Light pollution filters can help with one of the main reasons it is so hard to see or image some objects in the night sky. This is caused by all the streetlights, signs, and other illuminations lighting up the particles and water vapor in the atmosphere. That’s why you need the best light pollution filter you can get. The problem is that it seems everyone is jumping on the light pollution filter bandwagon, and that makes it hard to figure out what is the best choice for you. Let’s see if this light pollution filter review helps.
What is a light pollution filter?
Light pollution filters are typically 1.25″ or 2″ round filters that screw into your telescope to reduce the effects of light pollution on your viewing or imaging. These can be screwed on to a camera adapter, eyepiece, or onto a diagonal. There are some which are designed to clip inside a DSLR, but these are very specialized, so they will not be covered in this article.
These filters are designed to block specific wavelengths of light. This is not to be confused with contrast boosting filters or filters that just block out a single whole range of light. If those filters qualified as a light pollution filter, so would a piece of glass spray-painted black blocking all light.
An easy way to rule out cheap filters that claim to be the best light pollution filters but really are not is that any real filter will come with a chart showing what wavelengths of light are blocked, and which are not. In addition, this should have several sections where it is blocked and several sections where it is not.
If the manufacturer or reseller do not provide such a sheet, stay away! If the sheet they provide has one big ole blocked section, stay away! Before and after pictures will probably be faked or worse, they might images of a city at night or something like that and they actually look better. The city pictures are worse because I want a filter for looking at faint nebulae and galaxies, not downtown Los Angeles!
Some people ask, do light pollution filters work? Not just yes, but oh yes!
If you are interested in more detailed information on filters, try out my article on The Truth About Telescope Filters.
Recommended best light pollution filters
First on my list is the one I use virtually all the time, the Baader Moon & Skyglow filter. I tend to use this both visually and for imaging and have had fantastic results.
It is not only one of the best light pollution filters, but also helps remove the skyglow caused by the moon (reflected sunlight), and also increases contrast by boosting RGB at specific wavelengths. If there was only one filter made, this is the one I would prefer. This was the one of the first astrophotography filters for DSLR astrophotography I purchased, and it was worth every penny.
Of all the filters I have used, this was one of the best light pollution filter for dslr astrophotography I could find. Its wavelengths matched my Nikon DSLR quite well. In fact, I have not used another filter that performed as well as this one as it produces improved image quality over every other filter I have tested.
Celestron makes excellent light pollution filters in their 94123 and 94124 LPR filters (1.25″ and 2″ respectively). This filter is almost as good as the Baader I listed above, but I do not believe it is as good at removing the glow from the moon. It also does not seem to provide quite as much contrast. These differences are really splitting hairs as you would have to have them both and switch back and forth to see any difference, even then, the differences are very minor.
These are absolutely some of the best light pollution filters and I would have no problem using them in place of my Baader filters.
If you are on a tight budget you might consider the SVBONY UHC Light Pollution Filter in 1.25″ or if you need the 2″ here. SVBONY is one of the better inexpensive brands I have played with, and in fact I have quite a bit of their stuff in my kits. When you want to improve on a beginner setup without breaking the bank, they have some pretty good choices.
Regarding this particular filter, let me start by saying it is a very good bargain. You are getting a lot of capability for not a lot of money. Is it as good as the Baader or Celestron above? Well, no. For about half the price, though, you are getting a lot of filter. It doesn’t stop quite as much moon glow, and some of the mercury vapor streetlights get through more than with the others.
Bottom line? If you want to try out a light pollution filter before making a larger investment, or you are on a limited budget, this is a fine choice.
Hopefully this little assortment will let you select the best light pollution filter that is right for you and will help you view or image all the amazing things in the night sky.
I hope you enjoyed this article on the best light pollution filter!
I have found your astronomy reviews to be the most straightforward and most helpful in pretty much every equipment category. When researching a new topic (light pollution filters this time), I check your review FIRST and then subsequently read and balance all the others against it. I have spent literally hundreds and hundreds of hard-earned dollars based on your reviews and have yet to be disappointed. THANK YOU for making often-extremely-complex choices much easier.
Thank you also for recently adding Explore Scientific to your eyepiece reviews.
My only concern here for the light pollution filters is that for the first time that I can recall you are recommending products you have not actually tried (albeit for the lowest-end products). I (and I am sure many others) value your opinion enough to bank our wallets on it, and we want to hear what YOU say.
Thank you again, and carry on!
I live somewhere where I am constantly fighting light pollution so I jumped right to the good stuff in my purchases. I do need to go back and try some of the less expensive models now that I have something to compare them to. Thanks for reminding me of this.
Like so many people in 2020, I jumped on the astrophotography bandwagon and have been in a state of constant learning and wasting money. I’ve got a Sigma Zoom lens, it uses 95mm filters, I’m confused as to how I would use the Baader Moon and Skyglow filter ? Their website shows 2 inches as a maximum size and 95mm is closer to 3 3/4 inches.
Thank you !!
If you need a filter for a DSLR, mainly Canons, you can use a drop-in filter like this one https://amzn.to/3nN6FAd. Unfortunately the Baader I recommend is for attaching to a telescope and not a lens.