Bought a 'light pollution filter' for my phone camera. Total joke.

Saw an ad for a cheap filter that promised to cut city glow and show the Milky Way. Cost me $25. Tried it last night from my backyard in Phoenix. The photos looked exactly the same, just a weird purple tint. Anyone know a real way to get decent shots without driving hours away?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahcoleman1mo ago

What camera settings did you use? I read a whole thread about how those cheap filters are basically colored plastic. They might help a tiny bit with orange streetlights, but they won't cut the heavy glow from a place like Phoenix. You need to do what robert_smith36 said and stack a bunch of long exposure shots. I saw a guy online who got a decent shot of Orion from a bright suburb by stacking like fifty 10-second pictures. It's all about gathering more light over time, not a magic filter.

the_pat1mo ago

Fifty exposures? That sounds like a lot of work for a hobby... I mean, sure it works, but who's actually got that kind of patience? I barely have the attention span to sit through a single 30-second exposure without bumping my tripod. Feel like most people just want to take a quick picture, not spend their whole evening babysitting a camera shutter.

robert_smith361mo ago

I used to believe those filters worked until I tried stacking 30 second exposures in my Denver backyard. That actually pulled out some faint stars.