Polarising Filter with a digital camera?

[southdowner]

In the past I was very comfortable using a polarising filter on a 35mm camera; it was one of my favourite accessories.
I have only used a (circular) polariser on 1 occasion with a digital camera and found it very difficult to set up (I couldn't recognise the characteristic 'darkening' when I had the correct setting). Additionally, I found that the expected effect didn't seem to show on the final picture.

So, my questions are:
1. Using a digital camera (I now have Panasonic G1) will I achieve proper 'polariser' pictures using any/all of the camera's automatic settings?
2. Do I need to 'adjust' the camera's 'white balance' (or any other setting) to take account of the polariser?
Thanks in anticipation for your comments.

[El_Sid]

I've used polarising filters - linear ones at that - with my two Canon EOS digitals and have had no problems.

I'm a bit puzzled as to why you didn't see the darkening in the finder though as this is an optical effect and completely independent of the white balance and everything else. Were you by chance pointing toward or away from the sun? The effect of a polariser is negligible to minimal at best in either orientation. Polarisers work best when the sun is at right angles to the lens and weakens as the angle approaches head on or directly behind.

I've no problems with white balance either - auto or fixed it still works for me.

I can see no reason other than the one about angle to the sun that should in anyway prevent the polariser working normally on the G1 or any other digital camera.

[AlexMonro]

I've used circular polarisers with both SLRs (digital and film) and digital bridge cameras, with electronic LCD viewfinders. I do find that the auto exposure and auto display intensity of the bridge camera, coupled with the limitations of the LCD, do sometimers make it difficult to judge the intensity of the polarisation effect.

What I tend to do is watch the display of the auto metered exposure, to judge when the darkening due to the polariser is at a maximum. I can then back off a bit if I don't want the full polarisation effect. I usually shoot in aperture priority mode, so I adjust the polariser unil I see the slowest shutter speed.

As Nigel says, the white balance setting shouldn't make any difference to the polariser effect.