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Best Mobile Photography Accessory? // Sandmarc Hybrid ND+PL Filters Review
This is a photography focused review of the Sandmarc Hybrid ND + PL filters for mobile phones. I will let you know when I think these Sandmarc Hybird filters are a must have and I will share over example 30 photos taken with these filters and my Google Pixel 4a.
🔗 BUY the Hybrid Filters https://geni.us/sandmarc-hybrid-nd
🔗 High Resolution Photos (+ more photos!) https://geni.us/sandmarc-photos
✨ WATCH NEXT ✨
- Framerate, Shutter Speed & Motion Blur Explained! https://youtu.be/cwFkkuZ9IM4
- ND Filters Explained https://youtu.be/EY4kOFHPilo
- Google Pixel 4a Review https://youtu.be/7wNDXsDKoCg
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#ndfilters #bestaccessory #googlepixel4a
📖 CHAPTERS 📖
00:00 - Intro
00:30 - Setup the Sandmarc Hybrid Filters
01:20 - Why use it for video?
01:47 - Make people disappear or less distracting
03:02 - Make landscape pop and reduce reflections
03:46 - Long Exposures
05:08 - Timelapses
05:59 - Light trails (or light painting)
07:14 - Should you buy the Sandmarc Hybric Filters?
08:11 - Conclusion - Thanks for watching!
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- DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo https://geni.us/dji-pocket-2-combo
- 128 gb MicroSD card https://geni.us/sandisk-extreme-128gb
- Canon 6D Mk https://geni.us/canon-6d-mkii
- Google Pixel 4a https://geni.us/google-pixel-4a
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- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 Lens https://geni.us/canon-lens-16-35
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- 0:00 Intro
- 0:30 Setup the Sandmarc Hybrid Filters
- 1:20 Why use it for video?
- 1:47 Make people disappear or less distracting
- 3:02 Make landscape pop and reduce reflections
- 3:46 Long Exposures
- 5:08 Timelapses
- 5:59 Light trails (or light painting)
- 7:14 Should you buy the Sandmarc Hybric Filters?
- 8:11 Conclusion - Thanks for watching!
hello everyone just a few days ago i published a video about nd filters for my dslr but today it's even more interesting because i'm testing for the first time some nd filters for my phone let's roll the intro for those of you who are into this channel i'm like ben malford a young photographer and filmmaker on the journey to become better at this side in this video i will focus on the photography aspects of using nd filter with your phone but i'm quickly going to talk about also why you should use it for video but first let's talk about how to set it up setting these filters up is very straightforward so they come in a nice little pack right here so you only have to open it and you have your three filters here so you have an nd16 an nd42 and an nd64 then you just select the one you want so i'm going to take right here the nd32 and you take the little clip that comes with it and you can simply screw it on right here the next step is simply to clip it on so you only have to take out your phone clip it on top of your cameras here and that's all you have to do and this is really great because you don't need a special case or anything and this is one of the main reasons why i didn't have nd filters up to now because it didn't really want to have a whole case and everything permanently attached to it so this is a really great option that works with any phone that you might have if you're wondering why it's so useful to use nd filters when filming videos with your phone it's because it allows to get some natural motion blur a nd filter is like sunglasses for your camera allowing to get some blur when you're moving objects around so for example if i move my hand it's gonna be blurry it's not gonna be perfectly sharp and that's what we want to get some more natural and more cinematic images i have other videos that go in much more depth about why nd filters are so important for video so i'm going to link them down below if you want to learn more about that now let's move on to photography one of the first reasons why i would use nd filter on my phone is to make things disappear this is especially useful if you're in a touristy spot where there's a lot of people around you and you just want to get a cleaner image everybody that's moving inside of your shot is either going to become blurry or it's just going to completely disappear from the shot so even in a very basic area you can get a really clean and nice looking shot it's also a pretty nice artistic effect so it's definitely worth trying out so let's see how we can do it to get this effect we're going to want to use a pro camera app so if you don't have pro settings inside of your default camera app you can download one from the app store i'm going to be using pro x in this case to do the demo so the first thing you want to change is have a slower shutter speed it doesn't need to be very long it can be just something like 125 of a second so just let me get it so let's shade list 125 and now we're just going to wait for some cars to pass by i'm just also going to fix my exposure and now this looks pretty good so now let's just wait for some cycle list to arrive so if we have the segments right here let me take a picture now they're now completely blurry this is not necessarily the best example because they don't have a great composition but you get that idea that you can get people blurry and if you take a living long exposure using a tripod you can make them disappear completely from your shot another reason why these filters from sandmark are pretty useful is that they allow you to get more vibrant green and blues inside of your sky this is not because of the nd this is because of the cpl or polarizing filter the polarizing filter allows to get more vibrant green and blues and you can simply turn around to change the intensity another pretty great thing about using this filter is that it also remove some of the reflections inside of windows or anything that has a reflective surface so you can really help get her get better and cleaner shots in the end [Music] my next point has everything to do about long exposures but i'm not talking exposures only one twentieth of a second like we did before i'm talking even longer than that this is really great for things like the lake right to the side here or some waterfalls or anything like that where you want to show that there's a lot more motion inside of that part it's going to make this shot a little bit simpler and really show to your head that something was moving around this is also great for things like a fairy wheel we can show that it's turning around and the motion and the lines that's going to create while tindering around is going to tell you ahead that data was in motion when taking the shot you really need the nd filter to be able to get this type of shots because usually the aperture on a smartphone is around f 2.0 which is a lot of light that is coming inside so usually you have a pretty fast shutter speed to be able to compensate for that so by using an nd filter you're allowed able to slow down everything and really get some nice motion inside of your photos to get good looking long exposures you really have to test out the settings and find what works best for you in your situation so for example for me right now with the very real in the background here i'm at 10 seconds iso 200 and i have everything else on manual on the camera and that seems to be working best i also have a nd 16 filter just to get a little bit longer exposure in the end but you really need to find what's working for you because every situation is different and every situation is going to give different results another reason why i would use nd filter on my phone is not for photography but for time lapses just like we saw at the beginning of this video you can use nd filter to get some motion when things are moving around inside of your frame the more emotion you have the more motion blur you're going to have when using it in the filter and this is going to trick your head into thinking that everything is moving pretty fast and that's exactly what you want when you're taking a time lapse because you're speeding up everything around so you want to trick your head into thinking that everything is moving really fast if you don't use a nd filter everything is getting sharp on every single frame and your head is going to have a hard time understanding what is happening because it's expecting everything to move fast but everything is perfectly sharp so this doesn't work for your head i have another video that talks about what the relationship between frame rates motion blur and shutter speed so definitely go check that one out if you want to understand this a little bit better it's finally dark enough for me to talk about the last type of shot i wanted to cover inside of this video you guessed it it's another type of long exposure and this one is going to be light painting so you're basically able to paint in a free space by using light and for us we're going to be using the cars that are passing by on the screen for this you absolutely need the tripod so i have my camera down right here on a tripod because we're going to be taking extremely long exposures so about 5 to 10 seconds in my case to get some nice long trail while a car is passing by on the street this works because the lights on the car are much brighter than everything else that is around so everything that is darker is just going to disappear while you're taking the shot but the lights are going to stay and they're going to create some lines through the street so you're going to see it's a pretty cool effect for this i want to have a card that's passing by on this side because i want the back lights that are red because it contrasts a little bit more with the foreground than if you have the white lights coming towards you so now the only thing we are left is to wait for a car to pass by and take the picture i think my settings right now are at 10 seconds iso 200 and i have a 16 nd 16 on for this picture so now let's just wait and see the result so should you get these nd filters from sandmark the hybrid filter kit which is the one i have right here that includes free nd filters that also have cpl filters inside is 129. i think that is a pretty good value for what you're getting if you use your mobile device as your primary photography device it's definitely useful to have some nd filters and cpl filters because it unlocks a lot of possibilities that are simply not possible if you're not using nd filters or cpl filters another pretty great thing about these filters is that they're very high quality i didn't find any problems of vignetting or anything like that and that's because it's not a cross polarized nd filter so you don't get these types of problem as they are fixed another pretty good thing is that you don't get much color cast which is sometimes a problem that you have inside of some of the cheaper nd filters so overall i can highly recommend this if it's the type of filters that you want to be looking for to step up your photography game using your mobile device if you enjoyed this video definitely let me know by hitting the like button below and also consider subscribing to the channel i'm going to have more content on mobile photography including a whole series on how to take pictures using your phone it is coming up really soon see you in the next one bye [Music]
Video Links
- 🔗 BUY the Hybrid Filters
- 🔗 High Resolution Photos (+ more photos!)
- Framerate, Shutter Speed & Motion Blur Explained!
- ND Filters Explained
- Google Pixel 4a Review
- Instagram: @loic.bellemare.alford ()
- TikTok
- My online store
- Affiliate link for Epidemic Sound
- https://kit.co/loic.bellemare.alford/youtube-gear
- DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo
- 128 gb MicroSD card
- Canon 6D Mk
- Google Pixel 4a
- Canon ZOOM LENS EF24-105mm F4L IS II USM
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 Lens
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L-IS II USM Lens
- VANGUARD VEO 2 265CB CARBON FIBER TRIPOD
- DJI MAVIC AIR
- http://bit.ly/loicba
What is this video about?
I recently picked up the Sandmarc Hybrid ND+PL filters for mobile photography, and I wanted to share what I've discovered with them on my Google Pixel 4a. These filters have opened up creative possibilities I didn't think were possible with just my phone.
The setup is refreshingly straightforward. The kit comes with three filters—ND16, ND42, and ND64—along with a clip that attaches to your phone without needing any special case. You just screw on whichever filter strength you need and clip it onto the phone's camera. Since I wasn't keen on having a permanent case attached to my device, this modular approach was really appealing.
What surprised me most was how much control these filters give you. Using an ND filter slows down your shutter speed, which creates natural motion blur in video and enables effects in photography that would be impossible otherwise. I demonstrated several practical uses: making distracting people disappear in busy tourist spots through longer exposures, making skies more vibrant with the polarizing filter element, and creating smooth water effects and light trails at night.
The long exposure work was particularly interesting. By extending the shutter speed significantly—sometimes 10 seconds or more—I could capture silky motion in water, show movement in a turning ferris wheel, and paint with light from passing cars. Each situation required some experimentation with ISO and shutter speed settings in a pro camera app like Pro X, but that process helped me understand my phone's capabilities better.
One thing I really appreciated was the quality. These filters don't introduce the vignetting or color cast issues I've run into with cheaper alternatives. They're fixed ND filters rather than cross-polarized, which eliminates certain problems you might encounter with other designs.
At $129 for the hybrid filter kit, I think this represents solid value if you're serious about mobile photography. I can highly recommend these filters if you want to step up your phone's creative potential. Over 30 photos in this video show the real-world results I got—everything from cleaner compositions to dramatic long exposures.