Leave a polarized lens be?

[MrRobville]

Hi, I'm planning on buying a set of ND filters for my Air, preferably those of Polarpro due to the tiny casing.
These are quite expensive however. Especially the bigger sets which have each filter both with and without a polarizer in it.
Although I only really require the ND filter for what I do, I like the idea of being able to use a polarizer as well when the opportunity arises. I'm therefore considering getting the vivid series which only have polarized lenses.

My question is though, considering I'm not always planning on using the polarizer and the vivid series not having any regular ND filters, does it matter if I just leave polarizer (more specifically, the orientation of it) be without properly adjusting it before flight? I'm not in the mood having to fix that every time I take it up or change the flight direction. (say just want to use the ND aspect)

With my regular DSLR, I pretty much have the polarizer on at all times and found that if I do not orient it properly, the effect is simply not noticeable. Mostly due to the fact that the majority of what I'm shooting barely has any glare in it. However, for a drone, I am not sure if the result is the same, considering there is a lot more sky in it and the viewing angle above water is a lot different than from the ground.

Does anyone have any experience in leaving a polarizer on without having it adjusted? Is the polarizing effect simply not noticeable, or does it deliver strange artifacts or unnatural looks?

 

[Squamer]

Leave mine on 24/7 unless I need to change for different ND rating.

 

[Simmo]

You will only need to orientate it to negate light or reflection in the shot. If there is no reflection, then it is not affecting the shot.
Shot this is hard to explain in my amateur words..

 

[MrRobville]

Ah that's good to know. I reckon the Vivid series will be fine then for me to leave on the filter. Likewise, I only wish to change it when the lighting conditions demand it.

 

[CanadaDrone]

It's slightly more complicated than that. With circular polarizers, polarization is strongest 90 degrees from the sun at any given polarization level. Rotating the polarizer changes the amount of polarization, which is a separate variable. As the angle to the sun changes, the sky will vary from light blue to dark blue, and the reflections will vary from strong to non-existent. It's never going to be perfect because you can't just reach up into the sky and adjust the level of polarization on your drone like you can on a camera, but you should be planning your flight with the characteristics of polarization in mind in order to get even footage. Polarizers also usually have the side effect of warming/enhancing colors, and in some specific situations they can make the landscape disproportionately dark. I definitely would not leave a polarized filter on 24/7 since they are so variable and you can't adjust it in the air without changing the direction of your drone, but YMMV.

You can experiment with this yourself. Put a polarizer on your MA and watch the screen while you slowly turn in a circle - the polarization will change. On top of that you can rotate the polarizer to different levels of polarization at different angles to the sun, and the intensities will vary. I'm not sure how obvious it will be on a smartphone screen, but it will be very obvious in final footage.