I’ve often dreamed that a Clear Night Filter would allow me to photograph stars over NYC with any camera system the way that OM system cameras let me. But in all honesty, they all still need some post-processing. The Haida Clear Night Filter falls into that category as well. Where it stands out, though, is really with the integration into the M10 II filter system. What’s more, it won’t mean that you’re sacrificing image quality from your expensive lens.

Here’s what Adorama says about the Haida Clear Night Filter.

To use the filter, you simply slip it into the M10 II filter system from Haida. Then you make sure that the right ring adapter is included for your lens, and you’re all set. Now you just have to wait until it gets dark enough to photograph the night sky. If you’re in NYC during the summer, proper night can be anywhere as late at 10:30pm or so. Nearing towards the end of summer though, you’ll probably start to see the world get darker earlier. In February, the skies are often pretty clear and it’s easy to see them above NYC. But the problem is the light pollution.

The filter eliminates the noise pollution for the most part. But it’s also not always still dark enough. Underexposing your photo won’t work very much. So instead you have to do one of two things: edit or use a specific camera system.

I truly think that Olympus, OM System, and Panasonic cameras that have the Live Composite feature are the best at photographing the night sky. You can do star trails in-camera and get beautiful results. So if you slapped the on Haida Clear Night Filter on whatever lens is in front of the camera, you’ll get the best results. You also likely wouldn’t even need to edit your photos. 

I’ve used the Haida Clear Night Filter with both the Canon RF and Fujifilm X series camera systems. I thought that instead of using Live Composite that I could use the in-camera multiple exposure effects to get the photos that I wanted. But alas, I couldn’t do that even with the Haida Clear Night Filter. Instead, I’d get the absolute best photos if I used the Haida Clear Night Filter with something like the OM System OM1. 

But if you have to edit anyway, what’s the point? Well, it makes editing later on much easier. Instead of needing to work with two or three different shades of color in the sky, you only need to work with one. And if you combine this with manually setting your white balance, you’re in an even better position. Otherwise, you have to do things like completely paint out the colors that the lights are blasting up into the sky. Unfortunately, white balance adjustments can’t fix this. The Haida Clear Night Filter is colored purple, that you’d think would otherwise have the same effect as hue adjustment. But it doesn’t. Instead, it adds a shade of purple to the entire scene and cuts out the light into the sky. This doesn’t work like an ND filter at all. Instead, it specifically indeed does just cut the lights out. 

I genuinely wish that this had a stronger effect, but for most photographers that don’t mind sitting in front of their computer after a night of shooting photos, this will be a great purchase. If you’re an OM System, Olympus, or Panasonic camera user that has Live Composite available, you’ll love this.

Essentials is a series featuring products we’re currently lusting over in quick, bite-sized posts.