Polarised light sources?

[Karel Bata]

Are there any light sources, powerful enough to light with, that are polarised? Do such things exist? Or any way of polarising a regular source these days I'm unaware of?

 

It's an odd question I know. I've noticed that my computer display is heavily polarised, as is my phone and iPod, but is there anything usable for cinematography?

 

Cheers! :D

[Paul Brenno]

Karel, what effect or what do you mean by polarizing lighting ???

there are polarizing filters, which take out the glare/reflections and deepen blue in the sky, but what are you trying to do with the lighting ???

thanks, Paul

[John Sprung]

Certainly any source can be filtered to get polarized light. I don't know of any that are inherently polarized. Specular reflections are more polarized the sharper the angle -- like the headlights of a distant car kicking off wet pavement. The daytime sky is a polarized source, which is why you can darken it with a polarizing filter.

 

By polarizing at the source, I suppose you could control the specular kicks of some sources differently than others. Other than that, why would you want a polarized source?

 

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Martin Hong]

You mean something like this?

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/659090-REG/Rosco_101_07400_5609_RoscoView_Window_Film_56.html

Edited July 27, 2011 by Martin Hong

[Karel Bata]

Sorry for my delay in replying.

 

My query came out of a discussion elsewhere about the issues surrounding the selective filtering of polarised light in 3D mirror rigs leading to retinal rivalry in the two cameras. One solution gaining ground is the use of a 1/4 wave retarder over the whole front of the box, but it made me wonder if there were any other less obvious solutions. I'd been taken by surprise a while back to discover that flat screen displays are heavily polarised, so I wondered if there might be light sources that were polarised too that I was unaware of.

 

Had that been the case I'm not sure how it might have been used practically, but it would have been an interesting line of enquiry.

 

Worth asking anyhows I thought. Always keen to learn.

 

I like the huge polarising sheet of plastic! Bit expensive though.

 

Cheers! ;)