Skip to main content

New cinema filters from Moment give your phone footage the Hollywood look

BEST Filter For Your Phone | Moment Filters

Moment, known for its line of popular smartphone add-on lenses,  introduced a new series of cinema-quality glass filters on Wednesday, August 21. Both neutral density (ND) and circular polarizer (CPL) filters are available in 37mm sizes which attach to the Moment photo case via a bespoke filter adapter. Previously, filters could be adapted to fit over Moment lenses, but this is the first product from the company that can put a filter directly on a phone’s built-in lens.

Recommended Videos

ND filters are a key component in filmmaking as they allow for a slower shutter speed when shooting outdoors or in other bright locations. This causes some motion blur which makes footage look more natural. Traditionally, a shutter speed of 1/48 second is standard, but filming under sunlight requires a shutter speed many times faster than that to get a proper exposure — and the result is much choppier video. Unlike cinema cameras or DSLRs, phone cameras do not have adjustable apertures, so shutter speed is the only thing that can be changed to adapt to brighter situations.

Moment is offering five different strengths of Cine ND filter: ND 4 (two stops), ND 8 (three stops), ND 16 (four stops), ND 32 (five stops), and ND 64 (six stops). Combined, this effectively provides exposure compensation for a wide range of varying light intensity, from an overcast day to direct sunlight. Each filter is sold separately and priced at $35.

The Cine CPL filter cuts out polarized light and can be used to reduce reflections and glare. This can help you see through windows, or reduce overexposed highlights from light bouncing off of leaves, helping maintain more of the natural color in foliage. The Moment Cine CPL is priced at $45.

Both ND and CPL versions use anti-static and hydrophobic coatings to resist dust and water. While marketed primarily for movie applications, the filters will also work for still photography and are compatible with both the standard and telephoto lenses on an iPhone XS.

If you’d like to source filters elsewhere, that’s also no problem. The Moment Filter Mount accepts any 37mm filter, which is a standard, if not terribly common, size. The Filter Mount costs just $10 by itself. Moment is also selling kits with various combinations of filters that range from $45 to $130. The company is running a 20%-off launch special on August 21 only.

Daven Mathies
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Daven is a contributing writer to the photography section. He has been with Digital Trends since 2016 and has been writing…
Here’s another look at the iPhone 16 Pro’s controversial new color
The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max's camera module.

When it comes to the iPhone 16, fans grasp tightly to every tidbit and nugget of information that comes across their feed.  Last week, we reported on a potential new brown color option for the iPhone 16 Pro, and the reception to it was mixed, to be generous.

The likelihood of this being a real color choice for the iPhone 16 Pro has been strengthened thanks to known leaker Majin Bu's post on X. This leaker has a solid track record for Apple, hitting the nail on the head more often than not. They describe the color as "Desert Titanium" and say it looks more like a dark gold.

Read more
Here’s a look at the iPhone 16’s big redesign and new colors
The difference between the shape of the iPhone 15 Plus's edge and the iPhone 14 Plus.

We are just a few weeks away from the unveiling of the highly anticipated Apple iPhone 16 series. Recently, new dummy models of the regular-sized iPhone 16 have been discovered, providing a detailed look at each model and their potential color options.

On X, Sonny Dickson shared a single image purportedly showing the iPhone 16. There are five models: white, black, blue, green, and pink. The image also shows the long-rumored new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus camera designs.

Read more
A new Samsung phone just leaked, and it’s a lot different from the Galaxy S24 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy A06 render.

Samsung Galaxy A06 render. GizNext via Onleaks

A new Samsung phone has just gotten a pretty substantial leak, and surprisingly, it isn’t a flagship. The leak comes from GizNext (via Onleaks), which has revealed everything there is to know about the Samsung Galaxy A06 in painstaking detail. Notably, this is a fairly entry-level phone that’s expected to have budget pricing characteristics of the Galaxy A-series and serve as a successor to the Galaxy A05.

Read more