ok so i finally pulled the trigger on a mini 4 pro last month and the footage looks great but ive been watching youtube videos about the 180 degree shutter rule and now i feel like i need ND filters but honestly i have no idea where to start. theres like a million brands and sets and i dont really understand what numbers i actually need. i mostly fly on sunny days at the beach and sometimes in the late afternoon. budget isnt huge maybe like 50-60 dollars. do i even need the whole set or can i just buy like one or two to start? also does the brand actually matter or is it all the same glass basically

for sunny beach shooting you really just want an ND16 and maybe an ND64 to start, that'll cover most of what you run into without overcomplicating things. honestly for a first set the Freewell ones are fine and usually fall in your budget for a 4-pack. the polarized versions are nice for beach/water if you care about reflections but they take a bit of getting used to because you have to rotate them. dont stress too much about brand at this level, the quality difference between mid range options is pretty marginal compared to like cinema glass

yeah the 180 rule rabbit hole is real lol. i spent way too long on this when i got my mini 2. just get a cheap set to start and learn what each one does before spending more. the thing nobody tells you is that late afternoon golden hour light changes so fast that youll be swapping filters constantly anyway so having the full set ends up being worth it eventually. but start small, you dont need to drop a ton of money right away