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John Dickow: Hello. Welcome back to another episode of your drone questions answered. I'm John Decker with the drone launch Academy here to answer your drone questions. These are questions that you submit. And today's question is what is. An ND filter on a drone and how is it used? This is when it comes to videography and photography.

today I have with me, I have Alex Harris. He's a videographer, photographer, and drone pilot all in one who does his own work. Alex, thanks for joining me today.

Alex Harris: Hey, what's up? my name's Alex Harris. I teach a course in Drone Launch Academy for, videography and one for photography as well.

If you've, you've heard of me somewhere else where I've come on to do one of these before. I was a videographer for, over a decade. and I worked in Los Angeles for a little while doing editing and motion graphics. And I came back here at big clients, little clients did videography and I was great for awhile, exhausting work, but it was, it was going good.

And then. One day I bought a drone. people stopped asking me about the video work and started just asking me drone questions. anywhere I took that like a corporate event, it just was so much conversation and people asking me just to, just to leave the camera at [00:01:00] home, just bring the drone and it kind of took over after that.

I started giving people advice on like how I found clients from. marketing stuff, like already knowing how to do this in videography and editing. there really wasn't a lot of people mentioning, like a business side of it. So, that got a following and then I started, teaching a course on it.

That's how I got involved with Drone Lunch Academy.

John Dickow: Very cool. I know a lot in the Drone Launch Academy community are pursuing that kind of work for themselves and to, to have it be your, your whole career, that's awesome. Congratulations. so let's get into the, the meat of this question, ND filters on drones, what are they and how are they used?

Alex Harris: it's a question I've had to answer 20 million times. So to put it really simply, they're literally sunglasses for the camera. I don't like to say literally, cause everybody throws that word around. It's lost its value. Now, now it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but they are literal sunglasses.

The objective is to make things darker for the sensor. So it's easier to think about if you think about it in photography instead of video, you are trying to absorb light into the sensor. That's how you take a photo, the sensors looking [00:02:00] at the world and in a fraction of a second, like super, super low fractions, like one over 2000 of a second.

in daylight, that's how much time it needs to soak in enough light. That sounds awesome. If you're a photographer, you're a sports photographer and you need to catch somebody whacking a tennis ball, you need really fast frames. So the shutter being that high is great. But in video, having a fast shutter means really sharp, really harsh frames.

And when you blend them all together, it kind of makes it difficult, for your eye to follow. If you have a huge, flat screen TV and you're watching an hour of that, it'll start to give you a headache. it looks like iPhone footage, kind of. It's a, a small thing that most people wouldn't notice until you sat through a lot of it.

if we have the sports photographer on one side and on the other side, we have, some guy, taking a photo after sunset on the beach and, his wife left him. So this is his hobby now, and he's just messing around with his camera and it's a little dark. You've got to roll the shutter back to absorb more light.

You have to have a lower shutter that takes more time to absorb more light into the sensor. So if you want to get more light in, you have to use a slower [00:03:00] shutter and a slower shutter means you're going to be able to see movement between the shots a lot easier. So if there's any movement, if it's like 1 over 50 or 1 over 60 and a car goes by, you're going to see a very, very small, delicate little blur around the car.

it's not a lot in a photo, it wouldn't look good in video though, when all the frames blend together. It makes it easier on the eye because you can see the motion happening. it's something a professional would notice. And every movie you've seen in theaters ever is filmed in 24 frames a second.

So, they use a shutter of 50 or 60 because you get a gentle, delicate, little motion blur. It sounds silly, but pause a frame of any movie as soon as somebody's turning or waving their hand or something, they, they just turn into putty and they look like just, just mud across the screen. you typically don't notice it cause you're watching a movie and you think everything looks nice, but individual frames while things are moving, like a train's going by or a car's driving by, they're really blurry.

the motion blur sounds like something you don't want, but realistically, when you're shooting 24 frames a second, when you're shooting video, yes, it's very helpful.

John Dickow: Okay. to [00:04:00] somebody who maybe doesn't do, as much photography, videography is the ND filter something they would use to essentially brighten up their shot?

Alex Harris: No, it's not. It's to darken the footage. and I see a lot of times on like Facebook groups and forums, people talking about like, they'll take a nice shot and they're new, so they don't really know. they make a comment like, yeah, it's thanks to these new polar pro, PL and D filters that they'll run a commercial on whatever product they're using, but it's not like it gives you night vision or something like that.

it's supposed to darken it doesn't make you see more. It just darkens things so that you are forced to raise the shutter to absorb more light. And then the frames in between on the video, are softer. However, that's just for video. You don't want this for photos, especially if you're doing like, anything near sunset for photography.

Do not use an ND filter. You pretty much don't need one ever for photography. And then, the other thing I want to mention while we're talking about it is there are polarizer filters and ND filters. So ND filters just have an ND next to the number. I've got some with me. they're just, they're just dark.

There's nothing like, there's no sheen or fancy coating on them or anything. And, on the little [00:05:00] cap, it'll say like ND8. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to show you this, but. Oh yeah. This is an, uh, uh, ND8, ND16. So it's, uh. I think this one's four stops in photography terms, but the 16 is the one I pretty much have all the time on the drone any day.

It's like such a, it's a nice middle of the road that it's just always helpful. I pretty much always keep it on filming in the daytime. that's not to be confused with. PL ND, which is polarizer filters. And, what those do is, it gets rid of like clear on leaves on trees. if you're flying over water and you're sitting at the specific angle you need for it to work and the sun is bouncing off the lake and coming onto the drone, like you're sitting opposite the sun, then it makes a difference.

But flying around with that thing on there to just, it gives you kind of a weird tint on the footage. And if you're using it just to get that one in a thousand chance that you need to look at fish in a very shallow water, it's not worth it. So I see people talk about, PL and the polarizer filters all the time.

And I just really, don't have a good [00:06:00] opinion of them. And for drones specifically, it's made things worse. Okay.

John Dickow: Well, actually, I really appreciate you actually showing us. What the ND filter

Alex Harris: looks like it wiggles on if you've never had to use one, you can, it feels like you're like trying to, to grab a lion's face and open its jaws.

But this pops off, it is kind of a struggle when you haven't done it before, but this comes off and then that's just the naked. Lens on here and then you attach it back on like that. So you would swap the ND filter and then twist it and pop it on it. And then you're fine. Very

John Dickow: cool. Is that something like, most decent drones have the ability to apply an ND filter

Alex Harris: to it?

Yeah. All, all DJI drones can do that. Any professional is using these, any photographer knows what an ND filter is, you won't find a professional who's like, Oh, you know, I, I just don't need them and don't know what they are. they will all have an understanding and then same with videographers.

It's more important for video.

all DJI drones can, can do it. The, uh, the Mavic 3 Pro has this just giant T Rex face, this big gaudy, lens on it. So it's a lot more of a fight, but. Uh, it's got [00:07:00] three different, cameras. So it has to have three different strengths on the ND filters. So they look a lot more extravagant, but yeah, all of them, all of them will do this.

Alex Harris: Very cool. Yeah. I

John Dickow: I have a little bit of understanding of videography, but not drone videography. And I know a lot of video cameras have their, ND filter built into the camera as just a switch thing that you can adjust on the camera itself.

Alex Harris: Oh, there is adjustments you can make to the shutter. Anybody can do that. I have seen ground cameras that have the, you have the ability to roll a different lens in front of it, but drones, all they, all they have is the face that pops off. You have to go buying yourself. So Amazon for, for a mini four pro, the one I just showed you, I think they're going to be like 50 bucks or something.

For ND filters for it. the brand doesn't really matter because it's not something that you have to pay more to get better. Like they're all pretty much the same standard ND filters. doesn't make a huge difference where you get them from. so long as you get them.

And then I just got, SkyReet ND filters off Amazon. they work fine. But you just need to make sure you get a pack with a 16 ND. That's the, they always come in a pack, but that's the only number you really need.

John Dickow: Excellent. Well, I really appreciate that. I that's more than enough good [00:08:00] information here when it comes to ND filters.

I really appreciate it. One thing I wanted to ask you before I let you go is as somebody who's, in videography, photography, using a drone. you're paving your own way doing that kind of work. And there's many in the drone launch Academy, community who would love to do the same kind of thing.

what piece of advice would you have for somebody who's just starting out in that kind of thing? Maybe just learning the drone, to apply it to either a current job or maybe even start their own career path with it.

Alex Harris: Oh my God. Okay. I've got like 20 of these and I can't decide what's the most important, but the, the one that gets people the most tickled, I guess, is just make small.

Reels of your area.

So 60 seconds, two minutes, it doesn't have to be complicated. Really simple shots that summarize whatever town you live in. Why? Because stock footage is not out in mad abundance in whatever city you live in. Unless you live in a huge major city like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, or something.

If you live in a medium sized town, everybody thinks they have to leave town to go somewhere more extravagant. Are you striving in to film?

Don't do that. Just get good shots for practice. In your town. One, [00:09:00] it'll give you a ton to practice with. Two, you will get news and realtors and, people who are developing, communities and churches, events, people who need that footage when they Google the city, it will pop up first because I, if you live in a medium sized city, you probably don't get, posts on YouTube about that city a lot.

So if you post multiple, I mean, two a month or something, just that little corners of town. you'll probably show up higher in search results. I have made much more money from town reels locally than I have selling footage to some guy in China, across the world on stock footage sites, people who need it locally.

Sometimes they will want to buy the footage from you outright and they'll pay you. Five times more than whatever you were charging. Typically, it's like, a 10 second shot. It winds up being like a hundred dollars or something because they can't find it anywhere else. So that is a great way to practice making a town real cannot stress it enough.

The other thing, go out with a plan. Do not show up and think I'm going to get the drone in the air. And then I'm going to look around. And find out what the film that's never worked out for anybody. I've never seen that be great plan. You're going to show up. You'll take off. It's louder than [00:10:00] you think.

Some kid is pointing at it. Now his mom's looking. There's a ton of stress. you panic land because you're going to crap your pants. You think the drone is going to fall out of the sky at 70 percent battery. So you get home as quick as you can and then ditch the whole thing. You go home you wind up with nothing.

Don't do that. Google maps and look around town to find a spot where you can park and fly from, or, you can use Google Earth, the 3D mode to, like, look around to get perspectives, like viewpoints, of things that you want to, aim for while you're flying around and then, when you take off.

You need to have at least one or two shots in your mind of something you want it to look like, like something you saw on Instagram or something on YouTube, like an idea of what you're aiming for while you're up there and you see something great, like there's, these guys having a sword fight on top of a hill.

Sure. Go over there and get that. You don't show up on the spot and just go find those things that you'll wind up with way too much footage. You won't ever go through any of it cause you're not inspired. Have a couple of shots planned in your head. You'll get much better results. It'll make you want to go film more because you have good results.

that's my story.

John Dickow: Those are two really good pieces of advice. I, I really appreciate it. And I really appreciate you coming on and, uh, explain to us what ND filters are [00:11:00] and how they're, they're used when it comes to drone videography, photography, Alex Harris.

He's a photographer. He's a videographer. He does his own work. Check them out. and if you have a drone question, we will find the answer to it. go on to YDQA. io type in your question there. We'll see it. Or if you're part of the drone launch, connect community, type it in there. We'll see it. We will find someone who can answer the question in the meantime, we'll see in the sky.