Prop Colors

[Kevin Sebesky]

I'll bet someone's already thought of this, but I couldn't find any reference in my search.

It didn't occur to me until today, when I tested my new orange Master Airscrew props. First, the props are great as I've stated here before. Fantastic performance right out of the box. In particular they really provide excellent yaw control. Buttery smooth.

But I noticed the props showing in one of my shots when I hit a gust of wind. Those orange front props were really noticeable.

Which got me to thinking. Why doesn't anyone make prop colors to match sky conditions? Blue props for blue sky. Grey props for grey sky, etc. Wouldn't they help to mask some of the prop intrusion?

And what about clear props? I know they wouldn't be invisible in the shot, but they might cut down a bit of the frame shiver during hard throttling.

Makes sense, no?

 

[Maddog]

No matter what color they are you can still see them.

Black is the least noticible when filming.

Best to keep them out of the shot to begin with, or crop them out in post.

I set my gimbal to 85 deg instead of 90, medium FOV.
Slow speeds and yawing will help a lot but a wind gust probably can't be overcome.

"Hard throttling" won't allow for good filming.

An ND filter will remove prop shadows.

 

[Kevin Sebesky]

Yep, good stuff all of that, Maddog. I was just wondering if a less opaque prop might help correction in post.

Why are black props less noticeable than other colors?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

For custom built UAS, props come in all colors of the rainbow. But as maddog said, it's not for matching the sky.

 

[Ismael Bugarin]

Just ordered the MS Orange props, will arrive next week
I believe I read on MS website comments that they where
Orange on top and black on the bottom, even that it makes
Sense, black does not reflect light like bright colors, but orange is cool , I plan to get some carbon fiber orange or red
Film to wrap my bird,

 

[Maddog]

Yep, good stuff all of that, Maddog. I was just wondering if a less opaque prop might help correction in post.

Why are black props less noticeable than other colors?

Like Ismael said, black reflects light less than other colors.

If you film in 2.7 or 4K, it is easier to crop out things near the edges of the video.

 

[Superman04p]

That orange on front and black on back on the MS website was me.... yea it definitely helps with orientation