In this video, we are doing a demonstration to show how using ND filters when moto-vlogging can affect the footage you capture for both real-time driving video or time-lapse/hyper-lapse video. Most people when moto-vlogging or capturing their road adventures use some form of action camera possibly the GoPro Hero 7 Black or perhaps the new DJI Osmo Action. In my case and in my demonstrations for this video I will be using the Osmo Action. Using ND filters with action cameras is quite often not necessary as it’s not like a drone when you are always trying to capture cinematic footage. However, there are some instances where ND filters can be very beneficial when filming with your action camera and moto-vlogging is one of those times.
When capturing real-time footage or even driving time-lapses there is a lot of movement in the video. When filming in auto most likely the frame rate will be quite high and all the fast moving objects while driving will look very jittery and unnatural. Slowing down the frame rate and following the 180-degree rule will add a little motion blur to the fast-moving objects and make it look a little nicer and a little more cinematic. The 180-degree rule states you should have your shutter speed set to double your frame rate. So if filming at 30 FPS your shutter speed should be 1/60th of a second. The problem is, as soon as you try to film at that shutter speed on a bright day your image will be quite overexposed, hence why we would add an ND filter. They block the amount of light that can enter the camera. On DSLRs you can adjust the aperture to compensate for the light, however, on action cameras, the aperture is fixed so the only way to control the light is with an ND filter.
In my video test, I was using the Freewell All-Day ND filter set. I used the ND32 as it was a fairly bright day out. In this video, I do comparisons when using an ND filter and without using an ND filter to show you the difference and how using ND filters will affect the footage.
Freewell Bright Day ND Filters: https://amzn.to/2HwVpTa
Freewell Standard Day ND Filters: https://amzn.to/2HuoI8B
Freewell All Day ND Filter Set: https://amzn.to/2HtElND
