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The dual-purpose filter for astrophotography and portrait photography – the STC Star Mist filter, was officially launched in 2024!
In the era of digital photography, even when the night sky is filled with sparkling stars, digital cameras often capture them too sharply, making them less noticeable compared to the naked eye. Therefore, STC has developed a filter that incorporates "sub-micron transparent microcrystals" used in liquid crystal processes to create a specialized mist effect. This enhances highlights and enlarges the halo effect. Importantly, it does so without excessively impacting the landscape or degrading image quality. This allows the stars to appear more prominent and luminous, presenting a more beautiful starry sky.
Through testing, this characteristic also proves to be well-suited for portrait photography. Unlike Cine Mist (black Mist) filters, the Star Mist filter provides a bright tone, softening overly sharp lines and reducing excessive contrast. When light is properly diffused, it can also enhance the halo effect, adding a dreamy, ethereal ambiance, making it an excellent choice for the new generation of portrait photography filters!
Want to be ready for any lighting condition without bulking up your kit? Our clip filter is a natural fit. STC has engineered a clip filter that fits perfectly in the Canon EOS-R.
Our patented inlay design has been upgraded so that you can quickly swap out the right filter as your shooting conditions change.
Compatible with:check“Supported Camera & Len List”
Features
Installation Instructions
Due to varying QC standards across camera brands, even models of the same brand may have manufacturing tolerances. If the internal filter frame doesn’t fit properly, please contact STC support or headquarters. Do not force installation.
Disclaimer
STC’s Clip-in filters are innovative and rely on the camera’s internal structure for stability. Minor marks from installation may occur but do not affect camera functionality or warranty. STC will not cover these marks or offer compensation. Please consider this before purchasing if reselling your camera is a concern.
The soft light characteristic of Star Mist's ability to react to light comes from the addition of transparent microcrystals with sub-micron particle size into the glass. This enables highlight enhancement and diffusion of directly incident light, while achieving a subtle reduction in contrast between light and dark areas.
The image shows a measurement of the finished STC StarMist glass, magnified 10x under a microscope with color light development, capturing a 1280μm square area. Note that the glass itself is not black or opaque—this is the result of the imaging method.
The higher the number (1 > 2), the greater the distribution density of sub-micron transparent microcrystals per unit area, resulting in more pronounced reactions under the same incident light. However, the photographic effect does not increase proportionally and cannot be simply calculated as a multiple.
In line with STC's commitment to meeting professional market needs, we use high-transmittance technical glass as our raw material and produce high-resolution optical glass with professional polishing equipment. Irregular sub-micron particles are mixed into the glass, creating diffraction of bright light through the particle material. This makes the faint starlight in the night sky appear brighter and more dazzling, resulting in more captivating astrophotography works while maintaining landscape clarity as much as possible.
In the past, when shooting starry skies with traditional white soft or diffusion filters, the landscape was also softened and hazy, with reduced contrast, resulting in more dramatic image quality degradation. To achieve better imaging quality, double exposure or digital stacking was often required. These challenges do not exist when using the StarMist filter, allowing photographers to shoot more efficiently, including for time-lapse photography projects.
Camera: SONY A7SIII
Lens: Tamron 35mmF1.4(F045)
ISO speed: 6400
Aperture Value: F1.4
Exposure Length: 3.2 seconds
Equatorial mount: SWAT-350 Tracker
Location: Kumamoto City, Kumamoto, Japan
Photographer: Chihiro Yamaguchi
Filter Used: STC StarMist 1 Clip Filter Built-in Filter
Compared to black mist filters, StarMist offers more effective control of direct and diffused light in daytime highlights, without producing excessive or difficult-to-control effects. A modern, convenient diffusion filter that can be used virtually all day long.
Follow Jacky Chang (Jian-Jian).
https://www.instagram.com/jimmy.c.c_photography/
The STC Star Mist filter can also be used in portrait photography. Through practical shooting by professional photographers, it combines the advantages of both traditional white soft and black mist filters.
Traditional white soft filters are used to enhance highlights and reduce contrast. However, their manufacturing structure affects the entire image and broadly lifts shadow tones, creating a distinctive style but also significantly reducing overall sharpness. Black mist filters also reduce contrast and diffuse light, but they do not emphasize highlights as prominently as white soft filters, and they do not excessively brighten shadows, resulting in a more subdued tone. Additionally, black mist filters cause relatively less reduction in sharpness.
Star Mist shares similar characteristics with black mist filters but delivers brighter highlight enhancement. Due to its material properties, the softening and overflow of light are more pronounced, making it more effective at emphasizing the subject and creating sharper focus compared to black mist filters!
Photography is the art of using light, and the ability to add softer and more beautiful effects to light is what STC Star Mist does best.
Blending the most beautiful light with the ambiance of the scene to create a wonderful piece of creative photography is the unique perspective of the photographer.
Follow Yen Yen Cheng at: https://www.facebook.com/yanyanz2
Portrait rights consent MD: Yi Jing
From the image, it's clear to see that the bright stars around the Milky Way are significantly brightened and enhanced, displaying more captivating and beautiful colors. Meanwhile, the boats on the lake and the illuminated mountains still retain a certain level of detail and resolution. The STC Star Mist 1 filter is definitely your best companion for capturing beautiful starry scenes!
Date: 2024/2/12 AM 04:47
Camera: Sony A7M4
Lens: Sony FE 14GM
ISO Speed: 2000
Aperture Value: f1.8
Exposure Length: 20 seconds
Photographer: TingMao Chen
Filter Used: STC StarMist 1 Clip Filter Built-in Filter for Sony A74
Follow TingMao Chen: https://www.instagram.com/b516862005
All our filters use STC’s exclusive nanocoating technology for the best optical quality. Our Sensor Protector, Star Mist, Cine Mist, Neutral Density (ND), Astro (light pollution) series, IR-Pass (590nm/720nm/850nm), and UV-IR-Cut filters all carry a double-sided hydrophobic, anti-smudge and antistatic nanocoating to enhance or block transmission in all kinds of particular spectrums.
The Star Mist Filter effectively enhances bright stars, making them larger and more prominent, adding a striking touch to your images. It selectively highlights brighter stars without affecting dimmer ones, significantly enhancing the visual appeal of astrophotography, especially for nebula shots.
The Star Mist Filter is versatile and suitable for various photography themes, including portraits, fireflies, nightscapes, and more.
This article introduces the PENTAX version of the Star Mist Filter. For a detailed comparison and full review, please visit the blog.
https://www.falconkimo.com/?p=36524
Photo by Xu Zhan-Yuan
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