CPL, UV filters or not for Glacier Bay?

[Dutchman48]

On our last cruise to Glacier Bay, I noticed a bluish haze in most of the picture my friends and I took. I realize that the Glaciers my look close but are still a way off, so I assume the haze is normal air pollution over that distance. Was wondering if a CPL filter or UV Filter should be used on my upcoming cruise.

[peety3]

CPL is worth a try because you have sunlight reflecting off shiny surfaces. Remember that CPL filters are not set-and-forget: you need to rotate the filter (preferably in the "tightening direction", so you don't accidentally unscrew the whole thing and drop it) to find the optimum orientation after you've chosen your composition. They also don't work well on wide lenses (you get more of the effect on one side of the image versus the other).

 

UV filters are a slightly contentious topic, but my stance for the past decade or more has been that UV filters go on if I'm going to be in an abrasive environment: salt water spray or blowing sand. They go on if the lens I'm using is listed as only having its best weather resistance when a filter is used and I'm going to be shooting in moderate rain. They of course don't go on if I'm going to use any other filter. That's it, no other use cases for them. LensRentals did a great blog post where they showed the effects of 50 stacked filters (yeah, I know, no one would ever do that in reality) but they also compared the effects of no filter versus 5 good filters versus 5 cheap filters. The difference between no filter and 5 good filters was stunning. I had already sworn off filters by then, but seeing those results cemented my choice.

 

That said, we're often shooting at distances we just never get to shoot on a regular basis, and atmospheric haze is truly a factor in those situations.

[Jon054]

I take my CPL filters everywhere.

[radiationman]

Been to Glacier Bay twice as well as other sited requiring landscape shooting at a distance. Always us my CPl in these situations. 

Another tip if taking a photo with cell phone camera can place your polarized sunglasses in front of lens (assuming not prescription) and rotate till u get desired degree of polarization. Again be careful kit to drop!