Hello, I have Mavic Ai2 2 and I use it with a good ND filter (Polarpro). Now I'm considering whether to buy a Polarizing filter. I have to fly my Air 2 over the sea on sunny days, to shoot the sea, islets and boats. Is it really important to use the Polarizer? I have never used it but hearing around, some say it is important and others say no. Those who use it are telling me that the effect of the Polarizer is minimal and almost unnoticeable. So my question is: if you often use it on the sea on sunny days, can you tell me if it matters to me or not? Please I would like answers ONLY from guys who use it over the sea. Can I do without it? THANK YOU
Polarizer usefulness: I'm looking for info
- Thread starter Foxadriano
- Start date
You can do without it, and consider that it only works when flying in the correct direction for polarization to work under the current lighting, and the drone is rarely flying in that correct direction to get the benefit, unless you deliberately limit your flight direction when recording.
sbunting
Well-Known Member
You'll find it most effective if you are pointing the drone / camera at a right angle to the sun. So you need to plan the angle of your shot and get it 'adjusted', while it is on the ground, to the sweet spot for maximum effectiveness. Then you have to get at that same angle relative to the sun when you get in the air. So you get close on the ground then tweak the angle of your drone once it is pointing at your subject. It takes some planning and practice, like anything else, only a little more so with the drone, since you can't reach up and rotate the polarizer once it's in the air like you can with a handheld camera.
No ... it would be more trouble than it's worth.
If you used one properly, it's only working when your drone is pointing in the direction you set and if you turn the drone to face another direction, you lost the polarisation and your sky is likely to look terrible.
Those would mostly be folks that haven;t used one, or they don't know/care about good imagery.
You can definitely do without it.
By positioning the drone, relative to your subject and the sun, so that the sun is behind the drone and lighting the subject, you will get the most pleasing images.
With a drone you have the ability to move the camera to avoid glare as these two shots demonstrate.
Glare avoided with just a little movement of the drone
I use it most of the time. Over water it will always make some improvements even if not oriented properly to the light conditions, as stray angler reflections at odd angles are always present with direct sunlight.
Shooting under overcast conditions, it makes almost no difference, as the light is very diffuse and produces few speculations reflections.
Shooting under overcast conditions, it makes almost no difference, as the light is very diffuse and produces few speculations reflections.
As meta 4 mentioned,direction is critical and note that if you're just close to the correct angle with some of the blue sky will be polarized and some not. It will a problem to fix in post.Might be not as critical with glare or reflections.
sbunting
Well-Known Member
"I have never used it but hearing around, some say it is important" to which there was a reply: "Those would mostly be folks that haven;t used one, or they don't know/care about good imagery."
While we all have our opinions, I don't think mine that important that I would marginalize or discount the opinions of others so harshly.
Let's just say that I've been using polarizers for over fifty years and have had one for nearly every camera I have owned. I used to do professional photography and I do so now out of a passion for it. I think I do care about my images and have produced some stellar images using polarizers along the way. And so when I started drone photography about six years ago, I naturally used a polarizer at times. While post can correct many things that a polarizer achieves, namely dehazing and increased saturation, post can't remove reflections. As others mentioned, you can often move the drone's position to remove the reflections, but if you can't, then the polarizer can do. And what you can achieve with a polarizer can save you time in post, which is the other side of the coin. I'd rather fly than sit inside and do post. ;->
As I mentioned in my earlier post, like many things in life, good photography requires planning and practice. Good photography also requires a good bit of trial and error, an open mind to experimentation, and a willingness to always learn from your mistakes. For every keeper you produce, there are probably 100 or more that you will never show, but from which you will learn.
As I mentioned earlier, plan your shot and get things optimized before you fly. A polarizer works best at a 90 degree angle to the sun. So get it optimized before you place the filter on the drone. Many come with alignment marks or instructions to have a certain marker up. Look through it and confirm the optimized position before you place it on the drone. Also make sure you place the filter on with your drone powered off. You can damage your gimbal motors if you do so with the unit powered up.
Power on your Mavic Pro before putting on these ND filter? (please read as the title of the post is actually incorrectly stated and the post covers the topic quite well)
As previously mentioned by others, direction is critical and if you are cruising around in different directions, don't expect it to work except where the conditions are right for it to work. That said, a polarizer is really for planned shots in a specific direction, yet most polarizers do have some ND value, usually a stop or two, which can be beneficial to have at times. You can also get polarizers that combine with varying degrees of neutral density, thus you can have an ND 128, or 64, or 32, etc and a polarizer combined.
You can fill a camera gadget bag full of doodads and the value of those objects will vary as will the opinions of others about them. So expect many experiences and opinions to come to light when you seek those opinions. There's value in most everything that people offer to you in the way of advice. It's up to you to sort them out and decide what's best for you, the type of photography you enjoy, and your budget.
Regardless, for twenty bucks, you can have a polarizer and can give it a try. You may be disappointed or you may capture a keeper that makes you a lifetime polarizer fan. Regardless, you'll learn and have fun.
Best....
Steve
While we all have our opinions, I don't think mine that important that I would marginalize or discount the opinions of others so harshly.
Let's just say that I've been using polarizers for over fifty years and have had one for nearly every camera I have owned. I used to do professional photography and I do so now out of a passion for it. I think I do care about my images and have produced some stellar images using polarizers along the way. And so when I started drone photography about six years ago, I naturally used a polarizer at times. While post can correct many things that a polarizer achieves, namely dehazing and increased saturation, post can't remove reflections. As others mentioned, you can often move the drone's position to remove the reflections, but if you can't, then the polarizer can do. And what you can achieve with a polarizer can save you time in post, which is the other side of the coin. I'd rather fly than sit inside and do post. ;->
As I mentioned in my earlier post, like many things in life, good photography requires planning and practice. Good photography also requires a good bit of trial and error, an open mind to experimentation, and a willingness to always learn from your mistakes. For every keeper you produce, there are probably 100 or more that you will never show, but from which you will learn.
As I mentioned earlier, plan your shot and get things optimized before you fly. A polarizer works best at a 90 degree angle to the sun. So get it optimized before you place the filter on the drone. Many come with alignment marks or instructions to have a certain marker up. Look through it and confirm the optimized position before you place it on the drone. Also make sure you place the filter on with your drone powered off. You can damage your gimbal motors if you do so with the unit powered up.
Power on your Mavic Pro before putting on these ND filter? (please read as the title of the post is actually incorrectly stated and the post covers the topic quite well)
As previously mentioned by others, direction is critical and if you are cruising around in different directions, don't expect it to work except where the conditions are right for it to work. That said, a polarizer is really for planned shots in a specific direction, yet most polarizers do have some ND value, usually a stop or two, which can be beneficial to have at times. You can also get polarizers that combine with varying degrees of neutral density, thus you can have an ND 128, or 64, or 32, etc and a polarizer combined.
You can fill a camera gadget bag full of doodads and the value of those objects will vary as will the opinions of others about them. So expect many experiences and opinions to come to light when you seek those opinions. There's value in most everything that people offer to you in the way of advice. It's up to you to sort them out and decide what's best for you, the type of photography you enjoy, and your budget.
Regardless, for twenty bucks, you can have a polarizer and can give it a try. You may be disappointed or you may capture a keeper that makes you a lifetime polarizer fan. Regardless, you'll learn and have fun.
Best....
Steve
Last edited:
For a drone, they are more practical for stills than continuous video, unless you only want a short clip, where the direction stays the same.
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