Brightin Star Aero UV filter promises slim, low-flare lens protection

The whole point of a protection filter is to stay out of the way, and that is exactly where Brightin Star is aiming with its new Aero UV line. The company is betting that photographers who want a sacrificial layer on the front of a lens will pay for a filter that does not add the usual headaches, especially flare, ghosting, color cast and the thick-ring vignetting that can show up on wide glass.

The headline number is the frame: 1.5mm, cut in brass instead of aluminum. That matters on mirrorless kits, where compact wide-angle zooms and primes can expose a bulky filter edge right at the frame. Brightin Star is selling the Aero UV in sizes from 39mm to 82mm, with black and silver finishes for matching modern black barrels or more vintage-looking lenses. The line launched on May 8, 2026, with introductory pricing from $27 to $69 through May 15, and Brightin Star’s own store lists pricing starting at $26.99.

The optical stack is built around SCHOTT B270 glass, which Brightin Star says is precision-ground from 1.1mm down to 0.7mm and finished with a 28-layer nano coating. The company claims 99.807 percent light transmission and 0.048 percent reflection, with hydrophobic and oleophobic properties meant to shed water, oil and fingerprints. Brightin Star also says the brass ring is designed to resist seizure on lenses, even in extreme cold, which is one of those unglamorous details that matters most once a filter has been left on for a winter shoot or a trip through bad weather.

That is the real buying decision here. A UV filter is worth the money when it behaves like insurance: dust, spray, sand, accidental contact, a pocket full of grit, a lens cap dropped in the mud. It is not worth it when the glass is cheap, the coating is weak and the frame turns your wide-angle into a corner-darkening test chart. Brightin Star is clearly trying to land on the other side of that line, and the design choices make sense for anyone who wants to leave a filter on permanently without feeling punished for it.

The Aero UV also fits a broader market shift. Comparable premium filters from Haida and NiSi have leaned on slim brass frames and SCHOTT B270 glass too, which says the category has moved past simple front-element protection and into a game of optical restraint. Brightin Star first unveiled the filter at NAB 2026, but the daily use case is what will decide it: if the frame really stays invisible on wide lenses and the coatings hold up, it will make a strong case for the kind of protection filter photographers actually keep mounted.