polar pro filters

[tmoerel]

Our international shipping is quite inexpensive and fast.
USPS is $14.99 and usually takes 10 to 14 days to Europe.
DHL is about $40 and takes 3 days.

Import taxes are rarely charged to the customers.
I think if you talked to all of our international customers they would tell you the process is very simple and easy.

-Jeff

Sorry but in my eyes those prices are way too high. You can say that import taxes are rarely charged but sorry to say, you have zero experience importing in Switzerland. Here it simple: price on invoice + shipping price > USD60.....you pay....and they even charge you an extra USD16 clearance fee. So in the end it would have costed USD200+ with fast shipping while the price in Switzerland including VAT is around USD140. So you see.....not a good option.

So sorry, but i went with Freewell which do a 4 day DHL shipping for free. It is getting to the point that it is even cheaper to buy US made products from Hong Kong nowadays!

 

[PolarPro]

Sorry but in my eyes those prices are way too high. You can say that import taxes are rarely charged but sorry to say, you have zero experience import in Switzerland. Here it simple: price on invoice + shipping price > USD60.....you pay....and they even charge you an extra USD clearance fee. So in the end it would have costed USD200+ with fast shipping while the price in Switzerland including VAT is around USD140. So you see.....not a good option.

So sorry, but i went with Freewell which do a 4 day DHL shipping for free. It is getting to the point that it is even cheaper to buy US made products from Hong Kong nowadays!

Great, glad you are happy. I understand our filters didn't work out because they were too expensive. Most of the Cinema Series line began shipping again to our international resellers so they should be readily available in all the countries now. As always our website is an additional option for those who need it.

P.S. Freewell is a HongKong company, not US company.

-Jeff from PolarPro

 

[Gp™]

Our international shipping is quite inexpensive and fast.
USPS is $14.99 and usually takes 10 to 14 days to Europe.
DHL is about $40 and takes 3 days.

Import taxes are rarely charged to the customers.
I think if you talked to all of our international customers they would tell you the process is very simple and easy.

-Jeff

Mine just took 7 counting days to arrive in France.

Thank you POLAR PRO!

 

[tmoerel]

Great, glad you are happy. I understand our filters didn't work out because they were too expensive. Most of the Cinema Series line began shipping again to our international resellers so they should be readily available in all the countries now. As always our website is an additional option for those who need it.

P.S. Freewell is a HongKong company, not US company.

-Jeff from PolarPro

I know it is a Hong Kong company. I ordered from Hong Kong. As they are able to ship things at reasonable rates.

I do not blame PolarPro for the high rates but perhaps it would be an idea if US companies would work together in getting pricing down for the extortionate rates asked by both Courier Services as well as USPS. These companies are hurting your business and should be called to order.
I would love to buy US products but each and every time the high shipping prices put me off as they add a high percentage to the price, especially on cheaper items.

 

[Crayons]

FYI for anyone in Aus contemplating these - just arrived in Sydney only 10 days from order on standard USPS service

 

[Wookii]

just saw this review on youtube and would like to know if the tint the guy shows on around minute 7 applies to the new version of the polar pro nd / pl for the mavic as well?

what about banding in blue sky? i know mavic is 8 bit heavy compressed but does nd/pl filters make banding worse?

i did alot of in dept research and would like to place an order for the 3x cinema vivid nd/pl. it would be nice if someone who has tried these filters could confirm or disclaim this phenomena.

what do you think would be the best to buy. nd/pl or regular nd?

 

[dmyers7]

Stick with the cinema series for the extra lense coatings which help eliminate a hazy look from off angle light and refraction. The Job of the Polarizers is to help reduce reflected glare and nothing else. Some seam to think it helps color also, I'm not sold in that theory as much as the quality of the lense. The other reason I like the nd/pl set is they come with a 4, 8, and 16 instead of 8, 16, & 32. For my taste and where I am shooting, 32 seams way to aggressive and would be useless. I like having the 4 as the sun starts to set or even cloudy grey days and 16 for hi noon bright sun. Have not seen the banding of the sky issue. Will have to shoot some more and get back to you on that one.

 

[dmyers7]

All, just a heads up if you buy the polarized filters, orientation to the camera matters to get the effects of the polarization in cutting the glare. On a wet day, if you look at a puddle (dish of water on a sunny day works too) hold the lense to your eye and slow rotate it until you see the glare (reflection) off the water disappear (like magic). Get the lense oriented so that effect is at its best and mark the bottom of the filter with a sharpie. When you slide the filter on, make sure this mark is down center of the camera lense and you're good to go. If you want the reflection to appear in the final footage, don't buy a new set of filters without PL, simple slide the filter on with the sharpie mark either to the left or right side of the lense. Yes, if you are in landscape with the filter properly oriented and the go into portrait camera mode, the filter will need to be rotated to maintain the glare reducing effect.

 

[Skold]

All, just a heads up if you buy the polarized filters, orientation to the camera matters to get the effects of the polarization in cutting the glare. On a wet day, if you look at a puddle (dish of water on a sunny day works too) hold the lense to your eye and slow rotate it until you see the glare (reflection) off the water disappear (like magic). Get the lense oriented so that effect is at its best and mark the bottom of the filter with a sharpie. When you slide the filter on, make sure this mark is down center of the camera lense and you're good to go. If you want the reflection to appear in the final footage, don't buy a new set of filters without PL, simple slide the filter on with the sharpie mark either to the left or right side of the lense. Yes, if you are in landscape with the filter properly oriented and the go into portrait camera mode, the filter will need to be rotated to maintain the glare reducing effect.

Are you saying that you can virtually make the nd/pl filter work like a non-pl filter simply by rotating the lens 90 degrees, essentially giving you the best of both worlds in one lens?

 

[dmyers7]

Are you saying that you can virtually make the nd/pl filter work like a non-pl filter simply by rotating the lens 90 degrees, essentially giving you the best of both worlds in one lens?

Yes basically. The way the polarizer works (depending on how the light wave is oriented it either passes or is blocked). Reflected light (glare) tends to orient its waves in the same orientation and hence can be blocked by a polarizer. Normal light is in all orientations and so some is blocked (automatic ND) and most pass. Look at your TV, computer, or mobile device screen and you'll find the picture goes black at a particular orientation because the light coming out is polarized by how the LCD works. Now to be a purist there may be sources of reflected light (causing glare) that may be blocked with a different lense orientation, but in general your pretty safe to orient the lense 90deg and have a ND only like lense. Play around with it and you'll be amazed. My ceiling in the house is a low gloss and a proper orientation blocked the reflected light bulb light. The same orientation worked for the puddle mentioned above and the sun light reflecting off the neighbors wet roof. Go to the pool and the reflected sun light glare is gone and you can see into the water. Rotate the lense and it is all back as if no polarizer.

So yes, in essence you can get the equivalent of a no polarized lense by rotating 90deg. Not good enough, buy the six pack of cinema lenses.

 

[brucey]

All, just a heads up if you buy the polarized filters, orientation to the camera matters to get the effects of the polarization in cutting the glare. On a wet day, if you look at a puddle (dish of water on a sunny day works too) hold the lense to your eye and slow rotate it until you see the glare (reflection) off the water disappear (like magic). Get the lense oriented so that effect is at its best and mark the bottom of the filter with a sharpie. When you slide the filter on, make sure this mark is down center of the camera lense and you're good to go. If you want the reflection to appear in the final footage, don't buy a new set of filters without PL, simple slide the filter on with the sharpie mark either to the left or right side of the lense. Yes, if you are in landscape with the filter properly oriented and the go into portrait camera mode, the filter will need to be rotated to maintain the glare reducing effect.

I thought the orientation of the lens to remove the glare changed depending on the time of day and the position of the sun in the sky. Otherwise surely the manufacturers would have made them with a mark on?

 

[dmyers7]

A mark would be nice. All 3 of mine have the Oem labeling left and right with slight variations; so manufacturing in a sample of 3 seams not to bad, but their not identically positioned. Yes as the sun approaches the horizon and the sun looking at the lense some weird things can happen with wide angle lenses and polarizers, not sure that applies here with this camera setup, but this is when I would fly an ND4 or no filter anyhow. Will play with it more this weekend and report back.

 

[brucey]

Ok

 

[PolarPro]

I thought the orientation of the lens to remove the glare changed depending on the time of day and the position of the sun in the sky. Otherwise surely the manufacturers would have made them with a mark on?

The Polarization angle will change throughout the day relative to the suns position to the sky, and the way the camera is facing.
You are correct, this is why polarizer's are never marked, because it always changing.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
-Jeff from PolarPro

 

[brucey]

That's what I thought. Thanks for confirming

 

[dmyers7]

Thanks Jeff for the clarification. The crazy thing is the band for rejection of glare is very narrow so it is not reasonable to fly up and down, power off, adjust, repeat until you have the polarizer aligned how you want it. I'll be playing with this at different times of day over the weekend to gain further understanding. If it is truly as drastic as some suggest, it may be much more of a headache then it's worth, but I think not. I'll post pics if my testing amounts to shareable results. Maybe a new thread is in order since this thread started for a different reason.

To the original point, the polarizers have a definite orientation that deserves an index mark so you have a starting point. 90deg out of phase and you get no real advantage from the PL part of the lense (except maybe cleaner color saturation)

 

[PolarPro]

Thanks Jeff for the clarification. The crazy thing is the band for rejection of glare is very narrow so it is not reasonable to fly up and down, power off, adjust, repeat until you have the polarizer aligned how you want it. I'll be playing with this at different times of day over the weekend to gain further understanding. If it is truly as drastic as some suggest, it may be much more of a headache then it's worth, but I think not. I'll post pics if my testing amounts to shareable results. Maybe a new thread is in order since this thread started for a different reason.

To the original point, the polarizers have a definite orientation that deserves an index mark so you have a starting point. 90deg out of phase and you get no real advantage from the PL part of the lense (except maybe cleaner color saturation)

Yes you are correct, where it does take effort and it all depends on how much effort you are willing to put in to enhance your end image. When I am just flying on vactaion or for fun, I just set the polarizer once and fly. The results in my opinion are usually better than without a polarizer.

If I am on a production shoot and my results need to be perfect, you better believe I am setting polarization for each specific shot (which means taking off and landing multiple times). It just depends on the end result that you are trying to get. To get extremely high quality content, usually significant work and planning is required.

-Jeff from PolarPro

 

[Nightowl702]

Just bought the Cinema Series Shutter Collection off of Amazon. Never used filters before so I am really looking forward to how much of a difference they will make in my videos. After reading these forums and seeing that Polar Pro appears to have actual customer service that actually cares about the customer ( a rarity today ), and that the filters appear to be of a decent quality, I have a feeling I am going to be happy with my purchase.

 

[PolarPro]

Just bought the Cinema Series Shutter Collection off of Amazon. Never used filters before so I am really looking forward to how much of a difference they will make in my videos. After reading these forums and seeing that Polar Pro appears to have actual customer service that actually cares about the customer ( a rarity today ), and that the filters appear to be of a decent quality, I have a feeling I am going to be happy with my purchase.

Thank you very much for the purchase!
I would say the Cinema Series glass is a little better than decent quality
-Jeff from PolarPro

 

[sdharris]

Wanted to thank Jeff for arranging a replacement set of filters for me, great customer service with no hassles. Been raining since they arrived though so looking forward to testing them.