About a month ago I was approached by a camera supply retailer and was asked if I would like to review a light pollution filter they sell. Me being a photographer that primarily shoots at night, I jumped at the chance. So, they sent me a NiSi Natural Night Filter which will reduce light pollution and block yellow light in the night sky,  and a NiSi 100mm System V5 Pro Filter Holder Kit. 

I took it up to one of the most light polluted areas I could find, which was Windy Vista Point, over looking Tucson, AZ. I did my best to keep the settings identical so you would see exactly what you can get with the filter. 

The first set of images are all RAW exported to JPEG with no edit. You can clearly see the difference, with the filtered images being cooler, and from what I can see it eliminates some of the haze the lights can cause. The second set was edited in Lightroom CC with AUTO EDIT, and AUTO WB. I know that a better job can be done with manual edits, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what it would look like for most people. 

After an edit you can clearly see that with a little color correction the images without the filter can definitely be brought back to look more natural and eliminate most of the yellow tent that you see in the RAW images. But, what you can see in the filtered images is that the haze is almost non-existent, and less (Dehaze) is needed to correct the image. This can be a plus in my book, because too much can really effect the images in a negative way. What you can also see from the filtered images is a darker, more deep blue. Some might not like this, but I do like the contrast it adds to the image. But again, it can make the images too cool as seen in the image of the stars, and that can bee a hassle to correct in post. Because as we know, the night sky is black, not blue.

As for my opinion, this filter works, but I am not really sure for what application. Also, if you are good at editing, it might be something you can live without. I feel if you are just shooting cityscapes at nigh this would work well and save you time in post. But, as for astro photography, well that’s yet to be seen and it might put a tent on the image that could be an issue in post. 

Ultimately, if you are looking for something to make night photography easier, and you are not worried about the sky, this thing is for you. If you are good at post, and incorporate the sky in you images I would say save the cash and spend it on something that will help you there. 

Additionally, the filter holder kit that was sent to me from NiSi is amazing. I have been running a LEE filter system for a while and really do love it. But, what I realized is that the NiSi kit comes with pretty much everything you need to incorporate use across all lenses you might have in your bag, and with Lee you need to buy the additional adapters. The cost is comparable to LEE, but if you are just starting out I would absolutely recommend checking these out before you decide which filter system to buy.

If you are interested in buying this setup you can find it at the following link, which is NOT an affiliate link. 

NiSi Natural Night Filter: https://amzn.to/2E8bixt

NiSi 100mm System V5 Pro Filter Holder Kit: https://amzn.to/2SqE5WS