DJI Phantom 4 Pro/Adv – Cinema Series – Exposure Collection

Included Filters:

ND64: The ND64 filter reduces 6-stops of light. The ND64 filter can also be used for video if shooting wide open (f2.8) on a bright sunny day. The primary use of this filter is to reduce 5-stops of light for longer exposure photography.

ND128: The ND128 filter reduces 7-stops of light. This filter will be exclusively for shooting photos. You would never use this for video. The ND128 filter significantly reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor, allowing you to shoot creative long exposures during the day.

ND256: The ND256 filter reduces light by 8-stops for shooting long exposure photos from 8 seconds up to several minutes.  This is the strongest neutral density filter in the Exposure Collection and will unlock the lowest shutter speed.

Long Exposure Photography:

PolarPro’s high power ND filters enable photographers to capture long exposure shots during daylight hours. Natively, there is too much light for the Phantom 4 Pro and Advanced to shoot long exposure during the day.  A heavy ND filter such as an ND64, ND128, or ND256 will help cut down light for longer exposures during the day.

What to Expect:

Shooting long exposure images from a drone can be challenging and requires shooting a lot of images. The goal is to keep the drone stable while the shutter is open (this can be up to 8 seconds or longer).  This makes shooting in windy conditions challenging.  We recommend shooting long exposure in very calm winds and shooting many images.  When you shoot 100 images you should expect 1 or 2 great images from that set.  Many of these images will be blurry, this means the drone drifted while the shutter was open.  Therefore, you will want to take as many images as possible.

Subjects for Long Exposure:

There are many creative long exposure images you can get ideas from. Taking long-exposure images from an aerial perspective unlocks even more opportunities. One common subject we recommend practicing shooting is large bodies of water like oceans, rivers or lakes to see how longer exposure times affect motion. Then you can use your creative mind to capture other unique perspectives.

Why So Many Filters?

Each filter is going to yield a different shutter speed, which will in turn, yield a different result.  The higher the ND value, the longer the exposure will be.  We have different ND filters for two reasons. 1. Stacking filters is bad, the more glass elements light passes through, the greater the chance for lens flaring and image distortion. 2. Stacking filters creates too much weight and strain on the gimbal. We offer so many filter options because the fewer external glass elements that light passes through, the better the image quality will be.

Cinema Series Glass:

The Cinema Series glass is PolarPro’s production level glass with optical AR coatings to help reduce lens flare, creating a high light transmission and low refractive index.  It is especially important to have a high-end glass with the stronger ND filters and long exposure times.  Cinema Series filters hold color temperature constant even at higher ND ratings, for a beautiful and creatively exposed image.