Kase Wolverine Anti-laser filter review

Lasers can be the death of modern digital cameras. That's not an exaggeration. Perhaps you've found this out the hard way yourself, and if you didn't know this fact before you might want to be more careful where you point your camera at festivals, fairgrounds, and light shows.

The highly concentrated light beam from a laser can easily overwhelm a digital sensor and the high frequency wavelengths of a highly focused laser beam can rapidly heat up a digital camera sensor causing irreparable damage. The aftermath of even a brief split-second exposure to a direct laser light source often requires a brand-new sensor and is rarely cost-effective to repair. In short, the damage can be a write-off, requiring a totally brand-new camera.

The tell-tale signs of laser damage vary and usually depend on the strength of the laser that has struck your camera sensor. Common laser pointers can range in strength from 1-5 milliwatts, though much more powerful lasers for stage light shows, or those used to light up buildings and landmarks could reach up to a whopping 40 watts. CMOS sensors are quite fragile and prone to being damaged by powerful lasers as they can burn and permanently change the structure of their surface.

The damage can appear as red, purple, or blue spots appearing on your pictures (and live view feed), but can also appear as vertical or horizontal streaks appearing on the screen, or the picture appearing faded.

But lasers and light shows can make for some truly captivating images, so how can we still shoot them? In this review, I take a closer look at the Anti-Laser filter from Kase, which promises to block out much of the high-intensity laser light and dilute their concentrated beams making it safer to shoot at lightshows and music concerts.

Kase says it's not foolproof and sensor damage is still possible from prolonged laser exposure, but for the fraction of a second a laser might sweep across your sensor at a light show this filter should protect your sensor from damage, where it might be 'killed' without any protective measures in place.

Kase also recommends finding an angle that isn’t shooting directly toward the lasers and using a high aperture value as the aperture blades will help block the light path between the laser and your camera sensor. I would also add that it's worth using an older camera body if you have one, so you don't destroy your latest and greatest camera which will be more expensive to replace in the worst-case scenario.

Here, I put through its paces to see if it really can save my camera from laser damage. The anti-laser filters have a product batch number on them such as CC01 and CD02, I got hold of an EE02 and put it to the test.

Kase anti-laser filter: Specifications

Kase anti-laser filter: Build & Handling

The Kase Anti-Laser is manufactured in China, has an aluminum iron alloy frame which also gives it its magnetic properties, and employs Kase Wolverine (KW) Optical Glass.

The Anti-Laser filter isn't threaded – its mounting connection is smooth and requires a magnetic adapter to screw in and attach to the front of your lens. It comes with the largest 82mm magnetic adapter ring, though you'll need to get a different magnetic adapter if you wish to use the filter on a lens with a smaller front filter thread. With the magnetic adapter ring in place, it has a depth of 8mm, though only protrudes by 6mm when mounted. The filter has an 82mm thread on its front for screw-in filters to be stacked on top but this could cause issues with vignetting, especially at wider focal lengths and if more than one filter is stacked on top of the Anti-Laser, that said Kase also makes its Anti-Laser filter as a clip-in design which sits on top of your sensor and makes it easier to swap lenses without the need to also swap your filter.

Whilst reducing light energy from lasers the Kase Anti-Laser in fact appears to reduce all light by a factor 1 2/3rd f-stops. However, it's not just blocking out all light like a Neutral Density (ND) filter would – looking at the filter reveals a prominent purple, blueish hue – Kase has confirmed this is key to blocking out specific high-frequency laser wavelengths. Kase also says it has the added benefit of reducing yellow tones in night scenes, so they appear more "pure". This does perhaps make it more versatile than a one-trick pony and adds to its value a little if you also need a filter that can make city scenes at night look a little more natural.

The Kase Wolverine employs optical 8HD tempered glass which is also shock resistant and boasts a 26+26 multi-layer HD water and oil-proof coating on both sides for easy cleaning. It also has anti-reflective properties.

The filter comes in a sturdy clear plastic hard case with foam inside to protect the filter and stop it knocking about – no complaints here. It doesn't feature any rear or front caps like some other magnetic filters use, though the front is the same diameter as an 82mm lens, so you can use your existing lens cap to keep it protected. I find the hard case to be a bit bulky and cumbersome, however, you're unlikely to remove your anti-laser filter whilst at the event (unless you want to risk laser damage), so once attached to your lens you shouldn't need to take it off until you're back home.

Kase is clearly very confident in the quality of its product as it comes with a five-year manufacturer's guarantee.

Kase anti-laser filter: Performance

Red and purple lasers tend to be the weakest and will generally be the safest to photograph (though you still shouldn't point your camera directly toward them), green lasers can be a magnitude stronger, and blue lasers can be the strongest and most devastating to your camera. Take care when shooting any lasers but with green and blue lasers in particular you'll want to be really careful.

I got hold of a variety of laser colors and strengths and because I didn't feel like damaging my expensive Canon EOS R5, I had an old smartphone lying around that I could test the anti-laser filter on and compare it to with and without the filter in place.

Kase claims that when no filter is attached, light transmittance on a standard camera and lens is 85%, but this drops to just 25% with the Anti-Laser attached. It's doing more than a light-blocking ND filter though as multi-layer coating is designed to filter out high-frequency laser wavelengths.

Overall, I was very impressed by the image quality of the Kase Wolverine Anti-Laser. For testing I dug out an old smartphone that I could shine a variety of lasers at with and without the filter in place to compare the damage. Even after some pretty rigorous testing and exposing my smartphone to more laser light than I'd normally be comfortable with, I couldn't get either of my cheap and cheerful red laser pen or more serious blue-violet laser to cause any damage to the sensor with and without the laser in place.

Though shining the laser pen through the laser shows it reflects some light back away from the camera and reduces the intensity so I'd definitely want attached if I was shooting a light show for added peace of mind. The official Kase Filter Global YouTube channel has a demonstration with a much more powerful laser than I was able to get hold of and shows how the filter can prevent sensor damage (see video below).

Another aspect of the filter's performance is its usability. It's one of Kase's elite Wolverine series so should be top quality and it's also magnetic. This means the Anti-Laser filter itself doesn't have a filter thread and requires the magnetic adapter ring – it comes with an 82mm magnetic adapter ring in the box. For polarizer and ND filters, I can see the appeal of a magnetic system as you can whip them on and off to change between them quickly. However, this isn't really necessary with an anti-laser filter because you're probably going to have it firmly attached to your lens for the entirety of the gig.

The other issue is the magnetic adapter adds depth to the filter, taking it from 4mm to 6mm (when mounted) and this could make vignetting an issue with wider focal lengths, and if you'd like to stack an additional screw-in filter on the front. Filters such as a black mist can look particularly good at fairgrounds and light shows. That said, if this is a big concern Kase also offers its Anti-Laser filters in the clip-in form, which clip into the camera body so you can change lenses more easily and won't run into issues with vignetting.

Kase anti-laser filter: Verdict

The Kase Wolverine Anti-Laser filter does exactly what it says on the tin and if you put yourself in environments often where you need to take pictures with lasers present, such as music and concert photography, then you'll absolutely want this filter in your kit bag. It may seem expensive at $109, but it's the smart choice if it can save camera-killing laser damage.

The only choice you'll need to make is whether to go for the magnetic version that I got hold of here, or whether to go for the potentially more convenient clip-in variety which sits behind the lens and means you can change lenses safely without also needing to swap filters, though this can be fairly straightforward with its magnetic design.

All-in-all, the build quality is very good, and the image quality is also good, though vignetting could be an issue due to the bulky magnetic adapter ring (especially if you intend to also stack filters on top of it), and the oil and waterproof coatings on both sides of the filter are always welcome.

Remember, this filter isn't foolproof and won't save your camera sensor from prolonged exposure to powerful lasers. But, it does a great job at reducing the intense beams of laser light and should buy you a bit more protection if a laser does sweep over your lens.

Alternatives

Tiffen’s newer 1.5-10 stops MCS VND filters is a little more expensive but has some desirable upgrades including a wider range of strength settings, magnetic design, compact magnetic filter caps and case as well as a smooth de-clicked strength ring with a detachable metal handle for easy adjustments when recording video.

Is this the ultimate VND filter? The PolarPro PMVND Edition II demands top dollar but has exceptional image quality and build. Its Defender360 system doubles up both as your filter caps and weather-sealed hard case when stowed away, and it has a clicked strength ring for haptic feedback.