An optical system (200) that allows a viewer (10) to simultaneously see images created by an electronic display (20) as well as real world objects (30b) includes a reflective polarizer (41) as an image combiner for head-mounted displays and an absorptive polarizer (42) deployed in the same combiner to reduce glare by minimizing ambient reflections from the reflective polarizer. To prevent the absorptive polarizer (42) from blocking linearly polarized light sources from being transmitted through the combiner, a weak absorptive polarizer is provided to allow transmission of polarized sources while still minimizing glare.