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Was at B&H yesterday picking up a rocketblower and some lens cleaning supplies and the salesperson I spoke with recommended a polarizer for shooting "outdoors". Now I can see the benefit of using one of these for outdoor shooting of scenery or something like that, but is there any benefit / detriment to using it while planespotting? Curious to learn from those in the know...
I had a polarizer with my old camrea kit. Made for nice effects with dark blue skies and negates reflections over the water.
For planespotting, considering how 'pure' photo editing a photo has become, I'd recommend against it for everyday plane shooting.
I have a polarizer for my 100-400, and I only used it once it spotting. The planes came out nice and crisp, but the blue sky was darkened, really accentuating the plane. I liked the effect....but screeners didn't. I got bad contrast on several examples.
I love my circular polarizer, but I never use it for plane-spotting. Two problems: it deepens the color of the sky too much, and you lose the effect as you pan. I could see it being useful on those awful hazy days we tend to get at this time of year though...
Not to mention it slows down the shutter speed by about 2 full stops.