Shooting Stills with ND filters? shutter speed issue?

[carr1976]

Generally my intent when flying is to record video so I use ND filters (usually ND16 or ND 32) to get to approx 1/50 or 1/60 shutter speed. I have been doing more stills photographs recently but usually this will occur after I get my video sequences in and still have my ND filter attached. I am more experienced with Canon cameras and would never be at 1/50 on my canon unless i had it on a tripod. Should I be removing my ND filters to get a quicker shutter of no less than 1/250 to get a more stable and more in focus shot? It seems to me the answer is yes but I am still getting great photos at 1/50 but want your opinion on if I would see a great improvement in the photos.

 

[Meta4]

Should I be removing my ND filters to get a quicker shutter of no less than 1/250 to get a more stable and more in focus shot? It seems to me the answer is yes but I am still getting great photos at 1/50 but want your opinion on if I would see a great improvement in the photos.

There's no need to use ND filters for stills unless for some particular reason you need to reduce your shutter speed.

 

[KevMo Photog]

I would leave your ND on all the time in daylight if I were you. Especially if your shooting video some as well. Keep your ISO at 100 most of the time as well. At night still keep your ISO at 100 andIf it's calm you can slow your shutter down to 3-5 seconds easy if your doing night shots. But you want to shoot at night with no ND at all as you want to let as much light in as possible to keep your ISO down at 100. In daytime it's good to have the better coatings from ND on your lens anyway. So you choose ND to get the desired shutter speed for your frame rate for your video. It is kind of a hassle to go back and forth between video and still settings. But you just plan it out man.

In pretty bright daylight I use an ND 16 to keep my shutter speed as close to double the frame rate as possible for my video. As it gets closer to dusk that will move to an ND 8 or 4 depending on cloud cover. Then after sun sets I go to the stock UV filter that came with bird for everything as we want all the light coming in we can get to keep our ISO as low as possible. I try to shoot all my stills with this camera at 100 ISO. If it's windy some that's not always possible. I would not go over 800 ISO for stills if possible as they get pretty grainy in the darkks. But this camera and gimble will shoot up to 4-6 second exposures tack sharp if the wind is not blowing much on you. Best aperture for night time is F4 to F8 or so. If you go wider like F2.8 for stills you get light sources glaring a little larger and making it look not quite as sharp as say F5.6 or even more closed. But you have to keep in mind the wind on your stills. If it is blowing 7-12 you might be able to take only up to 1 second exposures or so. That is trial and error getting to know how long you can make your exposures and still be tack sharp without too much movement. Now video in the dark is a diff cookie. You have to up the ISO to 800 and sometimes 1600 to get your video exposed correctly because you cannot slow your shutter down enough to expose correctly at 100 ISO And your video would suck if you could anyway. Because you would have too much motion blur between frames from slower shutter speed for video. Goal is always to try and keep the shutter speed at double the number of your frame rate. So if your shooting in 30fps your shutter should be as close to 60th of a second as possible for so called best Cinematic blur between frames. But in the daylight hours my bird is never without ND filter of some kind to help keep shutter where I want it with an aperture around F4- F5.6 1/2. Daytime settings are usually always 100 ISO @ F4- F5.6 1/2 at a shutter speed of 60th of a second if your shooting at 30fps!

 

[Mako79]

The only time you should be using nd filters on stills is when you want to intentionally capture movement in 1 still frame. Eg the movement of water in waterfalls.
If you keep your nd filter on especially in dark and windy conditions, it can ruin your shot as it will create blur from either the camera moving or objects moving. Remeber, your shutter is staying open longer.

 

[KevMo Photog]

The only time you should be using nd filters on stills is when you want to intentionally capture movement in 1 still frame. Eg the movement of water in waterfalls.
If you keep your nd filter on especially in dark and windy conditions, it can ruin your shot as it will create blur from either the camera moving or objects moving. Remeber, your shutter is staying open longer.

You don't shoot much video do you? This is def not the only time you want ND dude! As I said in my last post, you don't want to use ND at night for sure. To keep your ISO down at 100 at all times for stills. And if it is calm you can shoot as slow as 4-5 seconds. Trust me it will be sharp as a tack with no noise at 100ISO But in daylight I would never be without ND on all the time to keep shutter at double frame rate at an aperture that I like which is around F4 to F5.6 1/2 for video. Then the stills work with it on as well in daylight. Your still getting F5.6 at 60th of a second or so with an ND 16 on bird. Plenty fast enough for tack sharp stills with this gimble and wide lens. But your right Mako79, if your only worried about stills period, then it is not that necessary. But the coatings that are on good ND do help with some flaring in some instances too.

 

[With The Birds]

Mount a 24mm on your canon slr (assuming its full frame) and you should get a high number of keepers at 1/25s without a tripod). Remember the phantom has a stabilised gimble so even at several seconds TV you can get sharp images in a hover. As KevMo has said even with the ND16 in bright sunlight you are around 1/50s @f5.6 in bright daylight conditions (1/100s @ f16 with 100ISO- we used the sunny 16 rule for decades before fancy light metering in camera bodies), open the aperture further if it makes you more comfortable but you won't have an issue.

 

[Mako79]

You don't shoot much video do you? This is def not the only time you want ND dude! As I said in my last post, you don't want to use ND at night for sure. To keep your ISO down at 100 at all times for stills. And if it is calm you can shoot as slow as 4-5 seconds. Trust me it will be sharp as a tack with no noise at 100ISO But in daylight I would never be without ND on all the time to keep shutter at double frame rate at an aperture that I like which is around F4 to F5.6 1/2 for video. Then the stills work with it on as well in daylight. Your still getting F5.6 at 60th of a second or so with an ND 16 on bird. Plenty fast enough for tack sharp stills with this gimble and wide lens. But your right Mako79, if your only worried about stills period, then it is not that necessary. But the coatings that are on good ND do help with some flaring in some instances too.

I am well aware on how nd filters work on video.
I am responding to the OPs question in relation to nd filters used for still photogtaphy.

 

[KevMo Photog]

I am well aware on how nd filters work on video.
I am responding to the OPs question in relation to nd filters used for still photogtaphy.

Perfect! Your spot on man!

 

[zacksomeone]

Maybe I'm crazy but I feel like everyone just read the title but not the first post. I've had the same question OP. I figured out, take your video shots in Manual Video Mode, then switch back to Photo and change the settings to Auto Mode (if you don't need a special shutter speed e.g. waterfalls), and the camera will take care of the shutter speed (and aperture) for stills. I have yet to get any bad pictures.

 

[With The Birds]

Maybe I'm crazy but I feel like everyone just read the title but not the first post. I've had the same question OP. I figured out, take your video shots in Manual Video Mode, then switch back to Photo and change the settings to Auto Mode (if you don't need a special shutter speed e.g. waterfalls), and the camera will take care of the shutter speed (and aperture) for stills. I have yet to get any bad pictures.

Are you using ND filters, that's what the OP was asking?

 

[zacksomeone]

Are you using ND filters, that's what the OP was asking?

Yes