The NiSi Filter Kit for the DJI Mavic Pro consists of 6 filters: NC UV, CPL (reduces light by 1.5 Stops), IR ND8 (3 Stop), IR ND16 (4 Stop), IR ND32 (5 Stop) and IR ND64 (6 Stop). Anyone with drone will know how hard it is to maintain correct exposure without having to use lots of shutter. To keep the shutter speeds down you really need to use ND filters.
The NiSi filters are made from optical glass and feature a Nano and a Waterproof Coating. Interestingly, the filters feature the same IR blocking technology that is found in NiSi’s Square filters. This IR block is claimed to reduce colour cast and keep your images looking natural.
Installation
NiSi claims that you can attach the filters to the gimbal before turning it on, but I found that this wasn’t the case. When I put a ND filter on while the drone was turned off, once I turned it on, the filter got wedged against the gimbal support when it was trying to calibrate. To install the filters I had to have the Mavic Pro already turned on and wait until the gimbal calibrated itself before I could install a filter.
The filters are vey easy to put on the Mavic Pro’s camera. All you need to do is lightly support the back of the gimbal with your fingers and then gently push the filter onto the front of the lens. I found the NiSi filters were well designed and they are a lot easier to put on and take off than most other ND filters I have tried on the Mavic Pro.
So how do the NiSi filters perform?
I set up a small test to see if there was any loss in sharpness or colour shift when using the ND filters. Often ND filters exhibit very visible colour shift (especially when using large amounts of ND) and this can create an ugly image.
With built-in IR protection, the NiSi filters should perform quite well. I set up the Mavic Pro so the shot not only remained consistent, but also the ISO, white balance and picture profile. The Mavic Pro was set to record UHD 3840×2160 25P in its standard picture profile, the ISO was set at 100, and the white balance at 5600K. The only parameter I changed when adding ND was the shutter speed. None of the vision in the test above has been altered in anyway.
From my tests I found that the NiSi ND filters performed very well. Not only was there no decrease in sharpness, but colour shift was extremely minimal, even when using ND64. The IR protection built into the filters is definitely doing its job and I couldn’t see any signs of IR contamination being introduced into my images.
The CPL filter (circular polarising filter) also performed well. With the filters being so well designed, it is quite easy to move the CPL filter around until you find the right point you want to use. Other Mavic Pro PL filters I have tried are not easy to move around which really limits their usefulness.
The NiSi Filter Kit for the DJI Mavic Pro certainly works as advertised. The filters are well made, easy to install, have minimal colour shift, and maintain sharpness regardless of what ND strength you use. The Filter Kit retails for $99.95 US.
