO each time? I've been having trouble getting clear video of distant horizons/city skylines and am very new to general photography. I typically use the white balance settings for sunny, cloudy, etc and lock it in. Just curious if there are any other tricks or if the filters are the way to go.

Thanks in advance.

Filters can help in the areas they are designed to work for, but white balance is a different issue as is clarity. One thing that most people neglect, is cleaning their lens before they go out flying. A dirty lens will not produce a crisp image.

 

[Santa]

On the subject of lenses, does any one make a telephoto lens that clips onto the standard H camera? I'd like to get closer photos without bringing the H close to the subject for safety.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

What is your final product... photos or video? Each requires different filters (or no filter). Also remember that
digital photography and video are both going to require optimization with a post-processing program... one for
video and one for photos. Other factors to consider are the sharpness of the lens you use. There are aftermarket
lenses that are sharper than the OEM lens.

IMHO you should always set the shutter speed manually.

 

[Santa]

This is totally unrelated but question for you Eagle Eye... How do you add the Einstein quote to your profile? I really like seeing it as well as that posted by others. I have one I would like to add to my profile too.

Thanks all for your indulgence

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

On the subject of lenses, does any one make a telephoto lens that clips onto the standard H camera? I'd like to get closer photos without bringing the H close to the subject for safety.

Santa... you'll have to leave me coal , cause the answer is no. You need to get a second camera and have an aftermarket longer lens installed. Note, I did not say telephoto lens. The longer lens available approximate the "normal" lens that corresponds to 50mm focal length in 35mm format. Our "standard" lens with aerial photography is a wide angle lens. Do not be confused by inaccurate terminology on advertising banners.

If you have no immediate need I'd hold off until the beginning of 2018. You currently have the singular choice of the Peau 8.25 lens. Pixaero has a longer lens that is scheduled to be released soon and Yuneec stated that the new P50 camera used on the 520, will be able to be retrofitted to the 480, though no definite timeframe has been given.

If you want the flexibility of a zoom lens, you will need to go to the Tornado 920 platform.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

This is totally unrelated but question for you Eagle Eye... How do you add the Einstein quote to your profile? I really like seeing it as well as that posted by others. I have one I would like to add to my profile too.

Thanks all for your indulgence

If you look in the upper right hand corner, you will see your username. Mouseover that, and you will see a dialog box come up. One of the parameters that is listed is "Signature". Click on that and add your text in that text box. Save.

 

[Santa]

Thanks for your quick response and great information Eagle Eye... I never leave coal because everyone needs to be encouraged

Wishing You "Excessive Happiness"

 

[MM1992]

IMHO you should always set the shutter speed manually.

I've found that video works best with the white balance and shutter speed locked, but in photo mode, white balance on the .jpg looks best if I leave it on auto, and I just shoot on auto. I've never had it use anything but ISO100 so I see no reason to try and manually adjust exposure.

All that said, usually the color on photos is best if the editing starts from the .dng

 

[FlushVision]

On the subject of lenses, does any one make a telephoto lens that clips onto the standard H camera? I'd like to get closer photos without bringing the H close to the subject for safety.

Short answer is no.
However, if you set your camera up for 4K then your pictures will be of better quality and will be able to take a bit of digital zoom without too much loss of quality (the still picture quality is linked to the video quality).

Same goes for video. Most editors offer a 'zoom' feature. Shoot your video in 4K and do the zoom in post production.

NB. A video viewer like VLC Media Player has an ability to screen grab a still from video. I use VLC to drop stills from my footage and when that footage is in 4K the resulting still picture is superb...gives a picture who's file size is between 10 and 13meg. (Of course, if you need to process a picture extensively, then you need to take the picture in RAW and forget dropping one off from the video)

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I've found that video works best with the white balance and shutter speed locked, but in photo mode, white balance on the .jpg looks best if I leave it on auto, and I just shoot on auto. I've never had it use anything but ISO100 so I see no reason to try and manually adjust exposure.

All that said, usually the color on photos is best if the editing starts from the .dng

However unlike a handheld camera, you cannot lock in exposure under auto settings,
and then recompose your shot for framing. Also, if you are shooting a "can't come back
and re-try this later" type of shot, manual setting allow the opportunity to bracket your
exposures, to help guarantee you have the best quality original to start post processing
with.

I agree that, unless you are immediately handing over the raw shots to a client, you should
always shoot in the uncompressed DNG format.

 

[TimboSlice]

(To get back to the original question) I recently purchased a set of PolarPro lenses, and am happy with their performance - especially considering their low cost. They help on extremely sunny days. For the upcoming summer, I see days using the filters, and days setting the exposure manually. Not sure I would spend big dollars on filters, but i am shooting video for myself and friends for YouTube.

 

[rory]

However unlike a handheld camera, you cannot lock in exposure under auto settings,
and then recompose your shot for framing. Also, if you are shooting a "can't come back
and re-try this later" type of shot, manual setting allow the opportunity to bracket your
exposures, to help guarantee you have the best quality original to start post processing
with.

I agree that, unless you are immediately handing over the raw shots to a client, you should
always shoot in the uncompressed DNG format.

What's dng?I noticed my videos may not be in 4k.had some interference with quality last night's outtakes.

 

[Murray Martz]

What's dng?I noticed my videos may not be in 4k.had some interference with quality last night's outtakes.

DNG is an acronym for digital negative. Here is a read on it.
Digital Negative - Wikipedia

 

[mmidyette]

... of quality (the still picture quality is linked to the video quality).

Only if you have the St-16 set to video mode. If you have the ST-16 set to photo mode, the shots are taken at maximum resolution (4000X3000), regardless of the video settings. IE, if you are in video mode and are set to shoot video at 1080P, if you press the photo button while in video mode your image will be 1920X1080. If you change over to photo mode and take the same shot it will be 4000X3000 without making any change in video size settings.

 

[BroVari]

Short answer is no.
I use VLC to drop stills from my footage and when that footage is in 4K the resulting still picture is superb...gives a picture who's file size is between 10 and 13meg. (Of course, if you need to process a picture extensively, then you need to take the picture in RAW and forget dropping one off from the video)

Unfortunately a screen-grab from a 4k video will never beat a photo shot in a photo mode. As mmidyette said the differences in resolution are quite big, a screen-grab from a 4k video is roughly ~8mpix file which resoults in lower sharpness (also because of the motion blur you have in video caused by the high frame rate) and video is mostly highly compressed which again gives you worse outcome when you try to export a frame out of it. You would get much better effect with that if our Typhoon could record in a prores quality where every frame is a separate picture.

So imho, if you want a decent photo, swap to photo mode.

 

[FlushVision]

Unfortunately a screen-grab from a 4k video will never beat a photo shot in a photo mode. As mmidyette said the differences in resolution are quite big, a screen-grab from a 4k video is roughly ~8mpix file which resoults in lower sharpness (also because of the motion blur you have in video caused by the high frame rate) and video is mostly highly compressed which again gives you worse outcome when you try to export a frame out of it. You would get much better effect with that if our Typhoon could record in a prores quality where every frame is a separate picture.

So imho, if you want a decent photo, swap to photo mode.

Oh, I fully agree. The best still images are always obtained in 'photo' mode. Dropping stills from the video is always gonna be a step down from the best quality, however it is useful if you 'see the shot' in your video.

 

[jcommstudios]

All you have to do is set up the camera properly. Use the stock filter/lens cover. Natural mode, white balance, lock it... then go into manual mode for the exposure. Set your iso to 100, the lower the iso the less grain, set exposure to anywhere from 320 to 800 depending on your shot. You can hover and adjust the exposure prior to making a pass. Here is an example use of the CGO3+ dialed in properly.

 

[Murray Martz]

All you have to do is set up the camera properly. Use the stock filter/lens cover. Natural mode, white balance, lock it... then go into manual mode for the exposure. Set your iso to 100, the lower the iso the less grain, set exposure to anywhere from 320 to 800 depending on your shot. You can hover and adjust the exposure prior to making a pass. Here is an example use of the CGO3+ dialed in properly.

This is exactly how it should be done and look in the end.

 

[rdonson]

What @jcommstudios is calling “exposure” is really “shutter speed”, right? With a fixed aperture camera you only have 2 variables, ISO and “shutter speed”, right?

If you want a slower shutter speed then an ND filter is the way to achieve it.