Tiffen 49HOSTR 49mm Hollywood Star Effect Filter

The Tiffen 49mm Hollywood Star Filter is a specialty effects filter built for photographers who want to push point light sources into deliberately cinematic territory. Mounted on a 49mm lens, it transforms bare bulbs, candle flames, water reflections, and streetlights into multi-spiked star bursts with 14 asymmetric diffraction rays — the kind of glittering, energetic sparkle you associate with film cinematography and editorial night photography. The rotating mount is the key practical feature: rather than accepting wherever the spikes happen to land in the frame, you can position all 14 rays precisely relative to your subject and the horizon before locking the shot. It's a filter with a clear creative purpose, and it delivers on that purpose with repeatability.

Construction centers on a precision aluminum-alloy mounting ring that threads cleanly onto compatible lenses and accepts additional filter stacking — useful when you want to combine the star effect with a color treatment or neutral density element for long exposure work. The metal ring resists the flex and cross-threading that plastic filter rings sometimes suffer after repeated use in the field. Tiffen backs it with a 10-year warranty, which is generous for a specialty effects filter and reflects confidence in the build quality. The effect works at any focal length that accepts 49mm filters, though the visual intensity scales with the brightness and concentration of your light sources — the more specular and isolated the point light, the more dramatic and clean the resulting star pattern.