It is hugely bright outside what with the snow and all and I am having difficulty seeing my unshaded display well enough to set up the ND 8 circular polarizer. Is there a way to determine orientation of the polarizer based on the printed trademark or filter numbers on the edge of the filter? Is there a gradient to the polarization or is it a 50/50 split? Can you set the spot meter to the top of the screen and adjust the polarizer based on changing exposure values? I am charging up my gear but thought I'd ask before conducting a figure it out exercise.
Orienting PolarPro Cinema Series ND8 PL filter
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I'd say it's time to pickup a shade for your tablet/smartphone. I wouldn't be caught dead without one on a bright sunny day. 
There is no way to determine max setting with the printing on the filter rings. What you can do is grab a dark towel or sweatshirt and head outside with your gear.
Make the sign of a gun with your index finger and thumb. Point your index finger towards the sun and rotate your thumb left to right along your the axis of your index finger. Where your thumb points to is direction of the max effect that you can attain from your polarizing filters.
Point the camera of your drone towards the direction your thumb pointed to.
Have a seat next to your drone and cover your head and remote with the towel/sweatshirt so you're in the dark and can see your screen.
Reach out and slowly rotate the adjustment ring of your filter keeping an eye on your screen. You may have to go back and forth like focusing an old manual focus lens. Stop when you notice the sky/objects darkening the most before starting to lighten up again.
Take a Sharpie marker and put a witness mark on your drone's camera housing and on the the fixed and adjustement rings of the filter so that the marks all line up.
The next time you go out to shoot, after you screw on your filter, check the witness mark of the camera housing to that of your filter. If they're all lined up, you'll be at max setting without having to waste time fiddling with the filter and screen trying to get the best setting.
To reduce the unbalanced dark/light sky issue when using polarizers, reduce the amout of polarization by about a 1/4 turn in either direction. You still get decent polarization to cut glare off water etc and the skies look more even.
There is no way to determine max setting with the printing on the filter rings. What you can do is grab a dark towel or sweatshirt and head outside with your gear.
Make the sign of a gun with your index finger and thumb. Point your index finger towards the sun and rotate your thumb left to right along your the axis of your index finger. Where your thumb points to is direction of the max effect that you can attain from your polarizing filters.
Point the camera of your drone towards the direction your thumb pointed to.
Have a seat next to your drone and cover your head and remote with the towel/sweatshirt so you're in the dark and can see your screen.
Reach out and slowly rotate the adjustment ring of your filter keeping an eye on your screen. You may have to go back and forth like focusing an old manual focus lens. Stop when you notice the sky/objects darkening the most before starting to lighten up again.
Take a Sharpie marker and put a witness mark on your drone's camera housing and on the the fixed and adjustement rings of the filter so that the marks all line up.
The next time you go out to shoot, after you screw on your filter, check the witness mark of the camera housing to that of your filter. If they're all lined up, you'll be at max setting without having to waste time fiddling with the filter and screen trying to get the best setting.
To reduce the unbalanced dark/light sky issue when using polarizers, reduce the amout of polarization by about a 1/4 turn in either direction. You still get decent polarization to cut glare off water etc and the skies look more even.
Polarizing filters are not that tough to deal with. You just need to understand what polarized light is and where, in nature, it occurs. And, when it comes to glass used in buildings (if that is what you shoot) then you should hold the polarizer up to your eye to ensure that any coatings on the glass do not produce a mottled or splotchy appearance when viewed through the filter.
Also, having a good understanding of light helps too. There are times when glare off of surfaces is a good thing. Not many, but it does happen.
As for what it does to the darkness of a blue sky (not gonna do you any good for overcast or clouds), the filter will darken the blue greatest along a band that is 90 degree from the sun's position. So, if the sun was directly overhead, the polarizer would darken the sky evenly along the horizon all the way around the compass heading. But, if the sun is at a 45 degree angle from the ground, then there will be a band of greatest effect that is 90 degrees from the sun's position in a band that covers the entire celestial sphere. For photography this does not present a problem when shooting with telephoto or even 'normal' lenses because their fields of view are not wide enough to see this band of greatest effect. Wide angle lenses are the ones where this shows up and the 24mm equivalent of the P4P lens is plenty wide enough for this to be an issue.
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I like Trinimon's reply. This is especially the way to go with most of the polarizer filters out there, including the previous Polar Pro NON-Cinema filters, which are 1 element filters (and not really 'circular' polarisers),
One thing with the Cinema filters though is that, since they are 2 element filters and the back screw-on element will likely go on to about the same point, you probably can use the existing marks (which are on the front element that rotates one the rear element is secured finger tight) to orient. However, a sharpie Witness mark wouldn't hurt and you can place it dead center on the most strong point, which means you can be more accurate with your 1/4 turn for a 50/50 split.
I also agree with the shade recommendation. I very much rely on one and keep a spare, and that's on a relatively bright 10" tablet (iPad Air 2). But the towel trick should work at least for this first filter placement calibration.
Now if I could only get feedback on my question from yesterday on gimbal etiquette while changing filters.
Cheers,
Chris
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