Reviews |Freewell All Day Filters for DJI Osmo Pocket Review

Freewell All Day Filters for DJI Osmo Pocket Review

Review

Freewell Gear makes a range of filters for different devices, including the DJI Osmo Pocket. The All Day Filters 8 Pack contains 3 plain neutral density (ND) and four combined ND and polarising filters, plus a circular polarising lens (CPL) filter. These can be bought separately or as a kit of 8, and in smaller kits.

The ND filters are designed to enable you to reduce the shutter speed and obey the 180-degree shutter rule. That dictates that the shutter speed should be twice that of the frame rate. 

Polarising filters are usually used to cut down glare and reflection and to boost colour saturation. They’re especially useful for enhancing the blue of a sky and bringing out the clouds. Combining ND filters with a polarizer to create a hybrid filter gives a two-in-one solution. 

A CPL filter cuts reflection and glare. It will also reduce the amount of light entering the camera, but there’s no ND element.

The plain ND filters are ND4, ND8 and ND16. That means they cut out 2, 3 and 4 stops of light respectively. Meanwhile, the hybrid filters are ND8/PL, ND16/PL, ND32/PL, and ND64/PL. These reduce the amount of light entering the Osmo Pocket by 3, 4, 5 and 6 stops respectively. 

Freewell Gear uses glass with 16 layers of coatings, 8 on each side. This helps to reduce reflections on the glass.

The glass is mounted in a magnetic frame that holds the filter on the Osmo Pocket.

Freewell Filter DJI Osmo Pocket Review

Build and Handling

The Freewell All Day Filters 8 Pack is supplied with a plastic case and a lens cloth. Opening the case is the hardest aspect of using the filters. That’s because one side of the case needs to be pushed in before it will open and it’s quite awkward. Thankfully, this gets easier after the case is opened and closed a few times.

Inside the case, the filters are neatly aligned in foam. You just pick out the one you want and pop it on the Osmo Pocket lens.

That’s as far as it goes with the ND filters. However, the hybrid and CPL filters have a polarising element. This means there’s a knurled red ring that you can rotate to adjust the polarising effect.

Helpfully, there’s a white marker on the ring and the filter frame so you can see the degree of rotation. You can also see the impact of the polarizer on the Osmo Pocket’s screen. It’s especially noticeable on the sky. The blue gets deeper and the clouds stand out more.

However, the Osmo Pocket needs to be turned on for the effect to be visible. And it’s clear the gimbal isn’t happy about any weight or force being applied to it. If you apply too much pressure, you’ll feel the gimbal shake like a dog that’s had that funny bit on its tummy scratched.

Fortunately, the Freewell Gear polarizing filters don’t require a lot of force to rotate them. But nevertheless, it’s unlikely that you’ll get away with adjusting the filtration while you’re recording.

Freewell All Day Filter 8 Pack DJI Osmo Pocket Review

Performance

As well as being easy to apply to the Osmo Pocket, the Freewell All Day Filters do a good job. They do exactly what they’re supposed to do. And it’s easy to swap between the different strengths.

They’re a bit fiddly, but that’s more a feature of the size of the Osmo Pocket than the filters themselves.

As with any polarizer, you need to consider the angle of the sun when you use a PL filter. If it’s behind you or directly in front of you, the filter won’t have much impact. However, if the sun is to one side, you’ll see the sky darken as the filter rotates.

The change in the sky is easier to see than a change in the reflection on water or other shiny objects, but it’s apparent. 

I tested the Freewell Gear All Day Filters with the Osmo Pocket in 4K video mode and the results look great. The level of detail is what I’d expect and there’s no vignetting visible. When the polarising filters are used, you see a saturation boost.

Verdict

While the polarising filters are a bit fiddly to adjust, they are effective. And the ND filters do exactly what’s required of them without having a negative impact on the level of detail in videos. Nor do they darkening the corners of the frame.

Because they attach by magnetic attraction, the filters are easy to mount and remove.

While an 8-filter kit may seem excessive, the Freewell All Day Filters cover just about every eventuality.