Hmm, so the sx260 responds to ND filter commands from a script, but doesn't have an option to use it? That sounds like the typical marketing ploy of disabling hardware features so you can charge more for them in other cameras.
When I activate the ND filter on the G1X, I hear a definite click when it goes in. Then the live screen darkens, and then lightens back up. In AV mode, I then get a 1/10 second exposure with it in, and 1/80 second with it out, so it's compensating for it.
I take a lot of sunset time lapses, sometimes starting out with the sun in the frame, and the fastest shutter possible. An ND filter would be useful for that, but you would need to take it out right after the sun went down.
I have experimented with doing it from a script with the G1X, and it doesn't compensate for exposure. But my new shot metering method, which calculates exposure from the raw buffer after the shot, should compensate perfectly, on any camera I assume. But, it won't take effect until the 2nd picture after the ND goes in.
I'm working on other stuff now, but I seem to recall a propcase for ND filter? There's one in propcase 4 in the lualib/gen folder called:
ND_FILTER_STATE=196, -- 0 = out, 1 = in
Maybe you could experiment with setting it directly on the sx260?
Also, do you hear a click when you swap the ND filter in and out on the sx260? If so, then it's a real filter. If it's real, then my hat's off to you for discovering it. My hat's off anyway, because it should be useful either way. Thanks.