Photogrammetry Kit- CPL, or Circular Polarizing Lens

I recently bought a CPL, or Circular Polarizing Lens, for my Photogrammetry shoots, and I wanted to write up if it was actually useful for photogrammetry.

the CPL is the middle lens, between the ND4 on the right and the UV on the left. 

Turns out its pretty useful, although you have to remember to set it properly for each photo- tedious but rewarding! It's not automatic, but it can result in much more accurate color representation in your photos by removing a significant portion of the reflected light.

Using the CPL correctly can significantly increase the base quality of your captured textures. 

Note that on the ivy the CPL still can't remove all reflecting angles, but it does significantly improve the capture. 

Using a CPL

The CPL screws onto the end of your regular camera lens. If you end up buying one, make sure you get one for the correct diameter lens you have. You can find out the diameter by checking for a "Ø" symbol, followed by a number on the end of your lens, for example Ø52.


The CPL rotates freely once it is attached to the lens. As you walk around your subject, make sure to rotate the CPL until the amount of reflection you see on shiny surfaces is at it's minimum. You have to keep adjusting the CPL's angle, because as you walk around and face different directions, the amount and angle of the reflected light also changes. Make sure you adjust it for each image.

Buying a CPL

You can find the CPL kit I bought at this link. It's for a 52mm lens. I bought a cheapie, but it works well and doesn't mess with my image quality. Be careful to read reviews, as a badly made lens can result in distorted images or blurriness. I don't know of any reason to go super high end with a CPL, but feel free to let me know if you splurged and don't regret it.

Photogrammetry Kit

I recently expanded my Photogrammetry kit with some simple additions that have made my shoots a little easier.

Full disclosure, the links in each kit description are links to the amazon pages I bought them from. 

First off, I wanted a new SD card that I could use for Photogrammetry shoots. I was looking for a fast read/write speed so I went for a 16GB SanDisk Extreme Pro. 16GB? Even shooting in RAW format with my Pentax k-50 I can still get just over 1000 images in a single shoot, although in the future I imagine I will be getting a larger one.

Piccy Piccy 3D

Next up I wanted to try out a circular polarizing filter for my shoots. I found a super affordable lens filter set here and got it. The reviews were pretty good, and so far I've only used the CPL, but it's been good so far. It also came with a nice microfibre cloth which is handy, sure. I've never used a CPL before (because I am a noob photographer- hey, I'm a 3D guy, my cameras don't need CPLs) but the use of it is pretty straight forward. You rotate it until it's angle cancels out the reflected light. It's super useful if you are taking images of an object in a glass case for example, or something behind a window. It will pretty much make the reflections on the glass vanish from the right angle, which can make all the different for a photogrammetry shoot. I plan to test it out on some puddles.

Apparently the fiber cloth performs tricks. 

Finally, a camera bag that was big enough to fit the camera, lenses, color cards, filters, lunch and water! What a load. It also looks cool, if you are into that sort of thing. Yay for that. The bag is a little bigger than what I was carrying around before, but the extra room really comes in handy.

Oooh, spacious!

I got a couple of other bits and pieces- a color calibration chart and a lens hood I'm actually not super happy with, so I'm not going to link it here. I have not tried using the color chart yet, but I'll post about how useful it is later down the road in another post.

It wouldn't be a PiccyPiccy3D post without some 3d stuff... taking a stroll around Golden Gate Park I took some quick snaps of these bits and pieces. I was a-bit bummed out that the Mossy rock has a hole in the bottom, but sometimes when you think you have every angle... well, too bad. 

Mossy Rock by Pete Hanshaw on Sketchfab

Waystone by Pete Hanshaw on Sketchfab

Tree by Pete Hanshaw on Sketchfab