okay so ive been flying my mini 3 (non-pro) for about 6 months now and the footage always looks a bit choppy and overexposed on bright days even when i drop the shutter as low as i can without getting motion blur issues. a friend told me i need ND filters and i get the concept but holy crap there are so many brands. freewell, polarpro, skyreat, the dji ones, random amazon stuff... has anyone actually compared these or do they all kind of do the same thing. im not trying to spend a fortune but also dont want garbage glass ruining my shots. also do i need the ones with the built in CPL or is that overkill for a beginner

polarpro is genuinely worth the extra money imo, ive used freewell and they're fine but theres a slight color cast on some of them that you notice more in post. for most people starting out though honestly just grab the freewell magnetic set, the magnet system makes swapping filters between shots so much faster and the quality is good enough that youll learn what you need without breaking the bank. the dji branded ones are fine but overpriced for what they are.

on the CPL question ? skip it for now. unless youre shooting over water or through glass its not doing much and you add complexity when youre still figuring out the basics. stick with ND16 and ND64 for sunny days and ND8 for overcast and that covers 90% of situations

this is gonna sound harsh but the choppiness might not even be the filters, are you shooting in 30fps or 60fps? because if youre at 60 and trying to apply the 180 degree shutter rule youre gonna need to be at 1/120 shutter minimum and on a bright day thats basically impossible without NDs yeah. but also check if video stabilization is set to rocksteady because that can cause a weird stuttery look in certain situations. just saying double check the settings before you spend anything, ive seen people buy a full filter kit and the problem was something completely unrelated