astrophotography

Haida Clear Night Filter Review and Comparison Shots

Haida Clear Night Filter Review and Comparison Shots

For a while now I have been photographing with Haida products and I for one have noticed a big difference since the switch from Nisi. 
As some of you may already know I started my photography in the category of astrophotography (Deep Space) and with that comes a lot of challenges. One of those challenges is light pollution. 
We all want to capture those remarkable night sky images away from any kind of light source and why? Well darker skies improves the amount of detail in our night sky images.
Sometimes you come across a scene and it just strikes you as being a great composition for the milky way but... your in a light pollution zone. 

Well never fear, Haida is here! 

The Haida Clear Night Light pollution filters are, well one word to describe them....awesome! I actually use them for every nightscape I take now regardless of light pollution. Not only do they block out that ugly unwanted yellow glow from light pollution but they actually enhance (contrast) other areas of the night sky like air glow!!! 
It's fair to say I love capturing air glow in my images, and if you have a camera modified to capture the H-Alpha regions throughout the milky way, it helps with that too!
All without taking away from the sharpness of an image.

So in saying all this, what we really want is proof on how well the Haida Clear Night filter works. So why not some sample photos.

Both images have been unprocessed, they are straight from my camera Jpeg files which came from a Nikon D810a coupled to a Nikon 14-24 F/2.8 lens using the Haida 150mm Filter System and 150mm Haida Clear Night Filter. No lens profile corrections, just reduced the image size. 

 

(Image Details: Nikon D810a, Nikon 14-24 F/2.8G @ 2.8, ISO 10,000, 20 Second Exposure)

As you can see from the image above, there is a lot of yellow in the foreground and the milky way is a little washed out.

(Image Details: Nikon D810a, Nikon 14-24 F/2.8G @ 2.8, ISO 10,000, 20 Second Exposure, Haida Clear Night Filter, White Balance 5000K)

Now as you can see the yellow from the foreground is all gone and the milky way stands out a lot more! The one thing you get from a Haida Clear Night Filter is a blueish tone so it pays to add a warmer white balance, this is why I shoot around 5000K. 
So let's adjust the white balance to both images in processing to see the difference side by side because you could be thinking... well I can just shoot without one and adjust my white balance to try and remove the light pollution, well it doesn't quiet work like that.
When I adjust the white balance all I'm doing is aligning the colours.



                  (Without Filter)                          (With Haida Clear Night Filter)

As you can see just by aligning the colour channels you still have a washed out sky and there is still some yellow in the foreground. With the Haida Clear Night Filter the sky is darker and the milky way pops some more, also the yellow light pollution in the foreground is still gone.

So let's see where else the Haida Clear Night Filter can improve your photography.... How about those cityscapes at night. Cities are full of light pollution but we all like a colourful city at night. Here are a couple examples of below.

Without Haida Clear Night Filter

With Haida Clear Night Filter

These two images are slightly older and have been uploaded in a lower resolution however both straight out of camera Jpegs.

Oh and here is one of my most recent images taken under dark skies using the Haida Clear Night Filter and a white balance of 5000K

I hope this blog post has helped and if your ever in the market to purchase a Haida Clear Night Filter, you can do so by contacting your local photography store and see if they stock them, or you can contact me for a special price.

Like always, happy shooting!

 

Where to Purchase

 

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1 comment

Giuseppe Ciaccio

Giuseppe Ciaccio

Great results. Love this filter and I’m going to buy one.

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