Tiffen 67STR42 67mm 4 Point Star Filter

The Tiffen 67mm 4 Point Star Filter is a diffraction filter that converts bright specular highlights — sun on water, candle flames, street lamps at night, catchlights in a portrait — into four-pointed starburst patterns, rendered optically in-camera. For photographers whose work includes evening events, night cityscapes, or water-location shoots, this is the kind of filter that earns a permanent slot in the bag: the effect is genuinely difficult to replicate in post with the same organic, depth-in-field quality. Wedding photographers find it particularly useful during reception coverage where candle arrangements and string lights dominate the scene. The 67mm thread fits a broad range of mid-aperture standard zooms — lenses that often serve as the workhorse glass on a full-frame or APS-C body for exactly this kind of event work.

Tiffen builds this filter using ColorCore glass, where the optical coating is fused within the glass element rather than applied as a surface layer. In practice, this means the filter stays color-neutral over time — no gradual warm shift, no coating that lifts with regular cleaning. The rotatable mount is precise and smooth, allowing deliberate ray positioning without the filter loosening unintentionally during a shoot. Tightening the mount after you've chosen your ray angle is straightforward, and the resistance is consistent enough that it won't drift between frames. The practical aperture note worth building into your workflow: the four rays are sharpest and most defined in the f/8 to f/11 range. At wide apertures the rays soften noticeably; if your shot requires shallow depth of field, test the combination before committing to it on an important shoot.