Polar Filters

Terry Evans · Mar 18, 2017

Hello Folks,
I am considering a set of Polar ND filters. Should I get the black set, or the gold set? Do filters put undo wear on the gimbal motors, since they add weight? Do you like them?
Thank you very much,
Terry

Sesmith016 · Mar 18, 2017

I just had an issue where my tilt motor would release then reengage. (See "gimble dropping") When I took the filters off, the problem went away.

Terry Evans · Mar 18, 2017

Sesmith016 said:
I just had an issue where my tilt motor would release then reengage. (See "gimble dropping") When I took the filters off, the problem went away.

Wow! That's not what I wanted to hear. I really appreciate your reply.
Terry

msinger · Mar 18, 2017

Sesmith016 said:
I just had an issue where my tilt motor would release then reengage

Which filters were you using?

Terry Evans · Mar 18, 2017

msinger said:
Which filters were you using?

I was going to order a Polar Pro set. Trying to figure out which is the best set for my P3P. Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Terry

msinger · Mar 18, 2017

Check out this thread where I compared many of the commonly used filters. There is no best filter set, but it might help you decide which set is best for you.

Trinimon · Mar 18, 2017

Spend the extra money and get the Cinema series. The cheaper black set has a magenta/purple cast on the image that you can try to remove in post.

I bought the black ND32PL (not offered in the Cinema line) because I was told by PolarPro that they never had any complaints from folks saying there's a colour shift and after doing a test flight I won't be using it again. I should have trusted a couple reviews I saw on Amazon that reported a colour shift.

I've never had any problems with PolarPro filters on my 3ADV.

V tail · Mar 18, 2017

Sesmith016 said:
I just had an issue where my tilt motor would release then reengage. (See "gimble dropping") When I took the filters off, the problem went away.

Im not sure what you mean. I did a search and not seeing what you mean.

I have never had a problem using filters. Can you help me out with the info?

Thanks

Terry Evans · Mar 18, 2017

Trinimon said:
Spend the extra money and get the Cinema series. The cheaper black set has a magenta/purple cast on the image that you can try to remove in post.

I bought the black ND32PL (not offered in the Cinema line) because I was told by PolarPro that they never had any complaints from folks saying there's a colour shift and after doing a test flight I won't be using it again. I should have trusted a couple reviews I saw on Amazon that reported a colour shift.

I've never had any problems with PolarPro filters on my 3ADV.

That's exactly what I needed to know. They make a set of 3 and 6. Which do you recommend? I was hoping to have a plain uv filter to leave on. That doesn't come with the Cinema line, does it? I will definitely take your advice. Thank you.
Terry

msinger · Mar 18, 2017

Your P3 already comes with a UV filter, so you won't need to buy a 3rd party UV filter.

HWCM · Mar 18, 2017

Sesmith016 said:
I just had an issue where my tilt motor would release then reengage. (See "gimble dropping") When I took the filters off, the problem went away.

That does not make any sense. You remove the stock UV filter and replace it with another one. There is no weight difference.

msinger · Mar 18, 2017

Some 3rd party filters do weight more than the OEM UV filter. I'm curious to hear which brand of filters he was using.

Terry Evans · Mar 18, 2017

msinger said:
Your P3 already comes with a UV filter, so you won't need to buy a 3rd party UV filter.

That's just great! Thank you.
Terry

V tail · Mar 18, 2017

msinger said:
I'm curious to hear which brand of filters he was using.

I am too. I am wondering if you are going to have to do some sort of myth busting here.

stones · Mar 18, 2017

HWCM said:
That does not make any sense. You remove the stock UV filter and replace it with another one. There is no weight difference.

Which makes me wonder about the slip on filters which are ADDED to the stock filter.

Trinimon · Mar 18, 2017

Terry Evans said:
That's exactly what I needed to know. They make a set of 3 and 6. Which do you recommend? I was hoping to have a plain uv filter to leave on. That doesn't come with the Cinema line, does it? I will definitely take your advice. Thank you.
Terry

Here's my 2cents worth. If you do a lot of shooting around water like beaches, lakes etc. the ND polarizers cut the reflections off the water ie sure makes blue/green waters in the Caribbean stand out. It also makes colours punch out more like foliage. The drawback is that if you shoot with a lot of sky in your composition, there is uneven darkening ie one part will be darker blue than the other.

ND filters (non PL ones) just reduce the amount of light entering the lens and does not cut reflections etc. Downside when shooting water, depending on the angle of the sun and direction you're shooting in, you'll get lots of reflection.

Each has their place and if your shooting style is varied, doesn't hurt to get all 6 filters.

peemai · Mar 19, 2017

I bought TacoRC set instead because I read that it's the same weight as the stock UV filter and PolarPro combo set didn't contain what I needed. The set include ND 4/8/16/32 and a case and it's free shipping.

However, screw on filter really is not very convenient, for me at least.

Terry Evans · Mar 19, 2017

peemai said:
I bought TacoRC set instead because I read that it's the same weight as the stock UV filter and PolarPro combo set didn't contain what I needed. The set include ND 4/8/16/32 and a case and it's free shipping.

However, screw on filter really is not very convenient, for me at least.

Thank you. I will definitely look at those.
Terry

Terry Evans · Mar 19, 2017

Trinimon said:
Here's my 2cents worth. If you do a lot of shooting around water like beaches, lakes etc. the ND polarizers cut the reflections off the water ie sure makes blue/green waters in the Caribbean stand out. It also makes colours punch out more like foliage. The drawback is that if you shoot with a lot of sky in your composition, there is uneven darkening ie one part will be darker blue than the other.

ND filters (non PL ones) just reduce the amount of light entering the lens and does not cut reflections etc. Downside when shooting water, depending on the angle of the sun and direction you're shooting in, you'll get lots of reflection.

Each has their place and if your shooting style is varied, doesn't hurt to get all 6 filters.

Thank you for your reply. I am thinking about getting the Polar Pro Cinema set of 6.
Terry