The Ultimate Guide To Lens Filters and Filter Adapters

Why Filters?

Filters are the secret sauce to stellar videos and photos. However, learning where to begin or how to buy can be quite a tricky and time-consuming process for beginners.

When considering photography filters, it's important to recognize the practical benefits of certain types. Essential filters like circular polarizers (CPL) and strong neutral density (ND) filters offer effects that are difficult to replicate digitally and provide protection for your lens. They enhance a broad spectrum of colors, ensure accurate exposures, and significantly impact the overall quality of your photos and videos.

Check out our favorite filters below and their primary uses for a better understanding of how, why, and when to use them. And if you’re a visual learner, watch the video linked above.

1. CineBloom Diffusion Filter

Take off that digital edge.

Offered in densities of 10% and 20%, Moment CineBloom Diffusion Filters hold the key to capturing ethereal, filmic visuals. Transcend digital images' sterile, excessively sharp appearance with a specialized glass designed ot take the edge off (literally). Not only does it capture and radiate light with a gorgeous bloom-like effect, but it also shines a gentle effect on skin tones, subtly diminishing any visibility of wrinkles or blemishes.

The filter ring is made from aerospace-grade metal, ensuring the durability we demand in every shooting scenario. It's slender enough to be stacked beneath another filter without interrupting the field of view. Best art? You can also stack one of our VND filters on top of the CineBloom filter to achieve additional cinematic frame rates and capture motion blur.

The glass is produced by fusing a micro-layer of black particulates between two superior Japanese filter glass layers, preserving the full image quality. This is our #1 bestselling lens filter for a reason; everyone loves it, making it one of Moment's signature products for years.

2. CineClear UV Filters

Like insurance for your phone.

High-quality glass to protect your high-quality lens. The CineClear UV Protection Filter protects your lens from dust, dings, and fingerprints and reduces the negative effects of UV light on your images. This UV filter is resistant to dust, fingerprints, and reflections using our best German Schott B270 glass, with a 98.5% transmission rate and 16 layers of optical coatings. CineClear won’t degrade your image quality and is designed to be stackable with your favorite filters and lens caps.

3. AntiGlare CPL Filter

Clean up your outdoor images.

Moment's AntiGlare CPL Filters bring you a perfect blend of top-notch polarization and budget-friendly pricing, making your photography experience even better when shooting outdoors. These carefully designed filters are pros at handling reflections, enriching colors, and softening shadows by removing unwanted glare.

The filters have high-quality fused-silica optical glass and a cutting-edge 16-layer coating process to provide stellar clarity, true-to-life colors, and long-lasting durability. Crafted from aerospace-grade metal and enhanced with detailed machined texturing, the frame allows you to make fine adjustments to the polarization level while ensuring the filter comes off your lens smoothly and without getting stuck.

Designed with flexibility in mind, these filters work seamlessly across various camera setups. They're compatible with center pinch lens caps (like the one you already use) and can be effortlessly combined with other filters, such as fixed NDs, Cinebloom Diffusion, and UV filters.

Features:

• Premium fused silica optical glass for supreme clarity
• Advanced 16-layer optical coatings
• Knurled grip texture for more control and easy removal from lenses
• Stacks with fixed NDs, Moment Cinebloom, or UV Filters
• Smooth rotation ring for precise polarization adjustment
• Available for standard camera lens sizes 58mm - 82mm

4. Moment Variable ND Filters

Your Go-To ND filter

The camera market is flooded with Variable ND filters. They were either too expensive or the quality wasn’t there. None of them hit the sweet spot on affordability, functionality, and quality… so Moment made their own.

They feature a unique flared geometry unlike anything else on the market, allowing you to see your ND number from behind the viewfinder. This provides fast, precise control over your shots in tricky lighting without moving from behind the camera. Made to shoot on the go, the filters also feature hard stops at both ends of the range to prevent unwanted cross-polarization for the cleanest image possible. They perfectly balance everything you need at an affordable price.

• You can stack ND filters to get different stops. (i.e., a 3-stop on top of a 6-stop is equivalent to a 9-stop filter)
• It's lightweight and made of top-of-the-line materials.
• It allows you to control light for better photos and videos.

5. Moment CineFlare Streak Filters

Gold or Blue?

Moment CineFlare Filters are the perfect tool for adding anamorphic-like flares to your footage without using a specialty lens. Available in blue and gold options, they will help you create eye-catching cinematic flares with your chosen camera and lens. Twist on, and you're good to go. No added adapters are needed.

Crafted from precision-machined aluminum, the housing is fully rotatable, so you can adjust the flare angle however you like. We used premium Japanese optical glass to maintain a super crisp image, and you can even stack them with a CineBloom Filter for an ultra-dreamy look. It adds visual interest to any shot with total simplicity, eliminating the need for post-processing. These lenses can run a pretty penny; often, you don't need the "Anamorphic look," just those sweet, iconic flares to add a cooler vibe to your light sources.

6. Urth Variable ND Filters

Stellar, Clean, and Crisp

ND Filters allow you to control the light entering your camera to create stronger depth-of-field and motion blur effects. Urth's iconic ND1000 Filter Plus+, slim rim design, is made from durable aluminum and magnesium alloy and is noted for not increasing vignetting, even with wide-angle lenses. However, some users noted a slight shift in color balance depending on the camera used, which can be corrected manually by adjusting white balance settings.

The overall construction is well-regarded, with users appreciating the screw-in design for its convenience and the protective tin that comes with it, making it practical for transport and quick access. The filter is available in a wide range of sizes, which makes it versatile for various lenses, and it can also be used with step rings for smaller lenses.

Performance-wise, the filter effectively reduces exposure by the claimed 10 stops, making it ideal for long-exposure photography and controlling motion blur in bright lighting conditions.

7. Mobile Filter Mounts & Adapters

Lens filter adapters are handy tools that allow photographers and filmmakers to attach filters to lenses that would otherwise be incompatible due to differing thread sizes. These adapters are particularly useful when filters are larger than the lens diameter, enabling you to maximize your filter investments across different lenses. You can find these adapters at most photography equipment stores or online retailers like Amazon, B&H Photo, and Adorama. They come in various sizes to fit nearly any lens and filter combination.

Using a lens filter adapter is straightforward: simply screw the adapter onto your lens and then attach the filter to the adapter. This setup is ideal for creators who want to enhance their images with specialized effects—such as polarizing or ND filters—without purchasing multiple sets of the same filter for different lens sizes.

The 67mm Snap-On Filter adapter clicks onto your Moment phone case in seconds, allowing you to quickly apply filter looks over all three camera lenses. It works with your phone’s microphone, and the optimized geometry means no vignetting over the ultra-wide (with most filters, VND filters may cause vignetting). Plus, it's made to be used with additional mobile accessories to build out your dream mobile rig.