Do CPL filters make sense in drone?

[Andrzej]

I wonder if CPL filters are really useful for drone photography. I use such filters very often with my hand held camera to bring more details of clouds and get deeper sky blue but it can be achieved only with proper angle setting, rotating filter there and back by few degrees makes a difference.

In case of drone like Evo or Mavic there is no possibility to rotate the filter remotely, the only possibility is to land, correct and retry. I tried it several times on my drone but finally I was setting the filter to some fixed position (like "dot on top") and I was getting random results. Yes, I know saturation may be better, but from the other side it may be also worse in some parts of the picture - everything depends on filter rotation in front of the lens. After some time I started using ND filters only.

To be celar: no issue for ND, my doubt is about CPL filters only. Do you have any positive experience?

 

[parkgt]

I wonder if CPL filters are really useful for drone photography. I use such filters very often with my hand held camera to bring more details of clouds and get deeper sky blue but it can be achieved only with proper angle setting, rotating filter there and back by few degrees makes a difference.

If one can keep a constant angle to the sun and the reflective surfaces they can be effective. For more random flying and filming I don't see the benefit. NDs are essential but I do not use my CPLs on my drones and don't miss them. Others with the time and discipline to use them correctly in a given situation probably do find them useful.

 

[Andrzej]

If one can keep a constant angle to the sun and the reflective surfaces they can be effective. For more random flying and filming I don't see the benefit. NDs are essential but I do not use my CPLs on my drones and don't miss them. Others with the time and discipline to use them correctly in a given situation probably do find them useful.

Thanks, that is in line with my thoughts, I will stick to ND filters. Best regards.

 

[mixchief]

They don't hurt if you want to deepen the blue skies or you want to cut through glare on the water, it takes a little messing with but it is possible to make the water very clear to shoot marine life