genuine question and i know this might sound dumb but bear with me. ive been flying my air 2s for about 6 months now and the footage looks pretty good to me already, i shoot in d-log and do a little color grade in resolve. someone in another thread mentioned nd filters almost like it was obvious you'd have them and i realized i never bought any.

i understand the concept, reducing light to get a slower shutter, 180 degree rule etc. i've read about it. but in practice when i watch my footage i cant really tell what im missing. is it one of those things where once you use them you cant go back or is it more situational than that. also if they do matter what set would you actually recommend for the air 2s, there seems to be like a hundred options at wildly different prices and i dont know where to start

they absolutely make a difference but honestly the effect is more obvious in some situations than others. bright midday sun is where you'll really notice it ? without an nd you're basically forced into a fast shutter to get proper exposure and your footage ends up looking kind of stuttery and harsh, like each frame is too frozen. with say an nd64 or nd128 you can slow the shutter down and get that natural motion blur that makes movement look smooth and cinematic.

if you're shooting on overcast days or golden hour a lot you might not feel the urgency as much. but once you start flying in full sun without one and then compare it to footage with proper shutter speed youll see it immediately.

for the air 2s i started with the freewell all day kit, worked out well for the price. tiffen and polar pro are the premium options if you want to go that route but for starting out freewell is fine.

yeah what he said. its one of those things where you dont notice what youre missing until you see the difference side by side. i was skeptical too and then i did a quick test one afternoon with and without and the without footage just looked kind of amateur even tho the color grade was the same. the motion blur thing is real.

also worth mentioning ? get a landing pad while youre at it if you dont have one. unrelated but launching off grass kicked up so much debris last week i nearly scratched my lens, been meaning to post about that actually