A 56 5G with Neewer ND filter

[Star_girl]

I have recently bought a ND Filter to use for my phone when I take pictures. 

An ND filter works like 'sunglasses' for the camera lense.

They reduce the amount of light entering the lens without affecting the color or hue of the image. 

This allows you to:

-use wider apertures in bright light

-achieve a shallower depth of field(blurry background) even in sunny conditions. 

-employ slower shutter speeds

-reduce image noise.

I have chosen the Neewer lense as it is the only one that fits the large camera area of the Galaxy Ultra phones. 

The frame of the Filter can be used with other Neewer camera filters that match the frame size.

The first phone to try them on is the A56 5G that I am trialing from Samsung. 

I am sure there are better environments to use the ND filter, but I am just learning to use it.

Here are some pictures I've taken today.

I have purchased the filter for £55 on Ebay. 

It's packed really nicely by Neewer and you get a really nice case with the filter as well.

[arianwen27]

Curious how a real ND filter like that compares to the virtual ND within Expert raw on s series devices

[Star_girl]

I think it's interesting to use the applied one while using expert raw and see what results you get.

[Chappell101]

Great post to share with people. Please don't take this the wrong way but there are a few further additions that could help clarify others looking into options like this.

Neewer isn't the only brand that makes ND options for Samsung phones but they are the cheapest by a large margin. Others can be hundreds. Neewer have comparatively entry-level image distortion levels but the recommended options below do have notably less. You just pay for that luxury.

Personally, If you aren't just experimenting with the device where this product would be more than fine and already have a mirrorless camera that can also share using the lens. I would recommend a better quality glass filter from a mid to pro end camera company like (Mid) K&F pro end Nano X at a push or Urth, (High end) Hoya (My preference), Tiffin and PolorPro (They are a bit overpriced being scene for me though)

You have the excellent Smallrig dedicated rigs/small cases for the S25U or rig cage for the S24U with mounting for 67mm filters. There are universal options as well. These will seat a VND/Blackmist/CPL filter or auxiliary lens far better than the screw on clip Neewer use.
Freewell also do small magnetic cases and rig cages for S24U/S25U for mounting. Reeflex do some great mounting cases. Neewer themselves do a better quality rig cage as well all of which have benefits/drawbacks in weight/size over their budget clamp you have shown here.

Avoiding product PR Statements all filters/lens affect the colour hue reaching the sensor. The effect is just minimal depending on the quality of the lens. It's just a fact of physics anything infront of the sensor, even air particle pollution affects image quality with distance causing haze.

Samsung hasn't used a variable aperture lens since back on the S10 Note (I'd love to see it return though, it's so helpful for macro/landscape) you do not have choice of aperture beyond the lens choice at the moment. This means in the context of being able to use a wider aperture for more bokeh in a very bright location you could use the fixed 1.7 aperture 1x without blowing out the highlights instead of resorting to the 2.2 0.6x or 3.4 5x lens as it wouldn't be overexposed with the ND. The higher the fixed aperture number the better the lens natively copes in bright daylight at the expense of its low-light performance.

A ND filter will increase noise by less light hitting the sensor in normal daytime images but you can use it to do a long exposure at night without blowing out bright light highlights in high contrast scenes where the longer exposure will reduce noise in shadows.

I hope that comes across ok as there might have been some accidental over summarization that missed these details as the points bulletpointed are only possible situationally to the image being taken.

The ND filter is most powerful really when used with video though as it will allow you to set your shutter angle to 180degrees in an free app like Blackmagic Camera to get motion blur on standard cinematic frame rates like 24fps. The VND then let's you reduce the light coming into the sensor turning the dial to prevent the scene being overexposed. This helps take away the oversharpened fast shutter speed look mobile video has.

I hope you have great fun playing around with the filter and it's great seeing members help others learn the capabilities of their devices.

[Chappell101]

A real ND will outperform the virtual ND. I use both on a S24U. It means you can shoot at 50mp on longer exposures vs 12mp on the virtual ND. The virtual ND is handy to just have with you though as I often use the slower zoom lenses with it for 4 sec blurred exposures of water.