Best ND Filters for iPhone Filmmaking

Best ND Filters for iPhone Filmmaking

We talked previously about using filters over your smartphone lens to help improve your photography and videography and the NISI filter kit. If you are dedicated to improving the image quality of your work, filters can be a useful addition to your gear list.

One of the main uses for filters is to reduce the light entering the lens. This can solve problems in daylight if you want to lower your shutter speed but can’t because the image is overexposed. When shutter speed gets too high, you lose the motion blur in the video (or photo) and the movement looks “staccato”. In other words you can start to see the individual frames and it looks harsh on the eye.

I’m just listing 3 products here, both use clips to mount the filter: an affordable Neewer 37mm and the less affordable but higher quality Sandmarc 40mm and the Kenko ND filter – they do a variety of sizes and strengths.

Neewer 37mm Clip-on ND 2-400 Cellphone Camera Lens Filter Kit

This set up attaches the filter to your phone with a simple 37mm clip. It has an adjustable filter, so you can adjust the filter from ND 2 up to ND 400, depending on the light.

What do those numbers mean? Well, a ND 2 filter reduces transmittance to 50%, while a ND 400 reduces transmittance to 0.25%.

Reducing the light hitting your camera sensor to 0.25 sounds extreme and it is. You would only use such a high number ND filter if you wanted a very slow shutter speed. With such a slow shutter speed, any movement becomes blurred causing a specific effect. Like the classic waterfall shot…

But for video purposes you would probably not need to go up to ND400.

The lens is made if premium glass, the frame metal and the clip is plastic.

37mm clip bonus: you can use the clip to attach 37mm lenses to your phone, too. For example, I use a 37mm clip for my Moondog Labs anamorphic.

Check Neewer Clip-on ND filter on Amazon

Check out my extensive review of the Neewer variable ND filter:

Sandmarc – Scape Filters

Such low cost lenses and filters are never going to be premium quality. So you might want to think about spending a little more. For about $100, Sandmarc produce this ND4, ND8, ND16 Filter Set. The filters clip on using a 40mm clip.

Scape Filters are primarily built for the iPhone. However, each filter comes with an attachment clip that is also compatible with other phones. In my experience, once you use a clip, they pretty much fit any phone.

The filters are made of glass and are multi coated (for higher quality optics and removing lens flare). Each filter has an aluminium frame as well. The ND filters are also stackable, which means you can interchangeably stack them in different combinations for getting the effect you desire.

Kenko ND smart Filters

I use a 37 mm clip, plus the 37mm Moondog Labs anamorphic + a 37mm ND filter – so they all fit together and mount to my Samsung S9. The sequence is clip to filter to lens.

I bought the Kenko 37mm ND8 filter. Although it doesn’t have the adaptability of the Neewer, it is a higher quality and for a smaller investment than the Sandmarc.

Check Kenko ND filters on Amazon

Checking the Kenko Smart Filters website, looks like you can only get a ND8 in the 37mm size. So it’s either ND8 or nothing – but you could buy 2 and stack them, giving you ND16, for example.

Moondog Labs ND Filter Mount

The guys who make the best anamorphic lens for smartphones, Moondog Labs, have recently brought out a ND filter mount. The mount works with most bayonet smartphones cases, such as the ones made by Moment and Sandmarc.

As you can see, the mount is designed to accommodate the multiple lenses of the new iPhones.

Moondog Labs say the mount “attaches directly to bayonet-style mobile cases (from manufacturers like Moment, Rhinoshield and Sirui) and allows for the use of filters over all of the phone’s cameras simultaneously for maximum creativity. Attach Neutral Density (ND), Circular Polarizers (CPL) and other 52mm filters directly to any bayonet mount mobile case.”

Smartphone Video – Beginner to Advanced

If you want to know more about smartphone filmmaking, my book Smartphone Videography – Beginners to Advanced is now available to download for members on Patreon. The book is 170 pages long and covers essential smartphone filmmaking topics:

Things like how to get the perfect exposure, when to use manual control, which codecs to use, HDR, how to use frame rates, lenses, shot types, stabilisation and much more. There’s also my Exploring the Film Look Guide as well as Smartphone Colour Grading.

Members can also access all 5 episodes of our smartphone shot Silent Eye series, with accompanying screenplays and making of podcasts. There’s other materials too and I will be adding more in the future.

If you want to join me there, follow this link.