been shooting with my mini 3 (non pro) for a few months now and the footage looks decent but ive been reading about ND filters and the 180 degree shutter rule and now im kind of down a rabbit hole. theres so many brands and sets out there and the price range is all over the place. like some sets are 20 bucks on amazon and then theres polarpro stuff thats like 80-100 for a set of 4.

i mostly fly on sunny days, some coastal stuff, occasionally golden hour. not doing this professionally just want nicer looking video for personal trips and maybe posting some stuff online. is there a point where the cheap ones are good enough or is this one of those things where you actually get what you pay for. also do i even really need a circular polarizer or is that overkill for what im doing

honestly for casual shooting the mid range stuff is totally fine. i use the freewell magnetic ones and theyre genuinely good, not as good as polarpro cinematics probably but for the price difference i cant justify it for hobby flying. the magnetic mount system is super convenient too compared to screw on ones where you're fumbling around in the field.

for coastal flying specifically id say an ND16 and ND64 covers most situations, maybe grab an ND8 for golden hour when the light drops. CPL is nice for cutting water glare but its honestly an extra thing to think about when youre framing shots and for starting out id skip it. you can always add it later.

I tried three different cheap sets before giving up and just getting the Polarpro ones and yeah the difference is real but I also think I was being fussy about it. A friend of mine uses some no-name amazon set on his mini 2 and his footage looks perfectly fine, like genuinely good. I think if your color grading is decent in post you can compensate for a lot. The main thing the NDs are doing is just getting your shutter speed down anyway, its not like theyre adding quality, just controlling exposure. So maybe start cheap and upgrade if it bothers you.